Sangfor HCI - Hyper Converged Infrastructure Reviews

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.

On-premises

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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

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.

Negative

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.

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.

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

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

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

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

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.  

Hybrid Cloud

Microsoft Azure

We are using Sangfor HCI for cloud computing and operating it as an infrastructure-as-a-service.

We find the topology feature of Sangfor HCI particularly valuable. It allows us to design and define the architecture according to our specific requirements.

We can choose the components we want to use and easily visualize the layout we create.

It would be beneficial if Sangfor HCI provided us with more tools to perform various tasks. 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.

For instance, Nutanix has some tools called Nutanix sizing tools. I would like Sangfor to offer similar tools specifically for IT sizing. These tools would help us accurately size our infrastructure since we operate on a service basis. We have numerous customers with different needs, and being able to easily size the infrastructure based on specific criteria would be advantageous. Currently, we face challenges in obtaining customer information, as it is not feasible to visit each customer individually and collect data. 

Having a dedicated tool for this purpose would greatly improve our operations. I've heard from the community that such a tool exists, but I don't know where to download it or how to access it as a user. 

If such features exist, it would be beneficial to understand how we utilize those features, check their functionality, and manipulate them.

We have documentation available for this solution. However, it may not provide detailed information about these specific tools. It's not easy to find comprehensive documentation for this type of tool.

I have been using this solution for more than two years. 

Sangfor HCI is a stable solution. I would rate the stability an eight out of ten. It's quite good.

However, there are some points I'm concerned about. Particularly, it relates to the ITC and application delivery controller (ADC). We had pushed out licenses for that component, but we recently learned that it had reached its end of life. We received this information from the community, but we're unsure if it's confirmed. Initially, we implemented it, but later, Sangfor support advised us to discontinue its use. So, we didn't fully deploy that component. As a result, we are unable to achieve load balancing as planned. We purchased the ADC license, but now we can't utilize it.

On Sangfor HCI, you can usually integrate various components, including a virtual ADC. However, in our case, we faced limitations due to the ADC license.

I would rate the scalability of Sangfor HCI a seven out of ten. I haven't implemented all aspects of Sangfor HCI. 

Currently, there are around ten end users using Sangfor HCI in our organization. 

The customer service and support have been helpful in assisting us with various matters. However, the response time could be better. It should be faster.

Positive

We have used Hyper-V and VMware vSphere in our lab environment. In my opinion, Sangfor HCI stands out because of its comprehensive features and very easy to implement, which I haven't experienced with Hyper-V.

The initial setup is simple. 

We deployed the solution with the help of Sangfor's support. 

The price is a bit better than overall.

Overall, I would rate the solution a seven out of ten. It's mainly because of the sizing tools. When comparing it to solutions like Nutanix, for example, they have already signed and implemented tools that provide more functionality. They offer software-based solutions that can be accessed online, providing greater convenience.

So, having more comprehensive and easily accessible tools is an important aspect. It gives you a clearer understanding of the available space and enables you to communicate with the service providers to ensure better security measures.

On-premises

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.

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. 

On-premises

My customers use Sangfor HCI for the virtualization platform.

The most valuable feature of Sangfor HCI is the built-in recovery functionality. The migration is simple to do from other solutions, such as VMware.

The solution could improve by including backup capabilities.

I have been using Sangfor HCI for approximately two years.

I rate the stability of Sangfor HCI an eight out of ten.

We have approximately 1,000 users using this solution.

Our customers are mostly medium-sized using this solution.

I rate the scalability of Sangfor HCI an eight out of ten.

The support can take some time to respond to fix the problem.

I rate the support of Sangfor HCI an eight out of ten.

Neutral

My clients were using VMware prior to using Sangfor HCI.

The deployment of Sangfor HCI took approximately three weeks.

I rate the initial setup of Sangfor HCI a seven out of ten.

We had the vendor do the implementation of the solution.

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 price is affordable for the solution.

I rate the price of Sangfor HCI a six out of ten.

I rate Sangfor HCI an eight out of ten.

I gave my rating of eight out of ten for the solution because it is feature rich and has enhanced protection.

On-premises

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.

On-premises

We use the product as a hyper-converged infrastructure for our virtualization servers.

I am impressed with the product's firewall and virtualization. 

I would want the product to include Continuous Data Protection (CDP) which can help to easily retrieve the data. 

I have been using the tool for three years. 

I would rate the product's stability a nine out of ten. We have never experienced downtime during our usage of the product. 

I would rate the product's scalability an eight out of ten since they have issues with sizing. My company has 300-500 users for the solution. 

The support team is available 24/7. However, communication is a barrier when the support person is Chinese. On the other hand, support is easy when it is from Singapore or Malaysia. 

Neutral

I would rate the product's deployment a nine out of ten. The tool's setup is easy. The technical team helps us to complete the product's deployment. The product's deployment takes two days to complete. First, we gathered information on network and hardware infrastructure topology. 

The product's pricing is less expensive and competitive than other alternatives. I would rate the product's pricing an eight out of ten. 

I would rate the product a nine out of ten.