StarWind Software

Heya

Long time lurker - first time poster in here

I am setting up StarWind VSAN Free on a three-node oVirt/KVM environment using Controller VMs.

The license registers successfully and shows:

StarWind VSAN v8.0, Build 20086
Platform: KVM Virtual Machine
Servers per license: 3
Multi Node Devices Capacity: Unlimited
Licensed feature: Synchronous Replication

Each CVM has two raw Intel DC SSDs passed through directly from the KVM host. The disks are clean and visible inside the CVMs as /dev/vdc and /dev/vdd.

However, in StarWind Management Console → Add Device, the Physical Disk option is locked. Only Virtual Disk is selectable.

Is direct physical-disk export supported by this VSAN Free license? If so, is a different license file or configuration required?

Our intended design is RF2/two-way synchronous replication using the two raw SSDs in each CVM. I would prefer not to create image-backed virtual disks on top of the raw disks.

Welcome to StarWind Forum
You cannot do RAW devices in CVM. In CVM, RAW is used only for NVMe-oF. You need file system for StarWind HA IMG files.
I think that's the problem with how the Ubuntu CVM UI interacts with the disks. Stick with the CLI.
You will need to create a LVM and VD inside the CVM through CLI. Format them as XFS afterward, mount to /mnt/<device name>, and make the corresponding changes in the /etc/fstab.

P.S. I hope a Debian-based CVM should work better.
P.P.S 20086 is outdated. Request VSAN Free, not VHCI Free, you should get 20089 (i.e., the latest build).