I really want to run ceph because it fits a number of criteria I have: gradually adding storage, mismatched disks, fault tolerance, erasure encoding, encryption, support out-of-the-box from other software (like Incus).
But then I look at the hardware suggestions, and they seem like an up-front investment and ongoing cost to keep at least three machines evenly matched on RAM and physical storage. I also want more of a single-box NAS.
Would it be idiotic to put a ceph setup all on one machine? I could run three mons on it with separate physical device backing each so I don’t lose everything from a disk failure with those. I’m not too concerned about speed or network partitioning, this would be lukewarm storage for me.
Found an interesting read regarding the matter here:
https://old.reddit.com/r/ceph/comments/mppwas/single_node_ceph_vs_zfsbtrfs/
Most seem to recommend going for ZFS instead if using a single machine but there is a person discussing his first hand experience with single node Ceph.
