StarWind Software

Hi everyone,
I'm planning to install vsan free as a Windows application on a 2 node hyper-v cluster , Windows Server 2025 as operating system/hypervisor.
Is this guide still valid?

https://www.starwindsoftware.com/resour ... rver-2016/

Can you confirm that Windows Server 2025 is supported?

Thanks

Sr. Support tech is here.
Yes, it is supported, and yes, the guide is OK.

Thanks,
could you provide more details about why CVM installation should be the preferred method? Thanks

It should not.
I'd go for CVM Free only if there's no Hardware RAID controller or a controller in HBA mode and you need Parity RAID.

Another usecase will be NVMe-oF, but sadly there're no plans for it in FREE version so far.

Ok, thanks for your explanation.
One last question, is the free version license valid onyl for 1 year?

Yeah, something they changed recently...

So later I'll have to upgrade to vsan (commercial edition) or it will be possible to renew the free license?

Hi,

You will need to apply for another free license (unless they change anything again).

Ok thank you!

Thanks for your patience...

Piggy backing to this discussion since I want to deploy similar setup. My deployment is for home lab so it is simple - no RAID controller, only one NVMe disk per node for data. OS would be on dedicated SSD.

Would you still recommend going with CVM deployment? My main requirement is to lose as little performance as possible from NVMe disk.

yaroslav (staff) wrote: ↑

Wed Sep 16, 2026 9:06 am

It should not.
I'd go for CVM Free only if there's no Hardware RAID controller or a controller in HBA mode and you need Parity RAID.

Welcome to StarWind forum!
I'd suggest to go Windows-based VSAN (NVMe-oF (here CVM is needed) is only paied or trial).
Good luck with your project!

Thanks for a quick reply! I was leaning towards an app rather than CVM based on my research as well. I don't have all the hardware yet so it was difficult to appropriately simulate deployment, but so far I am happy with your product.