Microsoft Storage Spaces Direct vs StarWind Virtual SAN comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary
 

Categories and Ranking

Microsoft Storage Spaces Di...
Ranking in Software Defined Storage (SDS)
8th
Average Rating
7.2
Number of Reviews
8
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
StarWind Virtual SAN
Ranking in Software Defined Storage (SDS)
1st
Average Rating
9.6
Number of Reviews
185
Ranking in other categories
HCI (4th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2024, in the Software Defined Storage (SDS) category, the mindshare of Microsoft Storage Spaces Direct is 10.2%, up from 7.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of StarWind Virtual SAN is 9.2%, up from 6.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Software Defined Storage (SDS)
Unique Categories:
No other categories found
HCI
2.1%
 

Featured Reviews

Grzegorz Kedziora - PeerSpot reviewer
Apr 29, 2024
The initial setup is straightforward, but the solution has strict compatibility methods
I use this solution to make a few-to-one storage from the internal disk to the servers The integration is not difficult because there is no GUI, but we need to use a PowerShell command. This makes it difficult to monitor and to see the components' statuses. There are strict compatibility methods.…
FE
Mar 8, 2024
Good monitoring and configuring capabilities but disaster recovery documentation is sparse
My impression has been mostly positive. However, there have been some pitfalls. For example, it runs until it does not - and disaster recovery documentation is sparse and mostly unclear. This consequently follows a long learning curve and can take some time until this can be done efficiently. The feature log-structured file system has been removed. While I have not used it, I know some colleagues who have reported some performance benefits under certain circumstances. Additionally, vSAN does not offer extended SAN features like inline deduplication, compression, or S3-compatible access, which is part of most modern SAN feature sets, also in hyper-converged scenarios.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"It's mainly about the storage expansion, like in hyper-converged solutions."
"The flash ability, in terms of tiering and caching, is amazing"
"The most valuable feature are the caching capabilities using the storage class memory."
"The most valuable feature is that there is no single point of failure."
"The performance, reliability, and affordability has been most valuable."
"Its technical support is excellent."
"The initial setup is straightforward."
"The most useful aspect is the hyper-converged SD SAN and the ease to expand it by just adding cheap SSD or NVME disks."
"Active-active work mode leads to true redundancy of storage and allows us to distribute the load between multiple nodes."
"StarWind Virtual SAN can improve an organization's storage infrastructure by providing high availability, scalability, cost-effectiveness, performance, and ease of use."
"StarWind vSAN has allowed us to grow rapidly while still providing flexibility and reliability."
"It provides shared storage to multiple hypervisor hosts. Times had changed, however. StarWind Virtual SAN is the “software replaces hardware” for SAN. We have access control and CCTV systems up and running using Microsoft clustering and shared storage"
"A typical system administrator with minimal experience in Hyper-V, VMware, or Windows can do VSAN configuration and maintain VSAN operations."
"StarWind saved us about 80% of our storage costs over our old solution."
"StarWind vSAN is easy to deploy and administer."
 

Cons

"I think the online documentation needs a lot of work and so do the sizing tools."
"More optimization could be done in terms of mirroring."
"The integration is not difficult because there is no GUI, but we need to use a PowerShell command. This makes it difficult to monitor and to see the components' statuses."
"Documentation management could be improved"
"It is difficult to get a hardware compatibility certification for the solution."
"It is scalable, but only beyond two nodes. If I go for two nodes it's not scalable. I need to build a complete cluster from the beginning if I'm going for two nodes."
"The management tool within this solution could be improved. We would also like to be able to access services like Azure when using this solution."
"While we had no problems setting the system up, and service technicians from StarWind could assist us very well, they could provide some form of in-depth documentation."
"With data verification, I would like to know how does the solution perform validation of data being synced between two VSANs."
"When you will cease your contract with StarWind (for support) your product won't be updated and that is a big selling point, especially for us, as we have loads of products from StarWind."
"If there was one feature I would like to see it would be a built-in subsystem for managing UPS backups shutdown procedures providing a way to initiate VM shutdown on all host servers, shut down the host servers, then put the fault-tolerant mirroring in standby, and finally shut down the StarWind SANs."
"It is not very clear within the StarWind Management Console or the StarWind support documentation how to perform maintenance on a single node in a two-node HA cluster."
"I would like an automated installation/configuration despite the fact that their service is very collaborative, a customer should be able to deploy the solution by themselves."
"This product could be improved with the inclusion of new health check procedures."
"It would be good to have a little more access to control certain aspects within the UI."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"With the data center licensing and everything that is connected to that, this solution is relatively costly."
"Cost-wise the product is one of the more affordable within the category of products."
"The solution is expensive."
"Licensing is based on nodes rather than TBs, which means that the users are free to increase storage capacity without putting thought into licensing."
"This is a good, economical solution compared to data storage systems."
"It's priced fairly. It was definitely cheaper than the competition. The licensing terms are straightforward and reasonable."
"This is the best priced solution for an SMB."
"The licensing is straightforward, with free and trial versions available."
"For two nodes, it cost us $10,000, and we spend $2,000 a year on support."
"I think the cost of this solution is quite fair."
"The cost takes into account the number of nodes, so the size of the storage is not important."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
15%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Government
9%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Computer Software Company
19%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Government
9%
Financial Services Firm
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

How does VMware vSAN compare with Microsoft Storage Spaces Direct?
We found VMware’s vSAN was easy to set up, configure, and manage compared to other solutions we considered. It is best suited for small- to medium-sized organizations. It is easy to create load bal...
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) combines flash and disks of the cluster and forms a virtual shared storage “pool” acce...
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 extend the trial license or upgrade to a full license.
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 not only enhance the overall aesthetics but also improve user experience by maki...
 

Also Known As

MS Storage Spaces Direct
StarWind SAN & NAS
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Acuutech, Quest Technology Management, Bradley, Mead & Hunt
Baker Tilly BVI, CMS Internet, Board Harpeth Hall School
Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft Storage Spaces Direct vs. StarWind Virtual SAN and other solutions. Updated: July 2024.
793,295 professionals have used our research since 2012.