---
title: "Ceph architecture\n    | Ubuntu"
description: Ubuntu is an open source software operating system that runs from the
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url: https://ubuntu.com/ceph/docs/ceph-architecture?format=md
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---

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# Ceph architecture

Operating a Charmed Ceph cluster involves managing distributed storage components orchestrated by Juju. This guide provides an overview of the general Ceph architecture with some of the components that can be deployed.

## [Architectural overview](https://ubuntu.com/ceph/docs/ceph-architecture?format=md#p-179242-architectural-overview)

The diagram below depicts a typical Charmed Ceph deployment with ceph-radosgw and ceph-fs deployed. Note that the Charmed Ceph ecosystem is flexible and can be tailored to a specific use case, so the architecture here is just an example.

### [Components](https://ubuntu.com/ceph/docs/ceph-architecture?format=md#p-179242-components)

* Admin workstation: operators’ machine used to manage and monitor the deployment.
* Juju controller: Orchestrates the Juju model that contains all Ceph services.
* ceph-mon: Ceph Monitor (MON) daemons; usually deployed as three units in an HA setup.
* ceph-osd: Hosts Ceph Object Storage Daemons (OSDs); each unit manages one or more data disks.
* ceph-radosgw: RGW (object‑storage) service; typically deployed in a highly‑available configuration with at least three units.
* ceph-fs: Metadata Server (MDS) daemons for CephFS; typically deployed in an HA set of at least three units.
* Client workloads: Consume Ceph storage via RBD block devices, RGW object buckets, or CephFS shared filesystems.

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Cryptography](https://ubuntu.com/ceph/docs/cryptographic-technologies-in-charmed-ceph)
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Object storage](https://ubuntu.com/ceph/docs/object-storage)

This page was last modified 7 months ago. [Help improve this document in the forum](https://discourse.ubuntu.com/t/ceph-architecture/69017).