LINBIT DRBD vs NetApp Replication

LINBIT DRBD is open-source distributed replicated block storage software for Linux, used in high-availability setups. Its kernel driver mirrors writes to one or more peer nodes; in synchronous mode, a write completes only after local and peer storage completion events. Reads can be served locally without network traffic, and the data path avoids user-space components. DRBD combines the kernel driver with user-space management applications and shell scripts, and its command-line interface can manage large clusters without relying on cloud, virtualization, or container platforms. It supports TCP/IP and RDMA/Verbs transports, including InfiniBand, iWARP, and RoCE. The DRBD 9 guide documents TLS encryption for TCP transport. LINBIT also offers WinDRBD for Windows and says its subscriptions integrate with Kubernetes and other major platforms. The open-source community version is free; LINBIT Starter is $1,000 a year, starting from $1,000 for two nodes. The company is headquartered in Vienna, Austria.

NetApp Replication has no write-up on Specifiction yet; its figures are above.