Sangfor HCI - Hyper Converged Infrastructure Reviews

Sangfor HCI's best features are the ability to scale to a bigger size and the roadmap, whereby if they need to replicate their production to disaster recovery, they can do so on the same platform.

Sangfor HCI could be improved with certification and the right ecosystem for ISVs like Oracle and SAP. In the next release, I'd like to see more adapters to allow us to migrate applications to the cloud when needed.

I've been using Sangfor HCI for three to four years.

Sangfor HCI's stability is very good. We've had typical minor issues, but in four years across small to large setups, we haven't had a total 100% failure.

Sangfor HCI is pretty straightforward to scale.

Sangfor HCI's technical support is good enough for an enterprise solution. Most of the time, they're able to resolve the situation within the timeframe our customers expect.

Positive

The initial setup was pretty straightforward.

Sangfor HCI was attractive to us because of the simplicity of its licensing and lack of hidden costs compared to its competitors. I would say its pricing is between cheap and reasonable and would rate it as three out of five.

I'd advise anybody thinking of using Sangfor HCI for the first time to request a concept so you understand the solution fully. I would say there's always a place for Sangfor HCI in any environment as a cheaper parallel platform. I would give Sangfor HCI a rating of ten out of ten.

Sangfor is actually the HCI and we are dealing in that.

The solution is very reasonably priced. It was not expensive at all.

The support is very helpful.

Its initial setup is very simple. 

It is a very stable product. It's reliable. 

It's scalable. 

The solution offers good compatibility with other products. 

The migration process could be easier. 

We started selling Sangfor three months ago.

The stability is very good. There are no bugs or glitches. It doesn't crash or freeze. 

While it's stable, it depends on the implementation. It must be implemented properly. 

It's scalable. We have ten to 15 clients that are on the solution or in process of coming onto the solution. 

Technical support is great. We are very happy with the level of service.

We're also aware of HP, however, their solution is not as good and neither is their support. 

The initial setup was simple and straightforward.  

We have a tech that can handle all aspects of the solution, including implementation. He's been doing it for the last three or four years and understands it quite well. 

Sangfor is cheap and reasonably priced. 

Sangfor has one license and doesn't require any third-party licenses.

The licensing is renewed yearly.

We've implemented it for a couple of companies. There are maybe ten to 15 companies we have with orders still pending. 

I'd recommend the solution to others. It's very cheap and works very well. It's a great solution for companies in Pakistan. 

I'd rate the solution seven out of ten. 

We primarily use the solution for the AD, Active Directory, as well as file services.

The product is very easy to manage.

The cost is a lot cheaper than VMware.

The solution is stable.

It's scalable.

The initial setup isn't hard.

Technical support is helpful.

I can't recall missing any specific features.

The interface could be a little bit better.

We'd like the solution to offer a built-in firewall.

I've been using the solution for two to three months.

The stability has been good. There are no bugs or glitches. it's reliable. If does crash or freeze. 

We have found that it is possible to scale the product. We have about 200 devices connected to it and haven't had any issues. 

We've dealt with technical support and have found them to be helpful and responsive. We are satisfied with the level of service we get. 

We previously used Hyper-V, which was costlier. We had to change solutions to move towards a newer solution and chose HCI.

We found the solution very simple to set up. It was not overly complex or difficult. The deployment, due to the fact that we spread it out with a few servers, actually took a few weeks. If it's just one server ready to go it might take less than two weeks.

We have a three-person team that can manage the solution. 

We had a third party, a systems integrator, who assisted with the setup process. 

The pricing is pretty good, especially compared to VMware. If we are talking about this initial cost to set up (and not talking about future maintenance), it's about 40% cheaper than VMware.

We have a three-year license that we pay yearly. I can't speak about the exact price. 

I'm a customer and an end-user.

We're using the latest version of the solution. 

I'd recommend the product to others. It's easier to manage and scalable. However, much like VMware, you do need to engage with a third party to integrate it.

I'd rate it nine out of ten.

We use Sangfor HCI for the Sangfor Cloud platform. We are soon going to host our own cloud platform service by using Sangfor HCI. We've already got a conditional queue from one of the customers, and we're consistently in talk with Sangfor regarding this deal.

We are working with the trial license of the Sangfor platform. For the first three months, we're going to use it on a trial basis, and after the customer confirms the purchase order, we'll be permanently going for the Sangfor Cloud solution.

It should have object storage. It already has network virtualization and micro-segmentation, but it is missing object storage. It does not have object storage. vSAN also does not have object storage, but Nutanix has object storage, and it is natively integrated into its HCI. So, if you pay for the object storage license, you have that module pre-built. 

I would've been really happy if we had point-to-point network connectivity between the virtual firewall and the customer site lease line so that we could have a private IP VPN.

Sangfor is relatively new in all markets. I would request the Sangfor team to come up with a partner training program with a free voucher so that we can get some of our staff trained and certified in Sangfor and educate them in a proper way.

It has been about five months since we've been using the Sangfor platform.

We've been using it only for about five months, and I will be able to comment on the stability of this platform after about two years. I've been working with VMware for 10 years. So, there is no point in comparing it with VMware.

We're going with two nodes at the moment. There will be some downtime, but we can manage it for the next two to three months because we have fewer customers. We're going to provide the cloud service on the Sangfor platform, and soon, we'll be upgrading to the third node. After we have three nodes, it's going to be easier for us to scale up the platform.

We are a team of about 25 individuals. Four people are looking after this solution. When we start to scale up, we would need more people. With the license that we will purchase, we will also get support from Sangfor. If there are any specific cases, we will contact Sangfor support.

Previously, we had Harper from their team for support. He has now moved to a different role, and he was very good. I would rate him 4.5 out of five. 

Their technical support is pretty good, but we are having some language issues. Basically, we get support from China, and we are having some issues with English. I would rate them a four out of five.

We've worked with VxRail and vSAN in the past. We've not used Nutanix, but I would like Sangfor to grow as a competitor that could beat Nutanix. That's because the RFPs that are made are so much based on Nutanix. It is really difficult for VMware and vSAN to beat Nutanix. I would like to see Sangfor grow as a company and beat Nutanix with all its features. If they add object storage, it would be very good.

For me, it was initially a bit complex, but later on, I gave it to my team. They communicated with Harper and other support staff from the Sangfor team, and they were able to do it. It is not a difficult task for us now. We've already given the Sangfor virtualization platform to a customer. So, we already have two Sangfor clients, and we are looking forward to increasing the number.

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.

We're comparing it with VMware. 

To anyone looking to implement Sangfor, I would advise doing a three-month PoC. We have a system deployed right here in our test labs with two nodes, and we can give a Sangfor cloud platform tenant for a PoC. We are always ready to support customers, and I believe Sangfor is too.

It has only been about five months since we have been using it, and I'm pretty satisfied with it. I would rate it an eight out of 10.

My organization is a gold partner for Sangfor in Pakistan. 

We are using the computer virtualization, storage virtualization, network virtualization, virtual firewall as well as the NSB part network virtualization parts of Sangfor, third-generation HCI solution. We have 50 users using the solution.

For our customers, we have also installed Sangfor for demo purposes.

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.

Sangfor has improved significantly over time. There are certain aspects of sizing of the solution that need improvement.

There are some security features that could be added.

We have been using Sangfor HCI for three years.

This solution is stable.

Sangfor is quite a scalable solution in terms of nodes. You can upgrade the solution it is very flexible and adaptable with zero downtime for upgrades.

Overall, the support from Sangfor is phenomenal. 

We have been partners with Dell technologies as well for the last 10 years. Sangfor is much easier to understand, easier to adapt and easier to deploy with outstanding support.

The initial setup is straightforward if you have a basic IT understanding. If you have a dedicated team to deploy the solution, it will only take a couple of hours. It does depend on the size of your organization as well. 

Since we are a seller of the solution, we deploy ourselves. It requires one person on our team to do maintenance.

The license fee is annual. It is an enterprise plus version that is bundled into a single socket-based license.

Without hesitation, I recommend Sangfor because they have a standard with the stability and is agile. 

I rate Sangfor HCI a 10 out of 10.

We use Sangfor HCI  for MES and for ERP systems.

Sangfor is user-friendly and simple to upgrade.

Sangfor could improve its built-in CAP system. Right now, we need to use an external tool for CAP.

Sangfor is highly stable.

Sangfor is scalable. For example, we upgraded from 256 to 512 megabytes of memory.
We have about 50 people, and we're increasing usage at our secondary corporate site. 

Sangfor technical support is great. They're available 24/7.

We were previously using a VMware solution, but we switched to Sangfor because of usability and pricing.

Setting up Sangfor HCI was straightforward. We had help from a consultant. 

We haven't calculated ROI, but we'll do that in the coming year. It's hard to make an accurate cost-benefit analysis by comparing to our past usage because the number of machines has increased over the last couple of years. We now have 45 virtual machines.

Our initial license covers the first five years.

I rate Sangfor HCI eight out of 10. I have to take a couple of points off because of some minor things, like the CAP system. 

It is useful for every case where you have to virtualize machines on-premises or on the cloud, and you need resilience, performance, and so on.

It is deployed on-premises, but you can also deploy it on the cloud. It is a hyper-convergence system. There is only one version.

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.

As far as I know, no hyper-convergence solution includes security, so you have to buy security from another brand. For example, you buy SimpliVity or Nutanix. They don't really have a security solution inside the product. It would be good if there is a security solution inside this solution so that it is not only for the virtualization of CPU, RAM, disk, and network but also for security.

Its price should also be better.

I have been using this solution for three years. 

It is scalable. You can add nodes and scale it.

Their technical support is very good. It is the best part of the product.

Its installation is very fast and easy. For two nodes, it takes maybe one or two hours.

We are doing it ourselves. We have engineers in the company who can do the job.

For deployment and maintenance, we have about 10 people. We have three engineers and three technicians.

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.

I would recommend this solution to others. It is a good product for us.

I would rate Sangfor HCI an eight out of 10. 

We use it for SAP products and some other infrastructure applications. We are using its latest version.

The Continuous Data Protection (CDP) feature is one of the good features.

Its virtual machine tools can be improved. These tools should be enhanced for use in other applications and operating systems, such as Linux.

I have been using this solution for three years.

It is stable. There is no issue in terms of stability so far.

It is complex to scale. There was a situation where they undersized the memory on one of our solutions. They gave us free memory because they were the ones who sized the memory for the specs.

In terms of the number of users, we have two or three administrators who use it. There are up to 500 concurrent users or the number of users using the hyper-converged infrastructure.

They support us in case of technical problems. They also provided a free deployment during a migration.

The level one support is provided by the partner or the integrator. The level two support is handled by the Sangfor teams. Technical support is based in the Asia Pacific region. They provide standard 24/7 support. They are easy to reach. Some of their engineers are Chinese, and there is a communication barrier because of their accents, but on the technical side, they are able to resolve the issues.

Its initial setup is more on the complex side because of our system and company requirements. The deployment took about three weeks.

We have an in-house technical team. Its maintenance is also handled by us. Every six to eight months, they provide updates to fix the bugs that they have encountered. 

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.

I would recommend this product because of its pricing. It doesn't require a separate license for features such as Continuous Data Protection. 

I would rate Sangfor HCI an eight out of ten.