Azure Stack HCI vs Lenovo ThinkAgile MX Certified Node comparison

Microsoft and Lenovo are both solutions in the HCI category. Microsoft is ranked #17 with an average rating of 8.3, while Lenovo is ranked #20 with an average rating of 7.0. Additionally, 100% of Microsoft users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of Lenovo users who would recommend it.

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between Azure Stack HCI and Lenovo ThinkAgile MX Certified Node based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out what your peers are saying about Dell Technologies, VMware, Nutanix and others in HCI.

To learn more, read our detailed HCI Report (Updated: September 2024).

Buyer's Guide

HCI

September 2024

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Categories and Ranking

StarWind Virtual SAN

Featured Reviews

Ahmed Hosni

Senior System Engineer at Giza Systems

Feb 24, 2024

Provides a cost-effective way to run an HCI storage platform for almost any hypervisor

You can maintain and update it with little to no fuss, even the free version is incredibly capable whilst it brings the cost of a Highly Available HCI solution down to a very cost-effective point. Having used Starwind Virtual SAN for many years both for clients and for internal systems, it has always done exactly what it set out to do. It provides a cost-effective way to run an HCI storage platform for almost any hypervisor, but it is most effective with Hyper-V. It's simple and easy to use, The software monitoring should be web-based to be reachable from any VLAN workstation.

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Sushil MIshra

AG at SIS.

Apr 17, 2024

Performs well, provides good features, and has the latest processor

We were looking for a solution with high computing features and IOPS. We also have high network requirements. We have a production environment that runs on Kubernetes The solution has the latest processor. It provides the new SSD and a 25 GB network. The Kubernetes environment is better than that…

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N_R

Senior Account Manager at Emirates Business Machines (EBM)

Oct 27, 2023

Provides a valuable concept of hyper-convergence, but its support services could be faster

The product’s most valuable feature is the concept of hyper-convergence Lenovo ThinkAgile MX Certified Node’s support services could be faster. We have been using Lenovo ThinkAgile MX Certified Node for four to five years. From the hardware perspective, it is a stable product. The product is…

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Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Pros

"Besides being 80% cheaper than the other alternatives, the simplicity makes reconfiguration and support much easier."

"We test live failovers every week, and so far, everything has been running smoothly without anything unexpected."

"It provided the much-needed HA on an extremely low budget."

"StarWind support has been great in helping resolve other issues not caused by their software."

"The product creates opportunities with hybrid on-premise solutions."

"The control panel is nice. It gives you a lot of good feedback as to the status and health of the VSAN."

"The ability to choose our own hardware and our own vendors for this was hugely beneficial, as we had pre-existing relationships with vendors we wanted to maintain."

"The virtual tapes can be uploaded to the object storage of your choice with object locking/governance which gives you an extra layer of protection."

More StarWind Virtual SAN pros

"In my hybrid cloud setup, there are three features I've found very efficient. The first is software-defined networking. Similar to Azure where you create virtual networks and software load balancing, Azure Stack HCI lets you configure them with a drag-and-drop experience on the on-premises cluster. That's one of the good feature."

"The features of Azure Stack HCI that have proven to be the most beneficial for optimizing our company's data center operations revolve around its performance."

"The solution has the latest processor."

"The most valuable feature of the solution is its ability to manage VMs."

"The product’s most valuable feature is the concept of hyper-convergence."

Cons

"Though I have learned some of the nuances with the upgrading of firmware/windows/etc., it would be nice to have a more efficient method of doing so."

"Some configuration options still demand service restarting."

"While we had little to no issues in setting up StarWind and received excellent support from the StarWind technicians, we would have appreciated a clearer guideline for a setup with the free version of StarWind Management Console or, in other words - for the setup with the PowerShell."

"The configuration can a bit cumbersome."

"Other vendors such as VMware vSAN have a bigger community of users, so it is easier to find more pre-sale or post-sale information from users."

"Management tools could be improved, sometimes the usage seems to be slowed down and confusing. A native web interface could also be an option. I love to see in the future port of the software on a general Linux distribution like RedHat or Ubuntu in order to avoid windows license costs. I would also like to see features like erasure coding implemented. On the VSAN software, I would like to see some improvements in the storage pools (eliminate the usage of the file as a data container and use the raw partition)."

"The StarWind Management Console is available only for Microsoft Windows/Windows Server, and should also be available for Linux and macOS, as it would reduce implementation costs."

"A mobile app to sync up for overview and status would really be helpful."

More StarWind Virtual SAN cons

"We faced multiple problems with the product’s stability."

"The biggest challenge with the tool is not being able to manage everything from Microsoft Azure Portal."

"The product's initial setup phase can be a bit complex, making it an area where improvements are required."

"There are a lot of areas for improvement. Since I've been working very closely with this product, there are many areas, especially in software-defined networking. We had to improve multiple areas because we depended on the service fabric cluster to manage the software-defined network. That means we're already running a hypervisor inside a VM, and we're managing the control plane of the software-defined network. That's another cluster. So, multiple layers make the complexity more. So, from an operational perspective, it's very difficult to manage."

"Lenovo ThinkAgile MX Certified Node’s support services could be faster."

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The cost, including OPEX, is lower compared to other solutions."

"The setup cost is very low. The pricing is great."

"Their pricing seems pretty good, and their licensing structure is pretty straightforward."

"The setup cost, pricing, and licensing are very straightforward. They are exactly what you expect."

"The scalability limitation for us is its licensing. At some point in the fairly near future, we will probably have to upgrade our license so we can store eight terabytes instead of four. We are currently at four terabytes, but we're starting to knock on the door of that capacity."

"The pricing is more than reasonable."

"I think that purchasing StarWind Virtual SAN Professional Edition would be optimal for most."

"There are two tiers of support and in my opinion, support is worth the cost."

More StarWind Virtual SAN pricing and cost advice

"The pricing is high compared to other tools."

"The main licenses are the OS licenses, the OEM licenses, and so on. They are very much aligned with the cost of expectations. We never had any challenges with the licensing at all."

"The product has competitive pricing."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

18%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Financial Services Firm

Government

Computer Software Company

14%

Financial Services Firm

Government

Manufacturing Company

Healthcare Company

10%

University

10%

Government

10%

Retailer

10%

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

No data available

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about StarWind Virtual SAN?

It is easy to use and can monitor system synchronization and check Storage status. StarWind Virtual SAN (VSAN) combin...

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for StarWind Virtual SAN?

If you are comfortable with the solution and you feel that you don't need support, you can begin with the free licenc...

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What needs improvement with StarWind Virtual SAN?

Areas for improvement in StarWind Virtual SAN include simplifying the setup process, especially for users with limite...

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What do you like most about Azure Stack HCI?

The solution has the latest processor.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Azure Stack HCI?

The pricing is high compared to other tools.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Azure Stack HCI?

Speaking about the tool's challenges, I would say that if you know the product, you probably know why there are chall...

See all answers

What do you like most about Lenovo ThinkAgile MX Certified Node?

The product’s most valuable feature is the concept of hyper-convergence.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Lenovo ThinkAgile MX Certified Node?

The product has competitive pricing.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Lenovo ThinkAgile MX Certified Node?

Lenovo ThinkAgile MX Certified Node’s support services could be faster.

See all answers

Comparisons

VMware vSAN vs StarWind Virtual SAN

Compared 28% of the time

StorMagic SvSAN vs StarWind Virtual SAN

Compared 19% of the time

Microsoft Storage Spaces Direct vs StarWind Virtual SAN

Compared 17% of the time

Red Hat Ceph Storage vs StarWind Virtual SAN

Compared 13% of the time

DataCore SANsymphony vs StarWind Virtual SAN

Compared 6% of the time

More StarWind Virtual SAN Competitors

VMware vSAN vs Azure Stack HCI

Compared 54% of the time

VxRail vs Azure Stack HCI

Compared 18% of the time

Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI) vs Azure Stack HCI

Compared 8% of the time

Sangfor HCI - Hyper Converged Infrastructure vs Azure Stack HCI

Compared 8% of the time

Dell PowerFlex vs Azure Stack HCI

Compared 7% of the time

More Azure Stack HCI Competitors

Lenovo ThinkAgile HX Series vs Lenovo ThinkAgile MX Certified Node

Compared 61% of the time

Dell vSAN Ready Nodes vs Lenovo ThinkAgile MX Certified Node

Compared 39% of the time

More Lenovo ThinkAgile MX Certified Node Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

StarWind Virtual SAN

September 2024

Download StarWind Virtual SAN product report

Buyer's Guide

Azure Stack HCI

October 2024

Download Azure Stack HCI product report

Buyer's Guide

HCI

September 2024

Lenovo ThinkAgile MX Certified Node report

Download Lenovo ThinkAgile MX Certified Node product report

Also Known As

StarWind SAN & NAS

No data available

Lenovo MX Certified Node, ThinkAgile MX Certified Node

Learn More

StarWind

Microsoft

Lenovo

Overview

StarWind Virtual SAN provides high availability and fault tolerance for virtualized environments without the need for dedicated SAN hardware. It allows for real-time replication between servers, shared storage for Hyper-V clusters, and enables vMotion and High Availability features for VMware vSphere. The solution reduces costs and leverages existing hardware while providing a scalable and reliable infrastructure. Valuable features include ease of use, scalability, top-tier support, hardware agnosticism, and the ability to use off-the-shelf standard servers to increase storage space. StarWind VSAN has helped organizations improve performance, data availability, and data security while reducing downtime and providing cost-saving storage options.

Deploy cloud-native apps wherever you need them with distributed hybrid infrastructure. Run any applications, virtual machines, or container-based workloads anywhere with a consistent Azure experience. Choose right-sized turnkey, node, and integrated solutions from Microsoft and partners including Dell, HP, and Lenovo. Securely store and process customer data at the edge to stay compliant with HIPAA, FedRAMP, and other regulations.

Lenovo ThinkAgile MX Certified Nodes are designed for deploying highly available, highly scalable hyper-converged infrastructure (HCI) and software-defined storage (SDS) from Microsoft on Lenovo enterprise platforms. The ThinkAgile MX Certified Nodes deliver fully validated and integrated Lenovo hardware and firmware that is certified for Microsoft Azure Stack HCI solutions.

This product guide provides essential technical and pre-sales information on the Lenovo ThinkAgile MX Certified Node for Hybrid Storage, its key features and specifications, components and options, and configuration guidelines.

This guide is intended for technical specialists, sales specialists, sales engineers, IT architects, and other IT professionals who want to learn more about the ThinkAgile MX Certified Node and consider its use in IT solutions.

Sample Customers

Baker Tilly BVI, CMS Internet, Board Harpeth Hall School

Information Not Available

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