VSAN Free KVM license shows Physical Disk option locked

[alchemista1979]

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.

[yaroslav (staff)]

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P.P.S 20086 is outdated.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).

[alchemista1979]

Thx - I redeployed using the debian-based CVM.
I got a lot further:
3 appliances deployed
seeing all disks:

created_pool.png (37.78 KiB) Viewed 2381 times

created the storage pool

created_pool.png (37.78 KiB) Viewed 2381 times

but the storage pool screen remains empty:

created_pool.png (37.78 KiB) Viewed 2381 times

[yaroslav (staff)]

Those are QUEMU devices, not RAW or passed through.
The controller type, SCSI HDD indicates that the SCSI controller is used. I don't think we've tested that option.
Please try a different virtual controller type or pass them through into the CVM.

[alchemista1979]

I got a lot further - thx for the your final tip, @yaroslav (much appreciated)

still stuck on which powershell to use in order to create a physical disk as ISCSI lun

Screenshot_20260924_221104.png (43.22 KiB) Viewed 1960 times

Screenshot_20260924_221058.png (45.88 KiB) Viewed 1960 times

Screenshot_20260924_221043.png (77.36 KiB) Viewed 1960 times

A pointer is really much appreciated

[yaroslav (staff)]

Check this out
https://www.starwindsoftware.com/blog/s ... ing-guide/

[alchemista1979]

Thx!!

For now - I am happy to announce my homelab is fully migrated from Proxmox VE (nothing bad to say!) to oVirt with Starwind VSAN Free (wanted to go for the HCI appliance but I think I got confused in the documentation), with Starwind providing iSCSI storage to my 3 servers!

[yaroslav (staff)]

Happy homelabbing with the new hypervisor!