Ceph – is an open-source, distributed, scalable, reliable and simplified software-defined storage system solution designed to address the block, file and object storage needs of modern enterprise organizations, businesses, academic institutions, global organizations and more all in a single unified storage system. Ceph’s highly scalable architecture has seen it become the go-to storage solution for high-growth block storage, object stores, and data lakes.
Ceph uses a file system interface known as CephFS.
Ceph uses advanced CRUSH algorithm, automated data redundancy, self-management daemons and much more to ensure data is safely stored, instantly available and optimally distributed for effective disaster recovery.
A Ceph Storage Cluster architecture consists of the following components:
- Cluster Monitors (
ceph-mon) that maintain the map of the cluster state, keeping track of active and failed cluster nodes, cluster configuration, and information about data placement and manage authentication. - Managers (
ceph-mgr) that maintain cluster runtime metrics, enable dashboarding capabilities, and provide an interface to external monitoring systems. - Object Storage Devices (
ceph-osd) that store data in the Ceph cluster and handle data replication, erasure coding, recovery, and rebalancing. Conceptually, an OSD can be thought of as a slice of CPU/RAM and the underlying SSD or HDD. - RADOS Gateways (
ceph-rgw) that provide object storage APIs (swift and S3) via http/https. - Metadata Servers (
ceph-mds) that store metadata for the Ceph File System, mapping filenames and directories of the file system to RADOS objects and enabling the use of POSIX semantics to access the files. - iSCSI Gateways (
ceph-iscsi) that provide iSCSI targets for traditional block storage workloads such as VMware or Windows Server.
The features and benefits of using Ceph Storage Cluster are clear and straight forward:
- Ceph is scalable – With Ceph, there is no limit to your data growth. As a virtualised storage system, Ceph can scale as you require, without the confines of traditional hardware storage.
- Ceph is reliable – Using advanced algorithms, intelligent object storage daemons and automated self-management, Ceph provides businesses with high reliability and quick, detailed insights into cluster health. Where manual data management can result in operational delays and overlooked cluster issues, Ceph maintains round-the-clock monitoring, back-ups and data protection.
- Business continuity and disaster recovery – Ceph will help you maintain business continuity by allowing you to create fine-tuned, automated redundancy, keeping your data replicated across devices, racks and geographical locations.
- Cut on CAPEX and OPEX costs – Instead of bulky payments and costly infrastructure demands, Ceph will run on your existing off-the-shelf hardware, making the switch from an existing solution far more cost-effective than the alternatives. And by balancing your data replication across a cluster, it’s easy to monitor cluster capacity and only purchase additional storage when you actually need it.
- No vendor lock-in – Ceph provides unparalleled flexibility in your choice of hardware, able to run on just about anything. By freeing organizations from committing to a single hardware vendor.
- Ceph is Open-Source – Ceph’s global community of industry leading developers ensure Ceph never falls behind the storage technology curve. There are more eyeballs reviewing Ceph’s code on a daily basis than you would get from a proprietary solution, quickly responding to evolving security requirements and new innovations in storage technology. Ceph’s core philosophy and open source platform ensures continued development and practicality