Scale: Smart, Simple, Effective, Reliable, and so much more...
Updated November 25, 2020

Scale: Smart, Simple, Effective, Reliable, and so much more...

David Roden | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Overall Satisfaction with Scale Computing HC3

We implemented Scale clusters in both of our offices as a replacement for the prior HyperV-Based VM infrastructure. We utilize Scale's built-in snapshot and replication technology to provide VM-level backup & DR protection. All of our primary storage is now managed as part of the Scale environment. Scale integrates VM operations, management, and protection into a unified system that provides more capability at lower cost than the multi-vendor collection of products we used previously.
  • Scale's hyperconverged environment presents a single pool of resources that support our VMs. It intelligently handles decisions related to storage provisioning and load balancing across nodes.
  • Snapshots and replicas are created in a few clicks within a simple to use web interface. Gone are layers of settings found in some other products we've used.
  • The 'at-a-glance' dashboard tells me everything I need to know about the current status and utilization of the Scale cluster.
  • The ability to cut, copy, and paste into a console in a browser tab would be wonderful.
  • I appreciate the ability to click on the storage gauge on the dashboard and drill down into detail. Shouldn't that be available on every gauge?
  • The ability to schedule exports, restarts, etc from the management interface would be useful.
We had a lot of interaction with Scale support when we were getting started. Since then, we have only had a few (mostly routine) support issues. Every time, no matter which tech we speak to, we always feel like we are Scale's most important customer. The help we receive is excellent and well-informed. We never get the sense that someone is guessing, and most of the time we receive additional help or insight that increases our knowledge of, and appreciation for, the product. The people at Scale love their product.
Our environment is 100% virtualized and entirely on Scale Computing. This includes Main file servers; Active Directory domain controllers, SQL servers; speech processing systems; print servers; security management servers; e-discovery hosts; RDS server farms; legal application servers. Our experience is that, no matter what we ask Scale to do, it does it very well. We P2V moved our primary file server on to the Scale cluster with zero issues.
  • Our Scale investment will pay for itself in 2 years with the reductions we're seeing in server licensing, management software, backup software, and online backup services.
  • We've had zero downtime attributable to Scale.
Nutanix could not compete on price. Not even close. It is a much more complex environment to configure and manage. While this probably means it has a few additional features, we did not encounter any that were relevant to us. It's lone advantage was onsite hardware support. Starwind turned out to be the most expensive solution we considered. It relies heavily on underlying Microsoft technologies (such as clustering) which we saw as a potential point of failure that Starwind did not control.
Scale is obviously well-suited for SMB / SME environments. Larger environments will likely find a reduced need for dedicated storage admins or VM specialists in-house. Environments that rely on SDN or very complex VLANs may find Scale's networking to be somewhat limited.

User Experience with Scale Computing

Do you think Scale Computing Platform delivers good value for the price?

Yes

Are you happy with Scale Computing Platform's feature set?

Yes

Did Scale Computing Platform live up to sales and marketing promises?

Yes

Did implementation of Scale Computing Platform go as expected?

Yes

Would you buy Scale Computing Platform again?

Yes

Everything you need to do is point-and-click easy. If you are the kind of admin who wants to edit every config file and endlessly customize your environment, then Scale may not be for you. On the other hand, if you just want it to work really well, and do what they told you it will do, then Scale is the ideal system.
We originally had Scale nodes it 2 different offices. When the smaller office closed, we brought those back to the main office for incorporation into our main cluster. Scale's assistance with this effort made it a simple task. .

Using Scale Computing HC3

125 - Professional staff, administrative, clerical.
2 - Any server/network admin with a general understanding of server builds in a VM environment will quickly understand operations in Scale Computing.
  • Active Directory, print servers, Application servers
  • Data Protection (snapshots, offsite replication)
  • Redundancy
  • Leveraging LeoStream to provide Remote Desktops during the pandemic
  • Full VDI environment
HC3 has met every expectation and done everything we've asked it to do. The benefit per dollar far exceeds that of its high-cost competitors.