Install Ceph on Ubuntu

Ceph is a storage system designed for excellent performance, reliability, and scalability. However, the installation and management of Ceph can be challenging. The Ceph-on- Ubuntu solution takes the administration minutiae out of the equation through the use of Juju charms. With charms, the deployment of a Ceph cluster becomes trivial as does the scaling of the cluster’s storage capacity.

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Single-node deployment

Uses MicroCeph
Works on a workstation or VM
Suitable for testing and development

These installation instructions use MicroCeph - Ceph in a snap. MicroCeph is a pure upstream Ceph distribution designed for small scale and edge deployments, which can be installed and maintained with minimal knowledge and effort.

You will need a multi-core processor and at least 8GiB of memory and 100GB of disk space. MicroCeph has been tested on x86-based physical and virtual machines running Ubuntu 22.04 LTS.

To get started, install the MicroCeph snap with the following command on each node to be used in the cluster:
```
sudo snap install microceph
```
Then bootstrap the cluster:
```
sudo microceph cluster bootstrap
```
Check the cluster status with the following command:
```
sudo microceph.ceph status
```
Here you should see that there is a single node in the cluster.

To use MicroCeph as a single node, the default CRUSH rules need to be modified:

sudo microceph.ceph osd crush rule rm replicated_rule
sudo microceph.ceph osd crush rule create-replicated single default osd

Next, add some disks that will be used as OSDs:
```
sudo microceph disk add /dev/sd[x] --wipe
```
Repeat for each disk you would like to use as an OSD on that node, and additionally on the other nodes in the cluster. Cluster status can be verified using:
```
sudo microceph.ceph status
sudo microceph.ceph osd status
```

Multi-node deployment

Uses MicroCeph
Minimum 4-nodes, full-HA Ceph cluster
Suitable for small-scale production environments

You will need 4 physical machines with multi-core processors and at least 8GiB of memory and 100GB of disk space. MicroCeph has been tested on x86-based physical machines running Ubuntu 22.04 LTS.

To get started, install the MicroCeph snap with the following command on each node to be used in the cluster:
```
sudo snap install microceph
```
Then bootstrap the cluster from the first node:
```
sudo microceph cluster bootstrap
```
On the first node, add other nodes to the cluster:
```
sudo microceph cluster add node[x]
```
Copy the resulting output to be used on node[x]:
```
sudo microceph cluster join pasted-output-from-node1
```
Repeat these steps for each additional node you would like to add to the cluster.
Check the cluster status with the following command:
```
sudo microceph.ceph status
```
Next, add some disks to each node that will be used as OSDs:
```
sudo microceph disk add /dev/sd[x] --wipe
```
Repeat for each disk you would like to use as an OSD on that node, and additionally on the other nodes in the cluster. Cluster status can be verified using:
```
sudo microceph.ceph status
sudo microceph.ceph osd status
```

Containerised deployment

Uses a Canonical-supplied and maintained rock (OCI image)
Works with cephadm and rook
Suitable for all types of containerised deployments

These installation instructions use the Canonical produced and supplied Ceph rock — this OCI compliant image provides a drop in replacement for the upstream Ceph OCI image.

Read the container image documentation ›

Large-scale deployment

Uses Charmed Ceph
Uses MAAS for bare metal orchestration
Suitable for large-scale production environments

Charmed Ceph is Canonical's fully automated, model-driven approach to installing and managing Ceph. Charmed Ceph is generally deployed on bare-metal hardware that is managed by MAAS.

How to install Charmed Ceph ›

For more details, read the Ceph documentation ›

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