August, 2023
IBM releases IBM Storage Ceph version 6.1
With this new release, our clients get more ease of use, enhanced performance, new security features and further integration with business applications and protocols.
IBM releases GA version 6.1 of IBM Storage Ceph
This is a major IBM Storage Ceph release update, since version 5.3 which was presented earlier, in March 2023. IBM Storage Ceph 6.1 is now general available.
Although this release is labeled 6.1, it indeed concerns a major release. IBM namely did not release a 6.0 version and this 6.1 release is the next major update after version 5.3, which was released earlier in March of 2023.
What is IBM Storage Ceph?
IBM Storage Ceph is a massively scalable, open, software-defined storage platform that combines the most stable version of the Ceph storage system with a Ceph management platform, deployment utilities, and IBM support services. IBM Storage Ceph can run on any RHEL supported X86 industry standard server hardware.
Use cases and workloads
IBM Storage Ceph is a scale out, software defined storage platform that can provide unified storage: AWS compatible S3 storage, block- and file storage.
Here are a few examples of possible use cases:
- · Object Storage as-a-service – S3 storage for on-premises and hybrid cloud
- · Data lake for AI/ML and Data analytics – supporting high-demanding workloads
- · Cloud native (S3) Data pipelines – using bucket notifications to trigger process chains
- · Active archive and nearline storage – scale-out archive store and offload to cloud
What is new?
Multiple new features and enhancements are introduced with this new release:
Functional updates
• Extended functionalities for object management and more:
- Cephadm support for RADOS Gateway multi-site
- Multi-site replication with bucket granularity
- Policy based data archive and/or migration to public cloud
- Recovery throughput metrics on UI dashboard landing page
- Support for IBM Storage Ceph on VMware platforms, for DR purposes
- NFS support for non-native clients to access CephFS volumes (Tech preview in 6.1)
- NFS support on top of Rados gateway (Tech preview in 6.1)
Performance updates
- Quality of Service (QoS) for Ceph internal services
- S3 Select Parquet support for Rados Gateway (RGW)
Security updates
- Security Key rotation support in Ceph, for external consumers
This allows external key rotation management, for CephX, Ceph's internal authentication
- Server-side encryption extension with new encryption options:
- SSE-C, SSE-KMS and SSE-S3, Putbucket encryption API
- Fscrypt support for CephFS
Efficiency update
N+2 upgrade capability
This means that clients now have an option to skip one major release update and upgrade to a next release level, without having to run through earlier release increments first. In example, future upgrades will be feasible from version 5 to 7, without having to go through version 6 in between first.
Reduction of individual server interruptions, when major upgrades are being carried out.
Note that IBM Storage Ceph clusters can upgrade online and while in production, due to IBM Storage Ceph's solution architecture.
AI/ML and IBM watsonx.data
IBM Storage Ceph 6.1 is an ideal candidate storage for AI/ML types of workloads in common.
IBM watsonx.data also leverages Ceph storage, while it delivers both File and Object storage, typically used within open source AI/ML frameworks. It therefore comes included with watsonx.data
AL/ML platforms commonly involve open source applications where the storage part often also concerns an open source solution, connecting application data workloads by S3 object storage and/or filesystems for application scratch spaces. IBM Storage Ceph is an excellent choice for these situations.
IBM Storage Ceph software resources
IBM Storage Ceph 6.1 images and documentation are available now.
More information about IBM Storage Ceph
IBM Storage Ceph product website
https://www.ibm.com/products/ceph/
IBM Storage Ceph product documentation
https://www.ibm.com/docs/storage-ceph/
Why IBM?
Data matters. When planning high performance infrastructure for new or existing applications it’s easy to focus on compute resources and applications without proper planning for the data that will drive the results for the applications. Our products are all about solving hard problems faster with data.
IBM helps customers achieve business value with a clear data strategy. Our strategy is simple, unlock data to speed innovation, de-risk data to bring business resilience and help customers adopt green data to bring cost and energy efficiencies. Value needs to be delivered by connecting the multiple organizational data sources with business drivers to create business value that mean something to the organization. Many organizations focus on a single driver with a storage solution, but the best solution is driven by an infrastructure strategy than can accomplish most if not all the drivers for maximum benefits. Our story is not just about another storage product but is about innovation and a storage portfolio that is powered by our global data platform.
Contact IBM
https://www.ibm.com/contact#Contact+information