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.

Containers lack the kernel isolation of virtual machines, creating a serious security risk. Microsoft released a new Azure feature based on Kata project to remedy that and significantly boost the security of containerized applications.

Learn more about the new Azure Kubernetes Services (AKS) Pod Sandboxing feature in the new article by virtualization expert Brandon Lee for StarWind.

Air Innovations LLC, a U.S.-based air conditioning and construction company, was struggling with poor data availability and interruption of its critical business services. Having strict budget limitations, the company required a solution capable of creating a highly available (HA) clustered environment with Microsoft Hyper-V hypervisors without any additional storage solutions employed. Using StarWind Virtual SAN (vSAN), Air Innovations LLC deploys an HA storage cluster, unlocks higher levels of productivity, streamlines workflows, and ensures its business operations 24/7.

You can read about how StarWind could do the same for your company by following this link.

VMware vSphere and Microsoft Hyper-V are among the most popular type 1 enterprise hypervisors. However, their VM formats are incompatible, and it is not uncommon for users to look for an easy way to migrate a virtual machine from one hypervisor to another.

Find out how to migrate a Hyper-V VM to VMware in three clicks with StarWind V2V Converter in the new article by StarWind Solutions Engineer Hanna Parich.

2 hours to go! Get ready for our free webinar comparing Azure Stack HCI and Windows Server Hyper-V.

Don’t miss out and join us to learn more about both Microsoft virtualization solutions!

Register now!

INNET, a Vietnamese IT distributor, had a challenging physical SAN-based IT infrastructure with a complex configuration that was managed by different teams. The company was looking for a simpler solution that would provide simplicity in IT infrastructure management and allow for cutting high maintenance costs. Using StarWind HCI Appliance (HCA), INNET implements a hyperconverged infrastructure, supported fully proactively and operating seamlessly, and reduces its IT operational expenses (OpEx) by 55% for the period of 6 months.

You can read about how StarWind could do the same for your company by following this link.

Our upcoming webinar comparing Azure Stack HCI and Windows Server Hyper-V is only two days away. Join us to learn more about the features, costs, pros, and cons of both virtualization solutions.

Don’t miss out! Register now!

CrossRoad Engineers, a U.S.-based civil engineering company, was going to build highly available (HA) storage, replace its aging SAN devices, and simplify IT ecosystem management. The company’s end-of-life hardware resources also could not keep up with its growth path and only increased its IT operational expenses (OpEx). Using StarWind HCI Appliance (HCA), CrossRoad Engineers builds a remotely supported and managed hyperconverged IT infrastructure, replaces its aging SAN devices, cuts high OpEx, and gets new opportunities for business growth.

You can read about how StarWind could do the same for your company by following this link.

IT admins receive lots of emails daily, so it is not surprising that occasionally some important vSphere notifications get lost in all the fuss. Fortunately, vSphere Alert Center, a VMware Fling app, provides a simple solution for such issues.

Read more about it in the new article by a virtualization expert, Vladan Seget.

Microsoft Azure ARC VM Management extends Azure Portal features to manage VMs in Azure Stack HCI and VMware vSphere from a single interface.

Learn more about new hybrid cloud capabilities in Azure ARC in the new article by Microsoft MVP Romain Serre for StarWind.

Columb Technologies S.A., a Polish IT services and IT consulting company, faced challenges with its traditional SAN-based storage system, causing downtime, making it difficult to scale, and increasing overall IT costs. In addition, the company's data center was rapidly running out of space, making it impossible to add more hardware to support the growing demand for storage. Using StarWind Virtual SAN (vSAN), Columb Technologies S.A. deploys an HA cluster, gets a sizeable performance increase, and achieves 24/7 business operations.

You can read about how StarWind could do the same for your company by following this link.