

Ask HN: Using Scalr - terpua

Searched HN on this topic and most comments are around console-like management. Has anyone used its auto scaling features? If so, please share experiences.
======
flooha
Don't waste your time. I spent weeks struggling with this software. The
documentation is non-existent, the only support is through the google user
group. You have to run your own name servers which is the wrong approach for
this kind of software and a serious time sink if you've never set up a name
server before. Then you have to maintain it.

Once you actually get it running, you'll iterate through a hundred deployments
before working out all the quirks and bugs. In the end, I actually got it
working but, somewhat ironically, didn't end up using it because managing it
was more difficult than just deploying and scaling manually. Kind of sad if
you ask me.

Your experience might be different if you choose to pay Scalr for their
services, since they know all the quirks and probably have fantastic internal
documentation. They, understandably, don't have much motivation to help you
use the software yourself.

They were supposed to be the "cost-effective" alternative to RightScale, but
I'd pay $500/month to get out of using Scalr. All of my money is riding on
Amazon's own load-balancing/auto-scaling solution that should be coming out in
the next 6 months to one year.

Sorry if this post is overly negative...I got my YC rejection letter this
morning.

