Modern IT is all about virtualization. It’s not a question of virtualizing or not, it’s when and how to do it. Realizing your virtualization potential, having shared storage is “A MUST”. Shared storage is also necessary for achieving High Availability and Fault Tolerance on the hypervisor or VM level, fast live VM migration, to protect from unplanned downtime, etc. The classic approach to providing shared storage is using standalone SAN, NAS or even shared DAS.
Proprietary SAN/NAS boxes cannot be commodity by design because they are still produced with much lower amount compared to ordinary servers. Going with non-commodity means accepting a few negative aspects:
Going non-commodity typically means a longer generation life cycle. While new generations of proprietary hardware are developing 4-5 years, the commodity boxes are renewing every 1-2 years. Thus, for two years of deployment commodity servers will evolve: physical disks and RAM capacity, CPUs with more cores and higher frequency, high-speed multi-port NIC, etc. while the proprietary box will remain the same. As the result, the user gets less performance for a bigger cost when going non-commodity.
StarWind runs on Windows OS which runs on top of the commodity servers thus eliminating typical proprietary hardware problems:
StarWind is compatible with a wide range of server platforms from leading OEM vendors such as Dell, Supermicro, Lenovo, HPE, Fujitsu, and more. Below is a list of example solution-ready configurations that have been pre-tested to ensure seamless compatibility with StarWind Virtual SAN, StarWind Virtual HCI Appliance, and StarWind VTL.
Using StarWind Virtual SAN on the commodity hardware, which significantly decreases the CapEx and OpEx of the entire system, provides the ability for fast and easy maintenance and re-provisioning while keeping the storage components on the cutting edge of technology.
StarWind included as Niche Player for the fourth consecutive time in 2021 Magic Quadrant™ for HCI Software
We are satisfied with StarWind. The support is really fantastic. Whenever any issue arises, the response is very prompt, and solution is immediate.
We were able to build 2-node storage clusters based on virtualization in 19 hypermarkets without any problems and with high cost-efficiency.
By being able to virtualize our environment with StarWind, we were able to retire some old hardware, get our services highly available, reduce power consumption and heat in our server closet.
StarWind got us off the clustered environment, which was a big help. So, I could regain control of my storage and reclaim and redistribute the space we desperately needed.
Price + Simplicity. StarWind vSAN offers great pricing and allows us to get work done without expensive custom hardware. It also makes getting back online quick and easy after an outage or hardware failure.
We chose StarWind Mainly because of the cost compared to other vendors. Simplicity of setup was also a major factor and I like the fact that you don’t need a vendor certified engineer to perform the installation.
Because of recommendations of older colleagues, with StarWind, we got a reliable storage with no additional hardware. There was a need to increase IT infrastructure performance and we saw StarWind as the most cost-effective solution.
StarWind is the best storage product I have ever used! It satisfies and exceeds requirements.
Our products are now available at flexible subscription payments simply as part of your OpEx.