There are a couple of ways to workaround this issue:
1) Use the same physical hardware and operating system (guess Windows Server 2008 R2) to run hypervisor (guess Hyper-V) and SAN provider software (guess StarWind Native SAN for Hyper-V). You still deploy virtualization, run hypervisor stack and have to pay for OS. So basically you're just saving on an extra hardware server and extra OS license splitting up your gear between them. It's not "poor man" method so don't throw it away immediately. It may work or may not work for you however.
2) If 1) is not for you (you're @ VMware or Citrix side or say want to have SAN being installed on a dedicated hardware) you may run StarWind on top of Hyper-V. Hyper-V (pure one I don't mean Windows 2008 R2 with enabled Hyper-V role) is free and StarWind can run on top of it just fine. So you don't pay for OS and you're still "golden". We may discuss licensing aspects out-of-forum as there are some underwater stones present.
3) You may buy OEM equipment with Windows OS coming from vendor (vendor itself may have or have no OEM deal with StarWind - it does not matter) at a bargain price (basically free for you if you'd count on components). It does limit your choice of hardware but it's a way to go.
Next two ones are questionable as I either don't like them or you need to wait as they are N/A right now @ this moment. So I'm writing them not for your consideration but "just to discuss".
4) Use StarWind VSA. It's Linux-based so you don't need to pay for OS. I don't like this way of feeding storage to customers and I doubt we'll ever have VSA we'll sell and not give away for free with stripped down functionality.
5) Wait for StarWind to get a deal with Microsoft on OEM. I don't think we'd have this one ever
6) Wait for V8 to come. We're working on highly portable version of StarWind so you'll definitely see native Linux version of StarWind with LIO as upper layer iSCSI transport and whole storage stack re-written by us.
7) ... anything else YOU see as a way to go?
mooseracing wrote:I've been having a need for more and more SANs and of course I want to stick with what I know, the problem is the ~$600 OS license each time holding me back.
I've played around with a few of the free NAS products that offer iSCSI but their integration seems like hit or miss, and I can't have that if I need to set something back up in productions.
So has there been any talk at the StarWind HQ of releasing a free version and a paid version that runs on your customized OS?
