In recent years, the way people access websites has undergone a significant change. Also, with social media platforms playing an important role in determining site traffic and eventually business, it is essential for websites to stay on the top of their game with respect to security and integrity of data. Hence, storage architecture plays a crucial role in the overall performance of a site. In this article, we will talk about Ceph storage and its impact on Cloud Hosting.

What is Ceph Storage?

Ceph Storage is a file system that is designed for the Linux OS. It is a unified, open-source, and software-defined cloud storage system. Ceph allows you to store millions of Gigabytes of data. It uses the CRUSH algorithm, which distributes the data evenly across all clusters. Here are some features of Ceph which make it better for Cloud Hosting services:

• Redundancy in Storage

One of the primary features of Ceph is that it can replicate your data without using any additional hardware. In fact, it automatically replicates data thrice over the SSD field. This makes it a highly redundant storage solution.

In order to protect any data loss due to unforeseen circumstances, Ceph stores your data in erasure-coded pools after replicating it. Let’s understand how erasure coding benefits you:

• Erasure Coding

Erasure coding, in simple terms, is a process by which Ceph fragments your data into small chunks and stores it in a distributed manner after encoding it. In case of any incident, it retrieves the missing pieces and re-constructs your data.

Here is an example:

Once you upload your data, Ceph breaks it down into ‘a’ chunks and adds ‘b’ number of codes for protection. Therefore, after the entire coding process, you have a total number of ‘c’ chunks (where c = a + b).

In case of an incident, Ceph retrieves the lost ‘a’ and/or ‘b’ pieces to re-construct your data.

• Optimal Utilization of Storage Resources

Ceph uses thin provisioning for optimal utilization of storage resources. Hence, storage resources are not consumed unless data is written, which increases the efficiency of the storage system. Let’s understand thin provisioning a little better:

Tom runs three services, namely, emails, media, and programs. These need to be saved on a disk. In a traditional storage system, a fixed space is allotted to each service. This means that space cannot be used for anything else except the service assigned. Hence, it can lead to wastage of disk space if it is not completely utilized. On the other hand, in thin provisioning, space is allotted only when required making it a more efficient storage solution.

Summing Up

Ceph also offers several other benefits like snapshots, fault tolerance, and self-healing, which make it the right choice of storage solution for cloud hosting. Therefore, you might want to talk to your hosting provider about the type of storage architecture before signing the dotted line. If he is using Ceph, then you can be assured of a reliable, cost-efficient and secure hosting service.