Finally, StarWind Virtual Storage Appliance is available on Linux allowing you to save costs on Windows licensing. Being hypervisor-agnostic, StarWind VSA easily integrates into any IT infrastructure as a fully pre-configured virtual machine ready for deployment and operation. It simply installs in any existing environment requiring no specialized SAN skills and is managed using StarWind Web console or thick client allowing to control the entire storage infrastructure from a centralized console.
Join our Tap Room Meeting on April 27 11 am PT / 2 pm ET to see all benefits of the StarWind Linux-based VSA.
Register now: https://www.starwindsoftware.com/dedicated-live-demo-session

StarWind Virtual SAN Free allows deploying a 2-node cluster providing a highly available storage for your virtual machines to Hyper-V or ESXi hypervisor for free. When deploying multi VSAN Free nodes, the data is synchronized across the network between the nodes. StarWind VSAN Free can be deployed in a hyperconverged model where VSAN Free is installed on hypervisor nodes or in a disaggregated model with separated compute and storage resources. StarWind VSAN Free management capabilities include PowerShell, with StarWind Management console available as a 30-day trial.

Read the full article by Romain Serre, a Senior Consultant at Lyon to learn how to deploy a 2-node StarWind VSAN Free for VMware ESXi 6.5 on Windows Server 2016 Core Edition.

StarWind gets closer to Linux users by providing them with special Linux-based Virtual Storage Appliance version combining the underlying OS and preinstalled StarWind Virtual SAN, allowing to save money on Windows Licensing when it’s unnecessary.
StarWind VSA is compatible with any hypervisor, be it Microsoft Hyper-V, VMware ESXi, Xen or KVM and can be managed via a Web Management Console while additionally containing a StarWind vCenter plugin allowing to manage the product directly from vCenter Server.

Read the full article by Vladan Seget, IT and Virtualization consultant to learn more about StarWind Virtual SAN on Linux

AlwaysOn Basic Availability Groups (BAG) supported in SQL Server Standard Edition and AlwaysOn Availability Groups (AG) introduced in SQL Server Enterprise Edition were designed to create a replicated environment with improved failover capabilities. However, the two types provide different capabilities while also requiring different licensing costs.

Read the full article by Shashank Singh, Microsoft MVP, and SQL Server Architect to learn more about BAG and AG cost and functionality differences.

Migrating your VMs from one hypervisor to another may be quite a complicated task if there’s no decent virtual machine converter at hand. Fortunately, there are various V2V tools allowing to turn this process into a simple thing. But, when choosing a V2V converter, there are several factors you should take into consideration.

Read the full article to learn how to choose a V2V converter that will become a perfect fit for your needs.

StarWind is currently working on the new product - a flexible and customizable web-based platform which will allow users get the full control over their IT infrastructures from a single HTML5 graphical interface including S2D, Failover Clustering and Hyper-V. More information to be found in a nearby thread: https://mangolassi.it/topic/14114/help-starwind-to-pick-the-name-for-the-upcoming-product

StarWind HyperConverged Appliance utilizes Local Reconstruction Codes, Replication, and Grid Architecture to provide an ultimate fault tolerance rate while delivering sustained high performance. With StarWind HCA, the whole infrastructure remains operational even after multiple disk or node failures. In case a failure occurs, applications are automatically recovered to working cluster disks or nodes, allowing to easily withstand a failure of more than 50% of the cluster nodes.

Watch our video to learn how to get uncompromised resiliency with StarWind HCA
https://www.starwindsoftware.com/get-uncompromised-fault-tolerance-of-it-infrastructure-with-starwind-hyperconverged-appliance

With PowerShell, automatic deployment of Hyper-V VMs in Windows Server 2016 becomes a piece of cake
No doubts, commercial software for automatic VM deployment is great, but it may be too expensive comparing to the goals that need to be achieved. That’s where PowerShell kicks in. With PowerShell commands, the creation and configuration of Hyper-V virtual machines in Windows Server 2016 become a fairly simple thing. But, what is more important, you can create a script which deploys VMs of the same configuration automatically.

Read the full article by Boris Yurchenko, a Support Engineer at StarWind, to learn how to automate your VMs deployment with PowerShell in Windows Server 2016.

Installing an HTTPS certificate is just a tip of the iceberg. This certificate has a huge number of options that usually are hidden deep inside config files. Actually, these tiny details allow distinguishing a site that can be rendered vulnerable via HTTPS downgrade attack and the one that is really secure.

Read the full article by Gary Williams, a virtualization, storage, and Windows systems administrator, to achieve the highest security.

StarWind team will take the floor at Storage Field Day 15 to reveal new awesome backup storage technologies: Virtual Tape Library with Cloud and Object storage and backed by ProActive Support! Our speaking slot is the first in line: March 9, 8-10 am PT, don’t miss it!

For Livestream, go to https://www.facebook.com/TechFieldDay/ or watch on http://techfieldday.com/, Livestream.com - includes the entire event.

Both Block Storage and Object Storage have unique strengths – performance vs scalability, structure vs flexibility.
In our latest article by Michael Rakitin for StarWind, we compare the two architectures, explain their use cases, and show how combining them can deliver the best of both. Read more here: https://starwind.com/s/ze

Queensland Tissue Products, an Australian manufacturer, faced growing demands on its IT infrastructure, which ran on a single physical Dell server with Hyper-V. The company needed to minimize the number of physical servers and eliminate the complexity of maintaining a separate NAS for its Hyper-V infrastructure while ensuring redundancy. By deploying StarWind Virtual SAN (VSAN), Queensland Tissue Products streamlines its Hyper-V infrastructure, eliminates separate NAS needs, and achieves built-in redundancy, cutting the running costs for storage systems and simplifying maintenance. Read more here: https://starwind.com/s/zb

Whether you’re running VMware Workstation, VMware Fusion, or ESXi, installing VMware Tools is essential for smooth performance and full functionality.
Our latest detailed guide by Dmytro Malynka for StarWind walks you through installation on Linux, Windows, and macOS, including commands, screenshots, and troubleshooting tips.
Read more here: https://starwind.com/s/z8

Monitoring your Proxmox VE setup is key to avoiding downtime and performance issues. Learn from our latest step-by-step guide by Paolo Valsecchi, a System Engineer, for StarWind how to deploy InfluxDB for metric storage and Grafana for visualization, giving you centralized, real-time insights into your entire cluster. Read more here: https://starwind.com/s/z5

Tryon International Equestrian Center, a U.S.-based resort and horse sport facility, ran its IT on three aging VMware hosts without high availability (HA), making upgrades both necessary and costly. The organization required a cost-effective HA infrastructure that avoided unnecessary hardware expenses. By deploying StarWind HCI Appliance (HCA), Tryon International Equestrian Center creates a reliable two-node HA setup with refurbished hardware and full support, modernizing the environment, improving guest services, and saving $25,000 over three years. Read more here: https://starwind.com/s/z2

What’s the difference between vSphere, ESXi, and vCenter? These three technologies are often used together but serve very different purposes.
Learn from our new guide by Vladyslav Savchenko for StarWind how they fit into the VMware ecosystem and what role each plays in building a modern virtualization environment. Read more here: https://starwind.com/s/yz

If your business relies on mission-critical applications, inconsistent data isn’t an option. #SQLServer replication keeps #databases synchronized across servers for #HighAvailability, #disasterrecovery, and performance offloading.
Discover the types, setup steps, and best practices in our latest complete overview by Ivan Ischenko for #StarWind. Read more here: https://starwind.com/s/yw

Take One Systems, Inc., a U.S.-based IT company, faced a risk of data loss in its Hyper-V cluster because asynchronous replication through Hyper-V Replica or Veeam could not ensure fully up-to-date copies. The company required a storage solution that delivered active-active synchronization to eliminate replication gaps and maintain data integrity across nodes. By deploying StarWind Virtual SAN (VSAN), Take One Systems, Inc. creates active-active redundant storage, prevents data loss, and ensures continuous availability of its mission-critical workloads. Read more here: https://starwind.com/s/yt

Want a clean, local-only setup on Windows 11 25H2? You can still bypass the mandatory Microsoft Account using a few proven methods. Our latest guide by Vladan Seget, a virtualization expert, for StarWind walks you through every option step by step. Read more here: https://starwind.com/s/yq

Baker Group, a U.S.-based provider of building and industrial system solutions, relied on standalone Hyper-V servers with Microsoft Failover Clustering but lacked shared storage. The company needed a reliable, flexible, and cost-effective way to enable shared storage without replacing its existing hardware stack. By deploying StarWind Virtual SAN (VSAN), Baker Group converts local storage into a shared pool for a Hyper-V cluster, gains seamless scalability and simplified infrastructure management, and unlocks significant long-term cost savings. Read more here: https://starwind.com/s/yn