information about the v4?

[willgart]

Hi,

is there any information about the version 4?
what are the new features?
does the v4 will fully support MPIO?
when is the expected release date?

Thanks.

[anton (staff)]

Mostly it's VTL-related. A LOT of bugfixes, CDP engine re-worked and tons of new manuals (CDP, VTL, snapshots etc).

3.xx and even 2.xx had already supported MPIO just fine.

As soon as QA guys will approve it.

Hi,

is there any information about the version 4?
what are the new features?
does the v4 will fully support MPIO?
when is the expected release date?

Thanks.

[Aitor_Ibarra]

Are there any new HA features? I'm hoping for automatic failover & failback between Starwind instances (that are using continous replication to keep in sync).

I think the extra cost (second server, license, disks) will still be cheaper than most MSCS based solutions, as the cost of shared storage with HA features is very high.

[anton (staff)]

No. We're working on a true fail-over solution but we'll represent it only after NY eve. It will provide zero downtime and complete cross-node replication.

[Aitor_Ibarra]

That's fantastic news. Being able to build your own no-single-point-of-failure SAN will really shake up the storage market. With starwind today I can build a SAN array that is cheaper, faster, and has more useful features and fewer restrictions than a low end box like a Dell MD3000i. The lack of full HA is the one drawback.

But I think you may hit a problem. In my experience, New Year's Eve is incompatible with zero downtime

[anton (staff)]

Well... We'll do our best to keep our customers happy and our pockets full of cash Back to the downtime... It's only a question how much do you actually pay to your staff

That's fantastic news. Being able to build your own no-single-point-of-failure SAN will really shake up the storage market. With starwind today I can build a SAN array that is cheaper, faster, and has more useful features and fewer restrictions than a low end box like a Dell MD3000i. The lack of full HA is the one drawback.

But I think you may hit a problem. In my experience, New Year's Eve is incompatible with zero downtime

[Thona]

That all sounds nice so, get v4 going - I may be tempted to finally buy a license.

Question: will v4 finally have a usable API? I have a project coming I need a license for, but I need to be able to create LUNS automatically (basically from a website).

[anton (staff)]

StarWind has usable API starting from version 0.01 I think... Tt's called StarWind SDK and was and is sold separately..

That all sounds nice so, get v4 going - I may be tempted to finally buy a license.

Question: will v4 finally have a usable API? I have a project coming I need a license for, but I need to be able to create LUNS automatically (basically from a website).

[Thona]

Well, then what is the price for that? From the documentation you provide, the SDK is not an API for the product that allows management, but something that is for people to make their own product.

All I need is an API to manipulate the product, most specifically:
* to manage LUN's (i.e. create them, change passwords and in general set security, destroy them)

Imagine usage in a data center type of scenario, where people (customers) can provision their own LUNS, or where a LUN is provisioned as part of another product (most specifically: a virtual server).

What would the SDK cost me in this case?

[anton (staff)]

We don't declare the prices on the web so you ask for them on the public forum.........................

[Thona]

Interesting, because I FOUND a price for the SDK on the web at USD 50.000.

Let me quote:

StarWind SDK /PROFESSIONAL/ 2.3.0.1
...
Our Price: US$ 49950.00, EU€ 31626.84, GB£ 25454.52, AU$ 53932.51

The link in question is http://www.software.com/downloads/drive ... 98678.html

Anyhow, I would say that a surcharge of around 49.000 USD on top just to script basic operations is a little steep, given that the version of starwind that I need costs around USD 1000. That is 49 times the price just for the priviledge of scripting LUN operations. Note that I have zero interest in redistribution rights - I am merely setting up a system where I need to create LUN's on the fly for a virtualized data center.

Ergo: You have NO offer for a version of StarWind where basic operations can be automated by the admin and that can be purchased, and as such - I will likely not be a customer even for version 4, instead sticking with a LINUX based system that - in deed - has a web interface and a REST based API that I can use.

I would love to replace that, but unless I can actually manipulate the LUN setup from an automated script.... it seems not to be for me.

And no, I am not willing to pay a cent more than for the product version for that, because I consider a missing basic API a fault in the product, contrary to seeing an API as a feature.

[anton (staff)]

1) Obviously it is NOT. Information you've kindly digged out from some forgotten file dump is probably 3 years old. Since that we've changed virtually everything: $$$ numbers, features accessible to the licensees, licensing and distribution models etc. So all your assumptions and ideas are built on very very weak basement. I'd call it even simply missing.

2) Well... You think and accept this cruel world exactly in the way my wife does. She also expects her Mitsubishi Colt be driven and accelerate just as my Mitsubishi Evolution does. Only b/c they both have triple diamonds as an emblem. We (I mean Rocket Division Software executives and Mitsubishi Motor Corporation management staff) think different. We want people pay comparably small fee for something ALL of them use every day and charge extra for rarely used stuff. Scripting support is obviously something not all of our customers want to see and exploit. So having engineers paid for implementing such an API and supporting few requests a month is gonne be a pain.

Interesting, because I FOUND a price for the SDK on the web at USD 50.000.

Let me quote:

StarWind SDK /PROFESSIONAL/ 2.3.0.1
...
Our Price: US$ 49950.00, EU€ 31626.84, GB£ 25454.52, AU$ 53932.51

The link in question is http://www.software.com/downloads/drive ... 98678.html

Anyhow, I would say that a surcharge of around 49.000 USD on top just to script basic operations is a little steep, given that the version of starwind that I need costs around USD 1000. That is 49 times the price just for the priviledge of scripting LUN operations. Note that I have zero interest in redistribution rights - I am merely setting up a system where I need to create LUN's on the fly for a virtualized data center.

Ergo: You have NO offer for a version of StarWind where basic operations can be automated by the admin and that can be purchased, and as such - I will likely not be a customer even for version 4, instead sticking with a LINUX based system that - in deed - has a web interface and a REST based API that I can use.

I would love to replace that, but unless I can actually manipulate the LUN setup from an automated script.... it seems not to be for me.

And no, I am not willing to pay a cent more than for the product version for that, because I consider a missing basic API a fault in the product, contrary to seeing an API as a feature.

[ThomasS]

Does v4 Personal support two node cluster?

Or is the Number of supported concurrent iSCSI connections limited by 1?

[anton (staff)]

No connections limits any more. Only served capacity 2 or 4GB per LUN.

Does v4 Personal support two node cluster?

Or is the Number of supported concurrent iSCSI connections limited by 1?

[ThomasS]

Will v4.0 come still in 2008?