Finally, StarWind Virtual Storage Appliance is available on Linux allowing you to save costs on Windows licensing. Being hypervisor-agnostic, StarWind VSA easily integrates into any IT infrastructure as a fully pre-configured virtual machine ready for deployment and operation. It simply installs in any existing environment requiring no specialized SAN skills and is managed using StarWind Web console or thick client allowing to control the entire storage infrastructure from a centralized console.
Join our Tap Room Meeting on April 27 11 am PT / 2 pm ET to see all benefits of the StarWind Linux-based VSA.
Register now: https://www.starwindsoftware.com/dedicated-live-demo-session

StarWind Virtual SAN Free allows deploying a 2-node cluster providing a highly available storage for your virtual machines to Hyper-V or ESXi hypervisor for free. When deploying multi VSAN Free nodes, the data is synchronized across the network between the nodes. StarWind VSAN Free can be deployed in a hyperconverged model where VSAN Free is installed on hypervisor nodes or in a disaggregated model with separated compute and storage resources. StarWind VSAN Free management capabilities include PowerShell, with StarWind Management console available as a 30-day trial.

Read the full article by Romain Serre, a Senior Consultant at Lyon to learn how to deploy a 2-node StarWind VSAN Free for VMware ESXi 6.5 on Windows Server 2016 Core Edition.

StarWind gets closer to Linux users by providing them with special Linux-based Virtual Storage Appliance version combining the underlying OS and preinstalled StarWind Virtual SAN, allowing to save money on Windows Licensing when it’s unnecessary.
StarWind VSA is compatible with any hypervisor, be it Microsoft Hyper-V, VMware ESXi, Xen or KVM and can be managed via a Web Management Console while additionally containing a StarWind vCenter plugin allowing to manage the product directly from vCenter Server.

Read the full article by Vladan Seget, IT and Virtualization consultant to learn more about StarWind Virtual SAN on Linux

AlwaysOn Basic Availability Groups (BAG) supported in SQL Server Standard Edition and AlwaysOn Availability Groups (AG) introduced in SQL Server Enterprise Edition were designed to create a replicated environment with improved failover capabilities. However, the two types provide different capabilities while also requiring different licensing costs.

Read the full article by Shashank Singh, Microsoft MVP, and SQL Server Architect to learn more about BAG and AG cost and functionality differences.

Migrating your VMs from one hypervisor to another may be quite a complicated task if there’s no decent virtual machine converter at hand. Fortunately, there are various V2V tools allowing to turn this process into a simple thing. But, when choosing a V2V converter, there are several factors you should take into consideration.

Read the full article to learn how to choose a V2V converter that will become a perfect fit for your needs.

StarWind is currently working on the new product - a flexible and customizable web-based platform which will allow users get the full control over their IT infrastructures from a single HTML5 graphical interface including S2D, Failover Clustering and Hyper-V. More information to be found in a nearby thread: https://mangolassi.it/topic/14114/help-starwind-to-pick-the-name-for-the-upcoming-product

StarWind HyperConverged Appliance utilizes Local Reconstruction Codes, Replication, and Grid Architecture to provide an ultimate fault tolerance rate while delivering sustained high performance. With StarWind HCA, the whole infrastructure remains operational even after multiple disk or node failures. In case a failure occurs, applications are automatically recovered to working cluster disks or nodes, allowing to easily withstand a failure of more than 50% of the cluster nodes.

Watch our video to learn how to get uncompromised resiliency with StarWind HCA
https://www.starwindsoftware.com/get-uncompromised-fault-tolerance-of-it-infrastructure-with-starwind-hyperconverged-appliance

With PowerShell, automatic deployment of Hyper-V VMs in Windows Server 2016 becomes a piece of cake
No doubts, commercial software for automatic VM deployment is great, but it may be too expensive comparing to the goals that need to be achieved. That’s where PowerShell kicks in. With PowerShell commands, the creation and configuration of Hyper-V virtual machines in Windows Server 2016 become a fairly simple thing. But, what is more important, you can create a script which deploys VMs of the same configuration automatically.

Read the full article by Boris Yurchenko, a Support Engineer at StarWind, to learn how to automate your VMs deployment with PowerShell in Windows Server 2016.

Installing an HTTPS certificate is just a tip of the iceberg. This certificate has a huge number of options that usually are hidden deep inside config files. Actually, these tiny details allow distinguishing a site that can be rendered vulnerable via HTTPS downgrade attack and the one that is really secure.

Read the full article by Gary Williams, a virtualization, storage, and Windows systems administrator, to achieve the highest security.

StarWind team will take the floor at Storage Field Day 15 to reveal new awesome backup storage technologies: Virtual Tape Library with Cloud and Object storage and backed by ProActive Support! Our speaking slot is the first in line: March 9, 8-10 am PT, don’t miss it!

For Livestream, go to https://www.facebook.com/TechFieldDay/ or watch on http://techfieldday.com/, Livestream.com - includes the entire event.

What sets Data Archiving apart from backups? It’s about building a vault for dormant data, keeping it secure, compliant, and ready when needed. Learn from our new guide by Ivan Ischenko, a StarWind Pre-Sales Engineer, how proper archiving boosts performance and helps businesses stay audit-ready. Read more here: https://starwind.com/s/8K

Stevens & Co, a distributor of Ryobi products in the African region, ran standalone Hyper-V servers with internal storage that was costly to maintain and presented a single point of failure (SPOF). The company needed a cost-effective solution that would ensure high availability (HA) without investment in new hardware. By implementing StarWind Virtual SAN (VSAN), Stevens & Co creates a 2-node fault-tolerant cluster using its existing hardware and eliminates a SPOF issue without the need for costly infrastructure changes, thus cutting IT operational expenditures (OpEx) and ensuring business continuity. Read more here: https://starwind.com/s/8F

Achieve near-bare-metal performance for AI and ML tasks with VMware Cloud Foundation and NVIDIA GPUs! This dynamic duo brings GPU virtualization and resource isolation, allowing for better resource allocation, security, and flexibility in a virtualized environment.
Check out the article by Alex Samoylenko, an expert in virtualization technology, for StarWind for all the details. Read more here: https://starwind.com/s/8C

Xpert Consultancy, a British managed IT service provider (MSP), was struggling with a costly storage infrastructure and a software solution that was incompatible with the latest version of Microsoft System Center Data Protection Manager (DPM), putting the company’s data at risk. It needed a cost-effective and compatible virtual storage solution. By implementing StarWind Virtual Tape Library (VTL), Xpert Consultancy eliminated the need for costly physical tape hardware, significantly reduced IT operational expenses (OpEx), and ensured the safety of its backup data. Read more here: https://starwind.com/s/8y

With ransomware attacks on the rise, businesses are turning to air-gapped backups for strong data protection. But what exactly are they, and how do they keep your data safe?
Our latest guide Ivan Ischenko, a StarWind Pre-Sales Engineer, breaks down the essentials, including types, benefits, and the 3-2-1-1-0 backup strategy. Find out why air-gapped backups are becoming essential for cybersecurity. Read more here: https://starwind.com/s/8v

Goshen Community Schools, an American educational institution, was struggling with its costly IT infrastructure, which was underperforming and had a single point of failure (#SPOF) without data redundancy. As data demands grew, the institution required a cost-effective shared storage solution to create a fault-tolerant cluster and build performance-optimized storage. By implementing StarWind Virtual SAN (VSAN), Goshen Community Schools gains scalability, fault tolerance, and high availability (HA) without breaking the bank, thus ensuring uninterrupted educational services. Read more here: https://starwind.com/s/8s

Think you have control over your IT infrastructure? The real test is in the details! Join our upcoming webinar to discover how VirtualMetric and StarWind’s StarFleet prototype tackle issues like information overload, alert fatigue, and network latency. Register now: https://starwind.com/s/8p

Curious about containers on Windows? With new features like Kubernetes support and Azure integration, Windows Server 2022 is making container management more accessible than ever.
Learn how it can work for your setup in our latest article by Brandon Lee, a virtualization expert, for StarWind. Read more here: https://starwind.com/s/8m

Flotman Sp. Z o. o., a Poland-based IT company, faced significant performance and reliability issues due to its non-virtualized, aging infrastructure. The company realized the need to virtualize its IT environment and build a cost-efficient and redundant IT Infrastructure. By implementing StarWind HCI Appliance (HCA), Flotman Sp. Z o. o. creates a hyperconverged IT environment, achieves fault tolerance, and enhances its IT operations, all while avoiding the expense of a traditional SAN setup. Read more here: https://starwind.com/s/8j

Dealing with latency and CPU load? RDMA might be the answer. It enables data to move directly between devices, bypassing traditional bottlenecks. Dive into our latest article by Dmytro Malynka, StarWind Product Manager, for a closer look at RDMA’s advantages and real-world use cases in data centers, AI, and more. Read more here: https://starwind.com/s/8g