Red Hat Ceph Storage 2: New Features, OpenStack Integration & Performance Highlights

Ceph Storage 2 Version Updates

Red Hat recently released the next‑generation open software‑defined storage platform, Red Hat Ceph Storage 2, built on the Ceph Jewel release. The update adds multi‑site capabilities with a global namespace, allowing a single cluster to be accessed by all users across locations.

Authentication support is expanded to include Active Directory, LDAP, and OpenStack Identity (Keystone) v3, strengthening security through tighter integration with identity systems.

Compatibility with Amazon S3 and OpenStack Object Storage (Swift) is improved, adding support for AWS Signature Version 4, object versioning, bulk delete, and other features.

For detailed Ceph architecture, see the referenced article (http://mp.weixin.qq.com/s?__biz=MzAxNzU3NjcxOA==∣=2650714388&idx=1&sn=83fab1ffd790bd40af4c4322025f1115#wechat_redirect) which outlines the overall Ceph framework, client interfaces, metadata daemon, and object storage daemon.

The new version also introduces Red Hat Storage Console 2, a graphical management and monitoring tool that displays cluster health, performance, capacity, and utilization.

Performance improvements are demonstrated with Sandisk InfiniFlash on Ubuntu, delivering over one million random read IOPS when paired with the InfiniFlash System IF150, meeting the demands of cloud platforms and enterprise workloads.

Ceph’s Role in OpenStack

OpenStack, a leading open‑source cloud computing solution, relies heavily on Ceph for storage. Ceph serves as the default backend for the Cinder block storage service and integrates with other OpenStack projects such as Swift, Glance, and Nova.

In the block storage layer, Ceph’s RBD driver is embedded directly into QEMU, enabling efficient access to RBD‑based block devices for virtual machines.

For image management, Ceph RBD is integrated with LibVirt and QEMU, allowing OpenStack to use Ceph as a local image cache for Glance.

In the object storage domain, Ceph competes with Swift and is being considered as an alternative backend.

For compute, UnitedStack (based on OpenStack) promotes CephFS as the local filesystem for Nova compute nodes.

Major vendors and OpenStack community members—including HP, Dell, Intel, Mirantis, eNovance, and UnitedStack—have adopted Ceph as a preferred open‑source storage solution.

Choosing between Ceph and native OpenStack storage depends on workload requirements: Ceph excels in mixed scenarios offering object, block, and file storage, while native OpenStack solutions may be preferred for pure object or file use cases due to maturity considerations.

2016 China Open Source Storage Summit

The article notes the upcoming “2016 China Open Source Storage Summit” hosted by Red Hat, Intel, and ZD to Top on August 5, featuring experts discussing future storage trends, open‑source versus proprietary models, distributed versus centralized architectures, and software‑defined versus hardware‑centric storage.