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reviewer1830756 - PeerSpot reviewer
System Administrator at Wilson Logistics
User
Excellent support with simple pricing and perpetual licensing
Pros and Cons
  • "This software lets us maintain storage redundancy across both of our Hyper-V hosts, so if one goes down the environment fails over to the other and we have minimal to no downtime."
  • "Some of the documentation seems to be a bit older and refers to deprecated items."

What is our primary use case?

We purchased this product to manage storage between our two-node Hyper-V cluster. We're running a pair of Dell R740's with 16 core CPUs and RAID 6 storage arrays, all solid-state.  

We wanted this product to facilitate a hyper-converged environment while still maintaining two host redundancy. We're running about 25 virtual machines on this cluster, none of which are particularly storage IO intensive, yet we've still not seen any issues with performance when it comes to Starwind vSAN. We ended up on this option as it seemed to be simple, robust, and affordable.

How has it helped my organization?

This software lets us maintain storage redundancy across both of our Hyper-V hosts, so if one goes down the environment fails over to the other and we have minimal to no downtime.  

Keeping things running is an obvious benefit, and we opted to purchase their higher-tier support (for a very minor price increase). Knowing we've got them to fall back on if we can't fix something ourselves is good for peace of mind. The notifications built into the software mean we aren't constantly checking for issues as this is a very critical piece of our infrastructure.

What is most valuable?

Starwind support was extremely helpful throughout the entire process, from the trial period to the actual production implementation. They responded to my emails quickly and did a walkthrough to validate the final production configuration to ensure there were no issues.  

The engineer that assisted me with the walkthrough was very knowledgeable, and not just on Starwind software. He had several recommendations about our Hyper-V cluster configuration, and he always made sure to explain why he was making those recommendations. 

What needs improvement?

Some of the documentation seems to be a bit older and refers to deprecated items. This wasn't a huge issue as the technician that walked me through the install was very knowledgeable and gave me a clear list of steps to take.

The only major issue we had was with the NIC drivers we were using on the link between the two hosts. For reference, we're using a direct connection between a 40 gig QSFP+ NIC in each of our hosts. The issue was that the iSCSI connection between the two hosts would drop after about ten minutes during a full sync of the two storage arrays. The support tech was able to quickly identify the drivers as the issue to get it resolved quickly and prior to our production deadline.

Buyer's Guide
StarWind Virtual SAN
February 2025
Learn what your peers think about StarWind Virtual SAN. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: February 2025.
839,422 professionals have used our research since 2012.

For how long have I used the solution?

We've used the solution for two months.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It's been very stable for our usage. We've had no issues since implementation two months ago.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

I hear it scales well, however, we've not used it beyond our own small scale.

How are customer service and support?

Technical support was very good.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

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

Previously, we were using Microsoft Storage Spaces Direct across a three-node environment. We switched due to the fact that we sold a portion of our company and downsized to two nodes. Storage Spaces Direct doesn't seem ideal for a two-node system.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup was a bit confusing based on the documentation, however, support was very knowledgeable and able to assist with any issues and questions I had.

What about the implementation team?

I implemented it myself with assistance from Starwind support. It's not a complex process.

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

Pricing is very simple and a setup walkthrough is included in the price of the software. It's a perpetual license and you only pay to renew support, which was a reasonable price.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We considered storage spaces direct, however, didn't ever implement it on our new two-node cluster.

What other advice do I have?

I really can't overstate how responsive their support was.

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
PeerSpot user
Global IS Admin at Benshaw, Inc.
Real User
Top 10
Good redundancy, helpful support, and provides good ROI
Pros and Cons
  • "We are able to execute maintenance on one server while the other is still running."
  • "To enable the proactive support capability that is part of our support agreement, I would ask that the terms and conditions be revised and made acceptable to corporate security."

What is our primary use case?

Our organization purchased a hyper-converged platform from StarWind, which significantly increased our RAM, processors, and flash-based storage, strengthening our processing and storage capacities with a Virtual SAN.

It also made it possible for us to use VMware vMotion. This is essential in our manufacturing plant since it enables us to move a virtual machine across hosts without halting operations.

Since the solution was put in place, I haven't had to make any software-related changes, and a few power outages we've had have not caused any hiccups.

How has it helped my organization?

We are able to execute maintenance on one server while the other is still running. Performance was aided by the flash drives' speed, and StarWind's support staff is friendly and competent.

As we made licensing adjustments and transferred virtual servers from the old host to the new ones throughout the migration on the Virtual SAN, we had to interact with technical support a number of times. The response time was quick, and I had no issue following along as we did a screen share to complete the tasks.

What is most valuable?

The Virtual SAN prevented the business from having to buy a separate storage array and associated network hardware. We found that the price of a storage array was higher than what StarWind offered as a solution so made it a somewhat each choice to proceed with.

Peace of mind comes from knowing that the virtual machines will keep running even if one of the servers fails. It also helps to have support close at hand in case of difficulty.

The solution's extensive use of redundancy to guard against failures impressed us.

What needs improvement?

The terms and conditions of the proactive support were the only things that I had an issue with. We were unable to benefit from it due to the fact that our legal department didn't accept them. The heartbeat monitor would help you save time by alerting support to problems as soon as they arise and ideally even before they occurred in our environment.

To enable the proactive support capability that is part of our support agreement, I would ask that the terms and conditions be revised and made acceptable to corporate security.

For how long have I used the solution?

We have been using this for three and a half years so far.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It has lasted us over three years so far with no issues.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

We don't intend to scale beyond two servers, however, we like that it's possible.

How are customer service and support?

We have no issues working with StarWind's customer service department.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

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

We previously had a single server that was out of support.

How was the initial setup?

The setup was complicated and we needed technical support from StarWind.

What about the implementation team?

StarWind provided the support that was needed and was quick and efficient.

What was our ROI?

We have met ROI expectations already.

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

The support package included the setup cost.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We looked at Dell and Nutanix.

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
Buyer's Guide
StarWind Virtual SAN
February 2025
Learn what your peers think about StarWind Virtual SAN. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: February 2025.
839,422 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Tayre José Rivas Salas - PeerSpot reviewer
TI support analyst at Invermedia
Real User
Top 5
Easy to clone virtual machines, great for virtual servers, and offers good ROI
Pros and Cons
  • "I save both physical and virtual space."
  • "I wish they would improve the documentation for the beginner level as it's not very clear on the web page."

What is our primary use case?

I am doing a change from physical to virtual servers and my goal is to change all the servers. There are a total of nine, and at this moment I have three servers that I have migrated. They now work better than the physical ones.

I am also doing backup copies of these virtual servers in case I have problems with any server, since in this area, we have problems with electricity and I already lost a physical server from that. That’s why I decided to make a new network of virtual servers with copies and clones of these servers and so far, it has worked very well.

How has it helped my organization?

StarWind Virtual SAN has been a great solution for this organization. In this area, we have electricity problems and the physical servers can be damaged - something that has already happened once. 

I made the decision to migrate the servers to virtual ones due to the fact that, if a virtual server is damaged, I just have to take the backup that I have already made of that server and replace it without any problem. The end user of the company does not notice the change. 

My intention is to have all the physical servers become virtual

What is most valuable?

StarWind Virtual SAN is a great solution when it comes to making virtual servers. I like this tool as it is simple and easy to use, robust, and 100% working so far. It’s also compatible with Windows Server 2019.

I was able to easily clone virtual machines. I save both physical and virtual space. You can also run Linux virtual machines and make it easy to manage replication between nodes within the cluster when needed. iSCSI support is also included and very good support from the technical staff during the installation phase.

What needs improvement?

I wish they would improve the documentation for the beginner level as it's not very clear on the web page. Better documentation would have saved me time in the beginning. The documentation is hard for new users to understand.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using this tool for six months.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It is a very stable software; in these six months, I have not had problems with any virtual machine.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

They are very good and the product is scalable. It is excellent that it adapts to the needs of each company.

How are customer service and support?

The technical support can be a bit complicated by language barriers, however, the objectives have been achieved. 

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

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

I previously used VMware and switched to StarWind Virtual SAN for the cost savings.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is a little slow at first, however, after researching and installing the software, it was easy to finish the installation.

What about the implementation team?

We handled the setup internally.

What was our ROI?

The ROI is very good since the system has offered me a solution to change physical equipment for virtual ones and in the future the expenses will be reflected in that I do not have to buy equipment or hardware.

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

The price seems good to me compared to other tools that offer the same thing. That said, it's still worth seeing for yourself and looking at other tools before making a decision.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

I used VMware and HyperV before, however, a colleague used StarWind Virtual SAN and he taught me how to use it and I liked the tool.

What other advice do I have?

My overall experience with StarWind has been very positive. It is a very simple solution. It is not tied to any hypervisor or hardware configuration. Their support people are excellent and offer assistance in setting up the solution in your environment. While there is a bit more setup than some other products, all you really need is a basic understanding of storage and networking.

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
reviewer189641 - PeerSpot reviewer
Systemadministratör at Hantverksdata Sverige AB
User
Cost-effective, easy to use, and fault-tolerant
Pros and Cons
  • "You can turn your local disk storage into high-availability iSCSI storage."
  • "There is a general lack of documentation, especially up-to-date documentation to get started."

What is our primary use case?

In a Hyper-V environment running Windows Server, we needed high availability in a virtualized environment for our file-share cluster without having to use expensive, external iSCSI storage. Using the built-in VDHX disks, StarWind provides the high availability that we need at a low cost and is relatively easy to manage. We now have a 2-node, fault-tolerant file-share cluster that behaves exactly as we want and it utilizes StarWind to provide the high availability directly on the VMs themselves, rather than connecting an external storage.

How has it helped my organization?

With StarWind Virtual SAN we have a cost-effective, reliable, and easy-to-manage solution without having to spend a lot of money on external SAN or NAS solutions that would have cost a lot more, and would have required more infrastructure to manage. Instead, for a little sum and a setup that took less than a day, the virtual SAN runs directly on the VMs and is easy enough to manage that a single technician can do it. 

Most of the time, you don't even need to check on it as it just works once you have it set up. This saves money and time and you can cut down on your infrastructure needs.

What is most valuable?

Simply put, the best features of StarWind Virtual SAN are its core offerings:

- The fault-tolerant, high availability features using virtualized software. You can turn your local disk storage into high-availability iSCSI storage! It's so good, I can't believe Microsoft doesn't include this natively. Thankfully StarWind does the job.

- Ease of use; once set up, it just works and you don't have to spend a lot of time managing it. 

- It's very cost-effective. There's even a free version license to use with a two- or three-node cluster. You don't have to purchase or manage a costly, external storage infrastructure that would essentially provide a similar service.

What needs improvement?

There is a general lack of documentation, especially up-to-date documentation to get started. This is especially true if you want to trial the software first using the free version, as some of the documentation that exists is sometimes old and certain steps provided might not be very easy to understand. 

The free license only allows you to manage the setup via the CLI (the GUI works, but only provides information), which makes good documentation all the more important. 

The GUI itself as well could use an overhaul; the user experience is a bit lacking until you get the feel for it. 

For how long have I used the solution?

I implemented StarWind Virtual SAN in our environment in early 2023.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Once we had it set up, it just works. I can't remember the last time I had to check on the software to see that all was in order. StarWind seems very stable and reliable.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

We only use a two-node cluster. I have not tested the software outside of this configuration, however, if you're building a much bigger cluster, you'd probably be better off investing in an external, dedicated storage solution such as a SAN. 

How are customer service and support?

The one time I had to contact support, they were very good and I got the impression they understand storage and their product.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

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

We did not have any other solutions before this, this was a whole new use case.

How was the initial setup?

We first tried the free edition, and due to some documentation being a little outdated, there were some issues as all we had the CLI to use. Once we went through it again though, it was fairly easy to set up. 

Even for someone who has never used the software before, within a single day it was up and running. If you pay for the license, using the GUI is a breeze, even if the GUI as well takes some time to get used to and understand where to find things.

What about the implementation team?

We (I) did it in-house, and once I got comfortable with it, it was easy to set up.

What was our ROI?

We save money and time on having this solution, as there's less infrastructure to manage, we have high availability where we need it, and it's much more cost-effective than any other option.

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

Try the free version first, as it's perfectly capable to be used and provides the same functionality (without the GUI) as the paid version. You can then simply upgrade. It does take a little bit of time to get used to managing it with the CLI, but once it's set up, it's a breeze.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We did check for options, but as we are running Hyper-V natively, there were not a lot of options as we didn't have the budget to go for an expensive hardware solution, and Microsoft does not provide a solution to this problem in the same way that VMWare for example does.

What other advice do I have?

StarWind is the best, and most cost-effective option that we have found on the market.

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
Network Administrator at Armitage Technology Group Inc.
User
Easy to set up with exceptional support and reasonable pricing
Pros and Cons
  • "The product gave us a cost-effective way to deploy a highly available server environment."
  • "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."

What is our primary use case?

Our client had very little IT infrastructure in play relating to servers. They had a single Windows 10 low-end workstation that was acting as the controller for their food production assembly line. They were tackling a huge expansion and needed a more robust controller as their current one would go down often. 

StarWind vSAN gave us a cost-effective option to leverage three Dell servers, with two in HA and a third acting as a replica in a separate building on their site. This way, it can tolerate two full server failures and still allow the assembly line controller to run.

How has it helped my organization?

The product gave us a cost-effective way to deploy a highly available server environment. This allowed our client to have their food assembly line controller always available, as it costs them a lot of money if it goes down for any more than a few minutes. 

With Hyper-V and StarWind, they can have a quick turnaround in case a server goes down. It also gave us an insight into StarWinds as an alternative for future clients of ours if their server capability requirements ever increase. It's a great tool to have knowledge of and to offer as an option if needed.

What is most valuable?

The core feature of the entire product is the most valuable aspect. There aren't any features that stand out that provide a lot of value. We just like the ability to have HA storage replicated in real time between two nodes - which is enough for us to be more than satisfied. We do not interface with this product very often, so I can't speak to any feature in particular that stands out as being exceptional and valuable. The value of the product is the services given at a great price which is what drew us to the StarWind Virtual SAN to begin with.

What needs improvement?

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. We had to reach out to support to confirm the process to power cycle a single node, and even then, we had to go back and forth a few times with support to get a clear and concise answer to the question we had. It would be nice to have the option to put a single node in maintenance mode so we know we can safely perform updates and power down the server if required.

For how long have I used the solution?

We've had the solution for six months in production.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The product is very stable.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

I get the impression that this is better geared towards a smaller scale, for example, ad two or four-node cluster. Anything bigger, and it would make more sense to go with the big-name competitor. 

How are customer service and support?

Technical support is Exceptional. They have very helpful and prompt responses.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

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

We did not previously use a different solution.

How was the initial setup?

The setup is straightforward with the help of the support engineers to fine-tune our deployment.

What about the implementation team?

We had setup help from the vendor team. They were quite knowledgeable. That said, I do recall them doing a few things in a different way than described by their setup guide.

What was our ROI?

I have not researched ROI.

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

The cost and licensing are very competitive.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We did not evaluate other options.

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
Chief Information Officer at Scott County Hospital, Scott City, KS
User
Easy to use, reduces downtime, and offers great support
Pros and Cons
  • "StarWind allows us to move virtual machines from one physical host to another, which greatly reduces the downtime required for maintenance."
  • "The system failovers properly on its own without too much worry."

What is our primary use case?

We have a two-node hyper-converged system set up. Our main electronic medical record system runs on top of this system. We can fail over to one host, which lets the virtual machines run on the other. We can perform maintenance and move the virtual machines back. As a medical facility, it's important for our products to be up and available. This system allows us to do that. We have plans to purchase an additional host this fall, which I hope to be able to add to the VSAN. I believe there's an additional purchase to do so, however, I'll look into that when we get closer. 

How has it helped my organization?

StarWind allows us to move virtual machines from one physical host to another, which greatly reduces the downtime required for maintenance. I've been with the organization for about four months now and came in not knowing anything about StarWind. To become better acquainted, I asked if StarWind would give us a 'demo' of our current system. They showed us how our configuration was set up and helped us make a couple of suggested changes. We have since restarted one of the hosts without any trouble on the StarWind side at all. 

What is most valuable?

It's very stable and is easy to use. The system failovers properly on its own without too much worry. Support has been amazing. I wasn't at my position last year, but we had a hard disk in a host machine fail last year. Through a series of unfortunate events, a VM failed. StarWind support helped the technician pull the system back up and even assisted with restoring the VM, something he didn't have to do. I've since read other accounts of service like this. The community and KB articles are also very valuable. In any event, I know I can get help with this system.

What needs improvement?

I'm actually really satisfied with Starwind. Their product and support have been top-notch. They even have a version that is free, though it is a command-line only. 

As for additional features, perhaps some integration in with systems like IT Glue.  A way to push the configuration into IT Glue in the event of an outage or just for documentation purposes would be nice.  

Overall, however, the product does what it is supposed to do. Adding features for the sake of adding something may not be terribly appropriate in this case. The system just plain works.

For how long have I used the solution?

My organization has been using StarWind for several years now. I'm new to my company and have been learning how the product works.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

We've had no stability issues with the product.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Currently, we have this running on two nodes, however, I believe it can be scaled up significantly. For our limited purposes, I have no concern about scalability.

How are customer service and support?

Amazing! They've gone above and beyond with helping us when we had hardware issues last year and again this year when I asked for a demo of how things are set up.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

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

We did not use a different solution.

How was the initial setup?

While I wasn't around for the initial setup, I performed a handful of test installations to become more familiar. StarWind has a wonderful KB article that covers the process, step-by-step.

What about the implementation team?

It's my understanding that it was all done in-house. The configurations are exactly as the KB article mentioned above has it spelled out.

What was our ROI?

We can keep our electronic medical record system running while we do maintenance. We've used Starwind for several years, so the investment has covered itself.

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

Pricing is simple. You can buy a support package that gives you access to updates to the software or you can buy premium support, which expands the time in which you can get help from the company.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

I was not around when the decision to use StarWind came about. I don't know if there are other 3rd party vendors like StarWind. 

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
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
PeerSpot user
IT Supervisor at Area Agency on Aging Region 9, Inc.
Real User
Greatly improved virtual machine reliability and accessibility
Pros and Cons
  • "Highly available storage is the most valuable feature. The entire rollout is hyper-converged and requires no extra storage further than the hosts in which Hyper-V is running. Another feature that has been great is the support from StarWind in general. We have their proactive support package on the main cluster that employs Starwind Virtual SAN."
  • "Management of VSAN itself could be improved. A Web UI for management would be great rather than an application installation. StarWind is testing a command center virtual appliance that I have installed in my environment."

What is our primary use case?

Highly available HyperV cluster. Our environment includes 2 Hyper-V hosts with onboard storage running about 20 virtual machines. StarWind allowed for a redundant cluster to be configured without any extra storage and easily create an HA cluster. StarWind Virtual San functions as the primary drivers for all of our storage needs in the highly available cluster. It is used almost daily to allow for live migration of machines and failover in the event of maintenance or physical host hardware problems.

How has it helped my organization?

StarWind Virtual SAN improved my hyper-v deployment by making it highly available. It was easy to roll out and it is easy to manage. It has greatly improved virtual machine reliability and accessibility. Deployment of StarWind Virtual SAN has helped reduce the stress of not having a cluster that would allow for virtual machine failover if a host has a hardware problem. It is reassuring to know that all virtual machines are in a safer environment versus running on standalone hosts with no shared storage.

What is most valuable?

Highly available storage is the most valuable feature. The entire rollout is hyper-converged and requires no extra storage further than the hosts in which Hyper-V is running. Another feature that has been great is the support from StarWind in general. We have their proactive support package on the main cluster that employs Starwind Virtual SAN. The StarWind support team is right on top of all monitoring activities. If I am maintaining a physical host and it has been down for too long, I will get a notice from StarWind to confirm a problem or inform them that maintenance is being performed. They are top-notch.

What needs improvement?

Management of VSAN itself could be improved. A Web UI for management would be great rather than an application installation. StarWind is testing a command center virtual appliance that I have installed in my environment. It is very much a step in the right direction to make StarWind Virtual SAN management easier and even Hyper-V as a whole. Something Hyper-V has lacked for years is a good Web UI to manage a host or cluster. StarWind has taken upon themselves to help with this as well as manage the Virtual SAN in a single pane of glass.

For how long have I used the solution?

Five Years

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Very stable. I've had little to no problem since rolling it out.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

It should be easy to add a host to a cluster once VSAN is installed.

How are customer service and support?

Excellent! 10/10

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

No. We used standalone hosts.

How was the initial setup?

Setup is a bit complex but StarWind has great documentation to get setup and a great support team to assist in setup.

What about the implementation team?

Implementation has been done using StarWind support and with an in-house team as we have 2 separate clusters both using StarWind Virtual SAN

What was our ROI?

12-24 months.

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

Evaluate your solutions. This is a great solution for those user Hyper-V and ready to hyper-converge.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

Maxta, Nutanix, VMware, KVM.

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
Buyer's Guide
Download our free StarWind Virtual SAN Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.
Updated: February 2025
Buyer's Guide
Download our free StarWind Virtual SAN Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.