Deploy a SUSE Enterprise Storage test environment in about 30 minutes

Updated to feature SUSE Enterprise Storage 6 and the Ceph Dashboard!

Whether you’re new to Ceph, consider yourself a pro, or fall somewhere in the middle, there’s nothing like getting your hands on the technology. That’s particularly true with OpenStack and Ceph storage clusters. Production deployments generally require a lot of hardware, which can be difficult to muster even in the best of times.

To help, this visual, easy-to-follow SUSE Guide shows you how to get a fully operational SUSE Enterprise Storage cluster up and running on a single workstation or laptop. It’s based on SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15.0, requires little or no experience with Ceph, and can be deployed in about a half hour. You’ll end up with a fully functional storage cluster with the new Ceph Dashboard that you can use to try this popular storage technology.

All you’ll need is a workstation or laptop with:

• At least 8GB of RAM
• At least one 64-bit quad-core CPU that supports virtualization
• At least 100GB of thin-provisioned storage

Of course, more is better in all categories. A workstation with 16GB of RAM or more and more CPU horsepower will speed up this deployment and give the cluster a little more oomph, but these minimums will get you started.

Remember, this is a test environment, not a production cluster. Shortcuts taken in this guide are done to conserve resources. Use this cluster for testing purposes only, but have fun.

A short companion video offers additional insight into the deployment process. Watch it now: