StarWind VSAN is a perfect solution to replace your aging hardware SAN device and save money. In addition, it’s a perfect solution for ROBO environments where you still need High Availability (HA) and resilience. A simple, two-node setup use StarWind VSAN where the internal storage of your hosts is used to create a HA storage pool. Today’s post will show the installation of a management part – Installation of StarWind VSAN Plugin for vSphere.
If you’re not VMware fan anymore (and I understand), you can also use Hyper-V, oVirt/OLVM/RHV or Proxmox. It’s as simple as that. If you want to exit the VMware ecosystem due to the price increase and licensing costs, then know that there are plenty of viable alternatives.
You can run only 2-nodes clusters at remote locations without hardware SAN devices there and still be resilient. Within StarWind configuration, 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.
StarWind VSAN Plugin – the easiest way to install a plugin for vSphere!
I know it’s a bit out of order, and I should start with showing the installation of the solution itself, but hey. I think that with all the resources available at StarWind site, plus my bunch of older articles you’ll figure it out. And if not, there is always StarWind support for help. They have published StarWind Virtual HCI Appliance: Configuration Guide for VMware vSphere [ESXi] here so I probably won’t re-publish it here but rather share the link. That guide is a step-by-step guide for ESXi.
Installation of StarWind VSAN Plugin for vSphere is very easy and straightforward. As you might know (and I blogged about it), StarWind has a new UI, uses new architecture under Linux, and its very nice and clean. Check this blog post here. Once you login, you click the gear icon on the right-top, then go to Settings > Plugins > Open Plugin installer.
then just follow the assistant. (Note the Uninstall option too. How many vendors provide that?).
It is easy to follow installation from now on.
I’ll show some more screenshots here, then the final result. Some recommendations, vCenter server IP and credentials (if you scroll down).
Certificate warning means your connections and credentials works… -:)
Then just click the Install button to finish.
And… that’s it.
And you’ll find the plugin in your vSphere UI.
So you don’t have to leave your vSphere client UI to manage your StarWind VSAN solution.
And that’s it. A reliable HA solution for ROBO!
Wrap UP
StarWind VSAN can be installed on ESXi/vSphere, but also on KVM, Proxmox or Hyper-V. StarWind has guides and step-by-steps for those hypervisors too! If you’re looking for high performance and resilient storage solution with support, have a look at StarWind VSAN.
- Design
