We were looking for the two-node HCA. We found that VMware was also a solution, but it was a bit costlier for us. We couldn't bear the cost, so we were in search of other products similar to VMware. We found the StarWind solution. 

Initially, we took a trial license, implemented it, and tested it for one month. Then we found that it suited our requirements, so we installed it in our production environment.

So this is how we approach the storage.

We were using 4GB FC to support our 3-host ESXi cluster and switched to StarWind over 10GB iSCSI. We installed one 2-node SAN for proof of concept, then another one so we could retire our FC SANs, then another SSD-based one when we needed better performance on critical VMs. We were able to select hardware from our preferred vendor. Two of the clusters run on standalone servers, and the SSD SAN runs on our ESXi hosts, giving us a hyper-converged environment for those servers that need the additional performance.

In my company, we have customers at remote sites for whom we use the solution most of the time. In our company, we want to have an edge location where we do not have many user activities. In our company, we use a two-node cluster most of the time since we have multiple location sites where we deploy two to four nodes. My company uses StarWind Storage Appliance to support some manufacturing units and some remote users where there is no advanced WAN connectivity.

We conducted in-depth internal testing of the StarWind Storage Appliance, evaluating its performance across a range of hardware configurations, including both standard fast drives and full SSD systems, such as the HPE ProLiant DL380 Gen10 and Gen10 Plus, with various HBAs configurations. Our testing revealed that the software effectively harnessed the full potential of these systems, delivering performance in line with our expectations for the hardware.

I manage a number of different IT environments ranging in the 10 to 500 staff level, and the StarWind Storage Appliance is one of the products that I use in this role.

It's the main storage (CSV) for our Microsoft Hyper-V Cluster. We have two devices on Dell hardware that have StarWind VSAN installed, they have 25GB NIC in between for storage replication and all the storage is replicated so we can easily work on one node while the other is active. It's in Active-Active state so the load is shared. The storage is formated as CSV and it works over iSCSI protocol so we use our same network so there is no need for expensive fiber links. We run hundreds of virtual machines on this storage that needs to be always available. 

We use it together with Microsoft services.

We use this product as a backup and storage solution. We have the need to back up mission critical data on a regular basis and this solution provides that service without any issues.

The use case is that it is cheap and easy to set up. There are no complex software complications. Use this solution for a simple, high-availability setup.