Item: StarWind Virtual SAN
Rating: 10
Author: Julian Clarke

Overall Satisfaction with StarWind Virtual SAN

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Just like virtualisation, StarWind Virtual SAN helps us to maximise the utility and capacity of the server hardware in our environments for over 10 years now, while giving us reliable performance and availability for our server workloads. StarWind Virtual SAN has been easy to configure and administer and we have had almost no need to escalate any issues to technical support. It just works and keeps on working.

Pros and Cons

Pros

Makes excellent use of older and new hardware to virtualise storage for our server workloads.
Very flexible with hardware configurations, and easy to use, simple to configure, and provides reliable redundant cluster-ready storage at a very affordable price point.
In one instance, hosting as many as 20 VMs on a single 2-node Hyper-V cluster and found no performance or responsiveness issues.

Cons

I haven't determined that there are any drawbacks with StarWind Virtual SAN yet. It has always operated as designed and intended for me and my clients.
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Return on Investment

Positive: Quick ROI for SMB environments, as compared to using custom HCI configs from Dell, HCI or Nutanix
Positive: Ease of operational admin, reliable support from manufacturer means less burden of investment on hiring/procuring specialised technical talent
Positive: Very stable, robust solution. No errors related to bugs or incompatibilities over the past 10 years. Never failed and required a rebuild, never corrupted data, etc in that period either.

Usability

Ease of admin, responsive navigation in the GUI, easy and clear labelling and messaging.

Alternatives Considered

Dell Compellent (discontinued) and Dell EqualLogic PS Series

Price comparison, faster ROI. Best fit for SMB environments.

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

Windows Server Failover Clustering, Windows Server, Hyper-V, Microsoft SQL Server, Arctera Backup Exec, Veeam Backup for Azure

Likelihood to Recommend

Excellent fit for single site office and datacentre environments, small to medium-sized.Easy day-to-day admin along with responsive and competent technical support (from Starwind directly) makes this solution suitable for organisations and MSPs with small IT teams and/or junior/inexperienced technical staff.Less suited for geographically distributed environments, although it could function in this scenario as well, once the connectivity between locations deliver high-performance (high-speed, low latency).

Comments

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Excellent product Will continue to use and recommend