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StarWind VSAN – FREE vs Paid options and some good scenarios for ROBO deployments on alternative hypervisors

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Cost-effective solutions, with high availability and performance are likely very popular. StarWind Virtual SAN (VSAN) is a software-defined storage solution designed to eliminate the need for physical shared storage by mirroring internal hard disks and flash between hypervisor servers. This technology provides a fault-tolerant, high-performing storage pool tailored for virtualization workloads. Let’s delve into the technology behind StarWind VSAN and explore its best use cases, particularly for Remote Office/Branch Office (ROBO) deployments, and the platforms it supports.

The Technology Behind StarWind VSAN

StarWind VSAN is a hypervisor-centric shared storage provider that operates entirely in software. It mirrors inexpensive internal storage between hosts, creating a virtual shared storage pool accessible by all hosts in the cluster. This mirroring ensures that data remains available even if one of the hosts goes offline.

Key technologies employed by StarWind VSAN include:

Inline and Offline Deduplication – This reduces the amount of storage needed by eliminating duplicate copies of data, both in real-time (inline) and after data has been written (offline).

Multi-Tiered RAM and Flash Cache – By using RAM and flash as cache layers, StarWind VSAN accelerates read and write operations, improving overall performance.

iSCSI Stack Implementation – StarWind VSAN provides a highly performant iSCSI stack, supporting multiple protocols such as iSCSI, iSER (iSCSI Extension for RDMA), NFS, SMB3, and NVMe-oF (NVMe over Fabrics).

These technologies collectively ensure that StarWind VSAN delivers high performance, fault tolerance, and efficient storage utilization, making it an ideal solution for virtualization environments.

Best Use Cases for ROBO Deployments

Remote Office/Branch Office (ROBO) deployments often face unique challenges, such as limited IT resources, budget constraints, and the need for high availability. StarWind VSAN addresses these challenges effectively, making it a suitable choice for ROBO environments.

High Availability and Fault Tolerance – StarWind VSAN ensures data availability by mirroring storage between hosts. In a ROBO deployment, this means that even if one server fails, the data remains accessible from another server, minimizing downtime and data loss.

Cost Efficiency – By eliminating the need for physical shared storage, StarWind VSAN reduces hardware costs. This is particularly beneficial for ROBO deployments, where budget constraints are common.

Simplified Management – StarWind VSAN integrates seamlessly with existing virtualization platforms, allowing IT administrators to manage storage using familiar tools and interfaces. This simplifies management and reduces the need for specialized storage expertise.

Scalability – ROBO environments often require scalable solutions that can grow with the business. StarWind VSAN allows for easy scaling by adding more hosts to the cluster, ensuring that storage capacity and performance can be increased as needed.

Performance Optimization – The use of multi-tiered RAM and flash cache, along with log-structuring, ensures that StarWind VSAN delivers high performance, even in environments with limited resources.

Platforms Supporting StarWind VSAN

StarWind VSAN is designed to be flexible and compatible with various virtualization platforms. It can be deployed on the following platforms:

  • Microsoft Hyper-V – StarWind VSAN can be installed as a native application on Windows Hyper-V, providing seamless integration with Microsoft’s virtualization platform.
  • VMware vSphere/ESXi – StarWind VSAN can be nested inside a virtual machine on VMware ESXi, allowing it to leverage VMware’s robust virtualization capabilities.
  • Linux KVM – StarWind VSAN supports Linux Kernel-based Virtual Machine (KVM), providing an open-source virtualization option.
  • Xen – StarWind VSAN can also run on Xen, offering another open-source virtualization platform for users.

Additionally, StarWind VSAN supports non-virtualized clusters, typically deployed for performance-intensive applications such as SQL Server and Exchange installations.

Free vs. Paid Versions of StarWind VSAN

StarWind offers both a free and a paid version of its VSAN solution. Here is the compare page or the comparison matrix here. The free version is an excellent way to test and familiarize yourself with the technology before committing to the paid version.

Here are the key differences:

  • Node Limitation – The free version is limited to 3 VSAN nodes, whereas the paid version supports more nodes, allowing for larger and more scalable deployments.
  • Management Console – The StarWind Management Console, which provides a user-friendly interface for managing the VSAN, is only available in the paid version.
  • Support – The free version does not include support, while the paid version comes with comprehensive support options, ensuring that you have access to assistance when needed.

 

By starting with the free version, organizations can evaluate the capabilities and performance of StarWind VSAN in their environment. Once they are confident in the solution, they can transition to the paid version to benefit from additional features, scalability, and support.

VAAI Support – If you're running VMware in your datacenter, you might want to know that StarWind VSAN has a VAAI support that allows StarWind to offload multiple storage operations from the VMware hosts to the storage array itself. Thus, these operations are carried out much faster and with no impact on the system’s performance. Great for operations that uses cloning (including backup software).

Screenshot from the lab showing hardware acceleration support via VAAI. StarWind datastore with VAAI support.

Conclusion

StarWind Virtual SAN (VSAN) is a powerful, software-defined storage solution that addresses the challenges of modern virtualization environments. Its advanced technologies, such as inline and offline deduplication, log-structuring, and multi-tiered caching, ensure high performance and fault tolerance. For ROBO deployments, StarWind VSAN offers high availability, cost efficiency, simplified management, scalability, and performance optimization.

Link: StarWind VSAN

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