NATIVE ENTERPRISE SOFTWARE-DEFINED STORAGE
for Windows
LINBIT SDS brings enterprise-grade software-defined storage to Windows for the first time. Built around synchronous block replication and LINSTOR orchestration, it gives SQL Server, Hyper-V and Windows file server environments the resilience that previously required expensive proprietary SAN hardware.
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
- Reliable failover
- No shared SAN needed
Virtualization
- Hyper-V cluster
- Shared volume replacement
- DRBD Reactor integration
File Server
- Windows file sharing (SMB)
- High-availability shares
- DR to remote site
Disaster Recovery
- Async WAN replication
- Cross-platform Win/Linux
Technical Benefits
No SAN required
Replace expensive proprietary SAN hardware with software-defined block replication running on any commodity Windows server, physical or cloud VM.We implement synchronous data replication to achieve the complete safety of high-end transactional applications.
Reliable 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 10–20 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
Storage Economics Done Right
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 WinDRBD release along with getting started documentation.
