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.

The well-known 0xxx ransomware encrypts files and demands a hefty ransom. Learn from our latest article by Ivan Ischenko, a StarWind Pre-Sales Team Lead, how to detect the signs, protect your systems, and recover without giving in to hackers. Read more here: https://starwind.com/s/a1

Nexans Autoelectric, a global automobile electronics manufacturer, was struggling with a physical IT environment that was costly to maintain and upgrade. The lack of a virtualized environment made scaling and storage management cumbersome. By implementing StarWind Virtual SAN (VSAN), Nexans Autoelectric moves to hyperconvergence, streamlines IT operations, achieves fault tolerance, and saves $3,200 every 3 years on its IT operational expenses. Read more here: https://starwind.com/s/9Y

Nexans Autoelectric, a global automobile electronics manufacturer, was struggling with a physical IT environment that was costly to maintain and upgrade. The lack of a virtualized environment made scaling and storage management cumbersome. By implementing StarWind Virtual SAN (VSAN), Nexans Autoelectric moves to hyperconvergence, streamlines IT operations, achieves fault tolerance, and saves $3,200 every 3 years on its IT operational expenses. Read more here: https://starwind.com/s/9Y

Thinking about switching from VMware? Explore top alternatives like Hyper-V, Proxmox, and XCP-ng in our latest article by Vladan Seget, a virtualization expert for StarWind. Learn how to effectively migrate your workloads along the way. Read more here: https://starwind.com/s/9V

Wondering what’s the difference between Oracle VirtualBox, VMware Workstation, and QEMU? Check out our latest comprehensive comparison by Dmytro Malynka, StarWind Product Manager, to choose the best Type 2 hypervisor for your virtualization projects. Read more here: https://starwind.com/s/9S

Premier Data Systems, a U.S.-based managed IT services provider (MSP), needed to transition to a hyperconverged setup but faced high costs for OS licensing and additional hardware. To achieve this, the company required a cost-effective shared storage solution. By implementing StarWind Virtual SAN (VSAN), Premier Data Systems creates a highly available (HA) hyperconverged IT environment and eliminates the need for expensive licensing and additional hardware. Read more here: https://starwind.com/s/9P

Backing up virtual machines (#VMs) is a critical part of managing any #VMware environment. Our latest guide by Ivan Ischenko, a #StarWind Pre-Sales Engineer, walks you through the different backup methods and shares best practices to keep your data secure and recoverable. Read more here: https://starwind.com/s/9M

Area Agency on Aging Region 9, a US-based non-profit organization, was struggling with a standalone Hyper-V host environment without a high-availability (HA) cluster, making it vulnerable to downtime. It needed a cost-effective solution to achieve HA without being locked into a specific vendor. By implementing StarWind Virtual SAN (VSAN), Area Agency on Aging Region 9 builds an HA and resilient server cluster using its existing Hyper-V setup, ensures operational continuity, and reduces IT costs. Read more here: https://starwind.com/s/9J

Get clarity on storage formats like QCOW and RAW, and learn how to choose the best option for your workloads in our latest article by Dmytro Malynka, StarWind Product Manager. Read more here: https://starwind.com/s/9G

PBS Systems, a Canada-based dealership management software company, was struggling with multiple aging storage systems from different vendors with inconsistent performance. The company needed a reliable and cost-effective solution to replace its multi-vendor storage infrastructure and reduce high maintenance costs. By implementing StarWind HCI Appliance (#HCA), PBS Systems consolidates multiple storage systems into a unified platform with high availability (HA), reduces power consumption and cuts down IT costs, ensuring uninterrupted business operations over the past 12 months. Read more here: https://starwind.com/s/9D