[[chapter_hyper_converged_infrastructure]]
Hyper-converged Infrastructure
-==============================
+------------------------------
+
ifdef::wiki[]
:pve-toplevel:
endif::wiki[]
-{pve} has all the
-https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyper-converged_infrastructure[Hyper-converged Infrastructure]
-capabilities needed to deploy and manage a complete open source hyper-converged
-infrastructure.
+{pve} is a virtualization platform that tightly integrates compute, storage and
+networking resources, manages highly available clusters, backup/restore as well
+as disaster recovery. All components are software-defined and compatible with
+one another.
+
+Therefore it is possible to administrate them like a single system via the
+centralized web management interface. These capabilities make {pve} an ideal
+choice to deploy and manage an open source
+https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyper-converged_infrastructure[hyper-converged infrastructure].
+
+Benefits of a Hyper-Converged Infrastructure (HCI) with {pve}
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+A hyper-converged infrastructure (HCI) is especially useful for deployments in
+which a high infrastructure demand meets a low administration budget, for
+distributed setups such as remote and branch office environments or for virtual
+private and public clouds.
+
+HCI provides the following advantages:
+
+- Scalability: seamless expansion of compute, network and storage devices (i.e.
+ scale up servers and storage quickly and independently from each other).
+
+- Low cost: {pve} is open source and integrates all components you need such as
+ compute, storage, networking, backup, and management center. It can replace
+ an expensive compute/storage infrastructure.
+
+- Data protection and efficiency: services such as backup and disaster recovery
+ are integrated.
+
+- Simplicity: easy configuration and centralized administration.
+
+- Open Source: No vendor lock-in.
+
+
+Hyper-Converged Infrastructure: Storage
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+{pve} has tightly integrated support for deploying a hyper-converged storage
+infrastructure. You can, for example, deploy and manage the following two
+storage technologies by using the Webinterface only:
+
+- *ceph*: a both, self-healing and self-managing shared, reliable and highly
+ scalable storage system. Checkout
+ xref:chapter_pveceph[how to manage ceph services on {pve} nodes]
+
+- *ZFS*: a combined file system and logical volume manager with extensive
+ protection against data corruption, various RAID modes, fast and cheap
+ snapshots - among other features. Find out
+ xref:chapter_zfs[how to leverage the power of ZFS on {pve} nodes].
-It integrates tightly compute, networking, and storage resources into
-a single deployment unit and you can manage everything with the
-centralized web management interface. {pve} unifies your compute
-and storage systems, i.e. you can use the same physical nodes within a
-cluster for both computing (processing VMs and Containers) as well as
-for replicated storage.
+Besides above, {pve} has support to integrate a wide range of
+additional storage technologies. You can find out about them in the
+xref:chapter_storage[Storage Manager chapter].
ifdef::wiki[]
See Also
---------
+~~~~~~~~
* xref:chapter_pveceph[pveceph - Manage Ceph Services on Proxmox VE Nodes]