Dell vSAN Ready Nodes vs StarWind HyperConverged Appliance comparison

Sponsored
 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary
 

Categories and Ranking

StarWind Virtual SAN
Sponsored
Ranking in HCI
4th
Average Rating
9.6
Number of Reviews
185
Ranking in other categories
Software Defined Storage (SDS) (1st)
Dell vSAN Ready Nodes
Ranking in HCI
12th
Average Rating
8.4
Number of Reviews
15
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
StarWind HyperConverged App...
Ranking in HCI
8th
Average Rating
9.6
Number of Reviews
65
Ranking in other categories
Software Defined Storage (SDS) (6th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2024, in the HCI category, the mindshare of StarWind Virtual SAN is 2.1%, up from 1.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Dell vSAN Ready Nodes is 2.0%, down from 3.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of StarWind HyperConverged Appliance is 0.4%, up from 0.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
HCI
Unique Categories:
Software Defined Storage (SDS)
9.2%
No other categories found
 

Featured Reviews

SE
May 24, 2024
Feature-rich and versatile with broad support for different hypervisors
The StarWind vSAN solution is versatile and offers broad support for different hypervisors and deployment formats. During our evaluation of our on-premises setup, we did not find any significant flaws. One point for improvement is to increase the performance capabilities of the Windows-based executable as compared to its Linux Controller Virtual Machine (CVM) equivalent. Another point for improvement would be to incorporate a more granular Role-based access control system (RBAC) natively inside the software to allow for more granular administration. Yet another point would be to achieve tighter integration and automation with cloud-based platforms, such as Microsoft Azure and Amazon Web Services (AWS).
Niraj  Shah - PeerSpot reviewer
Mar 22, 2024
Offers good performance and is easy to use
I use the solution to handle corporate use cases since some web-based applications run on it If I consider the overall product, I would say that it is an excellent solution that offers very good performance and stability. The product's price is an area of concern where improvements are required.…
SB
Jan 26, 2021
Good performance, built-in storage saved us money, knowledgeable support
The StarWind HCA solution provided our company with a turnkey hyper-converged platform that strengthened our processing and storage capabilities by greatly expanding our RAM, processors, and flash-based storage. It also enabled us to take advantage of VMware vMotion technology. This allows us to…

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"It's very easy to resize disks and they show up in VMware almost instantly."
"When using new (warranty) servers, you can forget about the storage service for several years. The users will not even notice the failure of two servers out of three."
"StarWind allowed us to deploy highly available shared storage within our budget."
"StarWind saved us about 80% of our storage costs over our old solution."
"The user interface for this application is amazing."
"We are able to execute maintenance on one server while the other is still running."
"StarWind vSAN was very easy to integrate into our system and ran flawlessly during our entire use time."
"It allows me to configure High Availability and failover clustering with some fault tolerance, at a cost point that doesn’t break the bank for a small business budget."
"We find the initial implementation process simple and straightforward."
"You don't have to spend much time evaluating the hardware. It can be deployed in a short time. The tool is also easy to upgrade."
"I have found the most important features of Dell EMC vSAN Ready Nodes are the capacity to manage the storage because the storage is built in the servers. The type of profiles you can attribute to the storage is a benefit. You can manage the storage by profiles. Overall the solution is a good speed and performance."
"The solution immediately expands storage area when you add nodes."
"Dell EMC vSAN Ready Nodes is scalable"
"The most valuable feature of Dell vSAN Ready Nodes is the flexibility of the nodes. Additionally, if there are any critical issues they update us through emails. The issues are taken care of remotely on the system."
"If I consider the overall product, I would say that it is an excellent solution that offers very good performance and stability."
"They are heading in the right direction and moving to integrate everything with a hybrid cloud, and moving workloads back and forth."
"I do like that I can manage StarWind with a console running on my local desktop."
"Overall, the solution has improved our system's performance. I was concerned about the physical-to-virtual conversion of our database server. It's actually much faster now, as a virtualized host on this Hyper-V cluster."
"We also opted for 24-hour support monitoring for any issues. They are extremely quick to respond on issues we even cause ourselves such as bumping a network cable."
"The hardware footprint is perfect. It fits in our rack perfectly, and we were able to condense a lot of physical servers we had. It has greatly eliminated the excess stuff in our server rack..."
"We opted for 24-hour monitoring and support, which has already paid for itself."
"The full suite of redundancy gives a nice sense of security for the whole environment."
"The support is the most valuable feature. The support has been amazing. It's around the clock. One of our hard disks accidentally ejected without me knowing or being onsite. They called and told me about it before I had a chance to see it myself."
"What makes it valuable is the high-availability. In the education field, when you've got students in classrooms, any loss of service disrupts the lessons to a point that the whole lesson is affected. For part of the business which isn't business-critical, to have a little bit of a hiccup wouldn't be such a big thing, but here, it's the high availability of service that is important."
 

Cons

"Improvements in documentation and support resources could enhance the user experience."
"StarWind offers the Enterprise-level high availability (HA), deployed and easily configured .maintain and update and with little to no fuss, even the free version is incredibly capable whilst it brings a the cost of a Highly Available HCI solution down to a very cost effective point" Having used Starwind Virtual SAN for many years both for clients and for internal systems it has always done exactly what it set out to do, provide a cost effect way to run a HCI storage platform for almost any hypervisor, but it is most effective with Hyper-V, simple, easy to use, -.software monitoring should be web based to be reachable from any workstation in VLAN."
"Regular updates to the software are required, and subtle design changes would be welcome."
"The management console of StarWind Virtual SAN is pretty complex."
"I'm sure it needs bug fixes..."
"I would like to see more user-friendly dashboards in future versions."
"I would like to see more monitoring and alert tools."
"I'd love to see native export of metrics (via Prometheus or something of that nature) to allow us to get more metrics available on our existing dashboard software."
"The solution should provide daily task alerts for data recovery maintenance, usage, and other instructions to ensure the systems are in a good status."
"The product's price is an area of concern where improvements are required. The price of Dell vSAN Ready Nodes could be lowered."
"Dell vSAN Ready Nodes doesn't perform as well as IBM. There are significant limitations, especially with scalability and flexibility over time. For example, adding drives can be problematic if the specific drives aren't available with older nodes that are four or five years old. Unlike IBM, Dell vSAN Ready Nodes isn't as flexible and doesn't scale easily. Additionally, while present, features like deduplication and compression don't perform as efficiently as they do on IBM. Our experience shows that the tool isn't as robust or flexible as advertised."
"The deployment is done by doing it one by one and could be simplified."
"The power switch on the hardware is located in a poor location where it can accidentally be pushed. In an update, they should solve this issue so people do not push it accidentally to have their service go down. A possible solution is the switch should be inside."
"Dell EMC vSAN Ready Nodes is a great hyper-converged system that is a perfect platform for supporting any kind of workload. The only workload that it's not designed to support is big data."
"Dell vSAN Ready Nodes' deployment is complex."
"Scalability is an area that could be improved. We are looking at a maximum of 32 nodes now in a cluster, but going to 64 or 128 would be a major advantage."
"Perhaps the initial configuration and documentation could be a little clearer and simpler to follow."
"What would have to be done urgently is the adaptation of the hardware to the configuration."
"It would be nice to have some kind of GUI interface implemented to give you an overall view of the system's health at a glance."
"We'd like an easier setup for Windows updates on the Hyper-V servers so you don't have to use a script to ensure auto-updating is done."
"Although the setup documentation was very complete and succinct, I found StarWind documentation to be a bit sparse."
"We have to pay for support, which is high-end support. That can be expensive, at least for us."
"The only issues are when Hyper V itself has limitations and I'd love to see support or enhancement in the area of direct-attached GPU cards."
"We struggle a little with capacity management with the StarWind Hyperconverged appliance."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It's priced fairly. It was definitely cheaper than the competition. The licensing terms are straightforward and reasonable."
"I think that purchasing StarWind Virtual SAN Professional Edition would be optimal for most."
"Their pricing seems pretty good, and their licensing structure is pretty straightforward."
"The cost takes into account the number of nodes, so the size of the storage is not important."
"Licensing is easy and the whole package is cost-effective."
"We found that the pricing was perfect; simple and clear."
"Once you buy the license, you are free to build your own hardware solution based on your needs."
"This solution has a great price for the functionality."
"The tool's pricing is competitive compared to others. The tool's licensing is based on annual subscriptions."
"My company makes yearly payments towards the licensing charges attached to the solution. The solution is expensive."
"The price of the solution was reasonable."
"There is a problem, which is the lack of an integrated price structure."
"The solution is more expensive than a traditional array. The prices are skyrocketing."
"We have a four-year contract to use Dell EMC vSAN Ready Nodes."
"Comparing the price of Dell vSAN Ready Nodes to other solutions it is not expensive."
"There is a bit of a start-up cost. Having never used HCAs before, I was reluctant to buy it. I would suggest that you jump in and do it, as I wish I hadn't wasted so much time."
"In terms of cost, a storage array is more expensive... For half the cost of Compellent, I got two hosts, more storage, and redundancy."
"We didn't have any issue with pricing or any of the sales process."
"The other solutions we were looking at were priced much higher than this and they didn't necessarily have full redundancy... Nutanix and VxRail were in the final running... but it came down to our price point."
"The HCA price is all-inclusive (setup, hardware, support, warranty), except for your standard Microsoft Server licensing."
"A desired feature or service would be the ability to have a hardware subscription plan that ensures routine hardware updates in conjunction with hyper-converged software."
"I honestly feel that there's no one else in the market doing what they're doing for the price point that they're doing it at. That's why I asked them about investing in their company. I think that the options they're providing and the software that they have is sort of revolutionary for the price point... The total cost was $24,400."
"This was all completed at an affordable price point for an SMB, which was also a key element for an NPO."
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which HCI solutions are best for your needs.
793,295 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
19%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Government
9%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Computer Software Company
16%
Government
10%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
6%
Computer Software Company
18%
Educational Organization
9%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about StarWind Virtual SAN?
It is easy to use and can monitor system synchronization and check Storage status. StarWind Virtual SAN (VSAN) combin...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for StarWind Virtual SAN?
Make the most of your 30-day trial license, and if needed, you should contact the sales department of StarWind to ext...
What needs improvement with StarWind Virtual SAN?
The dashboard is functional, but it could benefit from a more modern and visually appealing design. A facelift would ...
What do you like most about Dell vSAN Ready Nodes?
If I consider the overall product, I would say that it is an excellent solution that offers very good performance and...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Dell vSAN Ready Nodes?
The solution is more expensive than a traditional array. The prices are skyrocketing.
What needs improvement with Dell vSAN Ready Nodes?
Dell vSAN Ready Nodes doesn't perform as well as IBM. There are significant limitations, especially with scalability ...
What do you like most about StarWind HyperConverged Appliance?
StarWind's proactive support is my favorite feature.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for StarWind HyperConverged Appliance?
Keep in mind that StarWind VMs for the vSAN will take up 24GB of memory per host. If you do decide to go with StarWin...
What needs improvement with StarWind HyperConverged Appliance?
I honestly don't have anything to complain about. Nothing is perfect, though, over the past three years, there were t...
 

Also Known As

StarWind SAN & NAS
vSAN Ready Nodes
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Baker Tilly BVI, CMS Internet, Board Harpeth Hall School
Rackspace
Sears Home and Franchise Business
Find out what your peers are saying about Dell vSAN Ready Nodes vs. StarWind HyperConverged Appliance and other solutions. Updated: July 2024.
793,295 professionals have used our research since 2012.