Ceph Storage Gets Solid Endorsement, Certification from Red Hat

Ceph, an open source, software-defined storage system that is starting to make a big impact in cloud deployments, is already well-known to many Ubuntu Linux users and administrators.  Now, with a new version 1.1 of Ceph Enterprise it's also certified for the Red Hat Enterprise Linux OpenStack Platform. That platform is Red Hat's offering for building hybrid clouds based on OpenStack, and will give Ceph Enterprise more momentum.

Ceph is a massively scalable, open source, software-defined storage system that is playing a big role in many cloud computing deployments, as Patrick McGarry made clear in a guest post on OStatic.  He noted: "Ceph, in particular, is one of these interesting pieces that plugs into both CloudStack and OpenStack.  It has the potential to transform the storage industry just like the use of commodity hardware transformed the cloud industry.  Built on the idea of using commodity hardware, Ceph's innovative approach to reliability and near-infinite scalability delivers a storage platform unlike any other."

That's what has caught Red Hat's eye, and with certification to work with Red Hat's OpenStack platform, Ceph will be making its way into many new users' hands. According to an anouncement from Inktank, the company already grew its customer base for Ceph solutions by 294 percent last year, with OpenStack playing a key role in the growth:

"Fueled by aggressive demand for Ceph-based OpenStack storage solutions and an expanding list of OEM and reseller partnerships, this growth is evidence of Ceph's momentum and demonstrates the value of Inktank's enterprise products and services."

"Ceph adoption increased sharply in 2013, as it became the de-facto storage platform for service providers and enterprises deploying public or private clouds, particularly alongside OpenStack. In October, the OpenStack User Survey revealed Ceph as the most popular option for distributed block storage amongst OpenStack users, who are increasingly turning to Inktank for enterprise solutions. Innovative technology, financial, telecommunications, and academic organizations are among those that joined Inktank's growing customer list in 2013."

Meanwhile, Inktank has also launched its Inktank University, "a practical training program designed to meet the education needs of Inktank customers and the Ceph community." The University's courses, offered both virtually and in-person, are intended to allow anyone to learn the implementation, operation and maintenance of Ceph systems in an instructor-led classroom setting. There is a general course on Ceph and OpenStack, and one focusing on storage solutions for OpenStack deployments.