NATIVE ENTERPRISE SOFTWARE-DEFINED STORAGE for windows
for Windows
LINBIT SDS brings enterprise-grade software-defined storage to Windows for the first time. Built around synchronous block replication with WinDRBD, DRBD reactor as a light-weight cluster manager, and LINSTOR storage orchestration, it gives SQL Server, Hyper-V and Windows file server environments the resilience that previously required expensive proprietary SAN hardware.
Since LINBIT SDS for Windows includes its own block-level replication engine, you can maintain multiple replicas without additional Windows licenses.
LINBIT Software-Defined Storage (SDS) for Windows
LINBIT® has ported its Linux-based HA stack to Windows (Server 2016, 2019, 2022, 2025, Windows 10, 11), including:
- WinDRBD: A native Windows kernel driver based on DRBD that provides highly available virtual disks to applications and file systems
- LINSTOR For Windows: A software-defined storage (SDS) solution for managing DRBD and WinDRBD resources
Optional features include cross-platform Windows/Linux replication, DR with DRBD Proxy, and a web-based GUI for easy cluster management.
Use Cases
Database
- MS SQL Server
- Automatic failover
- Any database as a Windows Service
Virtualization
- Hyper-V cluster
- Live migration support on evicting a node
- Direct pass-through interface to WinDRBD disks
File Server
- Windows file sharing (SMB)
- High-availability shares
- Cross-platform Windows/Linux
Disaster Recovery
- Async WAN replication
- Protects against datacenter outage
- DRBD Proxy support for optimization
Technical Benefits
No SAN or expensive Windows licenses required
Replace expensive proprietary SAN hardware with software-defined block replication running on any commodity Windows server (Standard edition), physical or cloud VM.We implement synchronous data replication to achieve the complete safety of high-end transactional applications.
Automatic failover
Synchronous replication with the WinDRBD replication engine keeps data on both nodes in sync. When a node fails, DRBD Reactor automatically promotes all services on the secondary within a few seconds (depending on the service and configurable timeout settings) — with zero data loss.
Native Windows, open source
WinDRBD is a signed Windows kernel driver built on the same open source DRBD engine trusted on Linux for 20+ years, with no vendor lock-in and no black box.
Deploy LINBIT SDS for Windows in Minutes
Our guided installer takes you from bare metal to a verified DRBD cluster. No CLI expertise, no Ansible playbooks, no guesswork.
- Deploys DRBD, LINSTOR, and DRBD Reactor in one click
- iSCSI, NFS v4, and NVMe-oF gateway support
- Real-time validation prevents misconfigurations before deploy
- Post-deploy health checks verify replication and failover
- Ubuntu 24.04, AlmaLinux 9 & 10; tested across 270 scenarios
- Runs on macOS, Windows, and Linux; connects to targets via SSH
Business Benefits
How architectural choices impact TCO
Hidden Costs of Cloud Storage
- IOPS charges that escalate
- Cross-AZ replication fees
- Snapshot storage accumulation
- API request charges
- Vendor lock-in premium
LINSTOR's Efficiency Model
- Utilize local storage on compute nodes
- No IOPS or throughput limits
- Predictable, linear scaling
- Commodity hardware compatible
- Up to 60% reduction in storage TCO
Architecture
WinDRBD is the port of the LINBIT-developed DRBD kernel driver and userspace utilities to the Microsoft Windows family of operating systems. (Server 2016, 2019, 2022, 2025, Windows 10, 11). It is based on the original source code of DRBD, which makes it widely compatible with the Linux version of DRBD. Most features that come with Linux DRBD are also available in the WinDRBD port.
Thank you for requesting:
for Windows
Get started with LINBIT SDS for Windows. Fill out the form and we’ll send you access to the latest release along with getting started documentation.
Early Release
This is in the early production stage. Internal testing is ongoing, and minor bugs may still be present as we continue to refine. For deployments, we recommend reaching out to us to ensure stability, performance, and access to expert support.
