We performed a comparison between Azure Stack HCI and Sangfor HCI - Hyper Converged Infrastructure based on real PeerSpot user reviews.
Find out in this report how the two HCI solutions compare in terms of features, pricing, service and support, easy of deployment, and ROI."I like the asynchronous replication and failover features. They are what I'm primarily using it for. The asynchronous replication is helpful because our servers are backed up continuously throughout the day. If anything goes wrong we just fail over immediately. That is a very nice feature to have."
"The most important feature is the ability to experience the loss of one node or one storage device, and not lose the entire cluster."
"The management interface on the software is very simple. It is insanely simple compared to most SANs. The interface is also powerful when used to complete tasks that an IT administrator needs to complete."
"One of the most valuable features is the way it sets up the virtual SAN, because we don't have to buy a separate appliance for storage. It uses the existing storage on the servers, which is definitely a cost savings for us."
"The ability to run a two-node cluster without a dedicated witness has made this an excellent product for small deployments, which is right on target for our needs in regional offices."
"The biggest benefit was that it allowed us to provide SAN services on a limited hardware budget."
"The StarWind Virtual SAN provides a clever and unique solution to the Computing Split Brain problem."
"StarWind vSAN is easy to deploy and administer."
"The solution has the latest processor."
"The most valuable feature of the solution is its ability to manage VMs."
"In my hybrid cloud setup, there are three features I've found very efficient. The first is software-defined networking. Similar to Azure where you create virtual networks and software load balancing, Azure Stack HCI lets you configure them with a drag-and-drop experience on the on-premises cluster. That's one of the good feature."
"Sangfor is user-friendly and simple to upgrade."
"Very user-friendly and simple."
"The interface is very user-friendly."
"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."
"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."
"It was not expensive at all."
"The manageability feature is the most important aspect of the solution."
"Sangfor HCI is a one-stop solution that enables you to store and centrally manage your VMs."
"The logs can also become very noisy when there is an issue, which is very infrequent."
"Though I have learned some of the nuances with the upgrading of firmware/windows/etc., it would be nice to have a more efficient method of doing so."
"It would be helpful if StarWind provided more precise and detailed documentation explaining how to configure the solution in various scenarios, including the advantages and disadvantages of each."
"StarWind Virtual SAN could benefit from better integration with other tools and technologies, such as backup and disaster recovery solutions."
"Updates seem to be non-existent."
"While it is possible to implement disk encryption in StarWind using Windows Bitlocker, such a solution can be a little tricky to manage."
"There should be some kind of active monitoring connected to StarWind vSAN, so you will be able to act when needed."
"Performance when in storage-separate configuration needs to be improved."
"We faced multiple problems with the product’s stability."
"There are a lot of areas for improvement. Since I've been working very closely with this product, there are many areas, especially in software-defined networking. We had to improve multiple areas because we depended on the service fabric cluster to manage the software-defined network. That means we're already running a hypervisor inside a VM, and we're managing the control plane of the software-defined network. That's another cluster. So, multiple layers make the complexity more. So, from an operational perspective, it's very difficult to manage."
"The product's initial setup phase can be a bit complex, making it an area where improvements are required."
"Sangfor could improve its built-in CAP system. Right now, we need to use an external tool for CAP."
"Sangfor HCI could be improved with certification and the right ecosystem for ISVs like Oracle and SAP."
"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."
"There is a feature to upgrade multiple VMs simultaneously, but it crashes."
"Sangfor’s hypervisor is not mature enough to handle all the flavors related to industrial needs."
"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."
"My company faced some issues with the product, as our virtual machines crashed, and we had to face some security issues."
"The documentation and support from the community are not as good or as mature as VMware or Hyper-V."
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Azure Stack HCI is ranked 17th in HCI with 3 reviews while Sangfor HCI - Hyper Converged Infrastructure is ranked 9th in HCI with 28 reviews. Azure Stack HCI is rated 8.4, while Sangfor HCI - Hyper Converged Infrastructure is rated 8.0. The top reviewer of Azure Stack HCI writes "Performs well, provides good features, and has the latest processor". On the other hand, the top reviewer of Sangfor HCI - Hyper Converged Infrastructure writes "The solution offers straightforward setup, scalability, and manageability". Azure Stack HCI is most compared with VMware vSAN and VxRail, whereas Sangfor HCI - Hyper Converged Infrastructure is most compared with VMware vSAN, Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI), VxRail, HPE SimpliVity and OpenNebula. See our Azure Stack HCI vs. Sangfor HCI - Hyper Converged Infrastructure report.
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