StarWind Free NAS & SAN is a new software solution for Enterprise ROBO and SMB to implement a shared storage for VMware vSphere and Microsoft Hyper-V leveraging existing servers.
This fully certified solution for VMware vSphere and Microsoft Hyper-V platforms, allows administrators to re-use standalone servers as a high-performance and high-capacity storage appliance supporting standard protocols like iSCSI, SMB, NFS, and others.
The software is composed by a ready-to-go Linux appliance VM deployed in your virtual environment (vSphere or Hyper-V) turning an existing server in a compatible and HCL-certified cost-free storage appliance. The used code is actually the same core engine that made StarWind Virtual SAN a performance leader.
StarWind Free NAS & SAN features
This StarWind product provides the following main features:
- Architecture - StarWind Free NAS & SAN is a prepackaged software solution that comes as a Linux-based appliance, easy to use and deploy, and compatible with Microsoft Hyper-V and VMware ESXi. A web-based GUI allows a simpler management for a better user experience.
- HCL Storage - the solution is fully certified for Microsoft Hyper-V and VMware vSphere and allows to re-use existing servers with no hassle of finding and buying compatible hardware for the supported environments.
- File and Block Storage - StarWind Free NAS & SAN supports multiple protocols such as iSCSI including RDMA-capable iSER, NFSv3, NFSv4, SMB3, and SMB Direct. Storage arrays are presented as datastores that can be used to to store virtual machines, backups and file-based data. Multipathing and load balancing are also supported to perform Live Migration, vMotion, DRS, and so on.
- Versatility and Redundancy - the software is compatible with any hardware and provides software-based storage redundancy configurations to build a redundant storage appliance re-using existing servers.
Management and support
To manage cluster operations and infrastructure integrations of StarWind Free NAS & SAN, the product comes with different options available to users:
- Web-based UI
- Text-based UI
- vCenter Plugin
- Command-line interface
An intuitive Dashboard is also available to control storage and network tasks as well events.
Tech Support
Tech support for StarWind Free NAS & SAN is provided through the community via StarWind Forums.
License
StarWind Free NAS & SAN is a completely free solution and it doesn't require any purchased license.
The StarWind solution can be downloaded at StarWind website.
