Cloud Storage With Red Hat Ceph Storage (CL260): The Complete Guide for Prospective Students and IT Professionals

Course overview

Red Hat Ceph Storage is a leading open-source, software-defined storage platform used widely in enterprise data centers, high-performance computing environments, OpenStack infrastructure, and hybrid cloud deployments. As organizations scale their storage needs, the demand for qualified professionals who understand how to deploy, tune, and manage Ceph clusters continues to grow.

Cloud Storage With Red Hat Ceph Storage (CL260) is an intensive, 5-day, instructor-led course designed to equip storage administrators and cloud engineers with the practical skills required to build, operate, and integrate Red Hat Ceph Storage in modern cloud and enterprise environments.

If you want to understand what the CL260 course covers, whether it suits your career goals, and how it helps you deploy scalable and reliable storage solutions, this guide provides a detailed explanation. It includes the syllabus, learning outcomes, skills gained, job relevance, and typical use cases—along with motivation for why students enroll in this training.

What Is Red Hat Ceph Storage?

Before evaluating the course itself, it is useful to understand Ceph. Ceph is a distributed storage platform designed to provide unified object, block, and file storage in a single environment. It offers:

• Massive scalability to petabytes and beyond

• Fault-tolerant data replication and erasure coding

• Self-healing and automated rebalancing

• Open-source flexibility

• Integration with Red Hat OpenStack Platform and OpenShift

• Compatibility with S3, Swift, RBD, and POSIX file systems

Red Hat Ceph Storage 5.0—the version covered in this course—builds on upstream Ceph Octopus/Quincy architecture and introduces enhanced performance, containerized daemons, refined management interfaces, and stronger integration with hybrid cloud workloads.

Ceph has become a strategic component for organizations running:

• Private and hybrid cloud environments

• High-volume object storage workloads

• Distributed file systems

• Scalable VM and container block storage

• Cloud-native or container-native applications

This growth fuels demand for professionals who can deploy and maintain Ceph clusters effectively.

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Who Should Enroll in CL260?

The CL260 course is purpose-built for technical professionals responsible for designing or managing enterprise-scale storage environments. You should consider enrolling if your role includes:

• Storage Administration

• Cloud Engineering

• Infrastructure Operations

• DevOps Engineering

• Linux System Administration

• OpenStack or OpenShift Administration

• Data Center Engineering

Typical learners include:

• Administrators migrating from traditional SAN/NAS storage

• Teams deploying Ceph as part of OpenStack or OpenShift clusters

• Cloud architects implementing cost-efficient, horizontally scalable storage

• Engineers responsible for performance optimization or cluster troubleshooting

The course assumes a working knowledge of Linux system administration and familiarity with general storage concepts.

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Course Format and Delivery

• Duration: 5 days

• Format: Instructor-led, hands-on labs

• Language: English

• Materials Included: Official Red Hat training content and downloadable PDF

• Version Covered: Red Hat Ceph Storage 5.0

The structure combines theory with extensive lab work, ensuring participants learn how to deploy and manage a live Ceph cluster.

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Why This Course Matters in Today’s IT Landscape

1. Enterprise Storage Is Moving Toward Software-Defined Architectures

Many data centers migrate away from traditional SAN/NAS appliances due to cost, vendor lock-in, and scalability constraints. Ceph allows enterprises to run storage services on commodity hardware, reducing cost while improving resiliency.

2. Hybrid Cloud Adoption Requires Flexible Storage

Whether it is VM, container, or object storage, organizations need consistent storage across on-premises and cloud environments. Ceph’s S3-compatible object storage and RBD block storage make it valuable for hybrid architectures.

3. Ceph Is a Key Component of OpenStack

OpenStack operators rely heavily on Ceph for:

• Cinder block volumes

• Glance images

• Swift-compatible object storage

• Manila shared file systems

Anyone working in OpenStack-based clouds benefits significantly from Ceph proficiency.

4. Container Storage Is Growing Rapidly

CephFS and RBD integrate tightly with OpenShift Container Platform. As containerized workloads grow, the need for dynamic and scalable storage increases.

5. Skilled Ceph Administrators Are in High Demand

Ceph clusters are powerful but complex. Organizations need administrators who can:

• Ensure cluster health

• Troubleshoot performance issues

• Develop scaling strategies

• Optimize CRUSH maps

• Design redundancy and data placement policies

This course directly prepares learners for these responsibilities.

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CL260 Course Objectives

Upon completion, participants should be able to:

• Deploy Red Hat Ceph Storage clusters on commodity servers

• Manage and configure cluster architecture

• Create and manage OSDs, pools, and placement targets

• Configure object, block, and file storage for clients

• Use the web-based management interface for monitoring

• Integrate Ceph with OpenStack and OpenShift environments

• Analyze and tune cluster performance metrics

• Perform maintenance and handle component failures

This is a highly practical course focused on real-world cluster operations.

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Detailed Course Outline (Expanded Explanation)

Below is a comprehensive breakdown of each module in the course.

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1. Introducing Red Hat Ceph Storage Architecture

What You Learn

This module provides foundational understanding of how Ceph operates. You examine:

• Ceph daemons and their roles (MON, MGR, OSD, MDS, RGW)

• Data distribution via CRUSH maps

• Redundancy and placement groups

• Client access patterns

• Differences between block, file, and object storage in Ceph

Why It Matters

A strong architectural foundation is essential for efficient troubleshooting, performance planning, and scaling strategies.

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2. Deploying Red Hat Ceph Storage

What You Learn

You build a functioning Ceph cluster from scratch, covering:

• Deployment tools (cephadm, ceph-ansible, containers)

• Initial monitors and managers

• Adding OSDs

• Expanding cluster capacity

• Cluster bootstrap and initial configuration

Why It Matters

Most Ceph deployments evolve over time. Learning how to add storage nodes and grow clusters safely is a core skill for Ceph administrators.

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3. Configuring a Red Hat Ceph Storage Cluster

What You Learn

You refine cluster settings, including:

• Primary configuration files

• Monitor quorum layout

• Public and cluster network separation

• Security and authentication

• Configuration overrides

• Key performance settings

Why It Matters

Proper configuration ensures stability, resiliency, performance, and predictable behavior under load.

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4. Creating Object Storage Cluster Components

What You Learn

This module covers the essential building blocks of storage:

• OSD creation and management

• Storage pools and data placement

• Replicated vs. erasure-coded pools

• Client authentication through CephX

Why It Matters

Pools, OSDs, and authorization define how your cluster stores and protects data. Poor pool design leads to degraded performance and increased risk.

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5. Creating and Customizing Storage Maps (CRUSH and OSD Maps)

What You Learn

You work with one of Ceph’s most powerful features: the CRUSH map.

• Weighting and bucket hierarchy

• Customizing placement rules

• Targeting specific hardware layers (racks, rows, zones)

• OSD map inspection and updates

• Data distribution strategy

Why It Matters

CRUSH maps allow administrators to tailor performance and redundancy. They are essential when dealing with large, multi-rack, or multi-site clusters.

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6. Providing Block Storage Using RADOS Block Devices (RBD)

What You Learn

You configure Ceph for block storage:

• Creating RBD images

• Snapshot management

• Striping and layering

• Client integration (KVM/QEMU, libvirt, cloud workloads)

Why It Matters

RBD is widely used for virtual machine disk storage and cloud block volumes, particularly in OpenStack Cinder.

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7. Providing Object Storage Using a RADOS Gateway (RGW)

What You Learn

This module introduces Ceph’s object storage gateway:

• S3-compatible interface

• Swift-compatible interface

• User and bucket management

• Multi-site replication

• Performance considerations

Why It Matters

S3 storage has become a standard for modern applications. Ceph RGW allows enterprises to build their own private S3-compatible cloud.

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8. Providing File Storage with CephFS

What You Learn

You configure the Ceph filesystem:

• MDS daemons

• Creating and mounting CephFS

• Quotas and snapshots

• Client access

• Performance tuning

Why It Matters

CephFS is a POSIX-compliant file system ideal for shared workloads, container storage, and HPC environments.

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9. Managing a Red Hat Ceph Storage Cluster

What You Learn

Maintenance and operational tasks include:

• Monitoring cluster health

• Interpreting cluster warnings

• Rebalancing

• Replacing failed OSDs

• Repairing placement groups

• Removing or adding monitors and managers

• Safe cluster shutdown and restart

Why It Matters

Healthy Ceph clusters depend on continuous monitoring and timely remediation. This module prepares administrators for day-to-day operations.

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10. Tuning and Troubleshooting

What You Learn

You focus on performance tuning:

• Key metrics (latency, throughput, IOPS)

• OSD performance baselines

• Hardware considerations

• BlueStore tuning

• CRUSH map adjustments for performance

• Debugging slow requests

• Log analysis

Why It Matters

Performance tuning is one of the most valuable skills for Ceph administrators. Misconfigured clusters often exhibit slow operations or hotspots; this module teaches how to identify and resolve these issues.

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11. Managing OpenStack Storage with Ceph

What You Learn

This module is essential for OpenStack operators:

• Cinder block storage integration

• Glance image storage configuration

• Swift and RGW integration

• Manila shared storage via CephFS

• Troubleshooting OpenStack-Ceph interactions

Why It Matters

A significant percentage of OpenStack deployments use Ceph as the backend. Understanding both sides of the integration is critical for reliability.

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12. Comprehensive Review

This final module reinforces all prior material through a large-scale review exercise. It ensures students understand how the components work together and can successfully deploy and manage a production-ready cluster.

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What Skills Will You Gain From CL260?

By the end of the course, you should be able to:

Technical Skills

• Deploy Ceph clusters in real-world environments

• Manage monitors, managers, OSDs, and metadata servers

• Configure pools, placement groups, and CRUSH maps

• Provide S3, Swift, RBD, and CephFS storage

• Tune cluster performance

• Analyze logs and respond to cluster health warnings

• Integrate Ceph with OpenStack and OpenShift

Operational Skills

• Diagnose cluster failures

• Replace failed disks without downtime

• Perform rolling upgrades

• Monitor cluster health using dashboards and CLI tools

• Establish security through CephX keys

Architectural Skills

• Design scalable and redundant storage infrastructures

• Plan multi-site, multi-rack, or multi-node deployments

• Define performance tiers and storage classes

These skills align with enterprise needs for scalable hybrid cloud storage.

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Why Students Choose CL260

1. Hands-On Lab Environment

The course uses fully functional virtual labs to simulate real-world problems. Students practice deployments, rebuild clusters, and navigate failure scenarios.

2. Career Advancement

Ceph skills are rare yet highly valued in:

• Telecom and ISP environments

• Cloud service providers

• HPC and research clusters

• Large-scale enterprise data centers

• Hybrid cloud deployments

Professionals with Ceph expertise frequently move into senior roles such as Cloud Architect or Storage Engineer.

3. Industry Recognition

Red Hat certifications and training are respected globally. Completing the course demonstrates competency in a widely used storage technology.

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Benefits for Companies Sending Teams

Many organizations enroll multiple staff members for the following reasons:

• Standardized storage deployment practices

• Improved operational reliability

• Reduced support costs

• Stronger in-house troubleshooting capabilities

• Faster resolution of cluster issues

• Increased storage performance

• Consistent knowledge across teams

Internal teams often find Ceph easier to manage after formal training.

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Frequently Asked Questions About the CL260 Course

Is this course suitable for beginners?

It is best suited for administrators with existing Linux knowledge. Beginners can still enroll but may require additional study beforehand.

Do I need prior Ceph experience?

No. The course covers Ceph fundamentals. However, familiarity with distributed systems is beneficial.

Does this course include certification?

This course prepares students for associated Red Hat exams, though the exam is booked separately.

Is the PDF version included?

Yes. Enrolled students receive a downloadable PDF with the full training guide.

Can I take the course remotely?

Many training providers offer live-online options. Check availability when booking.

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Real-World Applications of Skills Gained in CL260

Private or Hybrid Cloud Storage

Deploy Ceph to support VM storage, file shares, or container workloads.

S3-Compatible Object Storage

Build private S3 storage for cloud-native apps or backend backup systems.

High-Performance File Systems

Use CephFS for shared workloads, HPC compute clusters, or container storage.

Red Hat OpenStack Integration

Operate Ceph as the storage backend for:

• Cinder

• Glance

• Nova ephemeral storage

• Manila file shares

OpenShift Container Storage (OCS) / Rook-Ceph

Extend Ceph to support persistent volumes for Kubernetes workloads.

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How to Prepare for the Course

Recommended prerequisites:

• Intermediate Linux system administration

• Basic understanding of storage (block, file, object)

• Familiarity with distributed systems or cluster architectures

• Some experience with containerized environments helps but is not required

Preparation tips:

1. Review core Ceph concepts: MON, MGR, OSD, pools, CRUSH, PGs

2. Refresh Linux networking commands

3. Understand basic security and authentication principles

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How to Enrol and Book Your Place

Enrolment typically includes:

• Registration via training provider

• Payment or purchase order

• Access to labs and learning materials

• Confirmation of course dates

Class sizes are often limited, so early booking is recommended.

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Is Cloud Storage With Red Hat Ceph Storage (CL260) Right for You?

If you work with enterprise storage, cloud infrastructure, or hybrid cloud environments, CL260 is one of the most practical and valuable Red Hat courses available. The curriculum provides a thorough, hands-on foundation in deploying, managing, and optimizing Ceph clusters.

Students gain essential skills in:

• Storage architecture

• Deployment and configuration

• Client integrations

• Troubleshooting and performance tuning

• Cloud platform integration

Whether your goal is to advance your career, support OpenStack/OpenShift deployments, or build reliable storage infrastructure, this course delivers the knowledge required to operate Ceph in demanding enterprise environments.