Ceph training and upskilling - Task 059

Fit to programme

This task has been identified by the working groups as part of the agenda behind WP 2.3.

The task number is 059.

Summary

Ceph is an open source data storage platform. It is not typically used on traditional HPC systems, yet can be highly appropriate for deep data storage as it has potential to be cheap, even compared with Lustre, and offers flexibility for use with TREs, for data sharing, and for multiple tenancy. HPC RTPs are often not familiar with Ceph, and so this project will deliver e-learning content which is specifically aimed at HPC administrators and a training platform to facilitate improved familiarity with Ceph, which can be investigated with and experimented upon.

Methodology

Proposals for this project should deliver training with Ceph suitable for traditional HPC administrators, more used to parallel file systems such as Lustre. The different concepts should be explained, along with details about where each solution is most appropriate. Installation and administration e-learning content should be developed and hosted on the SHAREing website. This proposal should also deliver a training cluster which system administrators (RTPs) can experiment with, both installation, configuration and usage. A key outcome from this project will be increased fluency in Ceph, which is becoming more relevant for data sharing activities.

Outcomes

The key outputs will be a e-learning content placed on the SHAREing website, describing the installation, configuration and administration of Ceph systems in a language that is understood by traditional HPC system administrators. A key deliverable will be a test Ceph system which can be used for experimentation.