Case Study: University Advancement – Colorado State University achieves reliable failover clustering and 24/7 uptime with StarWind Software's Virtual SAN

Successful Implementation of StarWind’s Virtual SAN in University Advancement Makes it the Standard for Future Clustering Projects

University Advancement at Colorado State University needed 24/7 availability for its donor and internal websites but was running production and test Microsoft SQL Server instances on a single physical server, creating a single point of failure and causing downtime during monthly patching. The team sought a cost-effective, software-based clustering approach that could repurpose existing hardware and provide reliable failover.

They implemented StarWind Virtual SAN on a two-node Hyper-V cluster with Windows Server 2012R2, SSD storage and 10Gb networking, using shared VHDX to enable guest clustering. The deployment eliminated the single point of failure, enabled instant VM mobility and an identical test environment for safe upgrades, delivered reliable failover and lower TCO, and became the preferred solution for future clustering projects.

University Advancement – Colorado State University

Paul Harmon

Server & Network Administrator