Leverage OpenStack Swift and Ceph
Overview
Your choices in public cloud solutions can significantly impact your organization’s operational efficiency and bottom line. Rumble Cloud, built on OpenStack, offers a robust and versatile public cloud solution designed to meet your needs. Rumble Cloud seamlessly integrates OpenStack Swift and Ceph to provide a comprehensive and efficient storage solution.
What is OpenStack Swift?
Swift is an object storage system within OpenStack. Think of it as a way to store large amounts of data across many servers, ensuring that even if some servers fail, your data is safe and accessible.
Key points:
- Scalability: Swift can grow with your business by adding more servers as needed.
- Durability: Your data is replicated across multiple locations, so hardware failures don’t mean data loss.
- Ease of use: Swift is accessible through the Rumble Cloud console user interface, making it easy to manage your object storage needs.
- Command line access: Swift can also be operated using the OpenStack RESTful API or the OpenStack Client for command line operations.
What is Ceph?
Ceph is another object storage solution that offers advanced features like S3-compatible APIs, which can be crucial for applications already using Amazon’s S3 storage.
Key Points:
- Advanced Features: Ceph’s S3-compatible APIs enable additional S3 actions, enhancing integration capabilities.
- Flexibility: This flexibility can be beneficial if your business needs evolve.
What is S3?
Amazon Simple Storage Service (S3) is a scalable, high-speed, web-based cloud storage service designed for online backup and archiving of data and applications on Amazon Web Services (AWS). S3 was one of the first cloud storage services, setting a standard for object storage solutions. The S3 API has become a widely adopted standard, allowing different cloud storage solutions, such as Ceph, to offer S3-compatible APIs that enable seamless integration with applications initially designed for AWS S3.
How Does Rumble Cloud Integrate These Technologies?
Rumble Cloud leverages both Swift and Ceph to offer a comprehensive storage solution. Here’s how:
- Unified management: Swift is managed through the Rumble Cloud console, making it easy for users to interact with object storage.
- API access: Ceph is accessed via its S3-compatible APIs, allowing for advanced storage actions and seamless integration with existing S3-based applications.
- App credentials: Rumble Cloud enables end users to create app credentials for S3, which can then be used with tools like s3cmd, facilitating easy and secure access to object storage.
- Scalability and flexibility: Using Swift for basic object storage and Ceph for advanced S3 actions ensures that you can scale your storage as your business grows and adapt to new requirements.
- Reliability: The combination of these technologies ensures high availability and data durability, so you can trust that your data is always safe and accessible.
Use Cases for Ceph API
Here are some practical scenarios where Ceph’s S3-compatible APIs can be utilized, focusing on the available methods and operations:
Object storage management:
- PutObject: Upload objects to your storage
- GetObject: Retrieve objects from storage
- DeleteObject: Remove objects when they are no longer needed
- ListObjects: List objects within a bucket for easy management
Advanced object operations:
- Multipart Upload: Efficiently upload large objects in parts, improving performance and reliability
- CopyObject: Create a copy of an existing object within the storage system
- RestoreObject: Temporarily restore objects from the archive for short-term access
Bucket management:
- CreateBucket: Set up new storage buckets to organize and manage your data
- DeleteBucket: Remove buckets that are no longer in use to keep your storage organized
- ListBuckets: Get a list of all buckets in your account for a comprehensive view of your storage
Access control and security:
- PutBucketPolicy: Define and apply policies to control access to your buckets
- GetBucketPolicy: Retrieve the current access policies for auditing and review
- PutBucketCors: Configure Cross-Origin Resource Sharing (CORS) to manage web access to your buckets
How Ceph and Swift Interact on the API Level
In Rumble Cloud, both OpenStack Swift and Ceph provide robust object storage solutions, but they serve slightly different purposes and interact at the API level to offer complementary capabilities. Here’s how they interact and which one takes precedence in prominent use cases:
- Basic object storage: For straightforward object storage tasks like uploading, downloading, and listing objects, OpenStack Swift, accessible via the Rumble Cloud console and RESTful API, is typically the go-to solution.
- Advanced object operations: When your needs extend to more advanced operations such as multipart uploads, object copying, or S3-compatible interactions, Ceph’s APIs come into play. Ceph is accessed through S3-compatible APIs, making it suitable for applications that require these advanced capabilities.
- End-user application integration: If end users need to integrate with tools like s3cmd or require S3-compatible app credentials, Ceph is used. Rumble Cloud allows the creation of S3 app credentials specifically for this purpose.
Service Comparison Table
| Feature | OpenStack Swift (via GUI) | Ceph (via APIs) |
|---|---|---|
| Scalability | High | High |
| Durability | High | High |
| Accessibility | Rumble Cloud console | S3-Compatible APIs |
| Supported Actions | Basic object storage actions | Advanced S3 actions (e.g., multipart upload) |
| Integration | Integrated into Rumble Cloud console | Compatible with S3-based applications |
| Use Case | Simple object storage | Advanced object storage needs |
| App Credentials | Not applicable | Supported (for tools like s3cmd) |
Comparing Rumble Cloud to AWS S3
Comparing Rumble Cloud to other major services like AWS S3 can be helpful when evaluating public cloud solutions. Here’s how they stack up:
| Feature | Rumble Cloud | AWS S3 |
|---|---|---|
| Scalability | High | High |
| Durability | High | High |
| Accessibility | Rumble Cloud Console, APIs | AWS Management Console, APIs |
| Supported Actions | Basic and advanced S3 actions | Basic and advanced S3 actions |
| Integration | S3-compatible APIs, OpenStack | Native AWS integrations |
| App Credentials | Supported (for tools like s3cmd) | Supported |
| Cost Structure | No charges for provisioning, usage, or data transfer | Pay-per-use for storage, data transfer, and requests |
| Included Benefits | 1 TB of storage, unlimited data transfer | No included benefits |
| Custom Service Packages | Available | Available |
Results
Cost efficiency and financial benefits
Unlike many other major cloud services that rely on a consumption-based model, Rumble Cloud does not charge for the provisioning of storage, usage, or data transfer. This pricing model offers several significant benefits from a FinOps perspective:
- Predictable costs: With Rumble Cloud, you can avoid unexpected expenses typically associated with data transfer and usage. This predictability simplifies budgeting and financial planning.
- Cost savings: Eliminating charges for provisioning, usage, and data transfer can result in substantial cost savings, especially for businesses with high storage and transfer needs.
- Simplified billing: A straightforward billing model without variable charges reduces complexity and administrative overhead, making it easier to manage and understand your cloud expenses.
Why it Matters
The choice of storage technology can impact both operational efficiency and cost. By using Rumble Cloud, you get scalable and reliable storage without the high costs associated with proprietary solutions. The flexibility of Ceph and the robustness of Swift ensure that your storage solution can adapt as your business and technology needs evolve.
Rumble Cloud includes 1 TB of object storage and unlimited data transfer, providing substantial value right from the start. Need more storage? No problem. Rumble Cloud offers additional storage with custom service package options to meet your growing needs.
With no charges for storage provisioning, usage, or data transfer, Rumble Cloud offers a financially advantageous model compared to consumption-based cloud services. Rumble Cloud’s integration of OpenStack Swift and Ceph offers a versatile, reliable, and cost-effective storage solution tailored to meet the dynamic needs of your business.
