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.

Benshaw Canada Controls Inc., a Canadian manufacturer of motor controls and drives, had an IT infrastructure consisting of one standalone VMware ESXi server and several VMs. In order to perform maintenance, the company needed to take down production servers that entailed business losses. With StarWind, Benshaw Canada Controls Inc. gets a turnkey hyperconverged platform ensuring a full-time running business.

Find out how Benshaw Canada Controls Inc. achieves uninterrupted production meeting client needs on time with StarWind

Windows Sandbox is an application that creates a Windows instance fully separated from the host. It creates an isolated and secure environment where you can run files and applications without affecting the host — great for testing purposes. Once you close the sandbox, everything there is permanently deleted.

Read the short guide by Nicolas Prigent, a three-time Microsoft MVP, on the details behind Windows Sandbox and how to properly configure it.

StarWind V2V Converter / P2V Migrator allows bi-directional migrating and copying of virtual machines (VM) between hosts with different hypervisors. The lightweight software is compatible with all major hypervisors, like Microsoft Hyper-V, VMware ESXi, Xen Project Hypervisor, and KVM. It’s also easy to use and comes at no charge.

Check out the XpertsTec guide on how to use StarWind V2V Converter to convert ESXi VMs to Hyper-V as a basis and move on between your desired VM formats from there!

People working with hybrid infrastructures must know how tiresome it can balance the on-premises and cloud resources. If only there were an option enabling you to manage it as a single environment! Luckily, the new VMware vSphere release, VMware Cloud on AWS, has something to say.

Read the article by Alex Samoylenko, a virtualization technology professional, on pros & cones of the new VMware Cloud solution.

Electronics Box, a Polish security and fire alarm systems supplier, had a 2-node Windows Server Failover Cluster with a shared storage system based on a single SAN and Microsoft Hyper-V on top. Every part of the company’s IT infrastructure was redundant except for the storage system. So all attempts to build a fault-tolerant environment without reliable shared storage were idle. StarWind allowed the company to create a stretched cluster at several geographical locations with complete redundancy so from now on its alarm monitoring central station would operate seamlessly.

Find out how Electronics Box got a real painkiller for all of the company’s IT infrastructure issues with StarWind.

The new version of StarWind Free SAN & NAS adds Linux and ZFS to StarWind Virtual SAN (VSAN) ecosystem, allowing to repurpose existing servers into high-performance storage appliances.

Read the article by Brandon Lee of VirtualizationHowTo on how StarWind keeps pushing the boundaries when it comes to the performance and cost-efficiency in mission-critical IT storage.

Looking to set up a remote office? NextCloud is an open-source solution that simplifies access to necessary data and secures it on your personal cloud-based workspace. You can sync, access, and share that data fast among your chosen devices. No more need to worry that files are out of reach or outdated anymore.

Read the article by Karim Buzdar on how to set up NextCloud with LAMP (Linux Apache MySQL PHP) on Ubuntu 20.04 to organize a productivity platform on your self-hosted home system.

AWS (Amazon Web Services) Certification is becoming close to mandatory based on the modern high market demand for cloud and DevOps. However, the rules and levels may be somewhat confusing. There are several paths available within the program, each one training in a specific element. Therefore, guidance from an alum will be of great help.

Read the new article by Mikhail Rodionov, a K2 and Microsoft specialist, on AWS Certification, its levels, challenges, prices, why you would need it, and where to start.

You may be needing to make a certificate authority rotation or experiencing a crash. In Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS), all pods are assigned the same priority, except the default pods that are created along with AKS. This means all pods will restart randomly. By assigning priority, you can secure that all systems function properly after reboot.

Read the new guide by Florent Appointare, a Microsoft Engineer, on how to use Pod Priority to ensure seamless AKS work in case your systems need or incur a reboot.

You can now try out the StarWind HyperConverged Appliance (HCA) user experience yourself virtually before committing to a purchase.

StarWind HCI Evaluation Kit leverages nested virtualization and streamlined installation. It deploys a Hyper-V sandbox cluster where you can test drive StarWind VSAN along with StarWind Command Center and other HCA features before investing in the real thing for your business’ production purposes.

Download the new StarWind HCI Evaluation Kit and play around with what the user-praised full StarWind experience has to offer before you buy it yourself.