1 [[chapter_hyper_converged_infrastructure]]
2 Hyper-converged Infrastructure
3 ------------------------------
9 {pve} is a virtualization platform that tightly integrates compute, storage and
10 networking resources, manages highly available clusters, backup/restore as well
11 as disaster recovery. All components are software-defined and compatible with
14 Therefore it is possible to administrate them like a single system via the
15 centralized web management interface. These capabilities make {pve} an ideal
16 choice to deploy and manage an open source
17 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyper-converged_infrastructure[hyper-converged infrastructure].
19 Benefits of a Hyper-Converged Infrastructure (HCI) with {pve}
20 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
22 A hyper-converged infrastructure (HCI) is especially useful for deployments in
23 which a high infrastructure demand meets a low administration budget, for
24 distributed setups such as remote and branch office environments or for virtual
25 private and public clouds.
27 HCI provides the following advantages:
29 - Scalability: seamless expansion of compute, network and storage devices (i.e.
30 scale up servers and storage quickly and independently from each other).
32 - Low cost: {pve} is open source and integrates all components you need such as
33 compute, storage, networking, backup, and management center. It can replace
34 an expensive compute/storage infrastructure.
36 - Data protection and efficiency: services such as backup and disaster recovery
39 - Simplicity: easy configuration and centralized administration.
41 - Open Source: No vendor lock-in.
44 Hyper-Converged Infrastructure: Storage
45 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
47 {pve} has tightly integrated support for deploying a hyper-converged storage
48 infrastructure. You can, for example, deploy and manage the following two
49 storage technologies by using the web interface only:
51 - *Ceph*: a both self-healing and self-managing shared, reliable and highly
52 scalable storage system. Checkout
53 xref:chapter_pveceph[how to manage Ceph services on {pve} nodes]
55 - *ZFS*: a combined file system and logical volume manager with extensive
56 protection against data corruption, various RAID modes, fast and cheap
57 snapshots - among other features. Find out
58 xref:chapter_zfs[how to leverage the power of ZFS on {pve} nodes].
60 Besides above, {pve} has support to integrate a wide range of
61 additional storage technologies. You can find out about them in the
62 xref:chapter_storage[Storage Manager chapter].
69 * xref:chapter_pveceph[pveceph - Manage Ceph Services on Proxmox VE Nodes]