I have recently seen two internal presentations on LINBIT SDS for Windows. The first was about Hyper-V virtual machines running with their virtualized backing disks on WinDRBD, the VMs managed by drbd-reactor, and a live migration controlled by drbd-reactor.
The second demonstration was about MS SQL Server Express, also running on a WinDRBD volume, and made highly available by drbd-reactor on Windows.
In both cases, I think they are two very strong examples demonstrating how LINBIT technology brings enterprise features to Windows/Database editions that, by design, lack HA features.
Another development that is moving forward is LINSTOR and LINSTOR GUI. With the next releases (probably mid-end June), the GUI component offers the management of drbd-reactor. i.e., creating and managing drbd-reactor HA configs, inspecting their status, and controlling them.
LINBIT SDS also includes these components. With that, we have become considerably more accessible to Windows users, who may have a stronger demand for a management GUI than our Linux users.
In a recent newsletter, I discussed the collaboration between 45Drives and LINBIT. We have since released a blog post, ‘Using DRBD to Build a Reliable & High-performing 2-node HA Solution’, which provides insight into the working relationship between the companies. It goes on to share testing and benchmark results, which prove that a 2-node Pacemaker and DRBD cluster can deliver high availability and near-hardware storage performance at a scale that is easier to manage for smaller teams.
Still on the LINBIT blog, ‘Running a Local LLM in Kubernetes with vLLM & LINSTOR’ showcases a lab setup that demonstrates the basic pattern: a self-hosted LLM running in Kubernetes, backed by replicated LINSTOR-managed persistent storage, and accessible through a standard OpenAI-compatible API.
Additionally, ‘LINSTOR in OpenShift: A Red Hat Certified OperatorHub Offering’ is our latest blog post about Kubernetes, which you can read to learn more about the LINSTOR Operator and the OpenShift Container Platform.
Last but not least, we’ve also taken the time to update a post on the LINBIT Knowledge Base. ‘2-node Pacemaker Clusters: Quorum, Fencing, and Recovery Considerations’ describes how quorum functions in 2-node Pacemaker clusters, outlines fencing requirements, and provides guidance for recovery scenarios. It also covers important configuration options and recommended practices for maintaining cluster availability and data integrity.
Regarding the latest software updates, the team has released linstor-server 1.33.3 since I last wrote.
