Ceph is an open source distributed object store, network block device, and file system. Ceph can be used for object storage through its S3-compatible REST interface. It can also provide storage for network block devices, with the thin provisioning and copy-on-write cloning features necessary to support large-scale virtualization. With the Folsom release, Cinder makes block storage for backing VMs a first class feature in OpenStack. Block devices can be created from images stored in Glance, and with RBD behind both, new VMs can be created faster while using less space. This session will cover the current status of the integration, and discuss the technical implications and the advantages of block storage within the OpenStack cloud operating system.
