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StarWind iSCSI SAN Changelog

What's new in StarWind iSCSI SAN 6.0.5713

Jan 6, 2014
  • Major Upgrades:
  • 3-node HA configuration:
  • StarWind iSCSI SAN & NAS V6 ensures synchronous mirroring between 3 nodes of an HA storage cluster! Use of a triple-mirrored cluster eliminates a single point of failure and guarantees 99.9999% uptime. Such storage architecture ensures 50% higher performance compared to a 2-node HA configuration.
  • Clustered scale-out NAS:
  • StarWind iSCSI SAN & NAS V6 unifies diverse storage environments through the consolidation of fileand block-level data in a single storage pool. From now on, you can easily create NAS that is based on the iSCSI SAN, and benefit from both file sharing and advanced technologies of a network storage.
  • Configuration and maintenance processes are wizard-driven, intuitive, and require minimum time and effort.
  • More Features and Updates:
  • Improved usability:
  • The HA device configuration process was simplified and accelerated by automating operations that previously required manual intervention. Now, you can add, remove, or switch nodes of HA cluster on the running device instead of the creation of a new HA device from scratch. Thus, you save much time.
  • HA device can use other types of StarWind devices:
  • An HA device can now use other types of StarWind devices (deduplicated, thin-provisioned IBV, or DiskBridge devices) for storing data. Thus, you can apply deduplication, thin provisioning, snapshot technologies, etc., for the data stored on the HA device.
  • Asynchronous replication of deduplicated storage:
  • Now, it is possible to drastically reduce the network traffic during offsite asynchronous replication and effectively utilize slow WAN connections for Disaster Recovery (DR) purposes. StarWind iSCSI SAN & NAS V6 allows for the use of any iSCSI target as a destination storage for replication.
  • Deletion of unused data:
  • This upgrade to the deduplication device increases the utilization efficiency of the available disk space - the duplicated data blocks are automatically overwritten by the new data.
  • Reduced memory usage:
  • StarWind reduced memory usage by 30%. When the dedupe block size is set to 4KB, 2MB of memory are required per 1GB of stored data.
  • StarWind Backup Plug-ins:
  • Now StarWind provides for the full support of VMware virtualization! You can perform full and incremental backup, and manage your ESX VMs from a single Management Console. All backup archives are saved in the native VMware format - VMDK!
  • StarWind Hyper-V Backup Plug-in is upgraded with incremental backup and delta data saving features.
  • New GUI is integrated to StarWind Management Console to manage the backup process.
  • The process of connection to the ESX and Hyper-V servers is simplified.
  • StarWind SMI-S Agent:
  • Due to this agent you can manage StarWind storage using MS VMM.

New in StarWind iSCSI SAN 5.8.1949 (Mar 6, 2012)

  • New Features and Improvements:
  • Core: Multi-LUN support has been added for non-HA targets.
  • Deduplication:
  • Plug-in has been reworked to support data journaling.
  • Snapshots support has been added.
  • High availability:
  • The new plug-in version has been developed. The plug-in ensures:
  • Switch partner feature. A new partner node can be assigned to the existing HA device node. The old partner should not be used after switching HA device to the new partner node. Client MPIO connections should be reconfigured to use the path to the new partner instead of the old one.
  • Automatic HA device synchronization after the both nodes were down. If the HA device can identify the node that has the most recent and correct data, it brings this node online automatically and synchronizes the other node. If the device cache mode is write-back and at least one node has not been turned off normally (for example, both nodes were down at the same time after power loss), the HA device cannot run the synchronization procedure automatically.
  • Mark as Synchronized” option. It allows to mark unsynchronized HA device
  • as synchronized without actual data synchronization. This command can be used in disaster recovery after the failure of the both HA nodes. For example, if some hardware was damaged on one of the nodes, but it is impossible to replace/fix it immediately. In this case you can mark the undamaged node as “synchronized” and continue the working process. As soon as the other node is fixed and returns online, it starts data
  • synchronization.
  • Possibility to extend the size of HA device on the fly.
  • Standard raw image files can be used for creating HA devices.
  • MS iSCSI transport for sync channel has been substituted by StarWind’s own
  • transport.
  • Several network interfaces can be used for synchronization and heartbeat
  • channel.
  • Heartbeat channel setting is required. It’s recommended to use a client
  • network as the heartbeat channel. This channel is used for transfer of service messages only, so it doesn’t produce any substantial network traffic.
  • RAM disk:
  • Serial ID generation algorithm has been changed. Now, serial ID is unique across different machines on the network. You can still add predefined IDs to a configuration file for RAM devices.
  • Essentials:
  • Hardware VSS provider for Deduplication and CDP devices. It is now available as a separate download.
  • StarWindX. This module combines COM-object and set of PowerShell commandlets enabling management of the StarWind virtual devices by the third-party scripts and software. It is now available as a separate download.
  • Hyper-V Backup Plug-in for virtual machines provides:
  • Agentless architecture
  • VHD format of archives
  • Network Centralized Management
  • Single-click backup
  • Global Deduplication
  • Restore of the entire virtual machine
  • Sandbox mode for VM testing
  • VM cloning