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Sangfor HCI: Compute, Storage, Networking and Security on One Platform
2 November 2026
In a traditional data centre, servers, external storage, networking and security are bought separately and managed from separate interfaces. Sangfor HCI brings these four layers together on a single software platform, offering a practical way to shrink a complex data centre down to a few standard x86 servers. In this post we cover the architecture, key features, migration from VMware and the rollout order.
What does hyperconverged infrastructure (HCI) change?
In a classic architecture each layer has its own hardware, its own licence and often its own team: servers in one place, SAN storage in another, switches and security appliances managed somewhere else entirely. On the day a virtual machine slows down, finding the layer at fault means looking at three different consoles.
Hyperconverged infrastructure (HCI) merges these layers in software on a single platform. When more capacity is needed, adding a new server to the cluster is enough; the system automatically adds it to the pool as both compute and storage capacity. Growth happens in small, predictable steps instead of large, infrequent hardware investments.
Sangfor HCI takes this approach beyond compute and storage by adding network virtualisation and security to the same platform. Sangfor states that more than 24,000 organisations worldwide use its HCI solution, and the company is named a Representative Vendor in Gartner's 2025 Market Guide for Server Virtualization Platforms.
Architecture: five components, one platform
Sangfor HCI consists of five integrated components, all managed from the same web interface:
| Component | What it does |
|---|---|
| aSV (Server Virtualization) | KVM-based hypervisor. Runs virtual machines and provides high availability and live migration. |
| aSAN (Storage Virtualization) | Turns local disks in the servers into a shared, replicated virtual storage pool. Can also work with existing FC/iSCSI storage. |
| aNET (Network Virtualization) | Builds distributed virtual switches and routers through a drag-and-drop topology view. |
| aSEC (Security) | Adds a virtual firewall (NGFW), WAF, IPS, micro-segmentation and vulnerability scanning to the platform. |
| SCP (Sangfor Cloud Platform) | Manages multiple HCI clusters from a single point, with tenants, quotas and a self-service portal. |
The biggest advantage of this design is simplicity: one vendor, one interface, one point of support. When something goes wrong, nobody has to argue about which layer owns the problem.
Key features
High availability (HA)
When a server fails, the virtual machines running on it are automatically restarted on other servers in the cluster. Sangfor's Proactive HA aims to detect hardware problems in advance and move virtual machines before the failure happens.
Live migration and resource balancing
A running virtual machine can be moved from server to server without downtime. This makes it possible to do hardware maintenance and upgrades during working hours instead of squeezing them into late-night maintenance windows.
Snapshots, backup and CDP
The platform includes snapshots, scheduled backup and continuous data protection (CDP). Very short recovery points can be defined for critical systems; this does not replace the organisation's overall backup strategy, but it moves the first line of defence into the platform itself.
Built-in security
Micro-segmentation lets traffic between virtual machines be restricted by rules. Functions such as a virtual firewall and WAF are enabled without an additional vendor; inspecting east-west traffic makes lateral movement harder for an attacker who has breached one server.
Simple management
Everything from installation to monitoring is done from a single web interface. The network is built visually in the topology view, and SkyOps provides real-time monitoring and health checks.
Hardware flexibility
As software, Sangfor HCI can be installed on common x86 servers (HPE, Dell, Lenovo and others). By assessing whether existing servers are suitable, new hardware investment can be postponed.
Migrating from VMware and Veeam integration
After Broadcom acquired VMware, changes to the licensing model pushed many organisations to look for alternatives. Sangfor HCI comes with tools that make this transition easier:
- Agentless migration: Sangfor's migration tool connects to vCenter, copies virtual machines first in full and then incrementally, and completes the cutover with a short outage (typically in the order of minutes).
- Reusing existing storage: FC or iSCSI storage systems can be connected to Sangfor, so the disk investment is not lost.
- Backup with Veeam: With the Veeam Plug-in for Sangfor aSV that ships with Veeam Backup & Replication 13.1, virtual machines on Sangfor can be backed up without agents. Incremental backup with CBT and full-VM and file-level restore are supported, and existing Veeam processes continue unchanged (Sangfor HCI 6.11.3 or later is required).
Who is it for?
- Organisations reassessing their VMware licensing costs
- Mid-sized businesses that want to start with a few servers and grow as needed
- Teams that want to manage branches and remote sites from a single centre
- Lean IT teams that must run virtualisation, storage, networking and security together
Rollout: the order we recommend
In HCI projects the technology rarely causes trouble; the order of work does. These are the steps we follow in the field:
- Inventory and sizing: CPU, memory, disk and IOPS usage of existing virtual machines is measured. The cluster is sized for the next two to three years of growth, not for today's peak load.
- Pilot cluster: Start with a group of virtual machines that carry real but non-critical workloads; performance and management habits settle here.
- Network and security policies: aNET topology and micro-segmentation rules are written BEFORE migration. Writing rules after migration means justifying every existing connection one by one.
- Migration waves: Virtual machines are grouped by dependency and moved in waves, each with a rollback plan.
- Verifying backups: After the first wave, a restore drill is run from backup. A backup that has never been restored is not a backup.
The role of the implementation partner
A simple platform does not mean the project runs itself. The vendor's documentation describes the product; it does not know the dependencies in your current infrastructure, your licence renewal calendar or your team's habits. That gap is exactly where an implementation partner adds value.
At ATEON we run the process locally and in your language, from discovery and sizing to planning migration waves, from team training to first-line support after go-live. Tying version upgrades and licence renewals to a calendar is the easiest way to keep the platform healthy beyond the first year.
Conclusion
By bringing virtualisation, storage, networking and security together on a single platform, Sangfor HCI reduces both deployment and operational effort. Thanks to its VMware migration tooling and Veeam integration, it is possible to move while protecting existing investments. To see how we position the platform against your current infrastructure, visit our Virtualization Solutions page.