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

If your #Hardened Repository is approaching capacity, knowing this procedure can save your Backup Strategy. Our new step-by-step guide by Paolo Valsecchi, a System Engineer, for StarWind details how to boot from the Veeam ISO, mount the data volume, handle immutable files correctly, and restore repository operations without compromising security controls. Read more here: https://starwind.com/s/13z

Crawford County R-1 School District, an educational institution in Missouri, had standalone Hyper-V servers that lacked redundancy and scalability and were difficult for a one-person IT department to manage. The district needed a simple, cost-effective, and fully supported high-availability solution that would eliminate downtime risks without adding staff or complexity. By deploying StarWind Virtual HCI Appliance (VHCI), Crawford County R-1 School District builds a highly available and easily managed IT infrastructure, ensuring reliable system performance and reducing administrative workload for its one-person IT department. Read more here: https://starwind.com/s/13w

Snapshots and checkpoints are excellent for short-term rollbacks before risky changes. What they are not is a replacement for proper backups.
Our latest article by Vladyslav Savchenko for StarWind explains why snapshots fail when storage systems, accounts, or security boundaries fail, and what real Data Protection requires instead. Read more here: https://starwind.com/s/13t

Deans Computer Services, an England-based IT support provider, relied on a standalone Hyper-V setup with no redundancy, creating a single point of failure for critical workloads. The company required a high-availability (HA) cluster that could be built on its existing hardware without relying on traditional shared storage. By deploying StarWind Virtual SAN (VSAN), Deans Computer Services repurposes its servers into an HA cluster, eliminates the single point of failure, and reduces costs, ensuring continuous service delivery to its clients. Read more here: https://starwind.com/s/13q

Adding power to a single server or expanding with multiple nodes leads to very different outcomes.
Our new article by Ivan Ishchenko for StarWind explains the differences between Scale-Out and Scale-Up and shows when each approach makes sense in modern virtualized and cloud environments. Read more here: https://starwind.com/s/13n

Windows Server 2025 introduces native NVMe support, removing the long-standing SCSI translation layer.
In our new article by Marius Sandbu, a cloud-native and end-user computing expert, for StarWind, we explain what has changed in the Windows storage stack, how to enable the new NVMe driver, and the impact it can have on workloads like Storage Spaces Direct and SQL Server. Read more here: https://starwind.com/s/13k

Ascent, LLC, a U.S.-based provider of mission-critical infrastructure services, relied on two standalone servers with no high availability (HA), requiring manual workload shifts and planned outages for maintenance, which put uptime at constant risk. The company needed an easy, affordable way to achieve HA and maintenance flexibility, using only two existing nodes. By deploying StarWind Virtual SAN (VSAN), Ascent, LLC adds seamless HA and failover to its two-node Windows Server environment and ensures uninterrupted operations, simplified maintenance, and stronger service continuity for its clients. Read more here: https://starwind.com/s/13h

Choosing a virtualization platform is a long-term call, not a quick swap. This 2026 guide by Dmytro Malynka for StarWind reviews 10 VMware competitors and highlights strengths, limitations, and the scenarios each platform serves best. Read more here: https://starwind.com/s/13e

D.F. Pray, a U.S.-based design-build and general contracting company, struggled with slow VM performance and high upgrade costs caused by a non-CSV Hyper-V setup and an aging HPE MSA 2052 SAN with spinning disks. The company needed a cost-effective, high-performance storage solution that would simplify its infrastructure and fully utilize existing server hardware. By deploying StarWind Virtual SAN (VSAN), D.F. Pray improves storage performance, simplifies its Hyper-V environment, and achieves reliable CSV clustering and better use of existing hardware, thus reducing operational costs and gaining consistent uptime for daily operations. Read more here: https://starwind.com/s/13b

If VMware is no longer a given in your environment, you need a new decision model. Our new 2026 virtualization vendor checklist by Ivan Ishchenko for StarWind explains what to look for in performance, availability, licensing, and the long-term roadmap so you can replatform with confidence. Read more here: https://starwind.com/s/138