Reimagining the Scale Computing Platform
At Scale Computing, we’ve always offered clusters of three or more appliances (or nodes) but we have recognized that there are some use cases we could address where even a 3-node cluster is overkill. We also offer a single node appliance configuration that can be deployed alongside clusters running Scale Computing HyperCoreTM to enable distributed enterprise and disaster recovery use cases that provide more flexibility and cost savings than traditional cluster configurations.
Edge Computing and Distributed Enterprise
For edge computing and distributed enterprise, which include remote office/back office (ROBO), we address the need for very small infrastructure requirements at locations supporting a small number of users. These remote sites, away from the central IT hub, most likely do not have any dedicated IT staff which makes management problematic. Still, these sites often need a number of services from IoT, Active Directory, DNS, messaging and communications, file and print services, among others.
You may be thinking that a low-cost traditional server or two would suffice for these sites and that is how these sites havetraditionally been architected. However, SC//Platform offers so much more than traditional server architecture for distributed enterprise. With SC//Platform running at both the central IT hub and the remote sites, the distributed enterprise infrastructure is not only easier to manage, but more resilient and able to be recovered from disaster much more quickly. Some of the features and benefits of Scale Computing single node appliances in edge computing and distributed enterprise include:
- Right Sizing Single node appliances can be deployed to support the smallest sites with multiple VMs as needed. Eligible appliance models include the HC1000, HC1150DF, and HC5150D and can provide the right amount of resources for each site.
- Rapid Deployment Nodes can be racked, cabled, powered on, configured in a matter of minutes, and VMs can be deployed and running in under an hour.
- Self-Healing Storage The block access, direct attached storage system in SC//HyperCore can automatically recover from individual drive failure to keep VMs running while the drive is replaced.
- Web-Based Management Administrators can quickly connect their web browsers to remote SC//HyperCore clusters and manage storage an virtual machines from a single management interface.
- Replication and Failover VMs can be replicated between two nodes with native, built-in replication. Replication can be local or remote across any distance and can be configured to replicate changes as often as every 5 minutes. Replicated VMs can be failed over between clusters in minutes
- Remote Support Access SC//HyperCore offers a remote access point exclusive to ScaleCare support to help diagnose support issues and take corrective actions if necessary.
Disaster Recovery
Disaster Recovery (DR) is definitely not a one-size fits all solution. That’s why we built it into SC//HyperCore to allow you to protect your workloads down to the individual VM level. Depending on your business, you may need to protect only a few critical workloads or you may need to protect most or all of your workloads. Just because you have a multi-node cluster in production does not necessarily mean you need a duplicate cluster for DR.
The single node appliance configuration provides budget-friendly options for protecting critical workloads with replication and failover. If you can identify a handful of critical workloads that will keep your business operation in the event of disaster, you may be able to use a single node appliance to recover those workloads until you can reinstate your full SC//HyperCore production cluster. For some organizations, a single node appliance as a replication target can provide an effective backup solution.
By implementing disaster recovery with SC//HyperCore, you have great flexibility in choosing the recovery capacity you need and using capabilities that are built in at no extra cost. The single node appliance configuration enables DR to be achieved at a very low cost but with the benefits of continuous replication and failover. Some of the features and benefits for using SC//HyperCore replication and failover for DR with a single node appliance are:
- No Agents or DR Licensing SC//HyperCore replication is built in for both clusters and single node appliances so there is no extra
cost or licensing. - Right-Sized Recovery With the single node appliance configuration, you can choose the right amount of capacity you need forrecovery even when it is much less than your production capacity.
- Continuous Per-VM Replication SC//HyperCore uses space efficient snapshot technology to replicate to a secondary site, tracking and sending only the changed blocks.
- Simple Disaster Recovery Testing Testing a DR plan is now as simple as cloning a snapshot on the target appliance and starting a VM. No disruption to ongoing replication.
- Easy Failback after Disaster Recovery After running a VM at the DR site, simply replicate the changed data back to the primary site for simple failback.
Summary
If you are ready to upgrade your distributed enterprise or disaster recovery solution with hyperconvergence, Scale Computing Platform readily handles any size implementation for your remote sites and DR sites. Our commitment to providing right-sized solutions to IT shops big and small was our motivation in offering the single node appliance configuration. Contact us to let our experts help you architect a simpler and more available infrastructure for your future.