Use Ceph storage

By default, the LXD charm in Anbox Cloud uses local storage (ZFS or directory-based) on each node. For production deployments requiring shared storage, improved scalability, or better resource utilization, you can configure the LXD charm to use Ceph storage instead.

Ceph provides distributed storage that allows multiple LXD nodes to share a common storage pool, enabling features like live migration and simplified storage management across the cluster.

Caution

The storage type must be configured at deployment time and cannot be changed afterwards. Changing the storage_type configuration option after deployment will have no effect.

Prerequisites

Before configuring Ceph storage for Anbox Cloud, ensure that you have:

• A machine running a supported Ubuntu version.

• Juju 3.x installed (see Deploy on a public cloud for installation instructions).

• A Juju controller and model set up (see Add a controller and model).

• Your Ubuntu Pro token (see Attach your Ubuntu Pro subscription).

• One of the following Ceph deployment options:

  • A microceph deployment for testing or single-server setups.

  • A ceph-mon cluster for production deployments.

  • Access to an existing Ceph cluster via ceph-proxy.

Deploy Anbox Cloud with Ceph storage

Before deploying Anbox Cloud, ensure your Ceph provider is deployed and configured according to its respective documentation. You can find instructions on how to do this for microceph in its documentation.

To enable Ceph storage for the LXD charm, create an overlay file named ceph-storage.yaml in the current directory with the following content:

applications:
  lxd:
    options:
      ua_token: <your token>
      storage_type: ceph

Deploy Anbox Cloud with the overlay:

juju deploy anbox-cloud --overlay ua.yaml --overlay ceph-storage.yaml

See Customize installation for more information about using overlay files.

After deployment, integrate the LXD charm with your Ceph provider. The integration command depends on which Ceph provider you are using:

For microceph:

juju integrate lxd:ceph microceph:ceph

For ceph-mon:

juju integrate lxd:ceph ceph-mon:client

For ceph-proxy:

juju integrate lxd:ceph ceph-proxy:client

Wait for the deployment to complete and all units to reach active status:

juju status --watch 5s

Verify the deployment

After the deployment is complete, verify that the LXD nodes are using Ceph storage.

Connect to one of the LXD units:

juju ssh lxd/0

Check the storage pools:

lxc storage list

You should see a storage pool named ams0 with the driver set to ceph.

View detailed storage pool information:

lxc storage info ams0

The output should show driver: ceph, ceph.osd.pool_name: anbox-cloud-lxd, and ceph.user.name: lxd.

Your Anbox Cloud deployment is now configured to use Ceph storage. The LXD charm automatically created a Ceph pool named anbox-cloud-lxd for storing LXD instances.