What is Ceph Ready Nodes ??

Ceph Ready Nodes is when IBM Storage Ready Nodes uses IBM Ceph Storage  as software.
These nodes are x86 compute servers sourced from select IBM partners. These servers are pre-configured, tested, and certified by IBM to run IBM Storage Ceph software.

They represent an integrated hardware and software solution, combining compute power with IBM Storage technology in a single, unified offering. The goal is to simplify procurement, deployment, and support, allowing clients to purchase both hardware and software as a single solution, where hardware serves to expand the reach of IBM Storage Ceph software.

What are IBM Storage Ready Nodes ?

IBM Storage Ready Nodes are industry standard servers that can be installed in most any standard rack.

Ready Nodes are sold and supported as a complete package, providing a streamlined transaction model for clients.

What do customers get when they opt for IBM Storage Ready Nodes?

Support from a single source -

Each IBM Storage Ready Node comes with IBM support and maintenance. The same support that you receive from your storage software. That means that problems are resolved faster without the need to determine if the issue is software or hardware. IBM Storage Ready Nodes are intended to be only used with IBM Storage software and a corresponding software option should be purchased with a Ready Node configuration.

Solutions that can be customised for your needs -

From the edge to the core data center to the public cloud, IBM and its business partners can work along side you to plan, advise, and execute your IT infrastructure and digital transformation journey. We stay with you every step of the way, linking people, process, and technology to accelerate innovation and achieve optimal business outcomes.

Deployment and upgrade assistance when you need it -

To make your IT investments as productive as possible, IBM and its Business Partners can provide smart planning, bulletproof data migration, upgrade assistance and high performance and reliability optimisation assistance.

What are the software options for IBM Storage Ready Nodes?

Customers can choose from below 3 software offerings :

     IBM Storage Defender IBM -

            Storage Defender is a software suite for data resiliency.

     IBM Storage Ceph -

            IBM Storage Ceph is a multi-workload enterprise data platform, to build, modernise and deploy applications at scale for data and AI workloads.

     IBM Cloud Object Storage -

            IBM Cloud Object Storage is a geo-dispersed multi-site object store for cloud scale secondary data in the data center for data and AI workloads.

What are the Storage Ceph with Storage Ready Node Specifications ?

Ready node supports the following hardware -
     Dell PowerEdge R750 X2D
     Dell PowerEdge R760 X5D
     Dell PowerEdge R760 X6D

What is the smallest configuration supported for Ceph Ready Nodes?

The smallest configuration and least number of nodes would consist of 4 nodes with 3X redundancy or EC 2+2

This yields no downtime or data loss if a node become unavailable and also yields the fastest performance for a configuration.

For max capacity, was is the recommended configuration?

For max capacity with highest efficiency with no downtime or data loss if 2 nodes are unavailable the minimal configuration would include 7 nodes. 

This 7 node configuration using 4TB disks will yield 512TB of usable storage and is an excellent choice for deployment of IBM watsonx.data which includes 768TB raw capacity of capacity

When capacity is expanded the system usually also experiences a performance increase and all expansions can de done without any production downtime to users accessing the IBM Storage Ceph cluster.

Where to use IBM Storage Ready Nodes with IBM Storage Ceph?

Storage Infrastructure with IBM watsonx.data -

Watsonx.data makes it possible for enterprises to scale AI workloads using all their data with a fit-for-purpose data lakehouse architecture optimized for governed data and AI workloads, supported by querying, governance, and open data formats to access and share data. This is based on open-source technologies, including Presto and Iceberg. IBM Storage Ceph provides the storage infrastructure for a watsonx.data on-premises deployment.

Object storage as-a-service and cloud native applications -

IBM Storage Ceph with IBM Storage Ready Nodes is ideal for implementing an object storage service, with proven scalability and performance for both small and large object storage. With the open standards approach to object storage and the S3 interface, new and existing applications are easy to integrate with support for the latest S3 APIs and capabilities. Applications can access their storage with the same application API, in public, private, or hybrid clouds.