What is our primary use case?
One of the biggest hydroelectric power plants in the world asked us to prepare a project using HA Virtualization for environmental weather monitoring. In this project, we used three hosts virtualized by VMWare ESXI+VCenter (Essential Plus License). However, one of the prerequisites was that it should be able to integrate with other preexisting virtualized systems that were deployed by other suppliers and use other hypervisors like HyperV or Proxmox. That is where StarWind Virtual SAN comes in. It is really flexible and reliable. We were able to assemble this pilot project using it, and it is in testing, so far, without failures or any malfunctions. It is really an excellent solution.
How has it helped my organization?
The flexibility of StarWind Virtual San allowed us to create a system that is integrated into pre-existing solutions and is also independent of VMware itself, making it more reliable and robust.
It made the system much easier to operate, maintain and manage inside the data center alongside many other systems. It is very easy to migrate the entire virtual system to other hosts or other data centers safely.
It is really a good solution when you need to be flexible and, at the same time, reliable in a critical system.
What is most valuable?
First of all, the flexibility and reliability are great.
The ability to be managed by PowerShell scripts made the management of the system really easy and efficient. We're able to do remote operations or even some operations different from the standard ones (allowed by the GUI).
It also runs under a Windows OS, so it is able to be installed in any virtualized system, independent from the Hypervisor itself.
The available GUI is excellent for monitoring and operating the system in an easy and direct way. It also makes it very easy to deploy and configure.
It has good documentation, and I did not need technical support once during the entire deployment.
What needs improvement?
It should be improved in the way it detects the right filesystem image after a complete shutdown of the system or in the case of disaster recovery. I would also recommend an easier way to back up/restore and export the filesystem images.
Another feature that I would like to see implemented is a configurable email alert and report system. While it can be managed using Powershell, it would not be hard at all to configure reports using PowerShell scripts, it would be nice to have some additional features in the GUI.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've used the solution for about two years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It is really stable and reliable. It perfectly fits our solution with an active-active failover solution.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The free version is limited, so it is not so scalable. If you need more scalability, you have different license options from the paid versions and the cost is totally worth it.
How are customer service and support?
I did not need any service and support as it is really well documented.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We also used VMware VSAN and Nutanix. The StarWind Virtual SAN seems to be more flexible and easier to manage in the case we were developing.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup took about ten days. This included the studying of the documentation, setup, testing, and commissioning. It is well-documented and really easy to operate.
What about the implementation team?
We handled the initial setup in-house.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The Star Wind Virtual SAN has a free/trial version that can be used for study and is suitable for simple solutions. The pricing for the paid versions is really worth it. When you need flexibility and reliability with good technical support, you are paying for what you get.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We also evaluated VMware vSAN.
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.