Ceph mds2 server (hot standby)
with additional backup storage

1 Overview

I’ll be using this additional computer server as a Ceph MDS hot standby server, which basically means I can access a Ceph filesystem even if the primary MDS server that I have (on a 10 GbE network) has a problem. In addition, I’ve added a 4 TB SSD that I can use for backups and similar purposes.

In comparison to some other small computers like the Intel NUC, which can be outfitted with (for example) 64GB RAM, 2.5GB LAN, and a faster processor, the combination shown below presents a good value for being just 8GB RAM, and 1GB LAN.

2 Parts

There are just three items to order. The computer case, the Single Board Computer (SBC), and the additional M.2 NVME storage.

Here are more details on the 4TB SSD:

    Form Factor: M.2 2280
    Capacity: 4TB
    Memory Components: 3D NAND
    Option: P3

3 Operating System (OS)

3.1 Installation

You’ll need a USB thumb drive to install Ubuntu 22.04.2 LTS, or another OS of your choice.

Press F7 on the keyboard for the boot options.

On my system I had about 3.87 TB of usable storage, using an XFS filesystem.