Lenovo ThinkAgile VX Series Reviews

We often set up new implementations for our customers who purchase new servers from us. That's a key part of my work with clients.

Our clients typically use the VX Series in VMware environments. These VX servers are configured as vSAN nodes, utilizing internal storage rather than external storage solutions.

Lenovo offers a range of solutions, including the ThinkAgile VX Series for VMware, referred to as VX servers, and DX servers for Microsoft. These products are part of Lenovo's portfolio when integrated with Nutanix, VMware, or Microsoft solutions.

The integration simplifies management for clients familiar with VMware, offering a user-friendly management and configuration experience.

It offers clustered servers. Key benefits include VMware's vMotion for seamless migrations, a minimum of three nodes for high availability, and integrated data protection features. 

So, when a server is down, even if the first node is down, the VMs are still running. We typically use VMware data protection and vCenter to cluster the nodes and vSAN to have distributed storage. 

The storage between the three nodes will be combined and clustered. That's the most useful feature of the ThinkAgile VX server.

With the VX machines, the clients often confuse the hardware itself with the services and resources. VMs are configured according to resources - memory, hard disk capacity, and network. These resources, including memory and processor, are actually shared on the VX Series. 

So, if the server's processor is underpowered or unreliable for the VMs, many of the VMs will encounter issues. Ideally, the physical server configuration should align more closely with the needs of the virtual servers.

The drawback is that the hardware resources (CPU, memory, storage) are shared among all the VMs running on the VX Series. If the server's processor is underpowered for the VMs, many of the VMs might have performance issues. An improvement could be to have more granular control over resource allocation to VMs.

The VX Series was launched around 2015. We've been distributing these machines from 2015 to the present, 2024.

I work specifically with Lenovo ThinkAgile VX Series appliances. Nutanix is a business partner of Lenovo, which integrates HCI solutions directly into Lenovo servers.

The VX machines are scalable. If they're lacking resources like CPU, memory, or hard disk capacity, we usually add another Series. Or we can size up again to servers designed with the same specs. 

Usually, we design the same specs. So, if the client purchases three servers as clustered nodes and then wants to add another node for resources, we typically get the specifications of the existing nodes to match the additional server for their configuration. That's how we do it.

We mostly have small businesses as our clients. 

Lenovo support is the best, actually. They manage remote sessions and troubleshoot issues remotely. Or they can do on-premise visits where a technician comes to the client's location to resolve problems.

ThinkAgile, it's the best, most reliable support.

Positive

I also configure Nutanix. Personally, I like both, like VMware and Lenovo, not something in particular.

Lenovo is a hardware appliance. The software, Nutanix and VMware need hardware to run. Without the Lenovo hardware appliance, clients can't install Nutanix or VMware.

Some people know how to configure it. For example, I know how to do it, so it is easy for me to configure it. Sometimes, even I encountered new issues with licensing or network configuration with the servers. So, would rate the complexity a five out of ten, it is neither too easy nor too difficult to setup. 

Deploying it takes sometimes a whole day, sometimes half a day. It depends on the configuration situation of the server.

ThinkAgile is a good solution too, because some clients prefer on-premise servers. ThinkAgile can also be configured for the cloud.

So, for the client, it offers two options: data protection with on-premise storage or the option to access data via the cloud if they've decided to move their files to the cloud. However, these days, some clients are looking towards cloud solutions like Amazon. They want to move their files to the cloud, to Amazon, for example.

I take care of the implementation processes. Clients haven't reported issues with configuring the ThinkAgile VX nodes, unlike some other HCI solutions like Nutanix or Microsoft.

For the parts, the company, if there are hardware issues with parts, we report those issues to Lenovo support. Lenovo support will accept our request and then deliver the parts. So maybe it takes two or three days to fix the issue.

Integrating VMware to the VX Series can sometimes cause difficulty in migrating or transferring VMs. And sometimes, there are issues pulling up data when transferred to the files.  

There is room for improvement in the licensing structure, maybe. Regarding sizing the resources, sometimes it's difficult to calculate/compute them based on the client's requirements. Sometimes, clients give us their files to review, which include the VMs they want to run. 

However, because they might not have a clear picture of their VMs' resource needs, we have to calculate those resources ourselves. So, to simplify things, we calculate all the resources and then look for hardware specifications that can fit those VMs on the server.

Regarding the computation, it's actually difficult. So, we use formulas together to get to that solution.

Overall, I would rate the solution a ten out of ten. It is a good solution. 

Our clients use the tool for the database or production clusters.

The clients like the solution’s simplicity. The unification and integration features are good. We have everything in one cluster. The capabilities and features of VMware are beneficial to our clients.

The product must provide AI features. It depends on VMware since the core is software. The solution must provide a more detailed plan to enable simplicity of use.

I have been using the solution for four years.

I rate the product’s stability a ten out of ten.

By its design, the product is very scalable. I rate the scalability a ten out of ten.

The product is easy to install. The deployment can take a few hours to a few days. We need one person to deploy the tool. We need one person to maintain the tool.

Our customers receive a good return on their investment.

The licensing model is moderately complex. The tool is expensive. It is VMware’s fault, though.

The integration must be done with a more detailed plan. It will make the product simple to use. The solution does not have AI capabilities, but it will be added in the future. People who want to use the tool must research the best solution for their use case. Sometimes, a traditional cluster is better. Overall, I rate the product a nine out of ten.

Lenovo ThinkAgile VX Series needs to improve its stability. Its resolution should be faster. 

I have been using the product for three to four years. 

I rate the tool's stability an eight out of ten. 

We have four to five clients using the Lenovo ThinkAgile VX Series. 

Lenovo ThinkAgile VX Series' deployment is easy. We are a tier-one platinum partner who is into multiple implementations. 

The tool's pricing is competitive. 

I rate the solution an eight out of ten. 

This solution is being used for the Oracle database and file server. It's deployed on-prem.

Support could be better.

I have been providing this solution for seven months.

It's stable. We haven't had any issues with the hardware or software in the past seven months. 

It's scalable.

Lenovo has less technical support than Dell because of the engineer availability, so there's a little bit of delay. Dell is better than Lenovo in that area.

I would rate Lenovo's support 9 out of 10.

I also have experience with Dell. Dell has more engineer availability for technical support. Dell is always our first preference. We have around eight Dell EMC storages, including Unity 300 storage.

Installation is straightforward because it's a vSAN. It only took one or two days.

You need to pay a license for additional features. If we need to monitor hardware for the automatic alert notification, we need to pay them.

I would rate them 10 out of 10.

We primarily use the solution for our hyper-converged system.

The various scenarios for this solution are great.

The pricing is reasonable. It's very good. It's the main reason people are buying it.

The solution seems to be quite stable.

Technical support is very helpful.

Our clients don't seem to have trouble with scaling.

We find the setup quite straightforward and very easy.

The user management could be a bit better. It's something they could improve upon in future releases.

We've been using the solution for about five or six years now. It's been a while.

The stability must be pretty good as we never hear of any issues from our clients. They seem to be happy with its reliability. We don't hear from them in terms of issues surrounding bugs or glitches. It's good.

The scalability is likely okay. We haven't had a client come back and complain about this aspect lacking in any way.

The technical support is okay. As the product supplier, we work pretty well alongside them and our clients don't seem to have any complaints. I would assume everyone is satisfied with the level of service provided.

We are also partners with HP and Dell. We use a variety of products from different brands.

We've also worked with IBM in the past.

The offerings of hyper-converged systems are mostly the same. Typically, the preference of which the client chooses is based on their own comfort level with a brand as well as pricing and budget.  

The initial setup is pretty straightforward. It's easy. It isn't complex. We used to work with IBM which was a bit more involved. 

We have ten engineers that have the capabilities to handle deployment and maintenance.

Customers really like the pricing as it's quite affordable for them.

We're partners with Lenovo, among other solutions. We don't have an exclusive business relationship with them.

I would recommend the product to others. Of course, it depends on the company's price, budget, and requirements. Typically, I would recommend Lenovo or Dell. They're all right and we've worked with them both a lot. It's the preference of the client as well, and whether or not they are usually working with IBM on their storage system. 

Overall, I would rate the solution at eight out of ten.