StarWind Virtual SAN Reviews

This solution replaced some old IBM DS 3400 SANs that we had for many years and we used it to build new, highly available storage. Most of our servers use Hyper-V, and this solution is the storage backbone for our Hyper-V Clusters.

We use the virtual SAN piece of the solution because we're not hyper-converged, so I value the highly available storage that all of my clustered servers can see and utilize.

I had an occasion last year where I needed emergency support from them, and the support we normally pay for didn't cover it. I had to buy upgraded support, which was not a problem, but it wasn't a prorated amount, so I paid for the support, the full upgrade, but I only got a couple of months out of it because it was only good until renewal time. That kind of thing should either be prorated or extended past the renewal time, so whenever you buy it, you get a year's worth of upgraded support. That's my only real problem with them. Otherwise, I think they're pretty good.

I have been using this solution for five years.

The solution has been stable.

The solution is scalable. The version I have has unlimited storage, so as long as I have the space in my servers to add storage, then the solution will support it.

The initial setup was easy, but mainly because we didn't do it ourselves. We had the support team work through it with us when we set it up, and just by working with their support, we got everything up and running. Once we had the hardware set up and ready to go, it took a half a day or so to get everything configured with the install. Then, because of the size of our volumes, it took several days for them to sync, but we did the initial setup in a day.

Once the solution is set, you kind of forget about it because you don't need to touch it that often. Anytime I've needed to get back in there and add more volumes, or if I have any problems, I just call their support team, and we work through it together, so it's been pretty easy. I imagine if someone had to deal with it daily, it would probably be pretty easy to understand and work with, but we don't touch it that much.

ROI is difficult to quantify because we used this solution to replace really old IBM SAN hardware. We can do everything that we need to do with it, and I've had it five years and other than one time that I had to upgrade support, I've had to pay nothing extra. I consider the cost of ownership low, because anybody who has to have on-premises storage, especially if you want to be compliant with backups, needs something like this and I'm sure there's other solutions out there that do it, but this is what we chose and it's worked perfectly.

I have the Enterprise version, which has unlimited storage, and we have two nodes, or two servers where all the storage is replicated to each other. For two nodes, it cost us $10,000, and we spend $2,000 a year on support. If you want higher tier support, that will cost a little more.

To any who are considering this solution, I'd say that I've been really impressed with it so far. I think it's pretty great, actually. It does exactly what we need it to do, and it does it well, so I would recommend it. Plus, the support has been very good.

I would rate this solution as a nine out of ten.

We have a  pair of StarWind hypervisor servers that share the internal storage using Starwind's Virtual SAN, eliminating the need for a separate, physical SAN. The primary purpose of this deployment is to provide highly available hypervisors to run file servers, domain controllers, critical servers, and DNS servers.

The vSAN allows us to use Starwind Management Console to confirm the health of the sync. The high availability nature of the deployment means we can fail over VMs without end-users noticing any downtime. While it isn't used for StarWind exclusively, the Remote Console access on the Enterprise iDRAC is invaluable to me in my daily duties. We have had great success live migrating VMs as necessary and adding, removing, backing up, or restoring VMs.  

I like StarWind's high availability. The failover is almost immediate, so the end users have no idea the guest VM moved at all. We can failover all guest VMs onto a single hypervisor, place it into maintenance mode, install updates, and reboot a hypervisor all during the daytime and remotely, with confidence the process will be successful.

The Command Center, a free guest VM for management and monitoring, leaves something to be desired. It could have more accurate real-time information and better reporting visuals, which seem to be an afterthought.

Our inability to use Azure File Sync Share meant we had to deploy a separate hypervisor for a file server that isn't on the Starwind High Availability setup. We could not install SentinelOne EDR on the hypervisors without getting too many warnings in the storage event logs.

We deployed a pair of StarWind vSAN hypervisors in January 2020 and have been using them for more than three years.

StarWind seems highly stable after three and a half years.

StarWind vSAN is highly scalable and easy to configure.

I rate StarWind support 10 out of 10. They are fantastic. The StarWind team proactively alerts us about the latest firmware, including iDRAC and BIOS. They reach out and schedule a remote session when they see warnings on our event logs, such as the time we deployed SentinelOne to the host machine. The StarWind engineers are always knowledgeable and take control to "drive " the session. 

Positive

We used single hypervisors but had never had a failover cluster before StarWind vSAN.

Support walked us through everything after we got the server racked and online.

The in-house team provided access to StarWind support for deployment. After that, we sat back and learned from the support person. StarWind later provided us some training materials.

It is hard for me to quantify the ROI as an IT person, but we would buy it again in an instant.

We underestimated how many guest VMs we would have running on these hypervisors after three years, and would have bought more Windows licenses upfront.

We briefly researched Dell and Microsoft options, but those were physical SAN solutions, not vSAN.

I rate StarWind Virtual SAN 10 out of 10. I recommend purchasing support and contacting them before you install any new agents or sync with Azure File Sync share.

We have two StarWind vSAN clusters (two nodes each) in two data centers on Dell PowerEdge servers. We're expanding to three-node clusters soon. Our IT footprint and budget are relatively small, so StarWind vSAN was an appealing alternative to VMware vSAN. At the initial time of purchase, and even to this day, for our use case, StarWind vSAN is a more mature product.

Since we began using the product, we have tripled the number of VMs (RHEL, Ubuntu Server, & Windows Server) and added significant storage. Growth has been easy. The vSAN runs as stable as you would hope, where it is generally never a factor when troubleshooting an outage or planning for growth.

StarWind vSAN allowed the retirement of an aging SAN, and availability expanded while keeping costs low. We're VMware customers, but we began using StarWind vSAN before VMware vSAN was very well established. It works just as well, yet at a more affordable price. I'm not sure if VMware has an option for a two-node cluster now; however, I know three nodes were the minimum in the past, which was a large difference for our relatively meager IT budget.

I've had to open a few support cases over the years due to administrator errors, and the support received was top-notch. I found it much more responsive than VMware support.

Support for only two-node clusters is amazing. Without this feature, we wouldn't have been able to modernize our Corporate MDF due to cost. To my knowledge, StarWind vSAN was a mature product already by the time VMware vSAN came to the market. Each additional node would require us to purchase another physical server, storage, and licensing for ESXi, Veeam, Windows data center, monitoring tool licenses, etc. These things quickly add up for a relatively small back-end infrastructure budget.

I don't have many ideas for improvement as the product "just works." I suppose if I had to pick something to say concerning improvement, I would say that the documentation is mostly great, however, some features could be expanded upon a bit.

Another thing that isn't very important yet would be nice is an update to the OS of the Linux appliances. They're running CentOS 7, so I understand why they haven't been updated to something newer, due to Red Hat pulling the plug on CentOS 8 in favor of CentOS Stream.

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

The stability is rock solid.

We will be adding a new node next year, and it seems highly scalable.

Customer support has gone above and beyond for me in the past, even though I'd forgotten to renew our support contract at one point.

Positive

We did not previously use a different solution. 

the setup was straightforward, however, we utilized support to ensure we had a proper build.

We used a vendor and would rate their services ten out of ten.

The cost is honestly negligible for us.

We looked at VMware vSAN.

Do not hesitate to use their technical support - even if it is just to review your configuration for their best practices.

StarWind Virtual SAN has been a welcomed addition to my network.

Overall, StarWinds vSAN is a cost-saving storage option with top-notch support.

The vSAN provides full redundancy for storage while reclaiming some rack space. I can focus on other IT needs now, rather than having to worry about redundancy with an aging physical SAN storage unit. If an HDD fails, I can easily hot-swap and continue the business.

Support was extremely helpful in regards to setup and implementation.

The admin portal has been easy to use and provides a great overview of health and usage.

I found that certain browsers are not fully compatible with the administration web access portal. I would like to see continued improvement with additional compatibility for other browsers to be able to work properly with the administrator web portal.

I did find out, with the help of StarWind's support, that the Firefox browser seems to be the browser that works the best with their web portal.

It also appears that vMotion is slower than my previous SAN solution, which was a traditional physical unit.

We have been using StarWind Virtual SAN for one year.

Since implementation, I have not had one issue with performance or stability.

This is a scalable solution, as it is simple to add another vSAN.

I never felt rushed while I had to install additional host NIC cards and they walked me through every step of the setup process. Their support has been quick to respond and with frequent updates. They will always work a case until I am satisfied that I have a proper and understood answer.

I am not bombarded with additional sales calls, but they do check in from time to time only to make sure all is well. That is appreciated.

I was forced to replace my traditional physical SAN when I was unable to get additional service parts, even as it was still under a support contract. I needed a full-featured, low-cost replacement for it.

StarWind came highly recommended throughout various IT channels and colleagues.

I implemented myself, with the use of StarWind's support team. Their support team was instrumental in aiding the completion of the setup process.

The support was a great resource for setup and continued use. They took the time to really explain how their solution works, specifically within my environment.

StarWind is a low-cost, full-featured alternative to the traditional SAN environment, and their support will guide you every step of the setup.

We looked at Dell/EMC and HPE solutions and they were all extremely expensive.

A sales rep was quick to get me in touch with an engineer who patiently walked me through my endless questions of compatibility and setup. They even assisted with recommendations for host hard drives: both HDD and SSD options.

Overall, StarWinds vSAN is a cost-saving storage option with top-notch support.

I recently underwent a server migration process, which involved converting multiple virtual machines to the QCOW2 format. This challenge required adapting various VMs to ensure a seamless transition, highlighting the importance of flexibility in IT infrastructure management.

StarWind Virtual SAN proved indispensable during our server migration, offering flexibility, high availability, and performance optimization. Its user-friendly interface simplified management and vendor independence ensured adaptability. This software has left a lasting, positive impact on our organization's IT infrastructure, positioning us for future success.

The use of StarWind Virtual SAN during the server migration process and conversion of virtual machines to the qcow2 format provided significant benefits to our organization. The software offered the flexibility needed to smoothly carry out this complex transition. Ensuring high availability and optimizing VM performance, StarWind Virtual SAN improved our IT infrastructure, resulting in more efficient and reliable operations.

One of the standout features of StarWind Virtual SAN was its independence from specific hardware vendors. This vendor independence is a boon in today's dynamic IT environment. It allowed us to make procurement decisions based solely on our organization's needs, free from the constraints of vendor lock-in. This autonomy ensured that our IT infrastructure remained agile and adaptable, capable of swiftly adjusting to emerging technologies and changing requirements.

The ability to keep data accessible even in the event of hardware failures is highly valued, as it ensures business continuity.

A user-friendly and intuitive management interface makes system administration simpler, saving time and resources.

Optimizing the performance of virtualized storage is crucial, ensuring that VMs operate efficiently.

The ability to perform well with multiple hypervisors offers flexibility and avoids vendor lock-in.

Vendor independence allows organizations to choose hardware components that best suit their needs.

Ongoing improvements in read and write performance would help meet increasingly demanding workloads.

A more comprehensive monitoring system with proactive alerts can enhance visibility and responsiveness.

Advanced automation features for storage provisioning and resource management can save time and reduce errors.

Enhancements in disaster recovery capabilities, such as faster failover and streamlined recovery procedures, would be valuable.

Adding support for emerging or less common hypervisors can increase flexibility.

Enhancing security features, such as data encryption and two-factor authentication, to meet stricter compliance requirements.

Integration with cloud storage services for greater scalability and backup options.

I've used the solution for just under one year.

Considering that StarWind Virtual SAN allows for scalability, it is important to plan accordingly as you add more resources and storage capacity, ensuring that the system remains stable through all stages of growth.

StarWind Virtual SAN's performance is impressive and offers scalability as one of its main advantages. The solution is designed to grow with your IT infrastructure needs. This means that as your organization expands and requires more storage resources, you can add additional nodes to your StarWind cluster to accommodate this growth.

I did not use a different solution previously.

The setup is very simple. The tool is very educational.

It is advisable to conduct a detailed assessment of your infrastructure needs and compare setup costs, pricing, and licensing with alternatives in the market. Take into account scalability, technical support, and your specific environment requirements. Additionally, explore licensing options that best align with your budget and long-term planning. Evaluating your organization's needs and resources is crucial for making an informed decision regarding the investment in StarWind Virtual SAN.

I did not evaluate other options. 

Establish a good relationship with the vendor's support team. They can provide valuable assistance during setup, troubleshooting, and ongoing maintenance.

Keep the software up to date with the latest patches and updates to benefit from security enhancements and performance improvements.

Consider your organization's future growth and ensure the solution can scale accordingly. This avoids potential disruptions due to increased demands.

Implement a robust backup and disaster recovery strategy alongside your virtual SAN solution to safeguard critical data.

Stay informed about industry trends and emerging technologies to ensure your infrastructure remains competitive and efficient.

Invest in training for your IT team to maximize the value of the solution and facilitate knowledge transfer.

Continuously monitor the performance of your virtual SAN to identify and address any issues promptly.

We were looking to migrate to hyper-converged architecture with an affordable, scalable solution.

StarWind is a fantastic hyper-converged solution for SMBs. The price point and pricing options allow for SMB deployment of a plug-and-play, scalable solution that won't break the bank.

Compared to other options in the HCA space, StarWind stands out. Their monitoring and support are built into the solution and allow for a production-ready environment that doesn't take many resources to manage or deploy.

If you run a Hyper-V environment, their single-pane monitoring command platform will greatly assist the management of the environment.

StarWind allows organizations with a small budget to deploy a modern, robust HCA solution.

Organizations that have a need for remote office deployments can find a resilient solution with Starwind HCA as well.

The ability to scale by simply adding additional nodes to the stack provides a unique opportunity.

A vendor agnostic solutions provide the organization with more purchasing power with other vendors utilizing the hardware.

Migrating from one vendor to another within the HCA opens the possibility to shuttle between costly solutions with market volatility.

The following aspects of the product are very useful:

• The product creates opportunities with hybrid on-premise solutions.
• TCO is lower versus traditional compute, storage, and network architecture.
• Ability to scale with the organization's needs created flexibility.
• Scalability, resilience, and affordability.
• Fantastic hyper-converged solution for SMB. The price point and pricing options allow for SMB deployment of a plug-and-play, scalable solution.
• Without vendor lock, organizations have the ability to migrate as needed based on both needs and costs.

This solution is necessary in today's volatile market.

StarWind Command Center's single-pane management solution only works with Hyper-V. I was disappointed to find there was no disclosure of VMware incompatibility so the single-pane management system was not available in a VMware environment.

Understand your hardware lifecycle and align it with the available options StarWind offers for their HCA. There are options available that could be expanded on regarding hardware. Further options from a hardware perspective would add value to the company and allow for a broader audience.

I've used the product for two years.

We set up a virtualized environment with the need for extreme flexibility and reliability to provide our IT-Services. 

We had to implement a solution that could take on this task and was very pleased with StarWind Virtual SAN. 

We could implement it into our environment easily with low maintenance and could focus on achieving our central task. 

It made our whole project a lot simpler and more user-friendly. We benefited from the scalability to expand our Service capability and were able to do so easily with StarWind vSAN.

We had a rough time using our previous solution. StarWind vSAN made our whole operation much easier and added a lot of particularly useful features. 

In our highly virtualized environment, we had a requirement for high flexibility due to our wide spectrum of services. 

StarWind vSAN was very easy to integrate into our system and ran flawlessly during our entire use time. 

Scaling our systems was something we'd been worried about before due to growing demands and the complicated software we had before. With StarWind vSAN, we could easily accomplish all of our tasks and could benefit from the amazing performance and reliability this software had to offer.

The web-user interface was very user-friendly, and it did not take a lot of time to school our employees about this product. 

All administrative tasks could easily be done, and integrating new systems was easier than ever before. 

This saves us a lot of time as even more complicated tasks can be resolved in way less time than before. We used vCenter and were very happy to see a dedicated vCenter plugin for StarWind vSAN. 

It made our whole operation much more smooth and reliable, not to mention the saved time on schooling employees.

I would say a point that could be improved upon would be the level of documentation and guides that are available. 

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. User guides would be greatly appreciated by all of us. 

Preferably these documents could be directly in the console. That said, I wouldn't mind having it not as tightly integrated. We have some apprentices that use the console, and we don't want to make them call support every time they don't understand something.

I've used the solution for six months.

It is very reliable, and we were confident storing data using StarWind vSAN.

The scalability is great. We were able to scale our systems effortlessly.

They were very friendly and helpful, staying professional and competent at all times.

Positive

We did use another solution. The previous solution was open source, and we needed some kind of real support on the other end to guarantee reliability.

The initial setup was very simple and straightforward. We were able to implement StarWind into our system, and we did not require special help.

We implemented it ourselves, in-house.

We prefer not to publish our ROI.

StarWind vSAN has great value and is definitely worth the price.

We did not evaluate other options. We used other software from StarWind beforehand and were convinced of the quality of their products, so the first thing we looked into was StarWind's solution to our problems.

I highly recommend the solution. It saves a lot of stress, hassle, and time.