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Scale Computing Platform

Scale Computing Platform

Overview

What is Scale Computing Platform?

Scale Computing offers edge computing, virtualization, and hyperconverged solutions for customers around the globe. Scale Computing HyperCore software promises to eliminate traditional virtualization software, disaster recovery software, servers, and shared storage, replacing these with a fully integrated, highly available system…

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Recent Reviews

Love SCP

10 out of 10
December 07, 2023
Incentivized
We utilize the Scale Computing Platform as a central element of our IT infrastructure. SCP provides us with a highly scalable and …
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Awards

Products that are considered exceptional by their customers based on a variety of criteria win TrustRadius awards. Learn more about the types of TrustRadius awards to make the best purchase decision. More about TrustRadius Awards

Reviewer Pros & Cons

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Pricing

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HE151

$3,300

On Premise
per node

HE501

$6,800

On Premise
per node

HC1300

$11,900

On Premise
per node

Entry-level set up fee?

  • Setup fee optional
For the latest information on pricing, visithttps://www.scalecomputing.com/pricing

Offerings

  • Free Trial
  • Free/Freemium Version
  • Premium Consulting/Integration Services

Starting price (does not include set up fee)

  • $3,300 per node
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Product Details

What is Scale Computing Platform?

Scale Computing offers edge computing, virtualization, and hyperconverged solutions for customers around the globe. Scale Computing HyperCore software promises to eliminate traditional virtualization software, disaster recovery software, servers, and shared storage, replacing these with a fully integrated, highly available system for running applications. The vendor says that, using patented HyperCore™ technology, the SC//HyperCore 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. The vendor says ease-of-use, high availability, and TCO are key differentiators. The product works for distributed enterprises, global retailers, and SMBs alike.

According to the vendor, its key features and benefits include:

  • Install in less than an hour
  • Deploy new VMs in minutes
  • Built-in Browser-based Management
  • Software-defined, hybrid storage system with automated tiering
  • Fully integrated, cluster-wide resource utilization and alerts
  • Single vendor support experience, no disparate systems to integrate
  • Integrated all-in-one appliance
  • Scale-out Architecture
  • Mix and match new nodes
  • Incremental resources improve performance of existing workloads
  • Fast and easy to expand, no downtime required
  • No additional licensing required
  • Start small and grow as your business grows
  • No forklift upgrades

Scale Computing Platform Screenshots

Screenshot of Scale Computing Fleet Management Dashboard - 
At-a-glance summary of the health of the fleet upon login.Screenshot of Cluster Details -
Details of a particular cluster, including health, fleet manager connectivity, nodes, and VMsScreenshot of Scale Computing Fleet Manager -
Manages an organization’s fleet of Clusters.Screenshot of Hypercore UI -
Simple Web Interface for Local Management of the Cluster and its Workloads

Scale Computing Platform Videos

SC//Platform Success Story - Detroit Symphony Orchestra
SC//Platform Success Story - American Foundry Group
SC//Platform Success Story - Metropolitan School District of Wayne Township

Scale Computing Platform Technical Details

Deployment TypesOn-premise
Operating SystemsWindows, Linux, Unix
Mobile ApplicationNo
Supported CountriesGlobally
Supported LanguagesEnglish

Frequently Asked Questions

Scale Computing Platform starts at $3300.

VMware vCenter, VMware ESXi, and Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure are common alternatives for Scale Computing Platform.

Reviewers rate Support Rating highest, with a score of 9.

The most common users of Scale Computing Platform are from Mid-sized Companies (51-1,000 employees).

Scale Computing Platform Customer Size Distribution

Consumers0%
Small Businesses (1-50 employees)20%
Mid-Size Companies (51-500 employees)70%
Enterprises (more than 500 employees)10%
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Comparisons

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Reviews and Ratings

(338)

Attribute Ratings

Reviews

(126-150 of 234)
Companies can't remove reviews or game the system. Here's why
Ben Damon | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We are using Scale for our whole organization. We are currently utilizing two clusters which operate independently but replicate snapshots between them, so we have a fail over option if need be. We are running 90% of our approximately 30 application and database servers on these clusters. We couldn't be happier with the support Scale provides; they will walk you through every step of the setup and maintenance without any issues. It is the easiest solution I've used.
  • Support is # 1
  • Simple, intuitive interface
  • Consistently releases updates, and takes customer suggestions for improvements.
  • The ability to reduce hard drive size, online, would be nice.
  • The ability to upgrade old hardware's physical disks would be great.
I wouldn't use Scale for a file server, do to the fact that hard drives are not able to be upgraded and I might run out of space in the future. Of course, the newer models do handle much more disk space, so it might not be an issue for some environments. Being a virtual solution, the savings on resources are super. We are running 15 windows servers on our new 3 node Scale environment without any performance hits or complaints from our users.
Dominique Joseph Chung | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
The Scale Computing HC3 solution is used across the entire organization. It replaced over 50U of traditional hardware down to 3U. Saving us a lot of aggravation dealing with multiple third party vendors for support and maintenance agreements, while simplifying our own internal support and maintenance of over 50 Virtual machines. The savings was so significant, that we realized an 18 month ROI and saved tremendously on energy costs. Additionally, a battery backup unit now provides us with over 7 hours of backup power vs. 45 minutes previously.
  • One point of contact for everything infrastructure, namely storage, compute and hypervisor.
  • Updates can be applied with very little downtime if any, and no longer needs weeks/months of preparation.
  • Recovering data is as easy as booting up snapshots, which we are now using as a backup tool.
  • Can't wait to roll out Scale Computing at our disaster recovery site for painless failover and failback.
  • Wish there was flash drive when we purchased it, but they have it now, and actually have a retrofit for our existing units which we will consider implementing shortly.
If cost is not prohibitive, many small business would benefit from the redundancy and cost savings through the simplicity of managing this system. Scale Computing has addressed this issue by creating a 1U standalone system thus taking advantage of their storage and hypervisor technology, but the downside is less redundancy. I understand that with the new flash drive units, the IOPS performance is stellar, which would make it suitable for much larger business than what was previously available. I think this solution is way better than anything out there if only people knew.
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
HC3 replaced our entire VMware stack of 3 host servers and 2 storage arrays. It hosts our Windows AD structural component servers (DHCP, DNS, AD Services) as well as a number of admin servers (security system, phone system, etc.). We went this route as a more cost-effective means, compared to a complete stack refresh.
  • Ease of setup: OOB setup was minimal and could be done by following the supplied Quick Start, although support was available.
  • Ease of use: deploying new resources or repurposing/cloning resources is super simple, with a clear GUI that is very intuitive.
  • Peace of mind: having a 3-node system with distributed compute and storage means more redundancy in case of any single component failure. Having all that run as part of the "OS" of the system is even better, as it's baked in: there's no set up like with a multi-home VMware implementation.
  • Great ROI: compared to a stack refresh, the HC3 came in at more than 50% less.
  • It could have been a bit easier to migrate existing VMs or physical machines into the cluster. Using Double Take was OK, but a bit expensive and somewhat tricky.
As a simpler, more cost-effective way to virtualize your infrastructure, I don't see a place this couldn't fit in well. While we aren't running any dedicated database-based applications (and so can't really speak to I/O contention or speed issues), several of our admin machines are running MS SQL Server and have not experienced any performance issues. Because of its expandability, I could see this in a smaller shop like ours, or as a niche in a larger infrastructure, or, if scaled properly, as a replacement for a large infrastructure VM host.
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Scale Computing HC3 is being used across the whole organization. The previous virtual hardware and environment were at the end of their lives. The processing power, performance, and storage capability were not adequate to continue production. Multiple vendors, devices and integration caused the prospect of migrating to a newer current virtual system to be overwhelming. Scale computing solved the problem with one vendor, one stackable device, and built-in integration.
  • Initial setup and configuration was simple and straight forward. It was actually less than two hours from unboxing equipment to creating virtual servers in a live environment.
  • Scale's dashboard is intuitive and easy to understand. Management of the system is level one simple. Monitoring performance and capacity of the stack is a single screen, simple and powerful tools.
  • Backup and recovery of the servers and data is a hidden strength of Scale. Replication between the two Scale stacks is "Amazon Easy", a few clicks to select, schedule and submit. Monitoring progress and verifying status are all done from the dashboard, plus email notification of events if there are any issues.
  • Built-in remote support by Scale was very valuable. Being US-based and having knowledgeable engineers, any issue can be quickly diagnosed and corrected. No need to create reports or download and send event logs. Scale support can see exactly what you are seeing on the stack.
  • Scale Product delivery was also impressive. Yes, it's just a box you will eventually throw away, but the Scale Suitcases were easy to handle, unpack and provided secure transport of the stacks. Very nice touch.
  • The only issue was the migration from other virtual environment required third-party software for advanced configurations (multiple partitions). As great as the Scale system is, providing an easier experience of moving off other virtual systems with built-in tools would be a bonus.
Scale is well suited for the 1-10 employee small business to the 1000+ and beyond. The SMB that could benefit from a virtual environment but may think they are too small for it to be feasible, is very well suited for a Scale stack. Large enterprise businesses are well suited as the Scale stacks can grow with a company. The powerful yet simplistic management of the system means fewer man-hours are required to operate and they are freed up for other projects. Scale would be less appropriate in an organization with other virtual certification holders unwilling to discover the powerful system and ease of use until the price and performance are made known to management.
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We implemented Scale Computing HC3 to replace our aging EMC data centre. The infrastructure hosts all of our servers and file stores.
  • Extremely easy layout. I can spin up a VM within a few minutes.
  • Zero management. I rarely have to check the infrastructure and receive emails if there is a status change/issue.
  • Support is fantastic. The support team is always quick to respond.
  • To be honest, I haven't come across any negatives of the infrastructure.
HC3 is extremely easy to setup, install and maintain straight out the box. Very quick to spin up a VM and you're able to set up snapshots and replication to additional clusters. We have three clusters on site, one of which is assigned for disaster recovery. We have tested this and were able to have systems back online at the DR site within 15 minutes.
Marshall Curtis | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Scale HC3 has replaced our traditional stack of servers, storage, and networking for our entire organization. We have two clusters, a one node, and a three node. Implementation of HC3 reduced our server refresh cost by 40% and provided a flexible architecture where, going forward, we can add or replace nodes on a planned periodic basis rather than monolithic refreshes every four years. The ease of deployment and maintenance are a significant benefit to our small organization.
  • Simplified management. Management of the cluster is via a single web interface, it is simple and does not require extensive training to navigate or operate making it accessible to mid-level staff.
  • The flexibility of the hardware mix within a cluster. Allowing a variety of hardware levels and ages within a cluster and the system's ability to assigned loads to best leverage this mix of hardware allows us to manage cost by not "over buying" hardware capacity to meet a few high demand workloads.
  • Support by Scale. We have had few needs to contact support which is the first plus, but secondly, when we have had needs or questions responses have been prompt and accurate with first contact resolution.
  • The tools for migrating to the HC3 platform have a few issues and caused issues with some security keys and certificates. After a couple issues we ended up migrating key servers by using a fresh build and migrating data with was more disruptive but more successful.
The Scale Computing HC3 platform is incredibly flexible making it an excellent fit for most small to mid-sized organizations. It also allows for effective cost management and scaling as the organization's needs change.
Jerry Gerlach | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
[It's being used for] SANs, and ESX.

We replaced our entire data center with Scale HC3. It supports our all locations and departments. Our IT staff required zero training. We have gained valuable time now that we are no longer supporting a complex VMWare system with fiber switches, and ESX boxes.
  • Support. Support tickets are handled quickly.
  • System updates are fully automated.
  • Small footprint.
  • Simplified backups.
  • Backups. One to many is a big need for us. SQL, exchange agents would be helpful.
Scale is well suited for a company with a small IT staff. It is not suited if you have operating systems that are not supported on KVM.
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We use our Scale cluster across all departments. The ease of use really does seem almost too good to be true....but this is one of those rare times that it really is just that easy and that good. While I completely appreciate that the initial investment can cause a bit of sticker shock, the amount of time and money saved in the long run far outweighs the initial costs. Our C-Level people are still impressed that I can have a new fully updated server ready to go in under an hour.....and honestly it is closer to 20 minutes if everyone would leave me alone for a bit.

We have been able to move about 85% of our servers to this solution - with the remainder only being on physical because they are fairly new or awful close to EoL and timing has been an issue.

I still think my favorite thing is being able to reboot a server and only waiting about 2-3 minutes for it to be fully loaded again instead of the normal 15-20 minutes a physical machine takes. My service windows have been able to be escalated since the downtime is so low now.
  • Quick restarts. In our tests with other solutions, a restart could still take 8-12 minutes, which was pretty much on par with physical.
  • Great VM snapshot schedules. I can set it to backup just about any time of day I want....with multiple schedules available (that I get to create).
  • Easy to use management console. It took me a couple of hours to get very comfortable with the interface. Now I can walk people through it over the phone for the times I am not in the office.
  • Sticker Shock. Not the biggest con since you can do so much for that price, but it was probably the biggest hurdle I had in going this way....but it is still so much more affordable that some of the other options.
  • Lack of USB functionality. It can be done, but additional hardware is required to get any sort of USB functionality out of these. The USB ports on the cluster are not for end user use.
We went this route because we needed to move to a more virtual environment - reduce costs - streamline setup of new servers (we were growing quite a bit) - all without adding unnecessarily complicated software and licensing issues. If you are looking to have some of the security and peace of mind that virtual will give you, this should really be your first stop along the way. We have not outgrown our initial setup just yet, but once we do, adding another node (or 2) is a pretty painless prospect.
Chris Waddilove | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We use Scale across the whole organization - a trend started by our head office in Germany to fully virtualize our entire server-based network.
  • Snapshots - CoW makes things very quick and painless.
  • Replication to another cluster - Painlessly simple and reliable.
  • Replication to the cloud - Similarly simple with added peace of mind.
  • Ease of use - Even for someone highly technical, it is nice to "take a break" from the crazy options of VMWare and others to just have a basic-controlled hypervisor.
  • Cost - While I understand support/maintenance makes up a large part of it, the cost for expanding RAM, for example, in an existing cluster is several times more than if you were maintaining hardware yourself.
  • Licensing (Microsoft) - Could use assistance from Scale in determining/calculating the best Microsoft license layout (how many cores? how many CPUs? datacenter vs standard?).
  • USB - While not a complete necessity, it would be nice to have a feature to map a USB port/device to a virtual machine. The hardware itself has several USB ports but none are really usable. Digi USB Anywhere worked well for our case, but still, it would be nice to do the odd data dump/backup/restore via USB drive (ex. really old project reference from the 1990s stored on external USB).
I think it's well suited to all but the most critical workloads - VMWare may benefit from added speed using proper drive controllers and SSDs, but I find Scale Computing HC3 to be the best "run of the mill" software available.
February 19, 2019

Make it easy on yourself.

Maxim Proulx | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We have modernized our entire system's infrastructure using Scale HC3. It was a very easy and straightforward transition thanks to Scale. The hardware came in as scheduled, the techs walked me through all different steps of the set-up, and I was up and running in a matter of hours. It then allowed me to focus on the virtualization and the upgrade of my internal systems. Their GUI web-based interface is brilliant in ease of use. I'm not certain of the amount of custom controls that would be available for highly customized solutions, but it's the perfect plug-and-play set-up.
  • Plug-and-play. Web-based GUI makes for extremely easy management and dynamic configuration.
  • Fast. The hardware works for you with very little overhead to run the hypervisor.
  • Budget. Great quality/price for infrastructure requiring strong performance relative to company size.
  • Linux Scripting. Define standard procedures to adapt normal installation scripts to the hypervisor disk and virtual hardware settings.
  • VM Snapshots Automatic Export. The VM Snapshots feature is incredibly easy and an ideal backup solution, but it doesn't come with an automatic export feature unless to a different HC3 Cluster.
Plug-and-play solutions, infrastructures with few admin staffs or straightforward installs. Perfect for set and forget infrastructures or high performing small environments.
February 19, 2019

Scale for redundancy

Gilberto Saldivar | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We use Scale at Royal ISD. We have over 25 Virtual Servers that are Windows and Linux based. It is used by teachers and administrators in the district and is maintained by our IT department. It has helped with storage and redundancy as we have three in a cluster. It has allowed us to get rid of many old pieces of equipment to free up rack space.
  • Creating virtual machines is very fast.
  • Moving machines if one node goes down is quick. We know this as we have shut down one node for testing to see how fast it was, and we were not disappointed.
  • IO reads are incredibly fast!
  • Being able to use kvm virtual machines would be nice to import. We currently use Aruba cCearpass and have to have this on a Windows-based server Hyper V, as Scale does not support kvm.
Scale works really well with Windows and Linux based machines. However, the only server where we were not able to import or build was kvm-based, which was our Aruba Clearpass server.
February 19, 2019

Scale will scale with us.

Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
HC3 is being used as our main datacenter server equipment and we have started rolling out throughout our fleet of vessels. The simplicity of the system means we need fewer employees to tend the IT systems.
  • Simplicity
  • Backup
  • Remote Management
  • Hyperconvergence
  • Adding international date format
  • Shrink option for HDD
  • Scheduling of backup to SMB path
Anywhere IT servers are required and cloud is not an option. This is the future.
February 19, 2019

Scale HC3 in K-12

Score 7 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Scale Computing HC3 is used as our primary means of virtualization/server hosting. We are a small environment of approximately 50 servers and have been running Scale HC3 for 2 years without issue.
  • The UI/UX is neat, well organized, and easy-to-use.
  • VM performance is on par with the other big name virtualization technologies in the market.
  • ROI is perfect for our size!
  • The UI/UX, though easy to use, could be enhanced to provide additional metrics for VMs.
  • 3rd party support for backup, or VM containers.
For a K-12 environment of very few employees, this solution is perfect for ease-of-use, and low-overhead management. Also, the solution has been solid performer over the past 2 years.
Brad Jurgensen | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Scale Computing HC3 node cluster allowed our company to go from a rack of 10 servers to a 3 node redundant 100% virtualized server environment that is used for our entire organization. With an IT staff of one, the simplicity of setup and use and having 1 management console to administer all our virtualized servers has allowed our business to focus on process improvements.
  • Ease of management- 1 console to manage all virtualized servers. Console gives you detailed information regarding your virtualized environment which includes disk use, CPU usage, IOPS, and latency
  • Built-in replication- no additional cost to replicate to a similar scale cluster at a remote DR site. Also, availability to replicate to Google cloud for DR now as well.
  • Zero downtime- With a 3-node cluster any node failure automatically replicates any virtualized servers on that node to the remaining two nodes. Rolling upgrades to firmware for nodes means no downtime.
  • Additional resources- If resources (CPU, RAM, DISK) are running low on existing cluster it's really simple to add additional node(s) to increase resources.
  • Support- World class support. Chat functions to reach technicians quickly and most problems are resolved in a relative short amount of time. My average time to reach a support rep is usually less than 5 minutes.
  • Work with more vendors on a desktop virtualization solution.
Scale Computing is a highly recommended solution for SMB. If you are looking for an ideal solution to migrate to a virtualized environment without all the extra added costs this is what the HC3 is designed for.
Sam Paulissian | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We use Scale Computing HC3 for our Hyper Cluster environment. We have been migrating our VMWare clients to the HC3 environment.
  • HC3 makes it very easy to set up VM clients. They provide graphical feedback of CPU Utilization and IOPs for each of the running clients.
  • Setting up snapshot schedule is a breeze.
  • With a DR Cluster, the snapshots can be transmitted to a DR Cluster for additional redundancy.
  • Rolling back to a previous snapshot is not as intuitive as other vendor offerings. You must clone the snapshot and then boot the clone to roll back to a previous snapshot.
For the small/medium business that needs a virtualized environment, I found HC3 to be more cost-effective. I no longer need to have a vendor for my SAN, a vendor for my servers and a vendor for my virtualization environment.
Tyler Johnson | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We implemented Scale Computing this year and it is being used as our production environment. We chose Scale due to its affordability and it being a hyper-converged solution. We were on old hardware storing all data locally on Hyper-V servers. The move to Scale gave us redundancy and flexibility at a lower price point than the competition.
  • Their customer support is the best I have ever experienced. On your first email or call you get a service tech that is ready to answer your question right away.
  • The implementation was fairly simple and converting VMs seemed like a breeze. It took some time, but it worked well.
  • My Microsoft licenses sometimes wouldn't pull over in the migrate process and I would have to re-enter my license code. I'm not sure if it depended upon the OS or why it didn't work 100% of the time.
For the typical small business, Scale is the perfect solution. Great customer service and help along the way.
September 24, 2018

More Scale Please

Justin Hall | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We currently use Scale Computing at our headquarters to host roughly 25 servers that range from application servers to file servers to domain controllers. Scale gave us simplicity to manage our infrastructure. It's also saving us on the bottom line.
  • The replication of VMs betweens nodes is incredibly fast. We can recover servers from snapshots very quickly.
  • We are saving on VMWare costs by not having to renew licenses for VMWare.
  • With Scale's next update, we'll have the capability to do file level restoration.
  • When migrating to Scale, it seemed like we we're basically 'tricking' the virtual machine into being a Scale file. So the ability to more easily migrate to Scale would be recommended.
  • As of right now, to restore a file, we basically restore an entire VM from a snapshot rather than restoring just that file.
  • A lesser option should be available for smaller offices that only have 2 virtual servers.
Cost alone, we no longer have VMware licenses, we could possibly move away from Veeam in the near future. Managing snapshots is much easier than VMWare. A non-technical person could learn Scale in less than a day.
April 04, 2018

Scale out performs

Patrick Taylor | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We have moved most of our physical servers to Scale over the last few years and have added another cluster to our system for high availability. We have radius servers, domain controllers, DHCP servers, Exchange and SQL to name a few that are currently running on Scale. This cluster will be at another location as part of our DR as well. Ease of use and not having to worry about licensing is a huge plus not to mention their support is the best I have found. We serve over 8000 users each day on our network and Scale is a huge part of that.
  • Their support is amazing should you need. Although it has been very reliable.
  • Ease of use.
  • Performance
  • Scale-ability
  • For most shops their dashboard gives plenty of information; however, some of the more technical users may want a little more information. With that said it is improving.
It is perfect in a school setting because of the flexibility, ability to add more nodes on the fly and ease of use. They have great support available 24/7 which is extremely helpful since a lot of our work is done during non normal business hours.

I could see it being very useful in a medium business as well.
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
ResellerIncentivized
The HC3 was implemented by a client as a company-wide infrastructure replacement for both physical systems as well as an existing VMware cluster. It replaced 7 physical servers that were quite old, and the two node VMware cluster had one host that was past it's prime. VMware needed to be upgraded, and after looking at the hardware and software costs, the HC3 was a simple decision.
  • Ease of Use - the interface is simple, clean, and intuitive enough that if you have ever used any virtualization platform you really don't need any training to get going.
  • Ease of Implementation - Once the hardware is mounted, a configuration was performed remotely by scale. They assisted in switch setup by providing requirements, and the cluster itself was done by a technician on the phone with you. It was really running a few commands to initialize the cluster and after that, anything that came up they took care of.
  • We had a node failure, and nobody knew. The system kept chugging along without interruption (that anyone could tell). After one phone call, we had the replacement the next day. The cluster was reinitialized and everything worked without having to schedule any downtime.
  • System updates are essentially a click of a button. Everything then is handled behind the scenes. I had one update timeout, and a quick call later (on a Saturday no less), it was deduced that it was a timeout issue. After adjusting the timeout, the update ran fine.
  • The trade off for many of the complexities of management are taken care of behind the scenes, is that you are limited on many of the configuration options one is used to in other virtualization platforms. That is not to say it is by any means simplistic or inflexible and if you are looking for a system that does not require weeks of training and experience to manage, this is it.
  • With the simplicity of the interface, troubleshooting some issues like email notifications can become difficult.
  • If you have a small infrastructure that is moving into a hybrid cloud environment, it can be a bit cost prohibitive.
It's great if you need an infrastructure in a box. With the added benefits of being able to scale up and provide replication across multiple locations, it really does do much of what may be needed. It is particularly well suited for simpler environments where you may not need all of the virtual networking, and complex storage options in VMware.
February 02, 2018

I love our Scale

Darren Woolston | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
[It's being used] To host most corporate servers including AD, file, print, CCTV and app servers.
  • Ease of use
  • Superb value compared to traditional competitors
  • The time between order and delivery seems slow.
If you need to consolidate 4 or more servers, I don't know of a better way to do it currently. We currently have 10 VMs and I would dread doing it the old-fashioned way now. VMWare and its ilk seem clunky and overbearing in comparison now.
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We use our Scale 3 node cluster to run our 5 virtual machines that service our 4 locations. Functions include application servers, web servers and test machines that are used by all departments. The HC3 cluster gives us an easy method to backup an entire machine and is a first step in building a secondary site in which we can replicate our scale data to.
  • Scale platform updates - the scale cluster runs on its own software and can be updated in real time without causing any downtime for production virtual machines.
  • Node capacity visibility - the software provides an easy window into how much storage and RAM capacity is available on each node and simplifies being able to see how much room there is for growth for new virtual machines.
  • Snapshotting - the scheduling of snapshots works extremely well and is an easy set and forget method for backups on a daily basis.
  • While Scale handles storage and RAM utilization very well, CPU usage is somewhat hard to configure - you can configure how many CPU cores a VM gets but it's not overly simple to boost an individual VM's CPU performance.
  • The custom software that runs on the scale cluster is simple but doesn't necessarily support all backup products out there - or maybe the other backup products don't support them yet - VEEAM for example, backing up a VM outside the hypervisor isn't supported.
  • I would like to see the software made available so we can add it to other physical servers we have available - for example, say we have an old VM Ware server and we want to convert it to a Scale node - having the ability to install the software on our hardware would be a huge plus.
Scale is very well suited for small to medium businesses with workloads that are not necessarily overly storage critical - meaning small SQL and Exchange deployments can be handled fairly easily. Taking out the need to have a separate storage device added to existing physical servers running the Hypervisor simplifies the overall scope of a project
john Galotta | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We are using the HC3 to run several of our virtual servers. Two of the servers are our domain controllers. We are in the process of migrating more of our VMs over from VMware. The use of Scale has freed up resources that we had budgeted for VMware.
  • Very easy to install and migrate existing VMs over from VMware.
  • Support is seamless and remote help is a click away.
  • Support is US based and never a problem getting in touch with a technician on the first try.
  • The only thing that was missing when we purchased the unit was remote replication. They have addressed this with a cloud offering.
If you are looking to save money on your virtual environment then Scale will help you accomplish this. We have not had one issue in two years of running the system.
February 02, 2018

Scale Computing review

Score 7 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Scale Computing is hosting all our company virtual servers. It was deployed to replace the old VMware setup we had using separate ESX hosts, switches and SAN.
  • Because the Scale Computing is a converge storage, it's much more cost-effective to support and maintain vs. out old ESX cluster setup.
  • Installing updates is easier to do vs. a system that setup using separate ESX hosts, switches, and SAN because we just have to deal with one appliance.
  • The support service has been good so far. Every time we had an issue or question we will get someone on the phone in a few min and they are knowledgeable about the product.
  • One of the biggest drawbacks of the current Scale solution is its limitation when it comes to VM management. For example, options that are available in VMware for years like the ability to expend a virtual drive live does not exist.
  • The Scale management portal is nice and very easy to use because it's very simple, but it's limited in how much information it provides.
  • Because the hypervisor OS is a custom software, it does not allow for more advanced management. any changes or issues that need to troubleshoot requires opening a ticket with support.
If your virtualization needs are basic and you don't need any advanced features I think that the performance/cost is a good proposition. It's also fairly easy to add another node to the cluster to increase your resources.
Adam Hassall | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Scale Computing's HC3x has allowed us to virtualise 100% of our company's server infrastructure. We've used the technology for the last 5 years and it has been as solid as a rock. The biggest benefit is its simplicity because we are a small IT department and don't have the time to maintain a more complicated solution such as VMWare or Hyper-V.
  • The simplicity of the technology is its biggest strength.
  • There aren't different licensing levels and so all features are available in the standard licensing costs.
  • Their support team is second to none. Everyone I've spoken to is extremely knowledgeable about their product.
  • The only drawback is that if you need extra storage, your only option is to purchase another node. On other platforms, you could just install extra storage space.
Scale Computing for us has been a life-saver. Spinning up new virtual machines takes seconds with minimal configuration required. I suppose the only scenario that Scale Computing HC3 wouldn't be suitable is if you need USB/com pass-through as they can't [be] presented to the virtual machines.
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
HC3 hosts the core servers for our entire network.
  • Firmware updates are dead simple
  • Tech support is easy, fast and thorough
  • Building Servers only takes minutes
  • Server performance when logged in seems sluggish.
  • Even though we got discounted pricing it may not be the cheapest solution but the benefits definitely are worth it.
  • They say that parts will arrive next day but in our remote locations they (like other vendors) don't seem to realize that there is no such thing as "next day" delivery.
Scale HC3 is great in so many situations. If you want a small physical footprint but have the ability to spin up dozens of servers in minutes then it is fabulous. They also have an offsite replication package. You have 2 sets of nodes in different sites and the main site replicates to the offsite backup. If something catastrophic happens to the main site you just point everything to the offsite locations and nothing is lost because the offsite is an exact replica. Almost no downtime and no data loss.
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