I really want to run ceph because it fits a number of criteria I have: gradually adding storage, mismatched disks, fault tolerance, erasure encoding, encryption, support out-of-the-box from other software (like Incus).

But then I look at the hardware suggestions, and they seem like an up-front investment and ongoing cost to keep at least three machines evenly matched on RAM and physical storage. I also want more of a single-box NAS.

Would it be idiotic to put a ceph setup all on one machine? I could run three mons on it with separate physical device backing each so I don’t lose everything from a disk failure with those. I’m not too concerned about speed or network partitioning, this would be lukewarm storage for me.

    • Avid Amoeba@lemmy.ca
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      8 months ago

      What you lose in space, you gain in redundancy. As long as you’re not looking for the absolute least redundant setup, it’s not a bad tradeoff. Typically running a large stripe array with a single redundancy disk isn’t a great idea. And if you’re running mirrors anyway, you don’t lose any additional space to redundancy.

    • bastion@feddit.nl
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      8 months ago

      No matter what setup you use, if you want redundancy, it’ll cost space. In a perfect world, 30% waste would allow you to lose up to 30% of your disk space and still be OK.

      …but that extra percentage of used space is the intrinsic cost.