Lenovo ThinkAgile HX Series vs Sangfor HCI - Hyper Converged Infrastructure comparison

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between Lenovo ThinkAgile HX Series and Sangfor HCI - Hyper Converged Infrastructure based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out in this report how the two HCI solutions compare in terms of features, pricing, service and support, easy of deployment, and ROI.
To learn more, read our detailed Lenovo ThinkAgile HX Series vs. Sangfor HCI - Hyper Converged Infrastructure Report (Updated: March 2024).
765,386 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Featured Review
Quotes From Members
We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use.
Here are some excerpts of what they said:
Pros
"You can build cheap, reliable, replicated virtual machines clusters using simple servers with an all flash disk or SAS\SATA hybrid tiered by performance storage.""The available GUI is excellent for monitoring and operating the system in an easy and direct way.""VSAN works great; it's very easy to install, configure, and manage.""It eliminates the use of expensive physical shared storage.""The main benefit is that StarWind is almost maintenance-free.""Integration with virtualization platforms helped us to resolve many issues we were facing while using the physical storage.""When we need additional storage but want to keep the size of the SANs manageable, the StarWind Virtual SAN has allowed me to do everything needed.""StarWind allowed us to deploy highly available shared storage within our budget."

More StarWind Virtual SAN Pros →

"The most valuable feature of the solution stems from the fact that the product's deployment phase is pretty easy.""The most valuable features of the Lenovo ThinkAgile HX Series are the ease of use and simple configuration.""The initial setup is simple. We were able to deliver the hyper-convergence solution in a very good time."

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"I would rate the user-friendliness an eight out of ten.""I find the simplicity of Sangfor very valuable. It is easy to configure and user-friendly. The overall user experience as well as the usability of Sangfor is outstanding.""The solution provides a single management console.""The Continuous Data Protection (CDP) feature is one of the good features.""It was not expensive at all.""The initial setup isn't hard.""The most valuable feature is the three nodes and the free hypervisor.""It is flexible like a hyper-convergence system. You can add nodes, and you can scale to have better performance and stability. I also like the backup feature, the recovery system, and the web interface GUI to handle everything."

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Cons
"The reconnection of the attached drives upon a reboot could be improved.""This product could be improved with the inclusion of new health check procedures.""Ability to to test the virtual storage are network area and storage speed from StarWind Management Console.""It should be improved in the way it detects the right filesystem image after a complete shutdown of the system or in the case of disaster recovery.""The number of different ways you can set it up can make it a little daunting.""They require more media visibility.""We just need more integration with Veeam.""We have, in rare cases, received conflicting guidance between different support folks within StarWind."

More StarWind Virtual SAN Cons →

"Lenovo ThinkAgile HX Series could improve by having better integration with the solutions from VMware and vCenter""Here in Nigeria, the only challenge that we have, which I think is also experienced globally is the delay in bringing in the spare parts. This is a challenge facing our country, such as the Forex market. However, this is beyond the control of Lenovo themselves.""There is a delay in the availability of similar versions of firmware from both the products, which are VMware and Nutanix for Lenovo ThinkAgile HX Series, due to the delayed releases from both products, maybe by a quarter or so."

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"I would want the product to include Continuous Data Protection (CDP) which can help to easily retrieve the data.""The cost must be improved.""Sangfor could improve its built-in CAP system. Right now, we need to use an external tool for CAP.""Sangfor HCI has room for improvement in terms of integration. So, the integration with Sangfor HCI is not as extensive as in Nutanix.""One question that has come up frequently in the last week is whether or not the renewal cost for Sangfor's HCI solution is too high.""There is a feature to upgrade multiple VMs simultaneously, but it crashes.""Support may be an issue for customers in some industries. For example, financial institutions may require 24/7 support.""It can have more compatibility and new features. I would also like to see better performance. Some of the other HCI solutions already provide the SSD and flash storage and much higher Intel processors. Sangfor HCI can improve on that."

More Sangfor HCI - Hyper Converged Infrastructure Cons →

Pricing and Cost Advice
  • "The setup cost is very low. The pricing is great."
  • "We are happy with the price."
  • "The license is reusable. We can always rebuild it and apply the license. Then, boom, we get new servers, apply the license, and we're back up and running."
  • "The pricing is fine for the work that it does."
  • "When we did all the analysis for StarWind, it was approximately 20 percent less than any of the other solutions that we looked at."
  • "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 excellent. It will run on anything. You don't have to buy a $100,000 server, with hardware you don't need. You just pay for the license and you're good to go."
  • "The licensing is a bit weird. If you license the standard version of StarWind, it allows you four terabytes. Then, they have a pro version, but with the pro version, the only difference is it doubles the terabytes to eight."
  • More StarWind Virtual SAN Pricing and Cost Advice →

  • "When comparing this solution to other OEM solutions it is relatively inexpensive."
  • "Price-wise, it is a pretty good product. The product's price was one of the main criteria that made my company choose it over the other products in the market."
  • More Lenovo ThinkAgile HX Series Pricing and Cost Advice →

  • "The price of Sangfor is cheaper than other competing products."
  • "The pricing of Sangfor is very competitive."
  • "It is in the middle range as compared to other hyper-converged infrastructure solutions. There is a three-year warranty on the hardware. The license also includes other features. Sangfor has included Continuous Data Protection (CDP) and a built-in firewall with the license. Other top brands, such as VxRail and VMware, require a separate license for such features."
  • "Its price should be better, but I don't think they will change the price list. You have to pay for licenses, and you have to pay for support, so you have an annual fee. You can use the product without the fee, but it's really dumb because you need support. We are an IT company. We provide the product, and we need the support too for our customers."
  • "Sangfor needs to be more aggressive because this is a new market or territory for Sangfor. Nepal is a very price-sensitive market, so Sangfor needs to be a little more aggressive with its pricing. I would rate them 3.75 out of five in terms of the price."
  • "I would say its pricing is between cheap and reasonable and would rate it as three out of five."
  • "The solution has a good initial cost but a high renewal cost."
  • "The solution is very cheap."
  • More Sangfor HCI - Hyper Converged Infrastructure Pricing and Cost Advice →

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    Questions from the Community
    Top Answer:It is easy to use and can monitor system synchronization and check Storage status. StarWind Virtual SAN (VSAN) combines… more »
    Top Answer:The cost of this is less than you expect. Since they're selling a software stack, you do need to consider your own… more »
    Top Answer:You can maintain and update it with little to no fuss, even the free version is incredibly capable whilst it brings the… more »
    Top Answer:The most valuable feature of the solution stems from the fact that the product's deployment phase is pretty easy.
    Top Answer:Price-wise, it is a pretty good product. The product's price was one of the main criteria that made my company choose it… more »
    Top Answer:Suppose you don't compare Lenovo ThinkAgile HX Series with the newest features available in the other variants of the… more »
    Top Answer:It is a stable solution. Stability-wise, I rate the solution a ten out of ten... Scalability-wise, I rate the solution a… more »
    Top Answer:Sangfor has multiple options. They have both optics and capex models. You have to buy annual support. We went for… more »
    Top Answer:Sangfor has to expand its service network to other countries. They have very good services in the Gulf but don't have… more »
    Comparisons
    Also Known As
    StarWind SAN & NAS
    Lenovo HX Series, ThinkAgile HX Series
    Learn More
    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.

    Designed for easy deployment and manageability in scale-out clusters, the Lenovo ThinkAgile HX Series combines Nutanix software with Lenovo’s highly reliable and scalable servers. These appliances ship fully integrated, tested, and configured so that you can dramatically accelerate your time to value and reduce your infrastructure maintenance.

    Sangfor HCI is an IT infrastructure platform built on converged architecture. It integrates server virtualization, distributed storage, and networking. Sangfor HCI provides a unified management platform that converges compute, storage, networking, and security on a single software stack. This approach delivers a simplified architecture, ease of use, and reliability for business-critical applications.

    Hyperconverged infrastructure is a unified system of data storage. HCI combines storage, computing, networking, and management, unlike traditional storage solutions. HCI systems enable you to build your private cloud, expand to a public cloud, or have your own true hybrid cloud. Sangfor HCI presents two product models: The Sangfor HCI server appliance is a hardware version that enables easy deployment. Sangfor HCI software is the digital version combined with a third-party server that enables flexible deployment.

    Sangfor HCI supports Windows systems on desktop and is web-based. Its range of use cases cover a wide spectrum of industries, from healthcare to manufacturing. It is applicable for mid- and large-sized businesses. The software is customizable. Users can customize the logo and contact information in the user interface.

    Benefits and Features

    • Stability: Sangfor HCI delivers high reliability and availability with 0 RPO and 99.99% availability. The infrastructure is fully redundant to ensure business continuity. This means no data is lost in the event of hardware failure.
    • Simplified infrastructure: The solution supports visual management, making it easier to use. The single platform provides a central control with access to resources.
    • High performance: One unit of HCI can support up to 100,000 IOPS. The solution supports data striping, data locality, SSD caching and AI-based DB optimization. It also supports linear expansion without bottlenecks.
    • Hyper-converged infrastructure that enables working with different scenarios. For instance, cloud transformation and data center consolidation. It is fully converged, which means it provides unified management, full resource visualization, and orchestration with SCP. The standardized HCI unit consolidates hardware appliances, a storage network, IP network, and server into a single unit.
    • Integration: Sangfor HCI offers deep integration with NFV components. Users can deploy complex SDN networks.
    • Pay-as-you-grow model: The pay-per-use model reduces operational expenses and total cost of ownership.

    Use Cases

    Sangfor HCI can be applied tin various scenarios:

    • Enterprise applications: Users can benefit from the reliability and performance of Sangfor HCI for business-critical processes. The system is optimized for enterprise applications to enhance their performance and stability.
    • Datacenter consolidation: The unified and software-defined technology simplifies the operational management and the architecture of data centers.
    • Cloud transformation: You can add a cloud management platform, transforming Sangfor HCI into a complete cloud computing solution. You can then run your cloud workloads and benefit from the automation features of Sangfor HCI.
    • Data protection and recovery: Sangfor HCI offers multiple data protection features, such as continuous data protection (CDP), which ensure the integrity of sensitive and user data. You can protect backup snapshots and take backups. It records virtual machine IO logs at frequent intervals. It offers disaster recovery capabilities that ensure business continuity.

    Reviews from Real Users

    Gabriele P., Senior Software and Systems Engineer at SAMU.IT, says "It is flexible like a hyper-convergence system. You can add nodes, and you can scale to have better performance and stability. I also like the backup feature, the recovery system, and the web interface GUI to handle everything."

    A Junior Solutions Engineer at a tech services company adds that "Sangfor has many solutions, and you can easily manage their machine servers with just one management. They're always striving for greatness, and they continuously update their products. For example, they have now built endpoint security within the firewall. They are continuously improving not only the security but also all other products."




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    Learn more about Sangfor HCI - Hyper Converged Infrastructure
    Sample Customers
    Baker Tilly BVI, CMS Internet, Board Harpeth Hall School
    Information Not Available
    TOSHIBA TEC Singapore, J&T Express Indonesia, Crowne Plaza Vietnam, Hermina Hospital Indonesia
    Top Industries
    REVIEWERS
    Manufacturing Company10%
    Construction Company8%
    Educational Organization8%
    Computer Software Company8%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Computer Software Company18%
    Manufacturing Company9%
    Government9%
    Financial Services Firm8%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Computer Software Company19%
    Manufacturing Company9%
    Transportation Company7%
    Comms Service Provider6%
    REVIEWERS
    Computer Software Company21%
    Comms Service Provider21%
    Manufacturing Company14%
    Venture Capital & Private Equity Firm7%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Computer Software Company17%
    Comms Service Provider9%
    Financial Services Firm7%
    Educational Organization7%
    Company Size
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business64%
    Midsize Enterprise22%
    Large Enterprise13%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business25%
    Midsize Enterprise17%
    Large Enterprise58%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business28%
    Midsize Enterprise23%
    Large Enterprise49%
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business72%
    Midsize Enterprise24%
    Large Enterprise3%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business29%
    Midsize Enterprise19%
    Large Enterprise52%
    Buyer's Guide
    Lenovo ThinkAgile HX Series vs. Sangfor HCI - Hyper Converged Infrastructure
    March 2024
    Find out what your peers are saying about Lenovo ThinkAgile HX Series vs. Sangfor HCI - Hyper Converged Infrastructure and other solutions. Updated: March 2024.
    765,386 professionals have used our research since 2012.

    Lenovo ThinkAgile HX Series is ranked 18th in HCI with 3 reviews while Sangfor HCI - Hyper Converged Infrastructure is ranked 9th in HCI with 28 reviews. Lenovo ThinkAgile HX Series is rated 8.0, while Sangfor HCI - Hyper Converged Infrastructure is rated 8.0. The top reviewer of Lenovo ThinkAgile HX Series writes "With an easy deployment phase, the tool offers good scalability and stability". On the other hand, the top reviewer of Sangfor HCI - Hyper Converged Infrastructure writes "The solution offers straightforward setup, scalability, and manageability". Lenovo ThinkAgile HX Series is most compared with Lenovo ThinkAgile VX Series, Lenovo ThinkAgile MX Certified Node, Cisco HyperFlex HX-Series, VxRail and VMware vSAN, whereas Sangfor HCI - Hyper Converged Infrastructure is most compared with VMware vSAN, VxRail, Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI), HPE SimpliVity and Red Hat Hyperconverged Infrastructure. See our Lenovo ThinkAgile HX Series vs. Sangfor HCI - Hyper Converged Infrastructure report.

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    We monitor all HCI reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.