Introduction
When it comes to virtualization platforms, you have more options than you probably realize. And with the
number of options available, you have the opportunity to choose an IT infrastructure platform that offers a
simplified, highly-automated infrastructure that keeps your applications and organization running efficiently.
Many of today’s virtualization solutions are comprised of multiple vendor products—one each for the
hypervisor, servers, and storage hardware—making it more complicated and expensive than it needs to
be. Configuring those disparate server and storage components in just the right way eats up valuable time.
Then you have to install and configure the hypervisor. Then you have to add time to test for compatibility
and performance, further delaying deployment. To be successful, you need expertise in all those different
platforms, some of which are so complicated, you’re expected to be certified in them.
Once you’ve got it all up and running, it can be hard to scale out when you need more resources, especially if
you’re not able to add the exact same components. You may need to bring in yet more expertise and conduct
yet more testing. And then you have the ongoing cost of licensing renewals, support and maintenance for
multiple pieces from multiple vendors, including different licenses for different features. And then you have
disaster recovery—an additional piece of the puzzle that can add yet another vendor, requiring more expertise
and further complicating matters. There goes more time and more money.
Whether you’re considering migrating from your existing virtualization platform or are virtualizing from
scratch for the first time, there’s now a better way to do it. Whether you are looking at a single location
or implementing an edge computing platform across hundreds of sites, Scale Computing’s hyperconverged
approach is the shortest path to affordable virtualization that’s easy to deploy, easy to manage, and easy
to scale.
Scale Computing’s HC3 virtualization software and appliances are based on patented technologies designed
from the ground up to minimize infrastructure complexity and cost. HC3 has helped IT organizations across
all industries deploy robust virtualization solutions.
This white paper explores the advantages HC3 offers over competing virtualization solutions, looks at potential
migration options, and shows how Scale Computing is making a difference in organizations like yours and in
the industry at large.
The Advantages of HC3
Scale Computing’s innovative HC3 virtualization platform is often delivered as a complete “datacenter in a
box” with server, storage, and virtualization components, as well as DR capabilities, integrated into a single
appliance. Backed by 24 patents, this unique virtualization solution offers dramatic IT and business advantages.
The Advantages of HC3
Scale Computing’s innovative HC3 virtualization platform is often delivered as a complete “datacenter in a box” with server, storage, and virtualization components, as well as DR capabilities, integrated into a single appliance. Backed by 24 patents, this unique virtualization solution offers dramatic IT and business advantages.
A super-simple platform
Right off the bat, HC3’s integration of compute, storage, and hypervisor into a single architecture eliminates
complexity. The solution requires no specialized storage, virtualization, or disaster recovery expertise,
making it:
HC3 in Action: Auburn University
When Auburn University’s College of Architecture, Design & Construction decided to update and streamline its virtualized environment, Scale was at the top of the vendor list. “With three people supporting 5,000 users—and no money for additional personnel—l had to find a solution that was super simple,” says Phil Forrest, an IT Manager at Auburn. “VMware can get complicated really fast.”The department chose HC3 because it brings storage, servers, virtualization, and management together in a single, comprehensive system. “With its built-in hypervisor, I don’t have to deal with or pay another vendor,” he says. “Scale Computing hits the sweet spot with what’s possible.”
High availability and built-in disaster recovery
All VMs created on HC3 are highly available, thanks to:
- Fully self-healing technology, including automatic failover of VMs
- Automatic restriping of data for failed disks
- Non-disruptive software upgrades and patching
- No single point of failure
HC3 also provides native backup and replication as well as DRaaS capabilities, solving a major problem or many IT organizations—disaster recovery. These features also save you yet more time and money.
Key features include:
- Remote, snapshot-based, VM-level replication with manual failover
- Point-in-time rollback with application-consistent snapshots
- Instant VM restore using agentless VM-level snapshots
- Instant cloning for file-level and object-level recovery
- Five-minute recovery point objective (RPO) and recovery time objective (RTO)
No matter the size of your environment, you can protect your workloads down to the individual VM level. Ready to implement a disaster recovery strategy? Simply add another appliance at your DR location, and all the rest is built-in at no additional cost. No need to add on any other products or pay additional licensing fees. HC3 also works with an ecosystem of best-in-class backup products such as Aconis with their agentless integration into HC3 to provide additional functionality beyond the built-in features of HC3.
Migration: Have It Your Way
As with any migration, moving to HC3 can take many forms, from non-disruptive in-place migrations to do-it-yourself
migrations using free migration tools. Scale Computing can provide precisely the level of help you need, whether that’s showing you how to do it, migrating a single VM, or migrating every VM and workload in your environment. With different levels of service and support at different price points, you can develop
a migration strategy that works for your organization. Scale Computing offers many advanced migration capabilities, including:
- • Updating DNS for migrations across network subnets
- Migrating to HC3 VMs that have a different number of drives, drive sizes, CPUs, or memory than the original source
- Capturing all changes users make during the migration and replicating them to the HC3 VM in real-time
- Cutting over to the new HC3 VM manually or automatically
- Migrating the entire system or just file or application data for file and application servers—and even
domain controllers
Migration can be performed at any time that makes sense for your business, including during business hours.
A simple interface lets you efficiently manage large migration projects. With full control over the migration,
you can take advantage of Test Cutover Capabilities to proactively validate that your migration cutover will
work as planned.
Explore the Possibilities
Every day, IT organizations like yours choose Scale Computing and HC3 to reduce complexity and cost from IT infrastructure—so they can stay focused on the projects that matter most. Explore how Scale Computing solutions can help your organization find the shortest, easiest path to virtualization excellence.
Sources
1 Management estimate based on Scale Computing and Nutanix Acropolis growth.
2 Ward, Keith, “Report: Apple Drops VMware’s ESXi for KVM,” Virtualization & Cloud Review, October 5, 2015. https://virtualizationreview.com/blogs/mental-ward/2015/10/apple-drops-vmwares-esxi-for-kvm.aspx