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reviewer1727484 - PeerSpot reviewer
Chief Technology Expert at Rapid Response Networks
User
Scalable with excellent support and allowed for the use of existing hardware
Pros and Cons
  • "The biggest benefit was that it allowed us to provide SAN services on a limited hardware budget."
  • "The main issue we ran into was the documentation. We attempted to set up the product in our test environment by ourselves and ran into several areas of the documentation that were unclear to us."

What is our primary use case?

We decided on StarWind's Virtual SAN product due to the fact that it was a simple way for us to use vendor hardware to achieve SAN functions. 

It allowed us to implement a robust solution without needing to buy dedicated SAN hardware for the remote site.  

We set up a 2 node cluster using Dell servers and Dell-provided hard drives and used Starwind to create several redundant disks across the two hosts. This solution allowed us to enable High Availability across the hosts using the shared storage without the need to purchase dedicated hardware.

How has it helped my organization?

The biggest benefit was that it allowed us to provide SAN services on a limited hardware budget.  

We built out a pair of matched servers with vendor-supplied hard drives and were able to provide a fully redundant storage array between the servers. VM hosts can now provide high availability failover if either host goes down. Not needing to spend a huge amount for a dedicated solution was a plus and the system is easily expandable if we need to make changes.  

Their support team has been excellent in helping us throughout the project process.

What is most valuable?

Support was great and provided presale support for our test environment before the purchase and after to help us configure the product before it went into production.  

They have also been great in following up on our project and helping with other implementation issues.  

Being able to use existing hardware was a big factor in our purchasing decision and helped this project fit the needs of our client's budget. Using existing hardware greatly reduced the project costs and overall complexity of the solution.

What needs improvement?

The main issue we ran into was the documentation. We attempted to set up the product in our test environment by ourselves and ran into several areas of the documentation that were unclear to us.  

Starwind provides excellent pre-sale support and scheduled several meetings between our IT staff and their support team to review the configuration and answer questions. This helped immensely in deploying the software in our test environment and helped us to understand the product better. Support was always willing to help with any documentation that we were confused over and continued to follow up with us after the project went live.

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.
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For how long have I used the solution?

I've used the solution for eight months.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The product appears to be very stable and robust.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The solution appears to be easily scalable and adjustable to fit future needs.

How are customer service and support?

Vendor support has been very responsive and provided help with all issues we have encountered.

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?

Setup can be complicated and the documentation is not always clear. Support from the vendor was needed in our test environment setup.

What about the implementation team?

We used an in-house team with vendor support during the implementation. Support has been excellent and has followed up regularly with our team.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We did look at Dell and VMware SAN products as well. 

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
Kader Bouteldja - PeerSpot reviewer
Infrastructure architect at Mailo
Real User
Top 10
Seamless integrations, helps extend the lifespan of existing servers, and offers great ROI
Pros and Cons
  • "The most valuable features of StarWind Virtual SAN include its cost-effective repurposing of older hardware, seamless integration with vSphere, and high scalability."
  • "Areas for improvement in StarWind Virtual SAN include simplifying the setup process, especially for users with limited vSphere expertise."

What is our primary use case?

Our primary use case for StarWind Virtual SAN is to repurpose older servers with substantial disk capacity for use in a three-node vSphere cluster. This setup was for proof of concept (POC) environments for the first time and after to host production workloads.

It allows us to create scalable and cost-effective virtual storage solutions. The integration with vSphere ensures that we can efficiently manage and utilize these resources, enhancing our IT infrastructure while minimizing new hardware and licensing costs.

How has it helped my organization?

StarWind Virtual SAN has greatly benefited our organization by reducing hardware and licensing costs through repurposing older servers with significant disk capacity. It has enabled us to extend the lifespan of our existing hardware and align with sustainability goals, all while providing a cost-effective and scalable storage solution. Its seamless integration with vSphere has improved our storage management and operational efficiency in production environments.

It was our first two steps to a hyper-converged solution.

What is most valuable?

The most valuable features of StarWind Virtual SAN include its cost-effective repurposing of older hardware, seamless integration with vSphere, and high scalability. It enables us to extend the lifespan of existing servers, significantly cut down on licensing costs, and manage our storage environment efficiently. 

Additionally, its flexibility allows us to scale effortlessly by adding nodes (up to 32), which supports our growing storage needs and enhances the adaptability of our production environment.

What needs improvement?

Areas for improvement in StarWind Virtual SAN include simplifying the setup process, especially for users with limited vSphere expertise. Future releases could benefit from an enhanced configuration wizard to streamline deployment and more robust data migration. There is also a need to address the problem of CentOS's end of life. 

Additionally, incorporating a built-in backup solution would significantly enhance data protection. Improved features for managing and migrating data effectively would further strengthen the product.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using the solution for three years now

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The stability of StarWind Virtual SAN is robust. The solution performs reliably with minimal downtime, ensuring consistent operation in production environments. 

In case of the loss of a node, the reconstruction, depending on the amount of data to synchronize, is always made with no data or integrity loss.

However, the reliance on CentOS, introduces potential future stability risks. Despite this, the system has consistently delivered dependable performance and resilience, maintaining stability even under significant workloads.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The solution allows for easy expansion by adding nodes (up to 32), which supports growing storage demands and adapts well to increasing workloads. This flexibility ensures that as our storage needs evolve, we can scale the system efficiently without major reconfiguration or downtime. 

Overall, its scalability is a significant strength, making it a versatile choice for both current and future requirements.

How are customer service and support?

I haven't experienced support since I used the free version. Anyway, I have found plenty of support from StarWind through their forum.

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?

It was complex to understand the mechanism of the hyperconverged solution put in place.

The ESXi consumes the virtual disk created by Starwind Vsan from the local disk.
The cabling was not that difficult since I didn't use any for data sync between nodes.

The most difficult part was the usage of PowerShell scripts to create the cluster because the free version doesn't provide a Gui.

What about the implementation team?

The implementation was in-house, in a new data center.

What was our ROI?

The ROI was excellent because we reused old servers that already had capacity disks.

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

If you are comfortable with the solution and you feel that you don't need support, you can begin with the free licences for three nodes.

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.
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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.
Technischer IT-Berater at ITC GmbH
User
Top 20
Good monitoring and configuring capabilities but disaster recovery documentation is sparse
Pros and Cons
  • "The solution provides great performance for the price it is listed with."
  • "It runs until it does not - and disaster recovery documentation is sparse and mostly unclear."

What is our primary use case?

Hyperconverged lab and testing environments fulfill several special requirements for use cases. We use it for demonstration environments and for virtualization and containerization. We have a rather smaller footprint, ranging from two to three nodes over the years. 

Mainly, we have an edge use case. Another use case is refurbishing and second lifecycle evaluation, specifically I/O and disaster recovery capabilities, which are important in these lab environments. 

Modernization could also be counted as a use case since modernizing data centers on small-scale or edge deployments is becoming increasingly important, even for smaller businesses.

How has it helped my organization?

For my organization, StarWind vSAN has been a first of firsts in hyper-converged storage and has been, first and foremost, a technology demonstrator that should disclose and present the advantages of modern data center constellations. 

Over the years, it has also functioned as a lab environment and customer demonstrator specifically for refurbishing old hardware and educational objects for our internal apprentices, effectively transforming our mindset towards modern data center infrastructure. It also served as a proof of concept for refurbishing and cost-reducing existing infrastructures.

What is most valuable?

I have found the overall ergonomy and manageability outstanding during normal functioning. Specifically, the console GUI's monitoring and configuring capabilities can be counted towards that. 

Even when not administrated via GUI, the comprehensive Powershell automation module remains, which comes with templates prepopulated for the most common automation tasks. 

Furthermore, the solution provides great performance for the price it is listed with and can even run properly without proper hardware, however, it is even more efficient and performs better when procuring proper hardware is possible.

What needs improvement?

My impression has been mostly positive. However, there have been some pitfalls. For example, it runs until it does not - and disaster recovery documentation is sparse and mostly unclear. This consequently follows a long learning curve and can take some time until this can be done efficiently. 

The feature log-structured file system has been removed. While I have not used it, I know some colleagues who have reported some performance benefits under certain circumstances. 

Additionally, vSAN does not offer extended SAN features like inline deduplication, compression, or S3-compatible access, which is part of most modern SAN feature sets, also in hyper-converged scenarios.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using several editions of the solution for more than five years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The stability of this solution is vastly dependent on the hardware procured beforehand. Network hardware is especially important, and bad or glitchy hardware (like the Intel X700 or X800 series) can quickly break things. It runs—until it does not. Be sure to learn or consult about the disaster recovery process, especially if you decide on a witness strategy hosted in vSAN.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The software can be pretty scalable; however, after reaching more and more nodes, one may look at StarWind's hyperconverged appliance instead of going through the hassle of administrating separate systems.

How are customer service and support?

They have only friendly and positive experiences, always a helping hand. Also, they are offering proactive support, which, from the experience of some of my colleagues, is an outstanding experience unusual to many professional service providers.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Neutral

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

We did not use a different solution beforehand.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup was very straightforward and easy, although one could deep dive into the specific protocol configuration options. Also, I would have liked it if some features or procedures would have been better documented at the time.

What about the implementation team?

We implemented it through our in-house R&D team.

What was our ROI?

I will not publish accurate numbers. However, the modernization aspect in terms of lab infrastructure and testing/demonstration environments has an educational benefit, strengthening our consultancy, demonstrating capabilities and our mindset towards data center innovation.

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

I would highly advise new users to consult the StarWind technical team beforehand. 

Also, consider the paid version if you want the ease of management through the console GUI and not just use it for monitoring. 

You can also apply for a testing or NFR license if you want to test it. StarWind vSAN is, by list price, vastly more competitive than some comparable solutions. The setup may be straightforward, fast, and easy; however, it can break things down if not done properly. Before setup, be sure to procure proper hardware components that are not known to cause instabilities.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

Due to budget constraints, Ceph has been evaluated as an alternative. We also took a look at Microsoft Storage Spaces Direct and VMware vSAN.

What other advice do I have?

Consider StarWind's proactive support. It improves the software's already high value and defuses the long learning curve of some processes! When clustering resources, deeply consider your witness strategy! Especially when you can not guarantee 100% stable hardware (e.g., through firmware issues), this can break things very quickly if you have a witness device in the same 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.
PeerSpot user
Martin Van - PeerSpot reviewer
e-discovery Professional at Autoriteit Financiële Markten
User
Easy to implement, great for creating redundancy, and supports various storage types
Pros and Cons
  • "The best part is the easy way it operates with a very clear GUI without any unnecessary items."
  • "There should be some kind of active monitoring connected to StarWind vSAN, so you will be able to act when needed."

What is our primary use case?

We needed redundancy in our "dark" environment. A failover cluster was the best solution for us. We have a complicated infrastructure consisting of various v-hosts and over 40 VMs in all kinds of operating systems. 

For continuity, it was necessary to update our VMs without any downtime. It's installed on two v-hosts with the most important machines. This way, we can continue operations without hick-ups. We chose StarWind as it's independent of the hardware used in our v-hosts. We did look at other solutions; however, in the end, StarWind VSAN was the best choice for us.

How has it helped my organization?

We needed a redundant solution for our environment, and it was sufficient to have a two-node cluster. 

The implementation went flawlessly with the help of StarWind support. However, technical knowledge is mandatory. Nevertheless, we had a quick installation. Since we had lots of different types of storage available, we were able to assign different types of storage depending on the type of usage for the virtual machines. 

We already had an unexpected outage of one of the nodes due to a memory problem, and thanks to StarWind vSAN, our operations continued as expected. It's an easy way to keep your failover cluster monitored.

What is most valuable?

StarWind vSAN is easy to use and has a very clear GUI. The most valuable in StarWind vSAN is the way it works seamlessly with the Microsoft fail-over cluster. 

We are working with a two-node setup that suits our needs perfectly. It just works without any technical know-how needed. 

The best part is the easy way it operates with a very clear GUI without any unnecessary items. 

It's also easy to add an extra node if necessary or connect if you've rebooted one of the nodes. Also, the speed of support is very valuable to us. If you have a problem or question, you'll get almost an immediate answer.

What needs improvement?

The product is as good as it promises. 

StarWind vSAN is updated on a regular basis, probably to keep up with Microsoft Windows or other operating systems. As far as I'm concerned, there should be some kind of active monitoring connected to StarWind vSAN, so you will be able to act when needed. 

In our dark environment, this is impossible as we don't have any mail server available in our infrastructure, which consists of a few v-hosts, redundant storage, and quite a few virtual machines, all running on Microsoft OS.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've used the solution for three years.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Laraib Abid - PeerSpot reviewer
Security Operation Center Analyst at ASAL Innovation PVT LTD
Real User
Top 20
High availability at a fair cost with good replication
Pros and Cons
  • "In our case, the cost and high availability are the two most important factors which we were looking for in a solution."
  • "There should be publicly available tutorials on YouTube or other platforms that help the users to integrate this solution with other platforms, for example."

What is our primary use case?

We were previously using old conventional backup methods. Last year, our organization decided to move to some cloud base storage solution, and we moved to StarWind as our primary storage solution. 

StarWind Virtual SAN is the solution exactly we are looking for. It replicates the data between the hosts, giving us 30 TB of usable redundant storage. 

StarWind Virtual SAN is a flexible solution in terms of storage expansion. The big advantage we got from StarWind is the ability to meet compliance requirements to ensure we are fail-safe.

How has it helped my organization?

StarWind Virtual SAN is cost-effective, with high availability and good flexibility, and is a high-performance software-defined storage solution. 

StarWind features like high availability and cost-effectiveness improve the ability of our organization by reducing the cost of old storage methods. Additionally, StarWind Virtual SAN provides excellent performance. It delivers fast data access and efficient data transfers, which actually improves the application performance and user experience.

What is most valuable?

In our case, the cost and high availability are the two most important factors which we were looking for in a solution. StarWind Virtual SAN is a cloud-native solution, and cost and other factors are favorable to us. I would recommend this solution if a company has a tight budget and hardware limitations in its environment. Of course, users do need to consider other factors as well as every organization has its own preference for solutions.

What needs improvement?

There is always room for improvement, and user expectations never end.

The first and most important thing the solution needs is video tutorials. There should be more focus areas. To use the solution, users should not need to always create tickets to get support from the vendor. There should be publicly available tutorials on YouTube or other platforms that help the users to integrate this solution with other platforms, for example. 

Documentation improvement is the second area that needs focus. We require more detailed documentation. That will definitely help users to effectively utilize this solution. 

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using this solution for more than one year. 

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

We were a using conventional backup solution previously.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We have evaluated a few options previously. However, I can't recall the names. That process was handled a year ago.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Public Cloud
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
reviewer2083629 - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Technician at Rebnord Technologies, Inc.
User
Saves on hardware, increases uptime, and simplifies architecture
Pros and Cons
  • "This product now allows us to migrate virtual machines between nodes as if we had a dedicated $100,000 SAN in the mix without the additional cost and management of the SAN."
  • "We ran into an issue with alerts."

What is our primary use case?

We have a small private cloud for providing hosting to our clients. This allowed us to simplify our architecture in a way that previously required dedicated SAN hardware. 

The ability to migrate data and machines as we would with a central SAN is very helpful and has reduced our overall hardware costs, reduced our management costs, and provided additional uptime for our clients. 

We have two nodes currently with dedicated networking between them. This allows for quick migration and agile upgrades in the future. 

How has it helped my organization?

This has allowed us to spend less on hardware yet still have the same functionality of a full SAN. We will be able to provide additional uptime for our clients because of vSAN. 

Previously we were unable to migrate between nodes in our environment. This solution allows us to migrate virtual machines between nodes as if we had a dedicated $100,000 SAN in the mix without the additional cost and management of the SAN. 

We hope in the long run that we will be able to deploy this to our other nodes and save additional time and expense there. 

What is most valuable?

The ability to use two servers as a cluster instead of having to have a dedicated SAN environment to achieve the same results has been great. This has allowed us to spend less on hardware yet still have the same functionality of a full SAN. 

We will be able to provide additional uptime for our clients thanks to vSAN. 

Previously we were unable to migrate between nodes in our environment. This product now allows us to migrate virtual machines between nodes as if we had a dedicated $100,000 SAN in the mix without the additional cost and management of the SAN. 

We hope in the long run that we will be able to deploy this to our other nodes and save additional time and expense there.

What needs improvement?

We ran into an issue with alerts. The system uses email to send alerts, and we are a Microsoft 365 shop. They were not able to send them, thanks to the latest TLS updates at Microsoft. We were able to use a third-party SMTP relay in the meantime, however. 

Additionally, there was no way to send different levels of alerts, from informational to license to critical. This will require us to monitor each log generated as anyone could be critical coming across. They believe this will be incorporated into their next build and releases. 

For how long have I used the solution?

I've been using the solution for one month.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Principal of ICT Infrastructure and Services at Northgate High School
User
Easy to expand with seamless migrations and helpful support
Pros and Cons
  • "The fact that we can expand our storage and add on to our compute nodes easily and how amazing the StarWind technical support team is really adding value to our purchase."
  • "We don't really have any issues with this product."

What is our primary use case?

We use the StarWind Virtual SAN software across two storage nodes to create redundancy for our cluster storage. 

Installed on two storage servers, StarWind's Virtual SAN handles the replication of our cluster storage between the two in separate server rooms across the site. 

We have five compute nodes connected to the storage nodes, which we run Hyper-V; the VMs are all located on the cluster storage nodes yet physically run on the compute nodes. 

The compute nodes are split in two, with two in one server room and three in another, with room to add more compute nodes if needed. 

Migration of VMs is seamless and improved from our previous solutions.

How has it helped my organization?

Our previous SAN solutions were outdated and had several issues due to age.

Looking for a change, we found that all the reviews and people we spoke to about StarWind said that the software just worked perfectly. All we really wanted was a system that once it was set up that just worked. And that's exactly what we have found to be the case in StarWind's Virtual SAN. It has been excellent; we monitor the replication health via the software and that's about it. There are no issues so far, and, like each review we've seen, we would highly recommend StarWind Virtual SAN.

What is most valuable?

StarWind's Virtual SAN handles the replication of our cluster storage
between the two storage nodes in separate server rooms across the site. 

We have five compute nodes connected to the storage nodes, which we run Hyper-V, and the VMs are all located on the cluster storage nodes. They, however, physically run on the compute nodes. The compute nodes are split into two with two in one server room and three in another. There is also room to add more compute nodes if needed.

Migration of VMs is seamless. It's improved from our previous solutions. The fact is that once it was set up, the replication works perfectly, and we haven't had any issues since installation.

The fact that we can expand our storage and add on to our compute nodes easily and how amazing the StarWind technical support team is really adding value to our purchase.

What needs improvement?

We don't really have any issues with this product. 

StarWind has a great technical support team that helps with the installation and has ironed out any issues we had early on. 

The price was perfect, as we didn't have to shell out for new SAN servers. We found that StarWind's Virtual SAN was a cheaper solution to install on two storage servers than buying a new dedicated SAN server.

Due to the fact our old SAN was no longer supported and out of warranty, finding that StarWind's technical support team is so incredibly helpful and knowledgeable has been amazing.

There are no negatives or improvements that we can think of at our current stage.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've been using the solution for four months.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The software seems to be completely stable; we have had no issues with the software itself and if a compute or storage node has gone down, the redundancy has been great, we don't even know if there ever was an issue. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

With the way we are set up, we only need two storage nodes that we are licensed for, and we can expand the storage on those nodes and add it to our cluster storage with no additional cost. Compute nodes don't need to be licensed, so we can have as many as we'd like and attach them to our cluster storage.

How are customer service and support?

Customer service and support were amazing. They offer quick responses and are  very helpful and knowledgeable. 

We had them look over our setup after the demo and got help with configuring the iSCSI connections to the storage nodes. We also had the same technician throughout, so he knew our system and setup.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

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

We used NetApps SANtricity for the past 10+ years. The System was old, outdated, and out of warranty. Our support contract ended with them last year, so we needed a new solution with support and better software.

How was the initial setup?

Most of the setup was easy for our environment; the only issue we had was with setting up iSCSI connections from the compute nodes to the storage nodes, however, the technical support team helped with this.

What about the implementation team?

We went through a vendor and initially spoke directly with StarWind to do a demo and talk us through it.

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

The setup costs depend on how many nodes you need.

One of the main reasons we went with StarWind was the pricing. It was cheaper for us to use our existing servers and install the Virtual SAN software and upgrade to SSDs than buy a brand new SAN server from other providers. 

We trialed the StarWind Virtual SAN software for a few weeks and quickly decided on the product.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We looked at other solutions from HP, Barracuda, Netapp, and Azure HCI.

What other advice do I have?

If you trial the software, you can upgrade from the trial to the full version without any disruption or reconfiguration. StarWind Technical support is outstanding. They were extremely helpful throughout the trial, setup, and during our transitioning period.

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
Technical Manager at a computer software company with 11-50 employees
User
Easy to deploy and configure with lots of online videos and documentation
Pros and Cons
  • "StarWind vSAN is easy to deploy and administer."
  • "I'd prefer it if a remote console was provided."

What is our primary use case?

A customer wanted to build a test environment for his VMware. However, he was running out of financial resources. 

I suggested this product (vSAN in particular), and he was quite happy with its features. Later, he decided to convert his test environment into production using the same StarWind products, and to date, he is a happy customer. 

After this success story, I have referred many of my customers to use this product; no complaints so far. 

Happy customers mean good business, and the company is progressing well, so I'm enjoying the benefits as well. 

How has it helped my organization?

StarWind vSAN is easy to deploy and administer. It's a user-friendly solution. We are integrators and deployed vSAN from StarWind with multiple clients and all are happy with its performance. 

What is most valuable?

Creating the new server and deploying it to be used by hypervisors over ISCSI is good. It is very easy to configure. 

What needs improvement?

I'd prefer it if a remote console was provided. That way, the customer doesn't have to log in to a specific server where the product is running. That could be very beneficial. 

For how long have I used the solution?

I've been using the solution for four years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

I have deployed this product at multiple locations (for clients) and have had no complaints so far. It is a fully stable product. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The scalability is relatively easy to manage on StarWind. When having real hardware, it's a bit complex to scale, yet way easier with StarWind than with other options.  

How are customer service and support?

Customer service is easily available by email. I have not tried by phone. However, it's my understanding that they would be of great help if I reached out that way too.  

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

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

I have worked with NetApp, Lenovo, EMC, and some other brands as well for storage with VMware and Hyper V. 

StarWind is easy to manage as compared to these and is a cheap solution with very similar features. 

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is straightforward. Any IT professional can handle it after some studying and training from Youtube. 

What about the implementation team?

After reading the help material and watching some Youtube videos, I deployed this product myself. 

What was our ROI?

A happy customer is the best ROI. I have many happy customers using StarWind. 

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

It's quite easy to deploy this product. 

Any IT professional can read a few documents and watch some videos and maybe go to Youtube to learn about deployment and management. It's a very simple and user-friendly product. 

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.