Our primary use case is as a virtual storage area network for server clusters and file storage in a production environment for our company.
Works
Reduces costs by negating the need for additional equipment and services
Pros and Cons
- "StarWind Virtual SAN is a very easy-to-use solution that can be quickly and easily deployed and configured without intimate and specific knowledge in the virtualization sphere."
- "StarWind currently has a Windows native application that it uses for management. There is not a web-based GUI at this time."
What is our primary use case?
How has it helped my organization?
This solution reduces the cost of additional equipment and services for the creation and development of corporate infrastructure.
What is most valuable?
StarWind Virtual SAN was designed with virtualization workloads in mind. It employs server-side Flash/RAM caches and minimalist/short I/O path to provide performance unmatched by typical virtual appliances and physical shared storage.
What needs improvement?
StarWind currently has a Windows native application that it uses for management. There is not a web-based GUI at this time. This may be a choice to reduce the services running on the storage nodes but does seem like it would be a good alternative.
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StarWind Virtual SAN
November 2024
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824,053 professionals have used our research since 2012.
For how long have I used the solution?
More than five years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
I feel that this solution is very stable.
How are customer service and support?
Qualified online support specialists are always ready to help.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We did not use a different solution before this one.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We evaluated VMware before settling on this product.
What other advice do I have?
A thorough analysis and testing of existing offerings in the network storage market has shown that StarWind Virtual SAN is the perfect network storage solution.
It provides the necessary fault tolerance and continuance of business processes.
StarWind Virtual SAN is a very easy-to-use solution that can be quickly and easily deployed and configured without intimate and specific knowledge in the virtualization sphere.
Moreover, the manufacturer's website has detailed documentation that helps to resolve issues. In cases when the documentation is not enough, qualified online support specialists are always ready to help.
In the test environment, the product has shown excellent results and currently is implemented in a production environment.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
IT Department Manager/Senior IT Administrator at Synergium Sweden AB
Performs well, quick to set up, stable, and good technical support
Pros and Cons
- "Quick setup, great support, stability is great"
- "Having more support plan options would be nice."
High performance while eliminating the single point of failure.
Our previous physical SAN was outdated and wasn't able to keep up with our needs. It was a single point of failure as well, so we started looking for another solution to replace it. Once we started searching, we found really good reviews and recommendations on StarWind VSAN.
After some consulting, we chose them and weren't disappointed. The overall experience is really good, and Starwind VSAN has been working rock-solid from the launch.
We are especially happy with the pre-sales help, where all of our questions were answered quickly and accurately. The installation and initial configuration were quick. The deployment was completed by StarWind support and everything worked as promised.
Pros: Quick setup, great support, stability is great.
Cons: Having more support plan options would be nice.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Buyer's Guide
StarWind Virtual SAN
November 2024
Learn what your peers think about StarWind Virtual SAN. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: November 2024.
824,053 professionals have used our research since 2012.
High Availability with a friendly user interface and straightforward installation
Pros and Cons
- "User friendly interface and straight forward implementation."
- "They recommend RAID10 for HDD, which reduces the usable storage capacity."
What is our primary use case?
StarWind is cost effective. There's no need to purchase additional hardware as shared storage. They have great technical support.
How has it helped my organization?
We saved money because we did not have to purchase shared storage and we benefited from high availability in our Hyper-V environment.
What is most valuable?
It has a user-friendly interface and a straightforward implementation.
Support is great and their staff is experienced.
What needs improvement?
They recommend RAID 10 for HDD which reduces the usable storage capacity. If they could improve this area, it will be of great benefit in terms of storage.
For how long have I used the solution?
More than five years.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Cost is affordable and licensing is smooth.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We chose this product based on its good reviews.
What other advice do I have?
Support is very good.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
The unlimited capacity license is a very good feature
What is our primary use case?
We had decentralized storage, inefficient storage and computer utilization, non-utilization of VMware vSphere advanced features like HA, FT, vMotion which require shared storage like StarWind.
How has it helped my organization?
StarWind VSAN provided us an efficient performance with HA. We tried other solutions as well and found StarWind’s VSAN easy to install and manage. The unlimited capacity license is also a very good feature.
What is most valuable?
- StarWind’s VSAN applications for VMware
- Easy to install and manage
- The unlimited capacity license is also a very good feature.
What needs improvement?
- A detailed performance monitoring of the storage system.
- A tool/wizard which analyzes the installed system and its configuration and gives a recommendation for improvement.
For how long have I used the solution?
One to three years.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
IT at SOMIAC
Increased server stability and the technical support is thorough
Pros and Cons
- "In addition to the main functions of the software, I want to note the excellent work of technical support."
- "Perhaps the developer should refine the product management through PowerShell."
What is our primary use case?
We use this solution for a High-Availability cluster for Hyper-V on two nodes. We are running on Windows Server 2016.
How has it helped my organization?
StarWind Virtual SAN allowed us to increase the fault tolerance of our servers, which resulted in greater user loyalty.
What is most valuable?
In addition to the main functions of the software, I want to note the excellent work of technical support.
What needs improvement?
Perhaps the developer should refine the product management through PowerShell. It is not entirely clear and there quite a bit of documentation.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using this solution for two years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
We have been using the product for a long time and have not seen any glitches.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
We plan to implement this solution on seventy servers in our branches. StarWind Virtual SAN allows you to do this quickly and it is not expensive.
How are customer service and technical support?
Technical support works very responsibly when we have questions. They connected remotely to our servers, performed an analysis and made detailed recommendations.
How was the initial setup?
The initial installation was easy since there are very detailed instructions for almost every server configuration.
What about the implementation team?
I managed to implement everything myself.
What other advice do I have?
I think the software is very good.
At the moment, I have not encountered problems that I could not solve.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
IT Manager at a retailer with 51-200 employees
A cost-effective HA solution to solve the problem of expanding local storage
Pros and Cons
- "StarWind allowed us to deploy highly available shared storage within our budget."
- "I would like to see more monitoring and alert tools."
What is our primary use case?
We are using a two-node StarWind VSAN cluster on a Dell 720xds. The StarWind VSAN helps us to better leverage the computing power of our ESXi hosts and helped solve the problem of expanding local storage.
How has it helped my organization?
StarWind allowed us to deploy highly available shared storage within our budget. Other solutions were far too costly.
What is most valuable?
The HA clustering and the ability to run on our own equipment have been the most valuable.
What needs improvement?
I would like to see more monitoring and alert tools. StarWind offers a management console to configure the and monitor the servers, setting up SMTP alerts would be a plus.
For how long have I used the solution?
Less than one year.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We evaluated other options and this one was the most cost-effective.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Works at a consumer goods company with 51-200 employees
Active-active HA provides top performance and redundancy
Pros and Cons
- "Active-active HA provides top performance and redundancy."
- "An update caused a syncing issue and it took over a month to resolve it"
What is our primary use case?
StarWind is used as the primary storage for three VMware hosts. It is running as a two node cluster for HA.
How has it helped my organization?
StarWind has provided an active-active HA storage system that keeps our systems running 24/7. We have the ability to keep everything up even when maintenance is required for updating the cluster or underlying OS/hardware issues.
What is most valuable?
My favorite feature, active-active HA, provides top performance and redundancy. Administration consists of patching/updating the product a few times a year but otherwise it simply works.
What needs improvement?
I haven't had a lot of interaction with support. My only complaint is that an update caused a syncing issue and it took over a month to resolve it. Every other time I have used support, it has been for a training/configuration question and was not time sensitive. They normally responded to those requests within 24 hours.
For how long have I used the solution?
Three to five years.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I switched from a Synology HA cluster after it had a split-brain situation and their tech support couldn't tell me why the issue occurred.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
StarWind was the least expensive option I considered. Their maintenance cost is reasonable.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
I looked at a number of other options including EMC, NetApp, Dell, HPE, etc.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
IT Manager at a construction company with 11-50 employees
It allows us to have an HA clustered environment with redundancy and scalability
Pros and Cons
- "Ten gigabit Ethernet compatibility, support, ease of use, and management are some positive features."
- "Updates seem to be non-existent."
What is our primary use case?
We use StarWind vSAN software storage solutions to run two hypervisors in an HA clustered environment.
How has it helped my organization?
This is a cost effective solution that allows us to have an HA clustered environment with redundancy and scalability. Storage has been very stable, and without issues, failures, or bugs.
What is most valuable?
Ten gigabit Ethernet compatibility, support, ease of use, and management. This solution can be used with hardware RAID. Additionally, there are many white papers and informational studies about how to utilize the software.
What needs improvement?
Updates seem to be non-existent. The software is stable, but I do not get any updates or emails about new releases.
For how long have I used the solution?
Less than one year.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Buyer's Guide
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Updated: November 2024
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Buyer's Guide
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