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IBM Spectrum Scale pros and cons

Vendor: IBM
4.3 out of 5
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Pros & Cons summary

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Prominent pros & cons

PROS

IBM Spectrum Scale is praised for its high availability servicing and scalability.
The ability to share files across multiple environments and platforms is highly valued.
It is known for excellent performance and stability, even across continents without performance degradation.
GPFS monitoring and file system sharing capabilities are considered valuable features.
Technical support from IBM Spectrum Scale is noted to be very helpful, providing effective solutions.

CONS

IBM Spectrum Scale requires individual upgrades for each node, which can be time-consuming.
Encryption implementation needs improvement as more metrics are required but not functioning effectively.
Integration with other vendors is currently unavailable.
IBM Spectrum Scale has complex pricing and licensing models, making it difficult for customers to understand.
Fault tolerance and erasure coding speed could be improved, as avoiding erasure coding significantly increases costs.
 

IBM Spectrum Scale Pros review quotes

reviewer1249170 - PeerSpot reviewer
Dec 23, 2019
GPFS monitoring is the best feature.
PV
Jan 26, 2020
The most valuable feature is the ability to share files across different platforms.
it_user868248 - PeerSpot reviewer
May 21, 2018
It makes our file system sharing a lot easier, even across different continents. We have had file systems shared across different continents with no performance degradation.
Learn what your peers think about IBM Spectrum Scale. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: March 2025.
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it_user868245 - PeerSpot reviewer
May 6, 2018
Its great servicing high availability. That is what it is used for.
Bernd Stroehle. - PeerSpot reviewer
Feb 17, 2025
I find IBM Spectrum Scale to be an excellent product known for its fast parallel file system.
it_user868251 - PeerSpot reviewer
May 6, 2018
Allows us to share files across multiple environments.
KK
Sep 27, 2020
The high performance of the solution is its most valuable aspect. If you compare it to other storage solutions, it's much better.
JanithRanasinghe - PeerSpot reviewer
Nov 21, 2024
We use GPFS Scale for parallel file access, the file management, and it's an essential part of our operations.
it_user868272 - PeerSpot reviewer
May 21, 2018
We can have multiple systems within the same file system.
AS
Jul 4, 2023
It is a scalable solution.
 

IBM Spectrum Scale Cons review quotes

reviewer1249170 - PeerSpot reviewer
Dec 23, 2019
The biggest problem is that it is not able to provide block storage.
PV
Jan 26, 2020
The pricing and licensing model for this solution are complex and it is sometimes difficult to explain it to customers.
it_user868248 - PeerSpot reviewer
May 21, 2018
Maybe it needs integration with HA.
Learn what your peers think about IBM Spectrum Scale. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: March 2025.
842,388 professionals have used our research since 2012.
it_user868245 - PeerSpot reviewer
May 6, 2018
This is probably the biggest challenge, getting everything upgraded, because it just takes time. We wish it was a faster solution to be able to do everything at once, but you have do each node individually. The more nodes, the longer it takes.
Bernd Stroehle. - PeerSpot reviewer
Feb 17, 2025
There can be improvements in fault tolerance and making erasure coding faster.
it_user868251 - PeerSpot reviewer
May 6, 2018
Making it a little easier to add bad file sets would help. There is a transition to how you add storage and how you add a file set, so making that a little smoother would probably be my recommendation.
KK
Sep 27, 2020
It would be helpful if there was a graphical user interface that could walk you through the deployment process. The instructions surrounding setup aren't the best. They need to be more step-by-step.
JanithRanasinghe - PeerSpot reviewer
Nov 21, 2024
I wish there were some graphical user interface to access the GPFS file system creation and monitoring.
it_user868272 - PeerSpot reviewer
May 21, 2018
We do have some issues where Spectrum Scale does not work as expected. We have seen our Spectrum Scale servers go down unexpectedly, but because we have a cluster, it does not take out the entire organization.
AS
Jul 4, 2023
The solution's pricing could be better.