What is the difference between StarWind HCI Appliance and Virtual SAN?

The HCI Appliance is a turnkey hardware + software platform—you get pre-configured servers with StarWind software, proactive support, and a single vendor relationship. Virtual SAN is the software-only component that you install on your own hardware. Both provide the same storage functionality, but the appliance adds convenience, pre-validation, and streamlined support.

Do I need to replace my existing servers to use StarWind?

No. StarWind Virtual SAN and Virtual HCI Appliance are hardware-agnostic—you can install them on your existing servers. If you prefer a turnkey approach, the HCI Appliance comes as pre-configured hardware. StarWind supports Dell, HPE, Supermicro, Lenovo, and other x86 server platforms.

How does StarWind proactive support work?

StarWind installs monitoring agents on your infrastructure that use AI-powered telemetry and a "call home" system. Their engineers monitor your environment 24/7 and proactively intervene to resolve potential issues before they cause downtime. This "babysit your infrastructure" model means you get support before you even know there is a problem.

Can StarWind help us move away from VMware?

Yes. StarWind supports VMware vSphere, Microsoft Hyper-V, Proxmox VE, and Linux KVM. Many organisations are using StarWind to migrate from VMware to Proxmox or Hyper-V, reducing licensing costs while maintaining enterprise-grade HA and performance. StarWind also offers a free V2V Converter tool.

Is there a free version of StarWind?

Yes. StarWind offers a free edition of both Virtual SAN and Virtual HCI Appliance. The Linux KVM version is fully featured with no limitations. The Windows/VMware free version has some feature restrictions and is self-supported. There is no time limit on the free editions.

How does StarWind integrate with Wasabi for cloud tiering?

StarWind offers a dedicated Storage Gateway for Wasabi that automates tiering of backup data and archives to Wasabi Hot Cloud Storage. Combined with the StarWind VTL Appliance, this enables a complete 3-2-1 backup strategy with on-premises virtual tapes and cost-effective cloud copies—all with no egress fees from Wasabi.

StarWind Australia — HCI & vSAN | Cloud Ready Solutions

StarWind

"Hyperconverged Infrastructure for Enterprise ROBO, SMB & Edge"

StarWind eliminates the need for expensive, complex SAN and NAS hardware by delivering software-defined storage and turnkey HCI appliances with proactive "we babysit your infrastructure" support—trusted by 63,800+ businesses worldwide.

About StarWind

StarWind is a hyperconverged infrastructure (HCI) and software-defined storage (SDS) vendor with a laser focus on Enterprise ROBO, SMB, and Edge deployments. Founded in 2009, StarWind has grown to serve 63,800+ customers worldwide with a simple philosophy: replace tangled, expensive legacy data centre infrastructure with elegant, high-performance hyperconverged platforms.

StarWind's product portfolio spans three core offerings. The StarWind HCI Appliance is a turnkey, all-in-one platform that converges compute, storage, networking, virtualisation, and management into a single building block—available in Value Flash, Capacity Flash, and Performance Flash configurations. The StarWind Virtual SAN (VSAN) is a "software replaces hardware" solution that eliminates the need for physical shared storage, turning your existing servers into a highly available storage pool. The StarWind Virtual Tape Library (VTL) Appliance modernises tape-based backup workflows with virtual tapes, cloud tiering to AWS, Azure, Backblaze, and Wasabi, and automated LTO-to-disk migration.

What truly sets StarWind apart is their proactive "babysit your infrastructure" support model. Rather than waiting for problems to occur, StarWind's engineers monitor your environment 24/7 using AI-powered telemetry and a "call home" system, preventing issues before they arise. This "one throat to choke" approach eliminates finger-pointing between vendors and dramatically simplifies the IT experience.

StarWind supports VMware vSphere, Microsoft Hyper-V, Proxmox VE, and Linux KVM hypervisors, and is certified with Windows Server 2025, VMware Ready, Microsoft Azure, Citrix, and Oracle Linux Virtualisation Manager.

Key Capabilities

Turnkey HCI Appliance (Value/Capacity/Performance Flash)

Virtual SAN—software replaces SAN hardware

Virtual Tape Library with cloud tiering

Proactive 24/7 "babysit" support model

Multi-hypervisor: VMware, Hyper-V, Proxmox, KVM

NVMe-oF and iSCSI with RDMA support

Stretched and geo-clustering for DR

AI-powered telemetry and call-home system

Free editions for VSAN and Virtual HCI Appliance

Hardware-agnostic—BYO or purpose-built appliances

Fault tolerance with synchronous mirroring

Deduplication, compression, and tiered caching

Product Range

Explore the StarWind solutions available through Cloud Ready Solutions.

Virtual SAN Free

Self-supported VSAN for evaluation and small deployments

Linux KVM version—full features
Windows/VMware version—limited features
Community support
No time limit
Ideal for labs and PoC

Virtual SAN / Virtual HCI Appliance

Software-only licences for your own hardware

Full feature set
Proactive Premium Support included
Per-node or per-socket licensing
BYO hardware flexibility
30-day free trial available

HCI Appliance

Turnkey hardware + software + support

Pre-configured and tested
Value, Capacity, or Performance Flash models
Proactive 24/7 support with call-home
Single vendor for hardware + software + support
Custom configuration available

Common Use Cases

Replace legacy SAN/NAS with software-defined storage

Build hyperconverged infrastructure for ROBO and SMB

High-availability virtualisation with 2-node clusters

Modernise tape backup with VTL and cloud tiering

Disaster recovery with stretched clustering

VMware migration to Proxmox or Hyper-V

High-performance database storage (SQL, Oracle)

VDI and remote desktop infrastructure

Container storage for Kubernetes workloads

Edge computing with compact 1U appliances

Customer Success Stories

IT Services (Law Enforcement)

CJIS Solutions Achieves Years of Consistent Uptime with StarWind VSAN

CJIS Solutions

The Challenge

CJIS-compliant cloud hosting provider experienced frequent crashes and instability with Microsoft Storage Spaces Direct and stretched cluster infrastructure, risking customer-impacting downtime and revenue loss.

The Solution

Replaced unstable storage with StarWind Virtual SAN (VSAN), immediately stabilising the Hyper-V environment with reliable high-availability storage and responsive proactive support.

Results

Zero outages, downtime, or errors for 3-4 years since deployment

Eliminated constant vendor support dependency for stability

Protected revenue by preventing customer-impacting downtime

Engineering (Oil & Gas)

Enter Engineering Maintains High Availability Even During Total Blackouts

Enter Engineering PTE Ltd.

The Challenge

Industrial facility construction company faced compatibility issues with existing IT infrastructure and lacked reliable storage for their Hyper-V environment, creating risks to data integrity.

The Solution

StarWind VSAN with ProActive Premium Support, providing synchronous storage mirroring, real-time replication, and iSCSI Multipath I/O for data integrity even during unexpected power-offs.

Results

Stable and reliable IT infrastructure meeting all operational requirements

Data integrity maintained even during total power blackouts

Continued partnership planned for evolving storage needs

Maritime (Fleet Management)

Flotman Successfully Virtualises with StarWind HCI Appliance

Flotman Sp. Z o. o.

The Challenge

Fleet management software company running six ageing bare-metal servers with deteriorating disk performance and frequent failures. Traditional SAN solutions were prohibitively expensive.

The Solution

StarWind HCI Appliance as a cost-effective turnkey solution, with hands-on assistance configuring the Hyper-V cluster and ProActive Premium Support for a no-downtime migration.

Results

Successfully migrated from bare metal to fully virtualised environment

Eliminated single points of failure with redundant, fault-tolerant infrastructure

Complete out-of-the-box solution without additional infrastructure investment

Media & Broadcasting

LIVEBOX Replaces Ageing SAN with Vendor-Agnostic All-Flash Storage

LIVEBOX, a.s.

The Challenge

Video and audio streaming company's ageing Dell EqualLogic SAN with VMware ESXi lacked adequate redundancy, was slow, and approaching warranty expiration for mission-critical workloads.

The Solution

StarWind VSAN providing vendor-agnostic, high-performance all-flash storage with exceptional price-to-quality value, enabling hardware upgrades without disrupting services.

Results

Mission-critical streaming workloads running without interruption at improved performance

Easily expandable storage and upgradeable hardware without outages

Old infrastructure repurposed for non-critical tasks, extending ROI

Managed IT Services

Simplify Technology Eliminates Downtime for SMB Clients

Simplify Technology

The Challenge

MSP's client infrastructure had no redundancy or high availability, creating critical single points of failure. VMware vSAN was evaluated but found prohibitively expensive for SMB clients.

The Solution

StarWind VSAN deployed as cost-effective, reliable storage providing enterprise SSD performance while eliminating single points of failure for SMB private cloud infrastructure.

Results

Zero downtime when lightning strike damaged 10G switch—VSAN proved its value immediately

Solution quickly paid for itself by preventing multi-system downtime

Adopted as primary storage solution for SMB private cloud deployments

Frequently Asked Questions

StarWind

About StarWind

Who It's For

Key Capabilities

Product Range

Virtual SAN Free

Virtual SAN / Virtual HCI Appliance

HCI Appliance

Common Use Cases

Why Cloud Ready Solutions Distributes StarWind

How CRS Adds Value

Product Catalogue

Software-Defined Storage

StarWind Virtual SAN

HCI

StarWind HCI Appliance

Backup Infrastructure

StarWind Virtual Tape Library

Management

StarWind Command Center

Technical Specifications

HCI Appliance Hardware

Virtual SAN Software

Virtual Tape Library

Certifications

Pricing & Licensing

Virtual SAN Free

Virtual SAN / Virtual HCI Appliance

HCI Appliance

Need Custom Pricing?

Customer Success Stories

CJIS Solutions Achieves Years of Consistent Uptime with StarWind VSAN

The Challenge

The Solution

Results

Enter Engineering Maintains High Availability Even During Total Blackouts

The Challenge

The Solution

Results

Flotman Successfully Virtualises with StarWind HCI Appliance

The Challenge

The Solution

Results

LIVEBOX Replaces Ageing SAN with Vendor-Agnostic All-Flash Storage

The Challenge

The Solution

Results

Simplify Technology Eliminates Downtime for SMB Clients

The Challenge

The Solution

Results

Integrations & Compatibility

VMware vSphere

Microsoft Hyper-V

Proxmox VE

Veeam

Wasabi

AWS S3 / Azure Blob

Backblaze B2

NAKIVO

Linux KVM

Azure Marketplace

Frequently Asked Questions

Comparison Guides

Latest Articles

Get StarWind Information