HE551F
Prices starting at US$ 7,388 / HK$ 58,365 / SG$ 10,343
The Edge Series includes our HE100 and HE500 families that are designed for edge computing, small remote sites, and for disaster recovery.
HE551F - 1.92TB Raw Storage/0.96TB Usable - 16GB RAM with Intel Xeon E-2324G
HE551F - 1.92TB Raw Storage/0.96TB Usable | SSD: 4 x 480GB | RAM: 16GB | CPU: 1 x Intel Xeon E-2324G 4C/4T, 3.1GHz | Network: 2 x 10GBase-T and 4 x 10GbE SFP+ | 2 x 600W Power Supply Units | Build to Order: Lead times may vary
HE551F - 3.84TB Raw Storage/1.92TB Usable - 32GB RAM with Intel Xeon E-2334
HE551F - 3.84TB Raw Storage/1.92TB Usable | SSD: 4 x 960GB | RAM: 32GB | CPU: 1 x Intel Xeon E-2334 4C/8T, 3.4GHz | Network: 2 x 10GBase-T and 4 x 10GbE SFP+ | 2 x 600W Power Supply Units | Build to Order: Lead times may vary
HE551F - 7.68TB Raw Storage/3.84TB Usable - 64GB RAM with Intel Xeon E-2386G
HE551F - 7.68TB Raw Storage/3.84TB Usable | SSD: 4 x 1.92TB | RAM: 64GB | CPU: 1 x Intel Xeon E-2386G 6C/12T, 3.5GHz | Network: 2 x 10GBase-T and 4 x 10GbE SFP+ | 2 x 600W Power Supply Units | Build to Order: Lead times may vary
HE551F - 30.72TB Raw Storage/15.36TB Usable - 128GB RAM with Intel Xeon E-2388G
HE551F - 30.72TB Raw Storage/15.36TB Usable | SSD: 4 x 7.68GB | RAM: 128B | CPU: 1 x Intel Xeon E-2388G 8C/16T, 3.2GHz | Network: 2 x 10GBase-T and 4 x 10GbE SFP+ | 2 x 600W Power Supply Units | Build to Order: Lead times may vary
Designed for organizations requiring reliable, easy to deploy, and affordable infrastructure at the edge of the network.
Each HE500 appliance model can be deployed quickly, managed locally or remotely, and is fitted with self-healing technology to provide almost instant failover and minimal downtime. In addition, the HE500 series provides a low-cost option for disaster recovery infrastructure that is easy to deploy, easy-to-use, and runs disaster recovery workloads reliably.
HE500 series appliances are more light-weight than the other appliances in the HC1000 and HC5000 series that Scale Computing offers today, and they fully enable the delivery of maximum HCI functionality. Each of the five models in the HE500 series is pre-installed with Scale Computing HyperCore, providing an intelligent and automated layer that results in simple to operate functionality and the necessary performance to meet modern edge computing requirements.
SC//Platform brings faster time to value in the data center, in the distributed enterprise, and at the edge.
Scale Computing Platform brings simplicity, high availability and scalability together, replacing the existing infrastructure and providing high availability for running VMs in a single, easy-to-manage platform.
Run your applications in a fully integrated platform. Regardless of your hardware requirements, the same innovative software and simple user interface give you the power to run infrastructure efficiently at the edge.
As the industry-leading VMware alternative you can reduce downtime by up to 90% and reduce your Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) by 40%.
Scale Your IT infrastructure Without Compromising Performance
Simplicity
Eliminate mundane management tasks and save the valuable time of IT administrators. The simplicity of SC//Platform directly impacts IT with higher productivity and lower costs.
Scalability
Plan the perfect future by not predicting it. Simply mix and match old and new hardware and applications on the same infrastructure for a future-proof environment that can scale up or down as needed.
Manageability
Combining centralized management with cloud and local automation allows infrastructure and applications to achieve and maintain the desired state throughout the entire life of the environment.
How is SC//HyperCore Storage Different?
When it comes to data access for users, efficiency is better for productivity. Many factors affect how efficiently the data is delivered to users including networking, processing, and maybe the most important, storage architecture efficiency. Many storage architectures are complex, layering multiple storage protocols along with virtual appliances simply to present block storage to virtual machines.
By virtue of having a tight integration between hypervisor, hardware, and storage, Scale Computing has created a hypervisor-embedded storage architecture within SC//HyperCore to deliver high efficiency along with streamlined simplicity. This unique architecture provides a number of benefits.
How is SC//Platform Different for Edge Computing?
Edge computing describes a physical computing infrastructure that is intentionally located outside the four walls of the data center. The purpose of edge computing is to place applications, compute, and storage resources near to where they are needed, used, and where data is collected. Being outside the data center, the infrastructure requirements for edge computing can be much smaller, smaller even than a typical small server configuration.
Right-Sized Infrastructure
As discussed previously, the VSA-style storage architectures of other HCI solutions can consume large amounts of RAM and even CPU. These solutions simply can't scale down to smaller server/appliance form factors because of their resource consumption.
SC//HyperCore is extremely lightweight compared to other hyperconverged virtualization stacks, mainly because of the storage architecture. SC// HyperCore, in which the SCRIBE storage layer is embedded, only allocates about 4GB of RAM to operate. This has allowed Scale Computing to offer the HE150 Edge appliance which starts with as little as 8GB of RAM for edge computing.
Compare this to other HCI solutions that require virtual storage appliances (VSAS) which are entire VMs consuming upwards of 24GB+ of RAM before you even start creating VMs. You aren't going to find those solutions available in a small appliance like the HE150, especially where you may be targeting an appliance with 8-16GB of RAM. Even on systems with a minimum of 32GB of RAM, the HCI solution software and the VSA appliance are going to consume most of the RAM.
SCALE COMPUTING FLEET MANAGER
SC//Fleet Manager is the first cloud- hosted monitoring and management tool built for hyperconverged edge computing infrastructure at scale. It's now easier than ever to securely monitor and manage your entire fleet of clusters running Scale Computing HyperCore. For IT Managers with multiple clusters, Scale Computing's industry-leading low maintenance time will be reduced by 50% or more. Not just another monitoring tool, SC//Fleet Manager is engineered to leverage SC//HyperCore clusters' unique strengths to create a complete future-proof infrastructure solution. Log in via any browser on any device to gain real-time monitoring and management of your global fleet of SC//HyperCore clusters. No installation, configuration, or training is required to get your entire Scale Computing infrastructure at your fingertips.
SCALE COMPUTING HYPERCORE
The foundation of SC//Platform is the Scale Computing HyperCore operating system, which includes a fully integrated KVM-based hypervisor with our patented block access, direct- attached storage system called SCRIBE. SCRIBE includes HEAT (more information below) to automate tiering across our own hybrid flash storage architecture.
HYPERCORE UI
Access the HyperCore UI from any node in a cluster. The simple interface design allows both storage and compute resource management and virtual machine management from a single pane of glass. Resource statistics are displayed in real-time along with IOPS, both per VM and cluster-wide. VM consoles are also immediately available from the web interface.
SCRIBE
Scale Computing Reliable Independent Block Engine (SCRIBE) is a wide-striped storage architecture that combines all disks in the cluster into a single storage pool that is tiered between flash SSD and spinning HDD storage. Blocks are striped across all nodes in a cluster redundantly to protect both against individual drive and node failure. Wide striping on every drive gives a performance advantage to every VM on the cluster. Performance is also enhanced through direct block access because of the direct integration between the storage and the hypervisor, resulting in Hypervisor Embedded Storage. There are no inefficient storage protocols that would normally be found in SAN or NAS-based storage solutions (including Virtual Storage Appliance [VSA]) architecture, which optimizes the available resources to the workloads running in the environment.
HEAT
HyperCore Enhanced Automated Tiering (HEAT) is the part of SCRIBE that manages data efficiently between the flash SSD tier and the spinning HDD tier in the cluster storage pool. It prioritizes blocks of data on SSD or HDD based on an I/O heat map that tracks I/O against each virtual disk. Although HEAT is primarily automation happening behind the scenes, it provides users with the ability to tune the relative priority of every virtual disk in the cluster to further optimize the SSD usage where it is needed the most. You can literally turn it to 11.
RAPID, EASY DEPLOYMENT
A Scale Computing HyperCore cluster can be racked, cabled, powered on, configured in a matter of minutes, and virtual machines (VMs) can be deployed and running in under an hour. Manage from your preferred web browser to the HyperCore UI. There is no extra software to install, simply upload ISOs to deploy VMs with your favorite guest OS.
REST-APIS COMPLETE WITH CLOUD-INIT
SC//HyperCore includes REST-APIS that enhance the speed and ease with which users can deploy virtual machines (VMs) at scale using cloud- init. Common VM templates may be uniquely configured via scripting at first boot. Avoid the need to manually create and individually customize VMs, but programmatically provide hundreds or thousands of machines with their own settings via script.
NON-DISRUPTIVE SCALE-OUT
When a cluster needs more resources, a new node can be added within minutes without any downtime to the existing nodes or workloads. After racking, cabling, powering up, and assigning an IP address, the new node and its resources are seamlessly absorbed into the cluster, including the storage capacity being immediately added to the storage pool. Adding nodes results in an immediate performance increase to the running VMs as the resource pool is expanded.
MIX AND MATCH NODES
With SC//Platform, appliances from different families can be added to and coexist in the same cluster and contribute to the cluster storage pool. Even appliances with dissimilar storage such as all HDD, hybrid HDD + SSD, or all SSDs can be combined as a cluster grows. This allows clusters to grow not just linearly, but also in whatever way is needed or desired. This support for different size cluster nodes can facilitate non-disruptive upgrades to the infrastructure by adding newer, bigger nodes and then retiring or repurposing older small nodes if desired, all while keeping the VMs running. Check with our ScaleCare support engineers for best practices for your particular cluster.
FLEET-WIDE AND CLUSTER- LEVEL USER MANAGEMENT
SC//Platform features multi-user administration to allow each administrator a unique account and login, with role-based access to ensure control and security. Utilize SSO to enhance authentication and ease of management across your entire SC//Platform fleet.
DEDUPLICATION
SCRIBE includes data deduplication that eliminates duplicate blocks on virtual disks, significantly increasing disk capacity. Deduplication is done with minimal impact on running VMs. Reducing the storage footprint of data to increase your data storage capacity.
LIVE VM MIGRATION
VMs on SC//HyperCore clusters can be non-disruptively migrated between nodes with no downtime. This allows for rebalancing resource allocation across the cluster and allows VMs to be relocated automatically during our rolling update process for the SC//HyperCore OS firmware.
THIN VM CLONING
SC//HyperCore uses a unique thin cloning technique that allows cloned VMs to share the same data blocks as their parent VM for storage optimization, but with no dependencies. If the parent is deleted, the clone is not affected and continues operating without disruption.
NON-DISRUPTIVE ROLLING UPDATES
SC//HyperCore receives software/ firmware updates directly to the HyperCore Ul where they can be applied automatically with no downtime. A single click updates the hypervisor, the storage system, the firmware, and any other part of the complete system. The automated update process will automatically relocate VMs between nodes to free up the nodes to be updated, one at a time. When all of the cluster nodes are updated, the VMs are returned to their original configuration across the cluster.
SELF-HEALING
SC//HyperCore architecture features layers of redundancy, such as dual active/passive network ports, redundant power supplies, and redundant block storage striped across all cluster nodes. Intelligent automation handles drive failures and node failures, redistributing data across remaining drives and VMs across remaining nodes and automatically absorbing replacement drives and replacement nodes into the resource pools.
VM HIGH AVAILABILITY
If a node fails within the cluster, all VMs running on that node are automatically failed over to one of the remaining cluster nodes. Failover happens within minutes for minimal disruption. After the node has been restored or replaced, the VMs will automatically be live migrated back to their preferred nodes non-disruptively.
SNAPSHOT SCHEDULING
VM snapshots can be scheduled intuitively and flexibly from the HyperCore UI. Schedules can include multiple rules spanning schedule intervals based on minutes to months, and are created as templates that can be assigned to one or more VMs across a cluster.
CLUSTER-TO-CLUSTER REPLICATION
VMs can be replicated between two SC//HyperCore clusters with native, built-in replication. Replication can be local or remote across any distance, and can be configured to replicate changes as often as is required to meet each customer's unique RPO/ RTO requirements. Granular selection of VMs for replication allows a range from one to all the VMs on a cluster. Replica VMs on the target cluster can be booted up within minutes in the event of a failure of the VM on the primary cluster.
VM BACKUP AND QUICK RECOVERY
Full agentless snapshot-based VM backup can protect your VMs to a local or remote site, or to our SC//Platform Cloud Unity Disaster Recovery as a Service (DRaaS) offering. A VM backup can not only be recovered instantly at a DR site, but data can be recovered quickly on the original VM by restoring only differentials. VM snapshots and replication combine with quick file- level restore functionality to provide protection against and recovery from accidental file deletion, corruption, and even ransomware.
REMOTE SUPPORT ACCESS
SC//Platform offers a remote access point exclusive to ScaleCare support to help diagnose support issues and take corrective actions if necessary. This is only initiated from the customer side for security and does not grant ongoing access to customer clusters. It merely dramatically speeds up support issue resolution by allowing ScaleCare support engineers to see issues firsthand and in real-time.
HC3 Use Cases
Virtualization Without Licensing
With HC3, the hypervisor is included with no additional costs or licensing fees. HC3 customers
who had paid VMware licensing fees in the past see the value in becoming free of these extra
fees for lower costs and more budget freed up.
Backup & High Availability
HC3 customers see the value of built-in backup and high availability after their legacy solutions
had proven ineffective despite being an added cost. With options for offsite and cloud-based
DR, HC3 customers have peace of mind that their VMs and data are protected.
Virtual Desktops (VDI)
The low cost, ease-of-use, and scalability of HC3 make it perfect for VDI infrastructure. Scale
Computing has validated our solution with VDI vendors to allow our customers to Implement
VDI from the SMB to the enterprise.
Lowering Infrastructure TCO
Our customers have all been looking to lower their total cost of ownership (TCO) for IT
infrastructure. We have designed HC3 to reduce IT infrastructure costs in almost every way.
Many of the hidden costs of IT infrastructure such as unplanned downtime, management,
maintenance, training, and consulting are virtually eliminated with HC3. Other solutions that
integrate multiple vendor solutions only add complexity which Increases costs. We believe HC3
is a better way, and our customers agree.
Edge Computing & Distributed Enterprise
HC3 customers who manage remote sites see the value in HC3 for both ease of use and low
entry cost. The ease of use, rapid deployment, self-healing, and remote web-based
management capabilities mean that their remote sites can be managed more efficiently and with
less cost.
HC3 Use Cases
Virtualization Without Licensing
With HC3, the hypervisor is included with no additional costs or licensing fees. HC3 customers
who had paid VMware licensing fees in the past see the value in becoming free of these extra
fees for lower costs and more budget freed up.
Backup & High Availability
HC3 customers see the value of built-in backup and high availability after their legacy solutions
had proven ineffective despite being an added cost. With options for offsite and cloud-based
DR, HC3 customers have peace of mind that their VMs and data are protected.
Virtual Desktops (VDI)
The low cost, ease-of-use, and scalability of HC3 make it perfect for VDI infrastructure. Scale
Computing has validated our solution with VDI vendors to allow our customers to Implement
VDI from the SMB to the enterprise.
Lowering Infrastructure TCO
Our customers have all been looking to lower their total cost of ownership (TCO) for IT
infrastructure. We have designed HC3 to reduce IT infrastructure costs in almost every way.
Many of the hidden costs of IT infrastructure such as unplanned downtime, management,
maintenance, training, and consulting are virtually eliminated with HC3. Other solutions that
integrate multiple vendor solutions only add complexity which Increases costs. We believe HC3
is a better way, and our customers agree.
Edge Computing & Distributed Enterprise
HC3 customers who manage remote sites see the value in HC3 for both ease of use and low
entry cost. The ease of use, rapid deployment, self-healing, and remote web-based
management capabilities mean that their remote sites can be managed more efficiently and with
less cost.
HE501 |
HE551 |
E551F |
|
| CPU: Intel® Xeon® E-2300 | 1 x Intel Xeon E-2324G 4C/4T, 3.1GHz 1 x Intel Xeon E-2334 4C/8T, 3.4GHz 1 x Intel Xeon E-2386G 6C/12T, 3.5GHz 1 x Intel Xeon E-2388G 8C/16T, 3.2GHz |
1 x Intel Xeon E-2324G 4C/4T, 3.1GHz 1 x Intel Xeon E-2334 4C/8T, 3.4GHz 1 x Intel Xeon E-2386G 6C/12T, 3.5GHz 1 x Intel Xeon E-2388G 8C/16T, 3.2GHz |
1 x Intel Xeon E-2324G 4C/4T, 3.1GHz 1 x Intel Xeon E-2334 4C/8T, 3.4GHz 1 x Intel Xeon E-2386G 6C/12T, 3.5GHz 1 x Intel Xeon E-2388G 8C/16T, 3.2GHz |
| Ram | 16GB, 32GB, 64GB, 128GB | 16GB, 32GB, 64GB, 128GB | 16GB, 32GB, 64GB, 128GB |
| Storage | 4 x HDD 2TB, 4TB, 8TB, 12TB | 1 x SSD 480GB, 960GB, 1.92TB, 3.84TB, 7.68TB 3 x HDD 2TB, 4TB, 8TB, 12TB |
4 x SSD 480GB, 960GB, 1.92TB, 3.84TB, 7.68TB |
| Network | 2 x 10GBase-T 4 x 10GbE SFP+ |
2 x 10GBase-T 4 x 10GbE SFP+ |
2 x 10GBase-T 4 x 10GbE SFP+ |
| Dimensions | 1U Rack Height (W x H x D): 17.1" (434mm) x 1.7" (43mm) x 19.6" (498mm) |
1U Rack Height (W x H x D): 17.1" (434mm) x 1.7" (43mm) x 19.6" (498mm) |
1U Rack Height (W x H x D): 17.1" (434mm) x 1.7" (43mm) x 19.6" (498mm) |
| Power | 2 x 600W Power Supply Units | 2 x 600W Power Supply Units | 2 x 600W Power Supply Units |
| Certifications | UL/CB, CE, FCC | UL/CB, CE, FCC | UL/CB, CE, FCC |
HE501 |
|
| CPU: Intel® Xeon® E-2300 | 1 x Intel Xeon E-2324G 4C/4T, 3.1GHz 1 x Intel Xeon E-2334 4C/8T, 3.4GHz 1 x Intel Xeon E-2386G 6C/12T, 3.5GHz 1 x Intel Xeon E-2388G 8C/16T, 3.2GHz |
| Ram | 16GB, 32GB, 64GB, 128GB |
| Storage | 4 x HDD 2TB, 4TB, 8TB, 12TB |
| Network | 2 x 10GBase-T 4 x 10GbE SFP+ |
| Dimensions | 1U Rack Height (W x H x D): 17.1" (434mm) x 1.7" (43mm) x 19.6" (498mm) |
| Power | 2 x 600W Power Supply Units |
| Certifications | UL/CB, CE, FCC |
HE551 |
|
| CPU: Intel® Xeon® E-2300 | 1 x Intel Xeon E-2324G 4C/4T, 3.1GHz 1 x Intel Xeon E-2334 4C/8T, 3.4GHz 1 x Intel Xeon E-2386G 6C/12T, 3.5GHz 1 x Intel Xeon E-2388G 8C/16T, 3.2GHz |
| Ram | 16GB, 32GB, 64GB, 128GB |
| Storage | 1 x SSD 480GB, 960GB, 1.92TB, 3.84TB, 7.68TB 3 x HDD 2TB, 4TB, 8TB, 12TB |
| Network | 2 x 10GBase-T 4 x 10GbE SFP+ |
| Dimensions | 1U Rack Height (W x H x D): 17.1" (434mm) x 1.7" (43mm) x 19.6" (498mm) |
| Power | 2 x 600W Power Supply Units |
| Certifications | UL/CB, CE, FCC |
E551F |
|
| CPU: Intel® Xeon® E-2300 | 1 x Intel Xeon E-2324G 4C/4T, 3.1GHz 1 x Intel Xeon E-2334 4C/8T, 3.4GHz 1 x Intel Xeon E-2386G 6C/12T, 3.5GHz 1 x Intel Xeon E-2388G 8C/16T, 3.2GHz |
| Ram | 16GB, 32GB, 64GB, 128GB |
| Storage | 4 x SSD 480GB, 960GB, 1.92TB, 3.84TB, 7.68TB |
| Network | 2 x 10GBase-T 4 x 10GbE SFP+ |
| Dimensions | 1U Rack Height (W x H x D): 17.1" (434mm) x 1.7" (43mm) x 19.6" (498mm) |
| Power | 2 x 600W Power Supply Units |
| Certifications | UL/CB, CE, FCC |
Introducing the Scale HE500 Hyperconverged Appliance Series for Edge Computing Environments
Learn why Scale is going small in their efforts to grow their business and why this strategy has a great chance at paying off.
This guide describes all the features that make SC//Platform the perfect infrastructure solution for any data center or edge deployment.
If disaster strikes, downtime, data loss, and data corruption can severely impact a business. Here's what to do in such situations.
One pager about Scale Computing
Scale Computing Platform Edge Series - Spec Sheet
FAQs
General Questions
A: Scale Computing Platform combines everything you need: virtualization, compute, storage, and backup/disaster recovery with powerful fleet management to deliver a single manageable solution at scale in the data center, in the branch office, and for distributed edge locations. This convergence of technologies radically simplifies IT infrastructure, making it easier to implement and manage, and significantly reduces the total cost of infrastructure ownership.
The SC//Platform software virtualization approach allows seamless, non-disruptive infrastructure scale-out, and automated, non-disruptive software and firmware updates. Our customers choose SC//Platform to reduce the complexity and cost of IT infrastructure, so they can focus their resources on improving applications and processes rather than managing and maintaining complex infrastructure.
A: Scale Computing was founded to fulfill a need for organizations hindered by complexity, time, and resources that traditional virtualized IT environments demand. Our corporate mission is to establish a long-term, leading position in the hyperconverged infrastructure market.
Scale Computing Platform eliminates the need for traditional virtualization software, disaster recovery software, servers, and shared storage, replacing these with a fully integrated, highly available system for running applications. Using patented HyperCore™ technology, the self-healing platform automatically identifies, mitigates, and corrects problems in the infrastructure in real-time, enabling applications to achieve maximum uptime even when local IT resources and staff are scarce.
A:SC//Platform was designed as an alternative to VMware to deliver a simpler, more efficient, and most importantly, more cost-effective solution than VMware. SC//Platform uses our own HyperCoreTM operating system and KVM-based hypervisor, which does not require any additional hypervisor licensing costs. Many of our customers choose SC//Platform to move away from using VMware.
A: SC//Platform is by far the easiest to manage of all the HCI solutions in the market. Taking into account the ease of implementation, unified web-based management, self-healing automation, automatic storage pooling, non-disruptive updates, and the seamless scale-out, SC//Platform has the most efficient architectural design for ease of use and management. Unlike other solutions that use SAN and virtual SAN storage architectures, SC//Platform uses hypervisor-embedded storage, which is easy to use and eliminates the extra layers of storage protocols and file systems that exist in other architectures. All of that ease of use and efficiency in SC//Platform adds up to a lower cost of ownership. This makes SC//Platform the popular choice for organizations that want to reduce IT costs without cutting corners.
Implementation
A:You don’t need to use external storage appliances with SC//Platform, but you can use them. SC//Platform has storage built into each appliance, so it is unlikely to require any external storage appliances. How much storage is based on the appliance models, the number of appliances and how they are configured, and our appliance models can be configured with over 300 TB of raw storage each. Users who have existing storage appliances that they want to continue using with SC//Platform have done so either as storage for individual VMs or as storage for backup/DR.
A: There are a number of different models featuring different configuration options and resource capacities. Our users generally use a cluster of three or more appliances for VM high availability for primary production. Some users deploy single appliances for DR sites or for remote or branch offices. The number of appliances you need will be determined by the size and configuration of the appliance models you choose and how you need to support backup/DR and remote/branch offices.
A:Scale Computing appliances vary in size between 1U and 2U sizes. Even with a battery backup and network switches, your SC//Hardware should only fill a fraction of your existing server rack space. Some of our HyperCore Edge appliances are designed to sit in a non-conventional space, such as a desktop or shelf. Scale Computing sales engineers have experience and expertise in recommending cluster and appliance sizes for any environment.
A: There are several options for converting existing workloads to run on SC//HyperCore. For Windows and Linux VMs, we have partnered with Carbonite to offer Scale Computing Move which can be used to migrate physical (P2V) and virtual (V2V) workloads onto SC//HyperCore. It requires near-zero downtime and gives the user ultimate control of deciding when to cut over from their source machine onto SC//HyperCore.
In addition to Scale Computing Move, any backup solution that supports full system bare metal recovery can be used to transfer workloads onto SC//HyperCore. In fact, third-party backup software like Acronis Cyber Protect can be used to migrate physical machines and virtual machines running on different hypervisors to HyperCore. In some cases, virtual machine formats like VMDK can be directly imported to SC//HyperCore from other hypervisors.
For those users who would like assistance in the migration, Scale also offers services that can do everything from showing end-users how to use the Scale Computing Move tool while performing a single migration to performing the entire migration in a full services engagement.
A: SC//Platform is designed to allow for efficient scale-out by easily adding new appliances to existing SC//HyperCore clusters. Often, the request to scale out storage separately from compute is driven by licensing of operating systems/applications in the cluster. For those customers, storage-heavy SC//Hardware nodes can be configured in a storage-only mode, which will prevent the system from running VMs on the node; thus negating the need for licensing an application/operating system for that node in some cases.
Conversely, an SC//HyperCore node can be configured with maximum CPU and RAM and minimum storage capacity if a cluster has a priority for compute resources over storage. With the ability to mix and match appliances across our entire SC//Hardware family, customers have many options for both building the initial system and scaling out an existing system.
Management and Features
A: There are several options available to SC//HyperCore users, including the native HyperCore Data Protection Suite. SC//HyperCore offers a full set of native features to allow users to back up, replicate, failover, restore, and recover virtual machines. Snapshot-based, incremental backups can be performed between SC//HyperCore clusters without any additional software or licensing. Many SC//HyperCore users implement a second SC//HyperCore cluster or a single node to serve as a backup location or failover site. The backup location can be a second SC//HyperCore cluster that is onsite or remote and can be used to store backups or fail them over if the primary cluster fails. SC//HyperCore VM backups can be restored to the primary cluster, sending only differential data.
Backup scheduling and retention can be configured granularly for each VM to meet SLAs. For quick file recoveries, SC//HyperCore provides file-level recovery from local or replicated snapshot backups that can be mounted quickly to live VMs. Scale Computing also offers SC//Platform Cloud Unity as a cloud-based backup for SC//HyperCore clusters supporting all native SC//HyperCore features.
For users who lack a secondary backup site, SC//Platform Cloud Unity acts as a backup site for any VMs needing protection. VMs can be recovered instantly in the cloud to run in production until they can be restored back to the primary site. SC//Platform Cloud Unity also includes a runbook to assist in DR planning and execution from implementation to recovery. ScaleCare engineers assist with planning, implementation, DR testing, and recovery as part of the SC//Platform Cloud Unity service.
SC//HyperCore VMs can also be backed up using virtually any third-party backup software that supports your guest operating system and applications. If you are migrating an existing physical machine to a VM, you likely don’t need to change your backup at all. Backup solutions, including Veeam, that include backup agents can be used with the guest operating system, allowing them to be backed up over the network to a backup server or other location depending on the solution.
For those customers that don’t want to manage in-guest backup agents for their third-party backup solution, SC//HyperCore has a hypervisor-level integration with Acronis and Storware. These two backup solutions allow a customer to seamlessly back up their SC//HyperCore workloads without the agent-based approach.
Some SC//Platform users choose to use SC//HyperCore native export features to export VM snapshots or backups to store on third-party backup servers or storage. This extra backup method can be useful for the long-term storage of VM backups. These exported backups can be imported into any other SC//HyperCore cluster for recovery. This is a great way to make use of existing storage investments like a NAS device or storage-heavy server that can be repurposed as a backup target.
A: Yes. Desktops run as just another VM on SC//HyperCore. SC//HyperCore is not a native VDI solution, meaning there is no VDI-specific software or architecture built-in, but SC//HyperCore can serve as the virtual infrastructure for a number of VDI solutions. SC//HyperCore users can choose from a variety of third parties to run on SC//HyperCore including solutions from Leostream, Parallels, and Citrix. Leostream and Parallels have both integrated SC//HyperCore as a supported hypervisor OS. Many customers choose to use Windows Remote Desktop Session Host (aka Terminal Services) to provide users access to a managed, server-based desktop running on SC//HyperCore to a variety of devices and clients. Alternately, other desktop management tools such as System Center Configuration Manager, XenApp, and others can be used on SC//HyperCore to provide desktop management tools and streaming capabilities to provide some of the same benefits associated with VDI.
A: Scale Computing appliances require 1GbE, 10GBase-T, 10GbE SFP+ or 25GbE networking, depending on the configuration and storage. When clustered, SC//Hardware uses Ethernet for storage across cluster nodes. This storage networking is handled on a private network layer.
Switches are not included with SC//Hardware, although supported switches are available for resale through Scale Computing and its partners. Users may use existing switches or provide other switches that meet the requirements outlined in the 'Networking: Getting Started with Scale Computing' guide.
A:An SC//HyperCore cluster consisting of three or more nodes is both resilient and highly available. A drive failure on a cluster with multi-drive nodes will not cause any disruption and VMs will continue to run normally, even when the drive is replaced. If an entire SC//HyperCore cluster node fails, VMs that were running on that appliance will be restarted automatically on other cluster nodes. When planning an SC//HyperCore cluster, it is important to anticipate the required resource capacity to allow VMs to fail over from a failed node as a precaution. On a single node, multi-drive appliance configuration, like on a cluster, a drive failure does not affect running VMs. If the entire appliance fails in a single node configuration, there are no clustered nodes to failover VMs to, but VMs can be failed over to the SC//HyperCore replication target system.
A: No, SC//Platform’s web-based management is built into each appliance. You can begin running your SC//HyperCore clusters without any additional software or servers. Just connect to the LAN IP of any node, and you’ll be able to use the HyperCore UI to manage that system, as well as remote SC//HyperCore clusters and single appliances.
Scale Computing Fleet Manager is a cloud-hosted tool that consolidates real-time conditions for a fleet of clusters, including storage and compute resources, allowing IT leaders to quickly identify areas of concern using a single pane of glass to manage 1 - 50,000 clusters. This gives you the flexibility to scale globally without the up-front complexity of a vCenter or similar implementation.
Support and Maintenance
A: Scale Computing Maintenance and Support is included in the subscription licenses and does not require a separate renewal. Maintenance and Support includes three vital elements: 24/7 phone and email support, SC//HyperCore software updates, and hardware replacement for our own SC//Hardware appliances.
Our expert ScaleCare Support Engineers are on-call 24/7 with help for any support issue. We believe support is as important as the solutions we provide. We know the whole system inside and out because we designed it, and that helps our engineers troubleshoot and resolve issues quickly.
Scale Computing provides vital updates to the SC//HyperCore OS and hypervisor for both security enhancements and new features and functionality. All updates and new software features and functionality are available at no extra cost to SC//HyperCore clusters under active Maintenance and Support Agreements.
Customers under active Maintenance and Support Agreements have access to hardware replacements that are shipped the next business day.
A:With SC//Platform, there is only one level of support for each and every customer: ScaleCare Support. Our premium ScaleCare Support includes 24/7 phone and email support provided by our expert support engineers out of our headquarters in Indianapolis. An active subscription of SC//HyperCore and SC//Fleet Manager includes all software and firmware updates with a separate hardware warranty covering hardware replacement. Providing the best support is an important part of SC//Platform and the Scale Computing mission.