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Lenovo ThinkAgile HX Series vs Sangfor HCI - Hyper Converged Infrastructure 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)
Lenovo ThinkAgile HX Series
Ranking in HCI
18th
Average Rating
8.0
Number of Reviews
3
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Sangfor HCI - Hyper Converg...
Ranking in HCI
8th
Average Rating
8.0
Number of Reviews
32
Ranking in other categories
Cloud Management (14th)
 

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 Lenovo ThinkAgile HX Series is 0.7%, up from 0.5% 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. 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.
Adeel Hashmi - PeerSpot reviewer
Nov 27, 2023
With an easy deployment phase, the tool offers good scalability and stability
Suppose you don't compare Lenovo ThinkAgile HX Series with the newest features available in the other variants of the product, then everything is pretty standard, so I cannot pinpoint any areas of issue in particular. With Lenovo ThinkAgile HX Series, the firmware from VMware or Nutanix takes time to be made available compared to other products that we use in our company's IT environment. If you want to go to a certain version of VMware and check what Nutanix offers, you see that both the offerings don't go hand in hand, and you have to wait for a quarter or two quarters until you see the same versions of both being made available for the other products, like Dell or HPE. 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. The aforementioned area can be considered for improvement in a solution. In future releases of the product, I may want some improvements to be made in the products from Nutanix and VMware.
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…

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The ease of reaching the support team and their promptness for support is great."
"Before VSAN, hypervisor configuration changes and updates resulted in VM outages. Now, downtime is dramatically reduced."
"It provided the much-needed HA on an extremely low budget."
"The solution is also quite flexible. As an example, other vSAN solutions that we looked at had more stringent requirements regarding mixed HDD/SSD storage which wouldn't have worked in our environment."
"The solution provides great performance for the price it is listed with."
"In the three years that we have been using StarWind, the product has yet to cause us any problems."
"The features that I found most valuable are ease of use of the software that StarWind offers - with the first setup being a bit painful."
"The failover redundancy is why we bought this product and it has never let us down."
"The initial setup is simple. We were able to deliver the hyper-convergence solution in a very good time."
"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."
"Sangfor HCI has a strong GUI interface in terms of graphical representation for management purposes."
"Their GUI interface is a bit easier than VMware's."
"I am impressed with the product's firewall and virtualization."
"The manageability feature is the most important aspect of the solution."
"Sangfor HCI has a really good GUI. It allows us to monitor the temperature of the server and many other things."
"The solution provides a single management console."
"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."
"The Continuous Data Protection (CDP) feature is one of the good features."
 

Cons

"The dashboard is functional, but it could benefit from a more modern and visually appealing design."
"Updating the software can be a bit tricky."
"StarWind Virtual SAN architecture is slightly complex and requires the team to carefully identify and study how the solution integrates with VMware vSphere."
"While it is possible to implement disk encryption in StarWind using Windows Bitlocker, such a solution can be a little tricky to manage."
"I would like to see improvements in the documentation area."
"Our company was hoping for deduplication and encryption across HCI. That is currently not supported."
"The only way I can see this product needing improvement is the consultation level of the StarWind sales and engineers."
"The Command Center, a free guest VM for management and monitoring, leaves something to be desired. It could have more accurate real-time information and better reporting visuals, which seem to be an afterthought."
"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."
"Lenovo ThinkAgile HX Series could improve by having better integration with the solutions from VMware and vCenter"
"My company faced some issues with the product, as our virtual machines crashed, and we had to face some security issues."
"The interface could be a little bit better."
"I would like Sangfor to have a presence on some public cloud offerings, such as Azure or AWS, to build disaster recovery sites."
"The cost must be improved."
"The documentation and support from the community are not as good or as mature as VMware or Hyper-V."
"The initialization is not fully automated and has room for improvement."
"The error reporting needs to be improved."
"Sangfor could improve its built-in CAP system. Right now, we need to use an external tool for CAP."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"I think the bang for the buck is much better with StarWind Virtual SAN."
"It's priced fairly. It was definitely cheaper than the competition. The licensing terms are straightforward and reasonable."
"Once you buy the license, you are free to build your own hardware solution based on your needs."
"This solution has competitive prices and the implementation is very easy."
"The cost seems a bit steep, and I wish it was less expensive."
"The pricing is fine for the work that it does."
"The StarWind VSAN business model is very cost-effective."
"The support contract is well worth it. The price for it was very reasonable and their team has been very engaged whenever we reach out."
"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."
"When comparing this solution to other OEM solutions it is relatively inexpensive."
"The product's pricing is less expensive and competitive than other alternatives. I would rate the product's pricing an eight out of ten."
"The pricing of Sangfor is very competitive."
"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."
"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."
"The solution is very cheap."
"The tool’s pricing is better when compared to VMware or Nutanix. The product’s licensing is on a yearly basis."
"From a business perspective, we use Sangfor HCI due to its competitive pricing compared to other competitors such as Nutanix."
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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
19%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Retailer
8%
Comms Service Provider
6%
Computer Software Company
18%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Educational Organization
7%
 

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...
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 Lenovo ThinkAgile HX Series?
The most valuable feature of the solution stems from the fact that the product's deployment phase is pretty easy.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Lenovo ThinkAgile HX Series?
Price-wise, it is a pretty good product. The product's price was one of the main criteria that made my company choose...
What needs improvement with Lenovo ThinkAgile HX Series?
Suppose you don't compare Lenovo ThinkAgile HX Series with the newest features available in the other variants of the...
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...
 

Also Known As

StarWind SAN & NAS
Lenovo HX Series, ThinkAgile HX Series
No data available
 

Overview

 

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
Find out what your peers are saying about Lenovo ThinkAgile HX Series vs. Sangfor HCI - Hyper Converged Infrastructure and other solutions. Updated: October 2024.
814,649 professionals have used our research since 2012.