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PeerSpot user
Director - Sales & Operations at Techtrix System
Reseller
Top 10
Consolidated infrastructure with seamless cost savings and high-level support
Pros and Cons
  • "The extraordinary product quality, unmatched support services, and the third-generation HCI offering are some of the most valuable features of Sangfor HCI."
  • "Initially, there were issues with wrong sizing and certain features being locked, although these have been fixed."

What is our primary use case?

Any type of infrastructure, whether it is a customer having a three-tier infrastructure, which we are migrating to converged or hyper-converged, or even customers planning to have their own hybrid cloud-based infrastructure, bringing a cloud foundation within their organization. There are multiple use cases for group companies. 

People are opting for Sangfor HCI so they can offer cloud-based services to their group companies from a single stack of HCI. Sangfor is present in the manufacturing industry, the hospital and healthcare industry, and the financial industry. 

The largest deployment in Pakistan is a 48-node cluster, which reduced the requirement from over 100 servers to 48.

How has it helped my organization?

Sangfor HCI has proven to be beneficial by consolidating infrastructure and reducing the footprint of data centers. This has led to significant cost savings in terms of power, cooling, and space. 

The simplified licensing model, which includes everything and provides enterprise-class features with free backup, offers a better return on investment. Additionally, it provides high-level support services that enhance business continuity and disaster recovery, making it a great value for the organization.

What is most valuable?

The extraordinary product quality, unmatched support services, and the third-generation HCI offering are some of the most valuable features of Sangfor HCI. It includes a simplified single license regime, providing enterprise-class licenses and built-in backup. 

The integration of their own firewall, Internet access management gateway, and security features within the HCI ensures robust security. The drag-and-drop layout for infrastructure setup, easy operation management, and comprehensive support services are also noteworthy. 

The scalability, with support for configurations such as a 48-node cluster, is another valuable aspect.

What needs improvement?

Initially, there were issues with wrong sizing and certain features being locked, although these have been fixed. The major drawback is its adoption in major tier-one sectors or banks, which is gradually improving. 

In its early days, Sangfor created hidden snapshots that led to storage penalties. This has been resolved. Another concern is the initial reluctance of tier-one banks to adopt a Chinese brand amidst large technology giants like VMware and Nutanix.

Buyer's Guide
Sangfor HCI - Hyper Converged Infrastructure
October 2024
Learn what your peers think about Sangfor HCI - Hyper Converged Infrastructure. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: October 2024.
816,192 professionals have used our research since 2012.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been reselling Sangfor HCI for over six years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The stability has been excellent. I have not experienced any complaints or issues related to performance, bottlenecks, or latency.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Sangfor HCI is highly scalable. For example, one of our customers is using a forty-eight node cluster, which demonstrates its robustness. It scales easily by adding new nodes, and it is ready to go within minutes.

How are customer service and support?

Their customer service and support are excellent. I would give them a rating of one hundred points.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

Over my 22 years of experience, I have mostly worked with Dell products. Despite selling many storage boxes like PowerVault, Compellent, and PowerStore, I have not had much experience with other HCI solutions. 

Although I have worked with VMware and VXLAN, I did not sell other full-stack HCI solutions before Sangfor.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is straightforward. You can deploy it as easily as any other hypervisor, and even a semi-technical person can complete it with phone support.

What was our ROI?

The return on investment is justifiable and significant. Consolidation saves on power, cooling, and space costs. The simplified licensing model, which includes everything needed, provides a better ROI. Using Sangfor HCI for firewall and Internet access management also reduces licensing costs and footprint, further boosting ROI.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

Initially, Sangfor was very competitively priced compared to other leading HCI solutions. Now, while the pricing has begun to align more with the market, it remains competitive and offers good value compared to other options.

What other advice do I have?

I'd rate the solution ten out of ten.

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Reseller
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PeerSpot user
Citrix Engineer at Techy Hats
Reseller
Top 10
Cost-effective and great for SMBs, but a lack of stability makes this solution a tough choice for larger deployments
Pros and Cons
  • "Sangfor HCI has a really good GUI. It allows us to monitor the temperature of the server and many other things."
  • "There is a feature to upgrade multiple VMs simultaneously, but it crashes."

What is our primary use case?

My clients use it on all their virtual machines. These virtual machines contain web applications, and that's Sangfor's main purpose. They have application portals to collect user data, such as registration forms.

What is most valuable?

Sangfor HCI has a really good GUI. It allows us to monitor the temperature of the server and many other things.

What needs improvement?

We just deployed Sangfor HCI for our client, and the one problem we faced with Sangfor is preventative maintenance. When we do preventative maintenance, we must upgrade the operating system and run some updates, such as APT updates, because most virtual machines are on Linux. We need to keep the OS updated from time to time. Normally, we do a PM twice a year. Every time we do it, we face challenges. We needed to run an update on the VMs one at a time, which was the biggest challenge we faced. We have over 200 virtual machines, and doing the updates one at a time is tough. There's a window for preventative maintenance with downtime we have to agree on with our client. Normally, the downtime lasts about a day or half a day, depending on the client's requirements, such as the kind of uptime they require. If it's an application that should be highly available all the time, the updates are a huge problem for us. We can't update one virtual machine at a time. We need to update all of them simultaneously. That is why I would rather choose something like Nutanix.

There is a feature to upgrade multiple VMs simultaneously, but it crashes.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've worked with this solution for around six months.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Sangfor can crash. I rate stability a five out of ten.

When we upgrade virtual machines, there is a feature that allows us to upgrade multiple virtual virtual machines at a time. But the problem is it crashes. The whole server can go down.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Every time the organization needs to expand, we must expand vertically or horizontally, and Sangfor is not cut for it. When it comes to scaling up, Sangfor can't do the job. We use Sangfor for a fixed thing. Let's say we know the organization has only 200 users and won't expand. Then it's okay to use Sangfor. Sangfor is not scalable.

My clients are enterprise-level businesses.

How was the initial setup?

Sangfor is easy to set up. We just have to put the ISO file in our thumb drives. Then, we go to our bare metal server and deploy the ISO. Generally, this is what we do, and it's pretty straightforward.

The deployment time depends on how scalable the organization is. If it's full or fewer than ten servers, we can deploy the solution in a day or a couple of hours if we have experienced engineers. We can deploy the solution with two people.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The solution is affordable.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

For preventative maintenance, Sangfor needs us to update one machine at a time. We have over 200 VMs, so the updates affect availability. Because we need to update all the VMs simultaneously, I would prefer something like Nutanix.

What other advice do I have?

From a customer's point of view, Sangfor's instructions are straightforward. If the user is computer literate, they will understand and do it. If instructions are given correctly by me, and users follow them properly, they can fix the problem.

I recommend that prospective users study their client's requirements. They should try to understand what the client wants whether they'll be scaling up in a short period, and users have to consider all those factors before they choose a product like this. Depending on the kind of organization it is and how big it is, if it's a small organization, users can go for Sangfor and save a lot of money. But for big organizations, users must spend some bucks for these hypervisors.

Since there's a lot of room for improvement, I rate Sangfor HCI a six out of ten.

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer:
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Sangfor HCI - Hyper Converged Infrastructure
October 2024
Learn what your peers think about Sangfor HCI - Hyper Converged Infrastructure. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: October 2024.
816,192 professionals have used our research since 2012.
System Account Manager at Primier Assist Limited
Reseller
It's a one-stop solution that enables you to store and centrally manage your VMs
Pros and Cons
  • "Sangfor HCI is a one-stop solution that enables you to store and centrally manage your VMs."
  • "Support may be an issue for customers in some industries. For example, financial institutions may require 24/7 support."

What is our primary use case?

If you're dealing with a huge workload running on a massive infrastructure, Sangfor HCI can reduce the physical hardware while maximizing resource utilization. 

What is most valuable?

Sangfor HCI is a one-stop solution that enables you to store and centrally manage your VMs. 

What needs improvement?

Support may be an issue for customers in some industries. For example, financial institutions may require 24/7 support. 

For how long have I used the solution?

I have used Sangfor for two or three years. 

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

I rate Sangfor HCI 10 out of 10 for stability. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

I rate Sangfor HCI seven out of 10 for scalability. We have nearly 80 users, Most of our clients are small and medium-sized businesses. 

How are customer service and support?

I rate Sangfor support eight out of 10. 

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

How was the initial setup?

I rate Sangfor HCI eight out of 10 for ease of setup. Deployment is pretty straightforward and can be completed in four or five days. 

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

Sangfor HCI is reasonably priced, and there are no additional costs. 

What other advice do I have?

I rate Sangfor HCI eight out of 10. You should give Sangfor HCI a chance. It has more advanced technology and is more user-friendly than other solutions. 

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer:
PeerSpot user
Team Lead of Senior Directors at National Engineers
Real User
Top 10
A cost-effective solution with built-in backup mechanisms and firewalls
Pros and Cons
  • "You can get almost all the features of the tool at a low cost. The tool also has built-in backup mechanisms. It also has a physical firewall for internet management which other competitors lack."
  • "We have had issues while integrating VMware with Sangfor HCI. The tool should be also faster in terms of customization."

What is most valuable?

You can get almost all the features of the tool at a low cost. The tool also has built-in backup mechanisms. It also has a physical firewall for internet management which other competitors lack.

What needs improvement?

We have had issues while integrating VMware with Sangfor HCI. The tool should be also faster in terms of customization.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using the product for five to six years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The solution is not stable for large enterprises.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The solution is scalable. It can take up to 64 loads.

How are customer service and support?

The tool’s tech support offers us services without extra charges.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

How was the initial setup?

The tool’s setup is easy. You can run it on two nodes. The solution’s deployment is fast and takes around 25-30 minutes to complete. The tool has all the deployment instructions and it is easy for someone with virtualization experience.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The tool’s pricing is better when compared to VMware or Nutanix. The product’s licensing is on a yearly basis.

What other advice do I have?

I would rate the solution an eight out of ten. The solution is good for medium enterprises like regular universities, small banks, and pharmaceutical companies. Sangfor HCI is the best cost-effective solution for universities that have three to four campuses with around 5,000=10,000 students. It is the best campus management system for them.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer:
PeerSpot user
Iftekhar Shaikh - PeerSpot reviewer
Regional Area Manager at EPI UPS
Reseller
Leaderboard
Reasonably priced and offers helpful support but migration capabilities could be stronger
Pros and Cons
  • "It was not expensive at all."
  • "The migration process could be easier."

What is our primary use case?

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

What is most valuable?

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. 

What needs improvement?

The migration process could be easier. 

For how long have I used the solution?

We started selling Sangfor three months ago.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

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. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

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

How are customer service and support?

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

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

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

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup was simple and straightforward.  

What about the implementation team?

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. 

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

Sangfor is cheap and reasonably priced. 

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

The licensing is renewed yearly.

What other advice do I have?

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. 

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Public Cloud
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer:
PeerSpot user
Chief Information Officer - Government at Govt of City of Makassar
Real User
The user interface is good, but it doesn't support SAS and it consumes a lot of power
Pros and Cons
  • "I would rate the user-friendliness an eight out of ten."
  • "Sangfor does not support a SAS configuration, which is something that we would like."

What is our primary use case?

We are primarily using this product to store our applications. We are using to host data for us to perform analytics on.

What is most valuable?

The interface is typical for this type of product. I would rate the user-friendliness an eight out of ten.

What needs improvement?

Sangfor does not support a SAS configuration, which is something that we would like.

I would like to see support for Kubernetes and Docker.

For how long have I used the solution?

We have been dealing with Sangfor for less than eight months.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

I think that there are issues with scalability because Sangfor consumes a high amount of power. In order to scale using Sangfor, I would also have to scale up the amount of power in my data center.

How are customer service and technical support?

I am currently not getting enough technical support because of the COVID-19 pandemic. I am looking for direct support, but I don't have it.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The price of Sangfor is cheaper than other competing products.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

I am currently looking to replace this solution with something from perhaps Nutanix or Dell. I am still looking for the best solution to use in our next project.

What other advice do I have?

Overall, I think that this is an average product. I am not satisfied with it and do not recommend that others use it.

I would rate this solution a five out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
IT Manager at SJ Securities Sdn Bhd
Real User
Reasonably priced, easy to manage, and offers helpful support
Pros and Cons
  • "The initial setup isn't hard."
  • "The interface could be a little bit better."

What is our primary use case?

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

What is most valuable?

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.

What needs improvement?

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.

For how long have I used the solution?

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

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

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

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

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. 

How are customer service and support?

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. 

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

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

How was the initial setup?

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. 

What about the implementation team?

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

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

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. 

What other advice do I have?

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.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Engineer, System Admin at ebm
Real User
Low cost appliance, good UI, only good for on-premises VM infrastructure.
Pros and Cons
  • "Their GUI interface is a bit easier than VMware's."
  • "The documentation and support from the community are not as good or as mature as VMware or Hyper-V."

What is our primary use case?

We were look for less expensive virtualization solution that can accommodate our VM workload and provide virtualized storage as well.

Our old environment consisted to multiple SAN storage devices. Maintenance such equipment is very costly and requires a separate in network infrastructure.

We wanted to utilize storage capacity available in our hypervisor nodes to provide clustered storage service using storage virtualization technologies similar to Microsoft S2D and VMWare vSAN, but at a low cost.

How has it helped my organization?

No, it did not improve our organization. At first Sangfor HCI look good product, but one we started to use it we faced many comparability issues. It is an appliance style of product and we cannot have administrative access to it. Where as in Hyper-V, ESXi, and/or KVM we can have an admin level access to install or add-ons or agents. Also it is not compatible with any cloud service providers e.g. Azure/AWS/GCP and neither it has hardware certified by any leading ERP providers.

What is most valuable?

After using it for 3 years only thing good about it is that it's cost less compared to Microsoft, and VMware solutions.

The features that Microsoft, and VMware gives on their Data Center and Enterprise licenses are provided by Sangfor HCI on Standard license.

Other than this there is no valuable feature.

What needs improvement?

Sangfor HCI can improve it's self in many ways.
1) Admin need a granular control on their system. There is no command line interface like we get in Hyper-V and ESXi.
2) The documentation and support from the community are not available. Support engineer lack knowledge also.
3) GUI also requires much working as well. The web interface of HCI and SCP are not user friendly.
4) No compatibility with third party solution and also no support with cloud services (Azure/AWS/GCP) and leading ERP providers.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've been using the solution for 3 years now.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The all appliance solutions are stable and reliable, Sangfor HCI is the same.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The solution is scalable. You just have to add a node to the current cluster. It's not difficult.

How are customer service and support?

The support engineer skills are not that good. They especially the support team we got in our country lack knowledge of their own product. There's a general lack of information. The documentation and knowledge base or community portal are lacking. I'd rate this aspect two out of ten.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Negative

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We were using Microsoft Hyper-V. We decided to switch because we needed a solution that consists of storage virtualization. We also needed to remove our out dated SAN environment.

How was the initial setup?

Since it is an appliance the setup is straight forward and quick.

We had three people from our company and two people from the vendor
handling the initial setup. Maintenance after setup is fairly basic and
requires simply looking after the hardware and looking out for heavy
usage of the processor. Three people are looking after it on the admin
side.

We have deployed it at two of our sites. One is at the head office, and the other is at our disaster recovery site.

What about the implementation team?

We had help from the vendor. They were on-site and helped to integrate everything. But they lacked expertise.

What was our ROI?

ROI is not that good. After running it for almost 3 years and we had not a good experience with it.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

Pricing is very cheap compared to Hyper-V and VMware.
Since it is an appliance setup cost in terms in time is very low.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

Yes we evaluated VMware's solution. But management decided for Sangfor HCI as it was very cheap in cost.

What other advice do I have?

With the experience we faced we will give it 2 out of 10 as the admin level experience is not good. No command line support. No third party integration. No public cloud support. No proper documentation.

If anyone is looking for a less expensive appliance type HCI then they can consider it. But for hybrid environments the solution fails.  

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Hybrid Cloud

If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?

Microsoft Azure
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Sangfor HCI - Hyper Converged Infrastructure Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.
Updated: October 2024
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Buyer's Guide
Download our free Sangfor HCI - Hyper Converged Infrastructure Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.