Ceph Emergency Support & Cluster Recovery (24×7 Remote)
If your Ceph cluster is degraded, undersized, or your workloads are freezing due to storage latency, you need fast, safe changes — not trial and error. We provide incident response and recovery support for production Ceph clusters worldwide. You work directly with an infrastructure engineer experienced in Ceph performance, failure recovery, and cluster tuning.
When is it an emergency?
- Ceph health is
HEALTH_WARNorHEALTH_ERRand it’s not clearing. - Placement groups are stuck (e.g.,
active+undersized,peering,backfill_wait). - OSDs keep flapping up/down or you see repeated “down/out” behavior.
- Client IO is stalling: VMs freeze, databases time out, apps slow to a crawl.
- Recovery is extremely slow or never completes after node/disk failures.
- The cluster is near-full or hitting
nearfull/fullthresholds. - Rebalance/backfill causes a performance collapse.
- After a change (upgrade, network change, hardware replacement) the cluster destabilized.
If production workloads are affected, treat the incident as urgent and aim for stability-first changes.
Ceph problems we resolve (real production patterns)
Health and data safety
- Degraded data redundancy and undersized PGs
- Stuck peering/backfill states
- OSD failures, flapping, or repeated crash loops
- Mon/Mgr issues affecting cluster visibility and operations
Performance and stability
- High latency (commit/apply), slow ops, client timeouts
- Recovery/backfill saturating disks or network
- Uneven data distribution (weights/CRUSH, hot OSDs)
- Network design mistakes (public vs cluster network)
Our incident response approach
1) Fast triage (minutes, not hours)
We start by identifying the dominant constraint: hardware, network, capacity, or configuration. Typical signals include slow ops, latency outliers, recovery saturation, and PG state distribution.
- Health summary and PG state distribution
- OSD state, restart loops, and outlier devices
- Client-facing symptoms: freezes, IO wait, timeouts
- Network latency/throughput checks relevant to Ceph traffic
2) Stabilize IO and stop cascading failures
The first goal is to restore usable storage behavior for critical services while preserving data safety. We reduce chaos before making deeper structural changes.
- Bring unstable components to a steady state (e.g., resolve flapping causes)
- Balance recovery vs client IO so production workloads can function
- Address near-full risks and misbehaving pool thresholds
3) Root-cause analysis and safe optimization
After stability, we tune recovery behavior and fix layout issues that triggered the incident. The exact actions depend on your disks, network, and workload profile.
- Recovery/backfill tuning aligned to your hardware limits
- Pool/PG sizing review and correction plan
- CRUSH / failure domains / device classes (HDD/SSD/NVMe) review
- Network layout improvements to prevent latency-driven instability
Tip for faster help: include output from ceph -s and a short description of what changed before the incident.
Why specialist Ceph support matters
Ceph is not “just storage.” Behavior is shaped by placement groups, replication, and network topology. A change that seems harmless on a traditional storage stack can increase latency, amplify recovery load, or worsen data distribution. We focus on measurable, reversible steps and avoid high-risk shortcuts.
Engagement options
- Emergency recovery session: stabilize the cluster and restore service
- Multi-day stabilization: tune recovery, clean up layout issues, and validate health
- Post-incident health audit: prevent repeat incidents with a prioritized plan
- Ongoing operations support: continuous improvements and operational guidance
Ceph emergency FAQ
Is it safe to increase recovery/backfill settings?
Sometimes — but only when aligned with your disks and network. Aggressive recovery can starve client IO and worsen outages. We tune based on measurable headroom.
Why does recovery take so long?
Common causes include slow disks, network bottlenecks, uneven data distribution, or recovery competing with production IO. The fastest route is identifying the actual constraint.
Can you help if Ceph is used under Proxmox?
Yes. Many Ceph incidents show up as Proxmox VM freezes, migration failures, or IO timeouts. We treat the stack end-to-end (Ceph + virtualization symptoms).
What access do you need?
Temporary secure access (VPN/SSH/bastion or screen share). You remain in control. We can work with read-only first for triage if required.
Related services
- Proxmox Emergency Support (when Ceph impacts VMs and HA)
- Proxmox Managed Services (ongoing operations and prevention)