ServerBear Specs on Scale HC3
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I guess I just don't get it. This is basically just Dell Servers running via a VSAN connected over 10GB networking. I guess I don't see what's so special about it.
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@aaronstuder said:
I guess I just don't get it. This is basically just Dell Servers running via a VSAN connected over 10GB networking. I guess I don't see what's so special about it.
It's not the hardware that makes it special. It's the software they run behind it all. The storage provides similar features to VSAN, except you have the ability to simply add another node to expand storage. I'm not sure how that works with VSAN... but with Scale, all you have to buy is another node... no extra software licenses or anything like that.
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@aaronstuder said:
I guess I just don't get it. This is basically just Dell Servers running via a VSAN connected over 10GB networking. I guess I don't see what's so special about it.
Well that alone would be pretty special as it is far cheaper than running VSAN. VSAN and the full VMware stack is a direct competitor. Scale is older than VSAN. VSAN is SAN based, though, Scale is not. This is fully direct IO, no extra SAN layer. The kernel talks directly to the storage, no translation.
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@dafyre said:
It's not the hardware that makes it special. It's the software they run behind it all. The storage provides similar features to VSAN, except you have the ability to simply add another node to expand storage. I'm not sure how that works with VSAN... but with Scale, all you have to buy is another node... no extra software licenses or anything like that.
And it "just expands". Really easily to grow. And tiering is right around the corner.
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Scott, you mentioned that this is all at the kernel level - could you roll your own version of this? Of course you wouldn't have their pretty interface, but could you build this yourself, like a person building XO themself?
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@Dashrender said:
Scott, you mentioned that this is all at the kernel level - could you roll your own version of this?
Sure, you'd have to write your own storage layer, though. So it's not trivial in any way.
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@scottalanmiller said:
@Dashrender said:
Scott, you mentioned that this is all at the kernel level - could you roll your own version of this?
Sure, you'd have to write your own storage layer, though. So it's not trivial in any way.
OH.. that's where I was confused I guess... I thought the storage layer was part of KVM (that's the hypervisor they use, right?)
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@Dashrender said:
@scottalanmiller said:
@Dashrender said:
Scott, you mentioned that this is all at the kernel level - could you roll your own version of this?
Sure, you'd have to write your own storage layer, though. So it's not trivial in any way.
OH.. that's where I was confused I guess... I thought the storage layer was part of KVM (that's the hypervisor they use, right?)
Not part of KVM itself. The Scale HC3 is unique, there is no software version available on the market.
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@scottalanmiller said:
@Dashrender said:
@scottalanmiller said:
@Dashrender said:
Scott, you mentioned that this is all at the kernel level - could you roll your own version of this?
Sure, you'd have to write your own storage layer, though. So it's not trivial in any way.
OH.. that's where I was confused I guess... I thought the storage layer was part of KVM (that's the hypervisor they use, right?)
Not part of KVM itself. The Scale HC3 is unique, there is no software version available on the market.
So they wrote the storage layer? Cool - good to know/understand that.
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@Dashrender said:
@scottalanmiller said:
@Dashrender said:
@scottalanmiller said:
@Dashrender said:
Scott, you mentioned that this is all at the kernel level - could you roll your own version of this?
Sure, you'd have to write your own storage layer, though. So it's not trivial in any way.
OH.. that's where I was confused I guess... I thought the storage layer was part of KVM (that's the hypervisor they use, right?)
Not part of KVM itself. The Scale HC3 is unique, there is no software version available on the market.
So they wrote the storage layer? Cool - good to know/understand that.
Yes, Scale is primarily a storage vendor. Before they made their Hyperconverged product, they made scale out storage only. That was before KVM was mature enough to make the HC3 product. They no longer sell the storage layer, it is now developed purely and designed solely around the needs of the HC3 product so is completely unique to that. It's the storage layer and the storage integration (and support) that are their selling points. That's what makes them special and unique. KVM and the hardware on its own you could do yourself and you could easily make due with a different interface.
