It has been a while since I haven't deployed a StarWind VSAN appliance in the lab. The latest version has new UI which is much easier to configure the solution. The dashboard of the individual appliance allows you to add/remove and configure individual nodes participating in the cluster. While the over all deployment has not changed much on VMware vSphere (but I think it's relevant also for other hypervisors such as Hyper-V or Proxmox), there is a new assistant which walks you through after the initial network configuration via the console. But that's all you do in the console, just the network config and then you just connect to launch the installation via web based UI. StarWind VSAN runs on a robust Ubuntu Linux distribution.
The guide on StarWind site is for the latest version of the StarWind VSAN appliance, however the version 7 of vSphere is used on the screenshots. I'd assume that there has not been any major fundamental changes between v7 and v8 of vSphere so StarWind vSAN can be easily configured for both environments.
We won't go into much details as all the step-by-step configuration and deployment is very well explained on StarWind website here, but I'd like to point out the heartbeat configuration screen (from StarWind). As you might know, the system allows configure of High Availability (HA). There are several failover strategies that can be configured but they also depend on how many nodes you're running in your cluster.
Quote:
The failover strategies for a LUN can be Heartbeat or Node Majority. In case of 2-nodes setup and None Majority failover strategy, Node witness (requires an additional third witness node), or File share witness (requires an external file share) should be configured.
That means that if you choose Heartbeat strategy, you can run 2-nodes without witness, but what you should do is to configure UPS so both nodes does not shut down at the same time in case of power failure.
Here is a screenshot from StarWind website:
Lab Deployment (simplified)
In essence, download the OVF file and deploy the appliance on your ESXi/vSphere host.
Then start the VM and go to the console and configure networking.
Login: user
Pass: rds123RDS
The console looks like this:
That's the only thing you can configure inside the console. The GUI is accessed via IP number of the appliance and there you configure everything else.
Screenshot from the lab showing 2-nodes of StarWind VSAN
Quote from the StarWind's Installation guide
This guide provides a comprehensive outline on how to deploy and configure StarWind Virtual SAN within the VMware vSphere environment and create StarWind devices using the Web UI. It includes links to the system requirements, RAID settings, best practices, and steps to ensure a seamless setup and integration.
The guide is created for IT specialists, system administrators, and VMware professionals who are keen on deploying and configuring StarWind Virtual SAN on VMware vSphere.
Users will possess a robust understanding of the steps and best practices for deploying and configuring StarWind Virtual SAN in a VMware vSphere environment.
Source: Configuration Guide for VMware vSphere [ESXi], VSAN Deployed as a Controller VM using Web UI
More posts about StarWind on ESX Virtualization:
- Backup Appliance with NVMe Speed and GRAID – StarWind Backup Appliance
- Exploring StarWind VSAN: High Availability, Cost Savings, and Performance
- StarWind V2V Converter The Cutting-Edge Upgrade: StarWind V2V Converter’s April 2024 Innovations
- What is StarWind Tape Redirector (FREE) and what’s the benefits?
- 5 Easy Steps to be more resilient with Two Hosts only – StarWind VSAN
- How StarWind VSAN solution can save you money and energy in ROBO environments
- 2-Nodes clusters without Witness – StarWind VSAN Heartbeat Failover Strategy
- You can’t extend backup window – Check NVMe Backup Appliance from StarWind
- Replacing Aging Hardware SAN Device by a Software – StarWind VSAN
- StarWind V2V Converter (PV2 Migrator) FREE utility
- Cluster with 2-Nodes only – How about quorum?
- StarWind VSAN Latest update allows faster synchronization with storing synchronization journals on separate storage
- How to Update StarWind VSAN for VMware on Linux- Follow UP
- StarWind SAN & NAS software details for VMware and Hyper-V
- Free StarWind iSCSI accelerator download
- VMware vSphere and HyperConverged 2-Node Scenario from StarWind – Step By Step(Opens in a new browser tab)
- How To Create NVMe-Of Target With StarWind VSAN
- Veeam 3-2-1 Backup Rule Now With Starwind VTL
- StarWind and Highly Available NFS
- StarWind VSAN on 3 ESXi Nodes detailed setup
- VMware VSAN Ready Nodes in StarWind HyperConverged Appliance
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