Scale-out Block Setup (ceph)

Scale-out iSCSI Block Storage (Ceph based)

Minimum Hardware Requirements

• 3x QuantaStor storage appliances minimum (up to 64x appliances)
• 1x write endurance SSD device per appliance to make journal devices from. Have 1x SSD device for each 4x Ceph OSDs.
• 5x to 100x HDDs or SSD for data storage per appliance
• 1x hardware RAID controller for OSDs (SAS HBA can also be used but RAID is faster)

Setup Process

• Login to the QuantaStor web management interface on each appliance
• Add your license keys, one unique key for each appliance
• Setup static IP addresses on each node (DHCP is the default and should only be used to get the appliance initially setup)
• Right-click on the storage system, choose 'Modify Storage System..' and set the DNS IP address (eg: 8.8.8.8), and the NTP server IP address (important!)
• Setup separate front-end and back-end network ports (eg eth0 = 10.0.4.5/16, eth1 = 10.55.4.5/16) for iSCSI and Ceph traffic respectively
• Create a Grid out of the 3 appliances (use Create Grid then add the other two nodes using the Add Grid Node dialog)
• Create hardware RAID5 units using 5 disks per RAID unit (4d + 1p) on each node until all HDDs have been used (see Hardware Enclosures & Controllers section for Create Hardware RAID Unit)
• Create Ceph Cluster using all the appliances in your grid that will be part of the Ceph cluster, in this example of 3 appliances you'll select all three.
• Use OSD Multi-Create to setup all the storage, in that dialog you'll select some SSDs to be used as Journal Devices and the HDDs to be used for data storage across the cluster nodes. Once selected click OK and QuantaStor will do the rest.
• Create a scale-out storage pool by going to the Scale-out Block Storage section, then choose the Ceph Storage Pool section, then create a pool. It will automatically select all the available OSDs.
• Create a scale-out block storage device (RBD / RADOS Block Device) by choosing the 'Create Block Device/RBD' or by going to the Storage Management tab and choosing 'Create Storage Volume' and then select your Ceph Pool created in the previous step.

At this point everything is configured and a block device has been provisioned. To assign that block device to a host for access via iSCSI, you'll follow the same steps as you would for non-scale-out Storage Volumes.

• Go to the Hosts section then choose Add Host and enter the Initiator IQN or WWPN of the host that will be accessing the block storage.
• Right-click on the Host and choose Assign Volumes... to assign the scale-out storage volume(s) to the host.

Repeat the Storage Volume Create and Assign Volumes steps to provision additional storage and to assign it to one or more hosts.

Diagram of Completed Configuration