Hands-On Ceph
Build, Operate & Maintain Ceph Storage with 25 Real-World Labs
Complete hands-on guide to Ceph storage: architecture, Cephadm deployment, CRUSH maps, RBD, CephFS, RGW, and Day-2 operations through 25 real-world labs.
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About this book
Hands-On Ceph is the ultimate practical guide for learning Ceph storage through real-world labs. From RADOS to CephFS and RGW, you’ll explore how to design, deploy, and operate scalable, fault-tolerant storage clusters in production using Ceph Squid (19.2.x) with Cephadm and containerized daemons.
The book is organized in three parts: Part I builds the conceptual foundation (RADOS architecture, CRUSH algorithm, storage access methods, hardware planning). Part II turns that foundation into a working cluster through 25 structured labs covering pools, CRUSH maps, CephX security, and RBD/RGW/CephFS provisioning. Part III covers operations at scale: monitoring with Prometheus/Grafana, maintenance windows, OSD recovery, and node replacement procedures.
Based on training 1,000+ professionals and production deployments across Africa, Europe, and the Americas, this book uses a proven lab-first approach: you build a real cluster, break it, fix it, and operate it like production.
What you will learn
- Understand Ceph architecture: RADOS, CRUSH algorithm, pools, placement groups
- Deploy a complete Ceph cluster using Cephadm with containerized daemons
- Configure and customize CRUSH maps for intelligent data distribution
- Provision block (RBD), object (RGW), and file (CephFS) storage
- Manage snapshots, clones, and backups for each storage type
- Set up monitoring with Ceph Dashboard, Prometheus, and Grafana
- Perform Day-2 operations: maintenance mode, OSD recovery, node replacement
Table of contents
Show the full table of contents
- Part I: Foundations of Ceph
- Chapter 1: Introduction to Software-Defined Storage
- Chapter 2: Ceph Architecture Deep Dive
- Chapter 3: Data Distribution and Organization
- Chapter 4: Storage Access Methods
- Chapter 5: Hardware Planning and Infrastructure Design
- Part II: Building and Provisioning the Platform
- Chapter 6: Building Your First Ceph Cluster
- Chapter 7: Advanced Pool Management
- Chapter 8: Mastering CRUSH Maps
- Chapter 9: Security and Access Control
- Chapter 10: Storage Provisioning – RADOS, RGW & RBD
- Chapter 11: CephFS in Production
- Part III: Operating at Scale
- Chapter 12: Monitoring and Observability
- Chapter 13: Operations and Maintenance
- Appendices
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