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.

For anyone managing VMware hosts, losing the ESXi Root Password happens more often than we admit. Our latest guide by Oleg Pankevych for StarWind presents four reset approaches, including what’s possible through vCenter and what you can (and can’t) do with standalone hosts. Read more here: https://starwind.com/s/14t

Low disk space on a production VM often means pressure to schedule downtime. Our new step-by-step guide by Karim Buzdar, an IT Engineer & Linux Expert, for StarWind explains how to expand a Hyper-V VHDX disk while the VM is running and then extend the volume inside Windows, avoiding service interruptions and maintenance windows. Read more here: https://starwind.com/s/14q

Bedwas High School, a U.K.-based educational institution, ran mixed standalone servers and Hyper-V hosts with no shared storage or high availability (HA), and could not afford traditional SAN hardware to fix the reliability risks. The school needed an affordable software-defined storage platform that could deliver HA on existing hardware without dedicated SAN equipment or complex upgrades. By deploying StarWind Virtual SAN (SAN), Bedwas High School creates an HA Hyper-V cluster on off-the-shelf hardware, achieves reliable shared storage and failover while avoiding costly SAN infrastructure and reducing capital spend. Read more here: https://starwind.com/s/14n

Before turning on deduplication, it’s important to understand your data patterns, available memory for indexes, and restore behavior under load.
Our new article by Vladyslav Savchenko for StarWind outlines the most common pitfalls and offers a practical way to evaluate Data Deduplication using representative datasets. Read more here: https://starwind.com/s/14k

CJIS Solutions, a U.S. CJIS-compliant cloud provider for law enforcement, struggled with an unstable Microsoft Storage Spaces Direct and stretched cluster setup on Hyper-V that crashed often and disrupted customer-facing services. The company required a reliable storage solution that would eliminate downtime. By deploying StarWind Virtual SAN (VSAN), CJIS Solutions replaces unstable storage, achieves uninterrupted infrastructure, and gains reliable performance and protection against customer-impacting downtime. Read more here: https://starwind.com/s/14h

For users considering a move away from Windows 10, our new article by Vladan Seget, a virtualization expert, for StarWind analyzes Deepin Linux 25 Community Edition (CE) in terms of onboarding, hardware support, file system compatibility, and software options. It also covers limitations and where expectations should be realistic. Read more here: https://starwind.com/s/14e

Drossapharm AG, a Swiss pharmaceutical company, ran its IT environment on standalone bare-metal servers acting as single Hyper-V hosts without any SAN functionality. The company required a budget-friendly solution that could deliver true Hyper-V failover clustering without the cost and complexity of a traditional SAN. By deploying StarWind HCI Appliance (HCA), powered by StarWind Virtual SAN (VSAN), Drossapharm AG creates a 2-node hyperconverged setup that enables shared storage, stable performance, and high availability, thus ensuring continuous access to the company’s critical production and quality data. Read more here: https://starwind.com/s/14b

Virtualization expenses extend beyond initial hardware and licensing. Ongoing operations, backup requirements, renewals, and upgrade cycles all contribute to the total cost over a 3–7 year period.
Our latest guide by Ivan Ishchenko for StarWind outlines how to structure those elements into a clear TCO model. Read more here: https://starwind.com/s/148

De La Salle Santiago Zobel School, a provider of basic education in southern Metro Manila, faced high licensing and support costs with its Nutanix AHV cluster while being restricted to specific hardware. The school needed a cost-effective, flexible, and easy-to-manage IT infrastructure that could run on commodity hardware. By deploying StarWind Virtual HCI Appliance (VHCI), De La Salle Santiago Zobel School achieves high performance, reduces costs by about $50,000, and simplifies IT management. Read more here: https://starwind.com/s/145

Raw device mapping is still useful when you want direct LUN access from a VM, keep storage workflows on the array, or need physical mode behavior for specific workloads.
Our new article by Alex Bykovskyi for StarWind explains what RDM is, the difference between virtual and physical compatibility modes, how to present LUNs to ESXi hosts, and how to attach an RDM disk to a VM step by step. Read more here: https://starwind.com/s/142