Ceph – distributed object, block and file storage

Ceph is a distributed storage platform that provides object, block and filesystem services from a shared storage infrastructure. It is designed to scale across clusters of storage servers without depending on a traditional centralised storage controller.

At the core of Ceph is RADOS, a distributed object storage system managed by Object Storage Daemons. Other services build on this foundation, including CephFS for shared file access, RADOS Block Device for virtual disks and RADOS Gateway for object storage interfaces.

CephFS introduces Metadata Servers to manage filesystem namespaces and coordinate file operations. File contents reside in RADOS, allowing filesystem data to benefit from Ceph’s distributed placement and protection mechanisms.

Ceph is suitable for private clouds, virtualisation infrastructure, shared storage and large data platforms that require several storage interfaces.

This is free and open source software.

Key Features

• CephFS provides a POSIX-compatible shared filesystem using Linux kernel and FUSE clients.
• Supports multiple active CephFS Metadata Servers to scale metadata-intensive workloads.
• Offers directory snapshots, subvolumes and filesystem quotas.
• Provides block storage through RADOS Block Device (RBD).
• Includes RADOS Gateway with S3-compatible object storage interfaces.
• Supports replicated and erasure-coded storage pools.
• Uses the CRUSH algorithm to distribute data across storage devices and failure domains.
• Provides automatic recovery and rebalancing when cluster membership changes.
• Supports authentication and access controls through CephX.
• Offers cluster monitoring, management dashboards and administrative command-line tools.
• Supports multiple storage classes and device types within the same infrastructure.

Website: ceph.io
Support:
Developer: Ceph community
License: GNU Lesser General Public License v2.1

Ceph is written in C++. Learn C++ with our recommended free books and free tutorials.

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