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What Kind of Network Throughput Do I Need

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Network throughput requirements depend on your load. We recommend starting with a minimum of 1GB Ethernet. 10GB Ethernet is more expensive, but often comes with some additional advantages, including virtual LANs (VLANs). VLANs can dramatically reduce the cabling requirements when you run front-side, back-side and other special purpose networks.

The number of object copies (replicas) you create is an important factor, because replication becomes a larger network load than the initial write itself when making multiple copies (e.g., triplicate). Network traffic between Ceph and a cloud-based system such as OpenStack or CloudStack may also become a factor. Some deployments even run a separate NIC for management APIs.

Finally, load spikes are a factor too. Certain times of the day, week or month you may see load spikes. You must plan your network capacity to meet those load spikes in order for Ceph to perform well. This means that excess capacity may remain idle or unused during low load times.