Recently we’ve released a completely new version of StarWind Virtual SAN (VSAN) for VMware vSphere, this time a ready-to-go Linux-based VM delivering shared storage for VMware vSphere environments. In a nutshell: no Windows & associated Windows licensing, even higher performance, uber-simple deployment & management. Now we are excited to present an updated build! This time we improved RAM & flash caching, added software RAID support and made web UI even better looking. In this article series our expert shares some tricks and hints on using StarWind VSAN and discusses its deployment on top of the OS-managed software and pure hardware RAIDs.

Read the full article by Alex Bykovskyi, a Solutions Architect here at StarWind, to learn how to deploy and properly set up StarWind Virtual SAN for vSphere.

Migrating sites to the cloud can be quite troublesome. For such cases, Microsoft introduced the Windows Site Migration Tool. This is a program that can collect the necessary information about a website hosted on IIS, analyze it, and then automatically transfer all settings, files, and even the database directly to the Microsoft Azure cloud. Make sure that the migration of the sites is really easy and can be completed within a few minutes!

Read the article by Florent Appointaire, Microsoft Engineer, to find out how to migrate IIS websites to Azure SQL quickly and easily.

VMware vSphere 6 offers all new and new features including a new VMware vCenter management services architecture. vCenter 6.0 can be deployed in embedded and external options and separately as a Platform Services Controller (PSC) and as vCenter. If the Platform Services Controller (PSC) provides common infrastructure services for the data center, then the vCenter Server ensures the remainder of the vCenter Server functionality. But you’ll agree, it would be great to have a common platform that combines both solutions. This option would help reduce the number of VMs per sites without any load balanced dependencies and provide fault tolerance.

Read the article by Andrea Mauro, Virtualization expert and architect, to find out about vCenter deployment options and PSC topologies at the following link.

Geyma Sistemas de Informacion SL, a Spanish company that deals with virtualization, cloud, security and maintenance, chooses StarWind to replace their obsolete SAN. Before StarWind, the company had a Microsoft’s virtualization solution on top of Dell hardware. However, it no longer met company’s increased I/O and uptime requirements.

Find out how Geyma Sistemas de Informacion SL achieved high availability and better I/O performance with StarWind.

Mellanox, an Israeli company, is a leader when it comes to FPGAs and all kinds of programmable logic in the switches and NICs. The latter allow having 25Gbps at a cost and quality level traditional network companies won’t allow. Recently rumors about an acquisition of Mellanox by Microsoft began to circulate. The only decision assessment does not exist, as well as the determination of reasons for which Microsoft decided to take this move. Why does Microsoft want to buy Mellanox?

Read the article by Didier Van Hoye, a Microsoft technology expert, to explore all pitfalls of this issue.

KEMP's main product is LoadMaster, a load balancer, which allows you to work with dozens of web applications. The problem is that some web resources do not include an authentication form, as for example SSO. Therefore, moving to these applications through Kemp, the security of your data is at risk. But don’t worry! ESP or Edge Security Pack is an authentication form provided by Kemp and presented to clients before accessing the web applications.

Read the article by Romain Serre, a Senior Consultant, to find out how to configure ESP on a virtual service and provide with access only those users that belong to an Active Directory Group.

VMware's release of vSphere 6.7 U was launched in October 2018. What's new? This release includes the necessary tools for convergence and repointing. An external Platform Services Controller (PSC) has sunk into oblivion and the client can move to a simplified embedded deployment. The HTML5 based vSphere Client is now fully functional and the vSphere SSO domain has gained more flexibility with support for embedded repointing. Not bad, right? Catch this wave!

Read the article by Vladan Seget, IT and Virtualization consultant, to find out how to install and configure VMware vCenter Server Appliance 6.7 U1 (VCSA).

Do you have problems with lack of space when using SQL express or setting up ODBC parameters before installing vCenter? So it's time for you to think about VMware vCenter Server Appliance (VCSA) - a pre-configured virtual appliance running Linux (Project Photon OS). It has been optimized specifically for vCenter services. What about the scale? VCSA supports up to 2000 hosts or 3500 VMs per appliance. Sounds good, right? In addition, VCSA provides enhanced security. Why wait? Take a step into the future!

Read the article by Vladan Seget, IT and Virtualization consultant, to find out how to migrate VMware vCenter server from Windows to VCSA 6.7 Update 1.

Non-volatile storages are lifebuoys for any company in case of power cycling. In running business having untouchable memory storage is vital. That's why any novel software or hardware must support non-volatile memory with no problems. Time to learn how to go with the times and configure NVDIMM-N on one of the latest Dell PowerEdge Servers with Windows NT most recent software solution!

Read the article by Didier Van Hoye, an IT specialist, to learn how to configure NVDIMM-N on a DELL PowerEdge R740 with Windows Server 2019.

The global lockdown has skyrocketed VDIs and remote client access through the roof. Ensuring that the remote working process is both performant and secure is key. Horizon 7 is one such tool, which relies on encrypted connections and different authentication protocols, assuring safe and controlled access to physical computers at the office.

Read the guide by Paolo Valsecchi of nolabnoparty.com about the benefits of VMware Horizon 7 and how to configure it for your office’s work-from-home needs.

Area Agency on Aging Region 9, an Ohio non-profit, was looking for a way to achieve HA for its existing infrastructure without buying new shared storage and avoiding vendor lock-in. Thanks to StarWind, it was able not only to achieve constant app uptime and fault tolerance but was able to acquire freedom of scalability and environment flexibility, too.

Find out how AAA-9 was able to save a ton of money while achieving stellar performance and environment resiliency with its existing hardware and hypervisor thanks to StarWind.

2020 has been a resiliency test like no other. We express our gratitude to our long-standing and new customers who have entrusted their mission-critical IT infrastructure into StarWind’s hands, for us to ensure nothing falters. You and we have made it this far this year, and together, we will come even further in the next.

StarWind wishes you happy holidays and don’t forget to try out your luck in winning an extra prize for your Christmas in the ongoing StarWind Giveaway 3.0.

Considering a switch from VMware? Whether you're a small business tightening the budget or an enterprise seeking greater flexibility, XCP-ng, an open-source XenServer-based virtualization platform, offers a compelling alternative to VMware.
Read more about why XCP-ng might be the solution for you in the new article by Vladan Seget, a virtualization expert, for StarWind.

StarWind team will take part in VeeamON 2018 – the premier conference for intelligent data management. The event will be held in McCormick Place, Chicago and is aimed to bring together thousands of IT peers and industry leaders to learn about what’s working best in their industries and explore innovative technologies. At VeeamON 2018, we will introduce our latest solution – StarWind Virtual Tape Library. It is designed to automate data backup and archive processes while increasing their cost-efficiency and security by bringing in cloud and object storage support.

Join us at booth 501! Awesome gits and swag guaranteed.

StarWind Linux-based Virtual Storage Appliance is the best way to test StarWind virtual shared storage features and capabilities without disrupting you Linux-oriented IT infrastructure. StarWind Virtual Storage Appliance simply deploys as a pre-configured virtual machine requiring no Windows licenses. It supports multiple hypervisors, such as KVM, Microsoft Hyper-V, and VMware ESXi and can be easily managed using StarWind Web Console or thick client.

Watch the video to learn more about StarWind Linux-based Virtual Storage Appliance functionality:
https://www.starwindsoftware.com/starwind-virtual-storage-appliance-on-linux-video

Reddit is a perfect place to get into news and trends, isn’t it? Actually, that’s why StarWind has started a subreddit!
There, we share blog articles, announce events, and discuss interesting stuff going on in IT these days.

Stay tuned, subscribe to StarWind’s subreddit!

To make the life of system administrators easier, StarWind has decided to further expand its feature set with StarWind Swordfish Provider delivering API functionality that simplifies storage allocation, monitoring, and management. The addition of Swordfish API ultimately simplifies the integration of StarWind into any existing environment and allows controlling your storage infrastructure from a single pane of glass.

Read the full article by Alex Bykovskyi, a Solutions Architect at StarWind to learn how to configure and implement StarWind Swordfish Provider.

Looking to replace your tape-based backup infrastructure with cost-efficient and convenient cloud and backup storage but don’t wanna ruin the established backup process? Join us at VeeamON 2018 to find a remedy to this problem – new free StarWind Virtual Tape Library technology! At the event, Max Kolomyeytsev, Product Director at StarWind, will take the floor with a presentation: "How to keep your backup process unchanged when replacing physical tapes with object and cloud storage” to showcase all the benefits of this new solution. When? May 16, 1:35 PM.

We’re waiting for you at booth 501.

Learn more about StarWind VTL free here!

StarWind Grid Architecture allows building a highly fault-tolerant cluster capable of withstanding multiple nodes failure by interconnecting the nodes together into a single and resilient grid. Such cluster topology maintains the principle of data locality, where VMs receive the shortest way to the storage, delivering lower latency and as a result – high performance of the system.

Watch now: https://www.starwindsoftware.com/building-a-high-performing-and-fault-tolerant-cluster-with-starwind-grid-architecture-video

Building cloud-based infrastructures is a hot topic in IT these days. Still, some companies cannot do that due to security, availability, and management concerns. So, they run productions on their on-premises hardware that often hardly scales out, delivers poor disaster recovery, and, what is more important, limits their innovations. We’ve come up with a workaround for these guys!

Find out in our upcoming free webinar how to extend your IT environment to Microsoft Azure with StarWind Virtual SAN.

Register now!