[[chapter_hyper_converged_infrastructure]]
Hyper-converged Infrastructure
-==============================
+------------------------------
+
ifdef::wiki[]
:pve-toplevel:
endif::wiki[]
-{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.
+{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
+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 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.
+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).
+- 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.
+- 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.
+- 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].
+
+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]