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Sangfor HCI - Hyper Converged Infrastructure vs VxRail comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 31, 2024
 

Categories and Ranking

StarWind Virtual SAN
Sponsored
Ranking in HCI
4th
Average Rating
9.6
Reviews Sentiment
8.1
Number of Reviews
189
Ranking in other categories
Software Defined Storage (SDS) (1st)
Sangfor HCI - Hyper Converg...
Ranking in HCI
8th
Average Rating
8.0
Number of Reviews
32
Ranking in other categories
Cloud Management (14th)
VxRail
Ranking in HCI
1st
Average Rating
8.6
Number of Reviews
128
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of November 2024, in the HCI category, the mindshare of StarWind Virtual SAN is 2.3%, up from 1.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Sangfor HCI - Hyper Converged Infrastructure is 3.5%, down from 4.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of VxRail is 21.2%, up from 21.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
HCI
 

Featured Reviews

Ahmed Hosni - PeerSpot reviewer
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.
KashifAli - PeerSpot reviewer
Sep 2, 2024
User-friendly GUI, capable technical support team but complicated license mechanism
I mainly used it for virtualization. Primarily virtualization and security groups For infrastructure management, Sangfor HCI bundles the hardware with their software. This means if you buy the bundle solution with Sangfor HCI and hardware, then they allow us to contribute as a command-line…
Sushil MIshra - PeerSpot reviewer
Apr 17, 2024
Trouble-free architecture, we don't have to juggle multiple components like in a traditional three-tier architecture
We mainly use it for virtualization across all our applications. We also have a DC/DR setup based on the VxRail infrastructure It's a trouble-free architecture. We don't have to juggle multiple components like in a traditional three-tier architecture. With VxRail, it's a pre-built solution…

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The ability to keep data accessible even in the event of hardware failures is highly valued, as it ensures business continuity."
"The main benefit is that StarWind is almost maintenance-free."
"The product gave us a cost-effective way to deploy a highly available server environment."
"Being hardware agnostic is a must and definitely scored points for us."
"Updates to server hardware are now painless and done during working hours with zero stress. We had a RAID failure a few months back, and nobody in the building even noticed and there was no after hours time used for repair."
"Virtual SAN runs on iSCSI, which is free and easy to configure. It's easy to manage from StarWind's GUI console, and it only required a few extra switch ports."
"I save both physical and virtual space."
"Ten gigabit Ethernet compatibility, support, ease of use, and management are some positive features."
"I am impressed with the product's firewall and virtualization."
"Scalability is very good."
"Sangfor HCI has a bundle of security features that are easy to monitor on the HCI dashboard."
"The most valuable feature of Sangfor HCI is the native backup of their own VMs, which sets them apart from Nutanix and Dell's VxRail."
"The Continuous Data Protection (CDP) feature is one of the good features."
"The product provides a single management console for managing everything."
"The manageability feature is the most important aspect of the solution."
"It is a smart solution for virtualization"
"The low latency and response times and having a virtualized environment within a single computer are valuable. I have no physical elements, and I can optimize or balance my data depending on the sales volume that I have in a specific store."
"VxRail simplifies IT infrastructure management by providing a single management console for compute, storage, and network. The second advantage is that VxRail offers a continuously validated architecture from the OEM. This means that Dell thoroughly tests all firmware updates before being released or installed on the product, helping to prevent compatibility issues. The third benefit is its ten-year roadmap. Dell consistently announces a roadmap for the product spanning the next decade."
"What I like the most in terms of features is the fact that the VxRail update can be done in one week. It takes much less time to do a whole server upgrade and an infrastructure update as well."
"I can roll out the system in thirty minutes and the customer can work with it."
"The installation process is very quick. When you purchase it, it's up and running without much delay. Adding any additional components is simple, allowing for easy and fast scaling without adding complexity. The centralized management portal makes it easy to manage the entire system."
"There are so many features, but if I have to choose, I would go for scale-out upgrades and performance. Scale-out upgrades are very valuable. Typically, when customers engage in virtualization, they're committing themselves to run many virtual machines on a fewer number of hosts. They'll have five or six hosts, and they will run all their virtualization on vSphere. They could be having anywhere from 50 to 100 or even more virtual machines. Once all these go into production, getting downtime or getting planned maintenance windows is extremely difficult. It is something that typically businesses will frown upon. With VxRail, you can just go ahead and add a node without disrupting the existing environment, which works very well. That's why scale-out upgrades are a key feature. Its performance is also valuable. It delivers a very high number of IOPS for a hybrid configuration or an all-flash configuration. The processors that are available in the Xeon family are very powerful. They are multi-core with typically 2 gigahertz, 2.4 gigahertz, or higher frequency, so the performance is very much appreciated."
"A valuable feature of the solution is that it allows everything to be integrated into a single model, comprised of hardware and software."
"First and foremost, I would advise people to purchase this solution mainly for the simplicity of the system. And it's all managed in one place, which is nice compared to Nutanix where you had to administrate multiple places. And, the support now is so good."
 

Cons

"I wish the sync after a failure, such as hardware failure or power-related issues, for example, was faster."
"The setup and documentation for the installation with the free version could definitely be improved."
"The only thing that I have any difficulty with is that in order to perform upgrades, it is required that the SANs be detached from the Hosts before that can happen."
"We ran into an issue with alerts."
"The gathering of monthly consumption and performance reports for future dissemination to concerned parties is very important. Unfortunately, StarWinds vSAN doesn't offer this functionality."
"I would like to see an extensive set of cmdlets that could allow for easier automation as well as status management."
"Ability to to test the virtual storage are network area and storage speed from StarWind Management Console."
"Improvements in documentation and support resources could enhance the user experience."
"We have faced multiple types of challenges with the integration."
"Sangfor’s hypervisor is not mature enough to handle all the flavors related to industrial needs."
"There are certain aspects of sizing of the solution that need improvement."
"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."
"Support may be an issue for customers in some industries. For example, financial institutions may require 24/7 support."
"I would want the product to include Continuous Data Protection (CDP) which can help to easily retrieve the data."
"Initially, there were issues with wrong sizing and certain features being locked, although these have been fixed."
"Currently, when we need to do capacity planning, we have to rely on Sangfor's support team for assistance. However, if there were dedicated tools available, we could handle it ourselves and increase efficiency."
"Lifecycle management (LCM) should be enhanced"
"Technically speaking, the vCenter and the administration of the integration of the vCenter could be improved."
"Its price could be better."
"From a hardware and software perspective, there could be an improvement in the sales cycle, as there is a lot of hoops to go through to get pricing on a solution."
"I would prefer it if each cell had a tool geared toward billing clients."
"Sometimes during implementation, you can some scripting errors. And there are some issues when we update the version. There are some issues like the version will not get updated or stable at some time. Dell needs to resolve these problems, we don't waste time fixing them."
"The agility of the support team to provide you with better solutions should be improved. VxRail also has to be improved in terms of simplicity. Adding a simple node seemed like quite a project."
"We spend around six months waiting for a confirmation and firmware upgrade to confirm this step."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Licensing is easy and the whole package is cost-effective."
"We found that the pricing was perfect; simple and clear."
"The pricing is more than reasonable."
"StarWind is a low-cost, full-featured alternative to the traditional SAN environment, and their support will guide you every step of the setup."
"This is the best priced solution for an SMB."
"Cost is affordable and licensing is smooth."
"The cost was ultimately low to implement, which allowed us to be 3-2-1 complaint."
"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 solution is affordable."
"The price of Sangfor is cheaper than other competing products."
"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."
"The solution is on-premise which does not have a subscription. However, there is a need to purchase support. The solution is on a perpetual license model. There is not any extra cost other than the standard licensing fees."
"The pricing of Sangfor is very competitive."
"From a business perspective, we use Sangfor HCI due to its competitive pricing compared to other competitors such as Nutanix."
"The tool’s pricing is better when compared to VMware or Nutanix. The product’s licensing is on a yearly basis."
"The solution is very cheap."
"The price is a little bit on the higher side but the system and management are so quick and easy that it's worth it for the customer."
"The product is expensive compared to other solutions."
"VxRail is expensive because it's based on VMware and V-SAN. The price is not the cheapest. The technical support is expensive, but it is a good service."
"VxRail is an expensive solution."
"The licensing of vSAN and VMware for different editions of VxRail is not easy."
"Licensing and price for this solution is reasonable."
"We pay for annual support from VxRail."
"While one could argue, from a strictly corporate standpoint, that the cost of VxRail has been in the higher range, the true evaluation lies in the return on investment."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
18%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Government
8%
Computer Software Company
18%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Educational Organization
7%
Computer Software Company
15%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Government
10%
Financial Services Firm
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

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...
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...
What needs improvement with StarWind Virtual SAN?
Areas for improvement in StarWind Virtual SAN include simplifying the setup process, especially for users with limite...
What do you like most about Sangfor HCI?
It is a stable solution. Stability-wise, I rate the solution a ten out of ten... Scalability-wise, I rate the solutio...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Sangfor HCI?
I rate the pricing of Sangfor HCI at a five, as it is thirty to thirty-five percent more efficient than other solutio...
What needs improvement with Sangfor HCI?
I would like Sangfor to have a presence on some public cloud offerings, such as Azure or AWS, to build disaster recov...
How does HPE Nimble Storage compare to VxRail?
HPE Nimble Storage dHCI Vs. VxRail One of the best things about the HPE Nimble Storage dHCI is the three, two, one, z...
What Is The Biggest Difference Between vSAN And VxRail?
While both run on the vSAN technology from VMware, vSAN needs to be deployed on vSAN ready nodes while VxRail is an e...
What are the major differences between VxRail and Dell EMC PowerFlex?
VxRail vs. Dell EMC PowerFlex VxRail provides stable solutions for technical problems while at the same time not bein...
 

Also Known As

StarWind SAN & NAS
No data available
VCE VxRail
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Baker Tilly BVI, CMS Internet, Board Harpeth Hall School
TOSHIBA TEC Singapore, J&T Express Indonesia, Crowne Plaza Vietnam, Hermina Hospital Indonesia
World Wide Technology Inc, Renault Sport Formula One Team, 8x8 Inc, Brownes, Canadian Pacific, Canopy, Denton, EDF, Unilin, Xerox
Find out what your peers are saying about Sangfor HCI - Hyper Converged Infrastructure vs. VxRail and other solutions. Updated: October 2024.
814,763 professionals have used our research since 2012.