Français
Ceph : Features, Installation, and Benefits
Introduction
Ceph is currently one of the best open-source solutions for enterprises for managing distributed storage. It is a highly scalable software storage system designed to provide exceptional replication, resilience, and performance for cloud environments, particularly those powered by OpenStack.
In this review, we will analyze its features, explain how to install it, compare it to other distributed storage solutions, and evaluate its usefulness for developers, system administrators, and IT architects.
What problems does Ceph solve?
Most commercial distributed storage solutions are expensive, rigid, or non-transparent. Ceph, as an open-source service, addresses several major challenges:
| Common Problem | How Ceph Solves It |
|---|---|
| High cost of proprietary solutions | Ceph is 100% open source, eliminating the licensing fees of commercial solutions. |
| Lack of resilience to failures | Thanks to automatic replication and rebalancing, Ceph ensures native fault tolerance. |
| Lack of integration with cloud infrastructures | Ceph is natively compatible with OpenStack, Kubernetes, and other orchestrators. |
| Fragmented storage (separate object, block, file) | Ceph offers unified storage: objects (RGW), blocks (RBD), and files (CephFS) under a single cluster. |
| Lack of transparency in closed systems | Ceph's source code is open, auditable, and supported by a large open-source community. |
| Limitations of horizontal scalability | Ceph can grow infinitely, simply by adding nodes—without interrupting the service. |
Ceph allows enterprises to have unified storage (blocks, objects, files) under a single software layer.
Key features and capabilities
| Category | Features |
|---|---|
| Interface & Administration | - Robust and complete command-line interface (CLI) - Ceph Dashboard web interface - RESTful API for third-party integration |
| Performance | - Low latency for block volumes (RBD) - Optimized bandwidth for Big Data loads - SSD cache support |
| Customization | - Data placement rules with CRUSH Maps - Custom extensions and scripts - Plugins for Kubernetes, OpenStack, etc. |
| Security | - Data encryption at rest via dm-crypt - Mutual authentication with CephX - Network isolation between components |
How to install and configure?
Here are the main steps to set up a minimal Ceph cluster:
- Download the packages from the official Ceph website.
- Install the packages on your nodes (Monitor, OSD, MGR, etc.).
- Run the ceph-deploy script or use Ansible (ceph-ansible) to automate the installation.
- Create storage pools for each use (block, object, file).
- Configure the Ceph Dashboard for real-time monitoring.
- Connect your clients via RBD, CephFS, or RGW.
Ceph is compatible with Ubuntu, Debian, CentOS, Rocky Linux, and even container-oriented distributions like Fedora CoreOS.
Use cases for Ceph
Here are some concrete adoption scenarios in the industry: Ceph is appealing for its reliability, cloud compatibility, and the quality of its free software support, particularly in critical environments.
Lyon University Hospital: Uses Ceph for secure storage of medical images via OpenStack Swift.
European Bank: Deploys Ceph for its multisite resilience, ensuring high availability of client VMs.
Video Streaming Startup: Manages its multimedia files with Ceph RGW in S3-compatible mode.
Comparison with alternatives
| Feature | Ceph | GlusterFS | MinIO |
|---|---|---|---|
| Open Source | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| OpenStack Integration | ✅ (Cinder, Nova) | ❌ | ❌ |
| Object Storage | ✅ (RGW/S3) | ❌ | ✅ (S3 only) |
| Block Storage | ✅ (RBD) | ❌ | ❌ |
| File Storage | ✅ (CephFS) | ✅ | ❌ |
| Linear Scalability | ✅ | Medium | Good |
| IOPS Performance | Hight | Medium | Hight |
| Advanced Security (auth/encryption) | ✅ | Partial | Medium |
| Community Support | Very active | Active | Active |
Advantages and disadvantages
| Advantages | Disadvantages |
|---|---|
| ✅ Free and open source | ❌ Steep learning curve |
| ✅ Unified storage (object, block, file) | ❌ Requires significant system resources |
| ✅ Automatic fault resilience | ❌ Complex initial configuration |
| ✅ Unlimited horizontal scalability | ❌ Requires a robust network architecture |
Conclusion
Ceph is aimed at enterprises, public institutions, cloud providers, and large clusters needing flexibility, scalability, and security in their storage solution. Its compatibility with OpenStack and Kubernetes makes it a central tool in cloud-native architectures.
If you are looking for an open-source license that is robust and capable of adapting to complex environments, Ceph deserves serious attention.
