When Scale Computing Support needs to look at your cluster directly — for example, to investigate an in-flight issue or accelerate a complex case — that access is granted entirely on your terms. The SC//HyperCore™ HyperVisor uses a customer-initiated tunnel model so that Scale Computing never has a standing path into your environment.
For the steps to open and close a support tunnel, see Remote Support.
How support tunnels work
To provide near real-time support, a Scale Computing Support engineer will sometimes provide a code and ask for a tunnel to be opened for support access. The flow is:
- Scale Computing Support shares a one-time code with your system administrator over your existing support channel.
- Your administrator opens the support tunnel from the SC//HyperCore web interface using that code.
- The cluster establishes an outbound connection through which Scale Computing Support can assist.
Two properties of this flow are worth calling out:
- Scale Computing Support cannot initiate a connection to the SC//HyperCore cluster. Without a customer-supplied action and code, there is no path in.
- The outbound connection can be revoked at any time from the web interface. Closing the tunnel ends Scale Computing Support’s access immediately.
This model lets you grant just-in-time access for the duration of an active support engagement and revoke it the moment the engagement is complete.
What Scale Computing Support can and cannot see
Even with an active support tunnel in place, Scale Computing Support does not have direct access to your VM data.
There is no general-purpose file system to navigate. Customer data is stored in RAW virtual disk images, with storage blocks distributed across the cluster by SCRIBE. Without mounting the guest’s own file system using credentials you control, the underlying data is not accessible from a support session.
With your approval, Scale Computing Support can:
- Monitor the self-healing functions of the cluster.
- Manage other system services as needed to progress your case.
If a given operation requires elevated action or visibility, Scale Computing Support will ask before performing it. Combined with the audit logging described in Access Control and Authentication, this gives you a clear, auditable record of what occurred during any support session — and the ability to terminate that session at any time.