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.

Stateful workloads are becoming the norm in Kubernetes environments. Our latest article by Marius Sandbu, a cloud-native and end-user computing expert, for StarWind walks you through VMware Cloud Native Storage (CNS), explaining how CSI, SPBM, and vCenter work together to deliver enterprise-grade storage for containers on vSphere. Read more here: https://starwind.com/s/12h

Veeam Agent for Windows (Free) is a practical solution for protecting individual laptops and desktops without deploying a full backup infrastructure.
Our latest article by Vladan Seget for StarWind explains how standalone image-based backups work, what’s included in the free Veeam Agent edition, and when it makes sense to move to managed mode for small teams. Read more here: https://starwind.com/s/12e

COFED, a government body that manages EU-funded development projects in the DRC, relied on a single data server, resulting in long service outages whenever the data center failed. The organization needed a simple and reliable way to keep data synchronized and services continuously available even if one server went offline. By deploying StarWind Virtual SAN (VSAN) in a two-node high-availability cluster, COFED ensured automatic failover and uninterrupted operations with fully synchronized data. Read more here: https://starwind.com/s/12b

AI teams often blame models or compute when performance drops, but the real issue is data movement. In 2026, storage architecture directly impacts training speed and overall AI costs.
Our new article by Ivan Ischenko for StarWind explains how AI storage works, why it is needed now, and what to look for when choosing a platform. Read more here: https://starwind.com/s/128

Burnham Holdings, Inc., a U.S. manufacturer of HVAC products, had an aging Hyper-V cluster with a traditional SAN that needed upgrading, but VMware vSAN was too costly and complex for their requirements. The company was looking for a cost-effective, high-availability (HA) storage solution that could be deployed easily and work seamlessly with VMware ESXi. By implementing StarWind Virtual SAN (VSAN), Burnham Holdings, Inc. creates a fault-tolerant, HA VMware ESXi cluster, ensuring reliable performance, continuous manufacturing and administrative operations, and significant cost savings in its IT infrastructure. Read more here: https://starwind.com/s/125

Microsoft Entra ID is at the core of cloud identity and access management. Our step-by-step guide by Paolo Valsecchi, a System Engineer, for StarWind explains how to back it up with Veeam Backup & Replication to ensure fast recovery of users, roles, and policies when incidents occur. Read more here: https://starwind.com/s/122

Manual WinRE troubleshooting doesn’t scale. New recovery features in Windows 11 aim to standardize and automate repair when devices fail to boot.
Learn from our new detailed article by Brandon Lee, an IT consultant, for StarWind how these Windows Recovery changes reduce downtime and support hybrid workforces. Read more here: https://starwind.com/s/11z

The client company of PurpleJelly, a British IT services provider, had a single HP pedestal server running Microsoft Hyper-V that lacked failover and disaster recovery. They needed a cost-effective and highly available virtualization solution without investing in additional hardware. By deploying StarWind Virtual SAN (VSAN), PurpleJelly provides full server virtualization for its client’s company infrastructure and enables cost-effective failover and disaster recovery, ensuring continuous uptime and improved business resilience. Read more here: https://starwind.com/s/11w

Selux, a global manufacturer of sustainable lighting solutions, relied on multiple standalone physical servers running Hyper-V, creating single points of failure and requiring constant hardware expansion to support system upgrades. The company needed a cost-effective and easy-to-manage solution that would eliminate hardware dependency and ensure 24/7 business operations. By deploying StarWind HCI Appliance (HCA), Selux replaces physical servers with a fully redundant, preconfigured, and easily scalable hyperconverged platform, achieving continuous uptime for its design and manufacturing processes. Read more here: https://starwind.com/s/11t

Microsoft has released the public preview of Windows Admin Center Virtualization Mode (vMode) – a native, web-based management plane for Hyper-V, clusters, Storage Spaces Direct, and even VMware-to-Hyper-V migrations. And it’s free with Windows Server licensing.
If you’re considering moving away from costly VMware renewals, this might be your sign. Check out all the details and how to set it up in our new guide by Vladan Seget, a virtualization expert, for StarWind. Read more here: https://starwind.com/s/11q