StarwindThursday 12th there was a press release by StarWind stating “StarWind completely eliminates the need for shared storage when implementing Windows Server 2012 Scale-out file servers”. At first, while reading the title, I was a bit confused. Starwind itself offers shared storage solutions with it’s software. But after reading the article, it´s clear that the intention is to eliminate the implementation of hardware-based storage solutions.

As of Windows server 2012, it is possible to create “scale-out file servers“, which are clustered file servers that offer high availability for server application data. These so called “scale-out shares” provide the ability to share the same folder from multiple nodes in the same cluster.

Windows 2012 Scale-out file server

For scale-out file servers to work, there is the need for a shared storage solution. Now, instead of purchasing a hardware storage solution you can also have a look at Starwind. Starwind offers an affordable solution, turning the same (the scale-out file server) physical machine into a highly available, flexible, and fault-tolerant SAN.

As with any storage solution, the business case will determine if an implementation of Windows scale-out file servers in combination with Starwind is the preferred solution or if a physical SAN solution is the way to go. The combination of scale-out servers with the Starwind software solution offers an affordable solution for SMB’s and cost-conscious businesses and certainly earns the right to be looked at when preparing such a business case.