Azure Migrate has recently seen an update to its features. It can now help you move your ASP.NET and Java applications to an Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) container. Usually, such apps would be hosted on Tomcat/IIS. It would be quite a chore to move them to Kubernetes. However, said new capability makes the process much more streamlined.
Read the new guide by Florent Appointare, a Microsoft Engineer, on how to use Azure Migrate to move your applications to AKS without any fuss.
As VMware vSphere is moving forward, so is StarWind VSAN. Some major upgrades and fixes have been introduced in the latest build of StarWind VSAN for vSphere. For example, there’s a new Linux kernel, synchronous replication is seeing some important changes, and all StarWind License Agreements (SLAs) have been updated, too.
Read the article by Vladan Seget of ESX Virtualization (vladan.fr) on everything you need to know about the new StarWind VSAN for vSphere build 14033.
Virtualization machines (VMs) have various use cases, each defined by the IT resources at hand and respective end-goals. VMware vSphere and Horizon offer three types of cloning when it comes to VM interoperability: full, linked, and instant cloning. Each type has its benefits but also takes its own toll on the system.
Read the new article by Alex Samoylenko, a virtualization pro, on the characteristics of cloning types in VMware vSphere / Horizon and which job each one would fit better.
Downtime can cause substantial costs, even in millions of dollars. But what’s even worse than downtime is split-brain. Failover strategies exist to help avoid split-brain as well as minimize chances for downtime. The video discusses why failover is important, the specifics of HeartBeat and Node Majority strategies, and how they impact your IT infrastructure’s work.
Watch this StarWind video to learn how different failover strategies function, which one is more suitable for your infrastructure, and how to set up High Availability in your storage infrastructure using either of them.
Modern rates of data growth and the need for its storage and processing are totally unaccounted for by large hyperconvergence vendors. Their services and licensing aren’t suited for the average SMB or Edge installation that is now also in need of optimal capacity utilization and virtualization. Alternatively, StarWind’s products work with any industry-standard hypervisor, any commercial hardware, and have no feature paywalls. StarWind brings Enterprise-grade hyperconvergence at an SMB price tag.
Find out what TechHQ has to say about StarWind’s hyperconvergence products characteristics and licensing suitability for modern SME, ROBO and Edge deployments.
Microsoft Azure offers its services on a pay-as-you-go basis. This means that your expenditure depends on the cloud resources used. You’ll want to keep them as close to an application’s needs as possible. Otherwise, you’ll either experience slowdown or unreasonable costs. Thankfully, you can alter your VM disk size and performance on the fly.
Read the article by Romain Serre, a Microsoft MVP, on how to change your Azure VM’s disk size to keep your costs and performance optimized.
Traditionally, you would have to configure and manage virtual networks for each ESXi host and virtual machine (VM). VMware vSphere Distributed Switch (VDS) simplifies that. VDS offers centralized provisioning, monitoring, and management of virtual networks for selected hosts and VMs, making daily operations more convenient.
Read the new article by Vladan Seget on VMware VDS, its requirements, and the benefits it can bring to your vSphere management routine.
The new feature relies on Windows Server (WS) Azure Edition VM, which is a new type of WS Image. Hotpatching is now available in preview in all Azure regions. It allows establishing two types of baselines that will enable hotpatching without rebooting the WS Azure VM, which really invests in the smoothness of the experience.
Read the article by Romain Serre, a Microsoft MVP, on how to use the new Hotpatching feature for Windows Server Edition Azure VMs for patching without reboots.
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.
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.
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.
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!
Formica UK & Ireland, a worldwide laminate manufacturer, had 60+ nodes and used a traditional blade and fibre SAN approach to compute and storage resources. Such an excessive IT infrastructure footprint didn't meet a new cloud strategy exaggerating power consumption and threatening the client data integrity. Maintenance costs for a system now running at 1/3 of its capacity were not viable. The company sought to migrate to a fully virtualized environment in order to achieve high availability (HA) and improve its backup strategy. With StarWind, Formica UK & Ireland reduces its global footprint from 60+ to 8 compute nodes, slices OpEx considerably, satisfies a revered 3-2-1 backup rule, and improves SQL performance by 30%.
Find out how Formica UK & Ireland is taking customer data security to the highest level with StarWind.
StarWind V2V Converter / P2V Migrator allows bi-directional migration and conversion across multiple scenarios (P2V / V2V / P2C / V2C / C2C), supporting public cloud both as source and destination also. The lightweight software is compatible with all major hypervisors, like Microsoft Hyper-V, VMware ESXi, Xen Project Hypervisor, and KVM.
Check out the TechWithJasmin guide on how to use StarWind V2V Converter to migrate XenServer VMs to Hyper-V for free and move to other popular VM formats from there.
Azure Automation Update Management is primarily used for orchestrating Windows Server and Linux updates. But it can also be configured to add target machines or machine groups for updating automatically, using a registry key. One less headache! Otherwise, you’d have to add machines or machines to groups manually.
Read the article by Romain Serre, a Microsoft MVP, on how to use the Azure Automation Update Management feature to populate computer groups automatically:
Interface IT Solutions Group LTD, a Canadian Managed IT Services Provider (MSP), had a Windows Server environment based on physical SAN and with VMware ESXi on top. The existing IT infrastructure was fragmented and lacked a solid foundation. The company was looking for a product that would allow creating a consolidated server architecture and achieving high availability with minimal hardware footprint and at an affordable price. StarWind allowed Interface IT Solutions Group LTD to consolidate memory, compute, and storage resources in one software-defined hyperconverged platform and get high availability with only 2 two nodes.
Find out how Interface IT Solutions Group LTD gets a hyperconverged solution with perfect price-performance ratio thanks to StarWind.
StarWind VTL (Virtual Tape Library) has been certified with Veeam Backup & Replication V11! It means that the solution is fully compatible with the latest Veeam features and capabilities. The certification also signifies that Veeam B&R infrastructure built with StarWind VTL is qualified for support from both Veeam and StarWind.
Check out the Veeam knowledge-base for details on the testing environment used to scrutinize StarWind VTL and for other certification minutiae.
Daifuku North America Holding Company, a huge provider of material handling based in Illinois, USA, was looking for a cost-effective, fast, and rock-solid way to satisfy its 3-2-1 backup demand. 3-2-1 backup means having 3 copies of data with one of the copies having to be stored off-site. With StarWind’s help, Daifuku's backup infrastructure is now ready for any growth and safe from any disasters thanks to newly acquired flexible, automated, and air-gapped cloud and object storage tiering.
Find out how Daifuku North America Holding Company was able to satisfy its need for the 3-2-1 backup rule with ease while saving some serious money thanks to StarWind.
ZFS unites a file system with a volume manager, bolstering high levels of redundancy and solid data integrity. Linux, being the fastest-growing open source community, constantly introduces cutting-edge features to its operating system (OS). StarWind leverages both of these solutions, making its Virtual SAN exceptionally redundant, modern, infinitely scalable, and easy to deploy as a Linux-based VM.
Read the article by Brandon Lee of VirtualizationHowTo on how StarWind seamlessly integrates all the benefits of ZFS and Linux in Virtual SAN's core architecture and functionality.
StarWind V2V Converter / P2V Migrator is a convenient tool for converting and cloning physical machines, virtual disks, and VMs across various scenarios (P2V / V2V / P2C / V2C / C2C). The software solution is free and compatible with all industry-standard hypervisors, like VMware ESXi, Microsoft Hyper-V, Xen Project, and KVM.
Read the new article by Paolo Valsecchi of nolabnoparty.com on how to use StarWind V2V Converter to migrate XenServer VMs to VMware vSphere like a breeze and — for free.