General Manual for Virtual SAN Free

[kb9jlo]

Is there a care and feeding manual?
I have a system and it's up and I'm using it but I don't have a clue what I'm doing most of the time.

I need a user's manual.

I'm not even sure how to apply Windows patches to my nodes and restart them?

I have a 3 node setup.

[Sergey (staff)]

Hi, kb9jlo
I hope this guide should help:
https://www.starwindsoftware.com/techni ... Sphere.pdf

Please see below the main steps how to restart StarWind nodes (for installing Windows updates, etc.):
1. Check that all StarWind devices have status “Synchronized” on both nodes;
2. Check that all Datastores have paths from both StarWind nodes;
3. Restart the node and install necessary updates;
4. Wait until StarWind service starts and the synchronization process begins;
5. Wait until the synchronization process is over;
6. Check that all StarWind devices have status “Synchronized” on both nodes;
7. Check that all Datastores have paths from both StarWind nodes;
8. Repeat steps 3, 4, 5 and 6 for another node;
Note: According to the following KB article https://knowledgebase.starwindsoftware. ... may-start/ ( https://knowledgebase.starwindsoftware. ... may-start/ ) , StarWind doing a Full Synchronization by design in case if the server has been interrupted, thus please do a clean server shutdown to avoid Full synchronization process on step 5.
So, as you can see, the main requirement here is to have at least one node Synchronized and online while you restarting another. In that case, your Production will work from one node while another is on maintenance.

[kb9jlo]

Hi, kb9jlo
I hope this guide should help:
https://www.starwindsoftware.com/techni ... Sphere.pdf

Please see below the main steps how to restart StarWind nodes (for installing Windows updates, etc.):
1. Check that all StarWind devices have status “Synchronized” on both nodes;
2. Check that all Datastores have paths from both StarWind nodes;
3. Restart the node and install necessary updates;
4. Wait until StarWind service starts and the synchronization process begins;
5. Wait until the synchronization process is over;
6. Check that all StarWind devices have status “Synchronized” on both nodes;
7. Check that all Datastores have paths from both StarWind nodes;
8. Repeat steps 3, 4, 5 and 6 for another node;
Note: According to the following KB article https://knowledgebase.starwindsoftware. ... may-start/ ( https://knowledgebase.starwindsoftware. ... may-start/ ) , StarWind doing a Full Synchronization by design in case if the server has been interrupted, thus please do a clean server shutdown to avoid Full synchronization process on step 5.
So, as you can see, the main requirement here is to have at least one node Synchronized and online while you restarting another. In that case, your Production will work from one node while another is on maintenance.

Yes, I've got the 3 node guide but thanks.

And thanks for the guide/steps for rebooting a node. But there is not "user's manual" for Starwinds Virtual San?

Regardless thanks for the help.

[Boris (staff)]

kb9jlo,
https://www.starwindsoftware.com/resource-library is the place where you can find the relevant information.