In this chapter, we covered a wide variety of operational and maintenance tasks that are part of a Ceph cluster's lifecycle. We explored cluster topology, a topic we'll continue in Chapter 7, Monitoring Ceph, as well as Ceph's logging system. We also delved into ceph.conf for startup configuration, injection for dynamic runtime configuration, and admin sockets for harvesting a wealth of status and configuration detail. Also touched upon was the value of a formal configuration management system such as ceph-ansible.

We also expanded on the topics of adding and replacing failed drives that were touched upon in the previous chapter and offered strategies for the oft-overlooked nuances of working effectively with remote hands.

It may seem odd that we have not devoted an entire chapter to the step by step initial deployment of production Ceph clusters. There are readily available automation tools and resources to help with this process. Duplicating their multivariate minutia here or cutting...