Item: StarWind Virtual SAN
Rating: 10
Author: Francisco Obelenis

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

I´ve successfully implemented a pilot project in one of the world's most giant hydroelectric power plants, and it has an excellent performance as a stable and professional solution. That being said, a separate software from the VMWare Supervisory Package, gives us more flexibility regarding configuration and usage policies and allows you even to use a separate hardware to Store and Manage the StarWind Virtual SAN. So it is perfect for critical applications where stability and availability are essential. Using the StarWind Virtual SAN gave us a more stable and flexible solution. Also, I observed a continuous enhancement in the functionalities of the StarWind Virtual SAN, so its evolution is excellent. The StarWind Virtual SAN allowed me to have great flexibility in creating a very critical system, where I could assemble a completely separately managed VSAN, but still linked and capable of operating with the VMWare Hypervisor. So I had a more robust and reliable system.

Pros and Cons

Implement a Virtual StarWind Virtual SAN to the VMWare Hypervisor
Manage the VSAN Images for backup and recover
Manage the Disaster Recovery Policy after a shutdown
Manage the most recent image files for a Disaster Recovery scenarios

The way that it manages the recovery from the images, When I experienced a complete shutdown from the system, sometimes I had to manually choose the most recent image.
Implement a easier and more automated way to do the backup and recovery from the complete configuration/images.
Implement a more direct way to send warning messages through email to the systems administrator.

Return on Investment

The StarWind Virtual SAN has a trial version capable of managing a small VSAN that is perfect for pilot projects and also for studying.
Even in Small Business it has a very good functionality, and it is able to get a more stable solution than most of the other options in the market
It is cheaper and has a better ROI than the competitors especially when we talk about dedicated StarWind Virtual SAN. So if it meets your requirements, you should try it...

Support Rating

I´ve never used it, what is a really good thing as it is really easy to use, so I never needed.

Alternatives Considered

VMware vSAN and Nutanix Unified Storage

StarWind Virtual SAN is the most flexible and reliable system I tested. Although there are other good systems in the market this is the most flexible allowing integration with many Hypervisors

Key Insights

Do you think StarWind Virtual SAN delivers good value for the price?

Yes

Are you happy with StarWind Virtual SAN's feature set?

Yes

Did StarWind Virtual SAN live up to sales and marketing promises?

Yes

Did implementation of StarWind Virtual SAN go as expected?

Yes

Would you buy StarWind Virtual SAN again?

Yes

Other Software Used

VMware ESXi, VMware vCenter Server, Windows Server

Likelihood to Recommend

It is very well suited to scenarios where you need high availability virtualized systems, where any Disaster Recovery needs to be done fast and without much intervention from the administrator. I would recomend for any virtualized systems using two or more hosts that is capable of having an external VSAN Hardware or not. It is very easy to implement and manage and run under a Windows Platform.

Usability Pros and Cons

Pros	Cons
Like to use Relatively simple Easy to use Technical support not required Well integrated Consistent Feel confident using	None

Easy Tasks

Implement a VSAN capable of serve to many hypervisors
Implement a completely independent VSAN Solution

Usability

It is very easy to implement, manage and maintain. Really stable and reliable and fits to critical systems.

The successful implementation of a pilot project in one of the biggests Hydroelectric Power Plants.

Overall Satisfaction with StarWind Virtual SAN