Christopher Morley - PeerSpot reviewer
Founder and Consultant at Unified Microsystems
Real User
Great technical and installation support with great high availability
Pros and Cons
  • "Given the high availability of the server cluster, we were able to reduce separate physical servers onto one hyper-converged cluster - this saved in OPEX and CAPEX costs immediately, along with licensing costs of the Windows Server licenses."
  • "The documentation could be clearer in terms of explaining the installation."

What is our primary use case?

The product is for clients who require high availability of their servers, from file servers and domain controllers, through to line of business applications.

I've done installations of two-node HA clusters running Windows Server Hyper-V. With the HA cluster we then ran virtual machines, both Windows Desktop, Windows Server, CentOS and Ubuntu. We have installed on pysical servers with both DELL PowerEdge and HP Proliant server hardware (Windows clustering requires exact server hardware to be matched - so two-node DELL, and two-node HP).

How has it helped my organization?

As an MSP, stability is important for our clients. StarWind's virtual SAN solution has allowed us to have an always-on architecture allowing survivability of hardware failure. We install it for all clients who need high availability of their virtual servers on-premise.

Given the high availability of the server cluster, we were able to reduce separate physical servers onto one hyper-converged cluster - this saved in OPEX and CAPEX costs immediately, along with licensing costs of the Windows Server licenses.

What is most valuable?

We have multiple sites running StarWindws Virtual SAN, which have been running for years without any issue.

The thing that impressed me the most about the product is the technical support from the vendor. Everyone knows the benefit of high-availability clusters, but setting one up and reading the documentation is an enormous task in itself.

With StarWind Virtual SAN and the installation support, we have high-availability clusters running within a couple of hours. This has been repeated over and over on many customer sites, so they have their process perfected in this regard.

What needs improvement?

The documentation could be clearer in terms of explaining the installation, although I will make two comments on this.

The high availability of virtual SAN is by its very nature not a simple drop-in thing, so the documentation will understandably be complex.

Secondly, the installation process is completely guided and done remotely by StarWind certified installation engineers, who handle all aspects.

Given the above, the only thing I can really say needs improvement is that I am not keen on the pricing per storage tier model, however, understand this is a common model charged.

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For how long have I used the solution?

I've done multiple client installations over five years.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

No, there was no other solution that we have tried.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

Consider how much space you will need as pricing is per node and data.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

No, we found the price point compelling, which led to immediately trying StarWinds versus traditional SAN costs from DELL and HP, etc.

What other advice do I have?

Overall it has been a great product and company to work with for the past five years and many more to come.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: We are an MSP and resell StarWinds Virtual SAN as one of our technology vendors for our customers.
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reviewer2120202 - PeerSpot reviewer
User at Hilal Computers
User
Easy onboarding, good integration capabilities, and high availability on offer
Pros and Cons
  • "Integration with virtualization platforms helped us to resolve many issues we were facing while using the physical storage."
  • "The platform needs to improve user management and the web console."

What is our primary use case?

We were using traditional physical storage for our environment, and it was costly for us. On top of that, the performance was not satisfactory. We started using the StarWind vSAN for virtual storage. 

It is cost-effective and has amazing features. The capacity to scale assets to address changing issues and upgrade execution contrasted with conventional capacity arrangements and therefore is another positive aspect when utilizing StarWind Virtual SAN

Utilizing the StarWind Virtual SAN gave us a more steady and adaptable arrangement. I noticed a persistent upgrade in the functionalities of the StarWind Virtual SAN, so its development is great.

How has it helped my organization?

We were facing issues with high availability and the integration of virtualization platforms then we started using StarWind vSAN to help us improve the high availability and the integration with the virtualization platform. 

StarWind Virtual SAN permitted me to have extraordinary adaptability in making an exceptionally basic framework, where I could gather total independence over vSAN, yet connect it so that it was fit for working with the VMware Hypervisor. That way, I had a more powerful and dependable framework.

What is most valuable?

The high availability features helped with storage availability 24/7.

Integration with virtualization platforms helped us to resolve many issues we were facing while using the physical storage.

StarWind Virtual SAN is great for a financially savvy arrangement if you're utilizing Hyper-V or VMware. 

Thanks to a simple execution, you can save your expenses and convey the product with your inner sources with the help of a merchant.

The onboarding is effortless. Setting up and designing the Virtual SAN is clear, with an easy-to-use interface that makes it simple to oversee and screen the capacity climate.

We have an elite execution. StarWind Virtual SAN can convey quick, dependable capacity for virtual machines. Its abiluty to use nearby capacity as a component of a profoundly accessible capacity group assists with guaranteeing superior execution.

What needs improvement?

The platform needs to improve user management and the web console. 

Improved help for more up-to-date advancements would be ideal. As fresher innovations and guidelines arise, it tends to be provoking programming suppliers to keep up. 

While StarWind Virtual SAN, by and large, works effectively to support the most recent advancements, there might be a few regions where it lingers behind the opposition. Further developing help for fresher advances could assist the product with remaining cutthroat and pertinent.

Upgraded investigating capacities are needed. While the product incorporates a scope of symptomatic and investigating devices, there might be a few regions where it very well may be gotten to the next level. For instance, giving more nitty gritty mistake messages or better direction on the most proficient method to determine issues could be useful for clients.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using the StarWind vSAN solution for the last six months and I found this product exceptional and amazing for virtual storage.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
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Buyer's Guide
StarWind Virtual SAN
March 2023
Learn what your peers think about StarWind Virtual SAN. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: March 2023.
688,618 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Luca Bertellini - PeerSpot reviewer
Cardio Solution Architect EMEA at General Electric
Real User
Top 10
Great features with excellent support and very good pricing
Pros and Cons
  • "The license price is one of the cheapest in the market."
  • "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."

What is our primary use case?

The primary use case we had was covering with StarWind vSAN was to provide customers with a redundant solution that was able to guarantee flexibility. In terms of physical storage, we can aggregate in order to provide a redundant, replicated solution. At the same time, we were looking to keep the total cost of ownership as low as possible as the customer may have multiple venues to cover with the same schema of the system. 

With StarWind vSAN we were able to set a simple 2-node cluster leveraging the internal disks to create a replicated vSAN - eliminating any SPOF at a reasonable price.

How has it helped my organization?

StarWind, compared to other competitors in the market and in the same range of price, allows us to design system plans with the resilience of enterprise-grade storage, however, we are able to use smaller storage even at the consumer level. This makes us more competitive as the total price of the offered solution was comparable to a usual non-HA system yet with all the resilience features that StarWind is bringing with its product. This combination of low price with enterprise-grade HA features is key in the market.

What is most valuable?

There are tons of valuable features that StarWind vSAN brings to the table. It is very difficult to choose one to be raised as a role model.

The unique capability to create a vSAN on a 2-node cluster while all the other competitors will require users to have at least an external witness to set the Virtual SAN.

The service team is very collaborative and skilled and followed us from the implementation to the go-live of the system constantly.

The license price is one of the cheapest in the market.

What needs improvement?

The price is the key aspect (yet not at the expense of reliability and stability). It is not so easy to find an aspect where StarWind can improve their offering or any additional feature they can include for the price they ask. 

I know that StarWind can scale out easily, however, I wasn't in the position to test that. 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. 

For how long have I used the solution?

I've used the solution for more than one year.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to test the scalability aspect.

How was the initial setup?

As it was driven by StarWind reps, it was running very smoothly.

What about the implementation team?

There's nothing to finger point on the StarWind team. They were great.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We also evaluated StorMagic, VMware vSAN, and Datacore.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Adam Charlton - PeerSpot reviewer
DevOps Engineer at Slimming World
Real User
Top 10
Good performance gains, a painless setup, and fantastic support
Pros and Cons
  • "Immediately we noticed huge performance gains, even on older hardware and once we implemented a 10GB link between both servers, the sync was near-instant after the initial sync was complete."
  • "The logs can also become very noisy when there is an issue, which is very infrequent."

What is our primary use case?

After deploying a HA SQL Failover Cluster, we started to notice performance issues due to our storage, which was an off-the-shelf NAS.

I had already heard about StarWind and its VSAN software from previous blogs.

A VSAN solution seems like an ideal solution as we already had the hardware, minus the disks required. We already had two Dell R540's with six available bays in each server.

After reviewing their documentation, the setup process was simple enough to follow and so I decided to run a little test environment.

How has it helped my organization?

I was pleasantly surprised by the performance gains even on spinning disks and the overall setup being fairly painless.

I decided to go ahead with this solution, got the cost signed off, and implemented it in production.

We had some initial issues, however, their support was extremely helpful in resolving these and was very patient as we deployed this to a secure environment with no internet access. Yet they still offered support and worked closely with a single point of contact.

I then later moved to a different company and implement a similar solution in the Oracle Cloud using their free offering, again this was simple to set up using their collection of PowerShell scripts.

What is most valuable?

Immediately we noticed huge performance gains, even on older hardware and once we implemented a 10GB link between both servers, the sync was near-instant after the initial sync was complete.

In addition, their support contact was fantastic. They spent several hours troubleshooting an issue with me and due to the complexity of our environment this only made it more challenging, yet they were persistent and helped resolved any issues

Additionally, their white papers were a great starting point to get started.

What needs improvement?

The forums can lead to lots of topics with no resolutions.

The logs can also become very noisy when there is an issue, which is very infrequent. However, when they do occur, it makes it very challenging to figure out what the cause is.

A feature that would be helpful, is a way to update the software automatically on all the hosts. Instead, you must find the download link, which in itself can be challenging, and then manually upgrade each server one by one. This process can take a while depending on the time to resync your VDISKS. 

For how long have I used the solution?

For about 3 years, in which I deployed it in 2 companies.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

Previously we were using a Synology NAS

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

Try the free version and see if it meets your requirements. 

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

I did look at purchasing EqualLogic, however, the cost of that hardware would be far greater than StarWind's

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Jordi - PeerSpot reviewer
Netwerkbeheerder at a construction company with 201-500 employees
User
Robust and easy to manage with great support
Pros and Cons
  • "Starwind support is excellent. They are very fast and have very good knowledge of Starwind and Hyper-V Cluster software."
  • "If it's possible to make a driver/solution that does not make use of the iSCSI targets of Windows, that would be great. I don't know if that's possible, however, it could make the configuration a little easier."

What is our primary use case?

We are using Starwind as a virtual SAN Solution for our Microsoft Hyper-V Cluster environment. We have multiple clusters in a couple of different locations over the country. 

We wanted a robust HA environment that could run all of our servers on one node without the need for a third witness and without multiple other SAN appliances that need to be managed by a small IT team. We want to make a HA solution with a KIS (Keep it Simple) approach and Starwind has managed to accomplish this for a reasonable price.

How has it helped my organization?

We were previously using HP Storevirtual which was very hard to configure and support and the performance was very bad, plus updating was horrible.

We wanted a simple robust easy-to-manage HA software and have been using a Starwind Virtual SAN (vSAN) at two production locations with a Hyper-V Cluster for almost five years now. It has given us very good performance and hasn't had any issues in the past few years.

Starwind support is excellent. They are very fast and have very good knowledge of Starwind and Hyper-V Cluster software.

What is most valuable?

What we like best about it is that it is the only true two-node Hyper-V cluster solution that's available. On both production locations, we have a two-node setup over two different server rooms.

Our main goal was that we wanted to have all VM servers available on one cluster host in case of a disaster in one of our server rooms.

Microsoft SSD (Storage Space Direct) always needs a third witness (SMB or Cloud), however, in our two-node solution, this is not ideal. Directly connected fiber connections between the nodes make everything fast and make the chance of a cluster split-brain fault less likely.

Pros include:
- Starwind Support will install and configure the software;
- Starwind will do the updates for you, and this all without any downtime of hosts/VMs
- It's the only a two-node cluster scenario available
- It is compatible with the latest Windows Server versions

What needs improvement?

I don't think there is much change needed with Starwind vSAN. The product works very well as it is. I haven't got any new features that I would like to add. 

If it's possible to make a driver/solution that does not make use of the iSCSI targets of Windows, that would be great. I don't know if that's possible, however, it could make the configuration a little easier.

The support is excellent and all the people I've contacted have good knowledge of the product. There is nothing to change there. 

For how long have I used the solution?

I've had eight years of experience with the product, and five years of using it at my current company.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
CEO, Founder at a tech services company with 1-10 employees
User
Top 10
Cost-effective, fast and helpful support, and offers real-time replication between servers
Pros and Cons
  • "The most valuable features are high availability and real-time replication between two servers."
  • "The StarWind Management Console is available only for Microsoft Windows/Windows Server, and should also be available for Linux and macOS, as it would reduce implementation costs."

What is our primary use case?

Our hardware is located in one of the largest data centers in the country, where we have high availability services for our company. Our internal systems include VPN, hosting services like website, email, database, DNS, FTP/SFTP, and SMB/CIFS.

Replication is between two servers with SAS and SSD storage, based on Dell servers. Network connectivity is 40GE for data synchronization and1GE for the heartbeat, directly connected.

We are using WMware vSphere as a hypervisor. This solution is highly scalable and cost effective.

How has it helped my organization?

This solution improves many areas in our company including performance, data availability, and data security.

StarWind VSAN allows us to build high availability and real-time replication, even between two servers. It offers multiple scaling and replication capabilities and includes health and performance monitoring tools. For this reason, we can build highly available services for our company, which are currently essential for the organization's activities.

Our current implementation allows us to maintain the company's production continuity and to maintain constant access to data processed by the company.

What is most valuable?

The most valuable features are high availability and real-time replication between two servers. StarWind VSAN immediately copies all data to the second server over the 10GE/40GE network to ensure instant failover. Multiple connections can be made for the heartbeat. 

What needs improvement?

The StarWind Management Console is available only for Microsoft Windows/Windows Server, and should also be available for Linux and macOS, as it would reduce implementation costs.

For how long have I used the solution?

We have been using StarWind Virtual SAN for one year.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

This product is very stable.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The scalability of StarWind Virtual SAN is very good.

How are customer service and technical support?

StarWind support is amazing. They are helpful and respond very quickly.

Support is available via teleconference, as well as online. They not only assist with the selection of the appropriate solution but also, help with testing and production implementation.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We did not use another solution prior to this one.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup was straightforward. It was done via teleconference, which made it very simple.

What about the implementation team?

The vendor team assisted us with deployment using teleconference technology. They have a high level of knowledge and skill.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The StarWind VSAN business model is very cost-effective.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We evaluated VMware vSAN and StorMagic.

What other advice do I have?

The StarWind VSAN product is very well developed in many areas.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Lead Network Engineer at consulting group
User
Top 20
It's easy to configure and manage from the GUI console
Pros and Cons
  • "Virtual SAN runs on iSCSI, which is free and easy to configure. It's easy to manage from StarWind's GUI console, and it only required a few extra switch ports."
  • "It would be helpful if StarWind provided more precise and detailed documentation explaining how to configure the solution in various scenarios, including the advantages and disadvantages of each."

What is our primary use case?

We're using Starwind as a failover cluster for load balancing and increased availability.

How has it helped my organization?

We had no failover solution before, so if our standalone VMware server went down, we'd be out of operation until we restored from backup. Now we have a Hyper-V cluster with shared storage. We can lose one server and stay online. Failover happens smoothly, recovery and maintenance are less stressful, and we no longer need to worry about downtime. When we tested StarWind, we confirmed that the high availability performs as expected. That level of confidence helps me sleep better at night. 

What is most valuable?

We only had to purchase two new servers and no other storage or networking equipment. Virtual SAN runs on iSCSI, which is free and easy to configure. It's easy to manage from StarWind's GUI console, and it only required a few extra switch ports. StarWind has specialized in storage solutions for many years, and its track record reassures us that the solution will continue to exist and be supported in the future. I scheduled an interactive validation and tuning session before we went live. I found this to be very valuable, and it proved to us how much the company is committed to its product.

What needs improvement?

It would be helpful if StarWind provided more precise and detailed documentation explaining how to configure the solution in various scenarios, including the advantages and disadvantages of each. 

I'd also like a mechanism for notifying us when updates are available as well as a visual interface for iSCSI and physical storage. A mobile app for alerts and notifications would be helpful, too. We should still have access to security patches even if we don't pay for support. Lastly, StarWind should make it easier to perform an orderly shutdown of the entire environment in a power outage when everything is running on battery.

For how long have I used the solution?

We've been using StarWind Virtual SAN for less than a year

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We had an old standalone VMware server hosting several virtual machines that we wanted to replace with something highly available at a low cost. I researched and found StarWind Virtual SAN to be the best solution. We only had to purchase two new servers and no other storage or networking equipment. 

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

I'd recommend purchasing at least one year of support. It helps to have support on the initial configuration.

What other advice do I have?

I rate StarWind Virtual SAN nine out of 10. 

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
IT Manager at a manufacturing company with 51-200 employees
User
Easy to manage with 100% uptime and an easy interface
Pros and Cons
  • "It's quite easy to manage."
  • "Security on the ISCSI protocol could be improved by adding features like OS-type control access, especially for the data center environment."

What is our primary use case?

We have been running Starwind Virtual SAN in a production environment since 2009 with VMware.

We run all types of software on top of Starwind (Different types of databases, factory software, security software, ERP, etc.).

We don't have performance issues with the software in fact it responds more than enough to our needs.

Since we are a mid-size company; Starwind is perfect for us.

Not everything is great, in the very first editions (a long time ago) there were some annoying issues with the software however, naturally, it evolved.

How has it helped my organization?

For us, in the last six or seven years, the uptime has been 100%. It has proven to be a great choice for us and of great value for money.

There are no future plans in changing to a different solution.

We have had Starwind in our infrastructure for about 13 years. It's easy to manage and understand. You can learn it very fast.

For those that aren't familiar with it, they can do a trial try and I am sure users will be surprised at how well it works. It has been a great investment!

What is most valuable?

Our Datacenter is based on VMware vCenter and initially, after some testing with other vendors and VMware vSAN itself, Starwind, in our case, was a better solution. We prefer to have the storage layer separated from the hypervisor kernel.

We have also products in our Datacenter like VxRail, however, in an honest storage level, in comparison, Starwind has an easier interface.

It's quite easy to manage. Good storage hardware is a must in our case, however, you can also run it in a software solution despite not being recommended in some cases.

What needs improvement?

Like many solutions today, Starwind should focus a bit on the alarmists of the product.

There are so many potential alarmistic features and protocols that should be incorporated into the software.

Security on the ISCSI protocol could be improved by adding features like OS-type control access, especially for the data center environment.

I have seen 13 years of evolution in the product. Previously, it was short in features. Many customers' requests have been done. I do hope the solution continues to evolve in this way. 

For how long have I used the solution?

I've used the solution for more than 12 years.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

The solution offers good value for money.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

Licensing needs to consider future needs.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We also looked at Microsoft and Dell.

What other advice do I have?

The solution is very stable.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Download our free StarWind Virtual SAN Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.
Updated: March 2023
Buyer's Guide
Download our free StarWind Virtual SAN Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.