• For the native Ceph client (at https://github.com/ceph/wnbd), it seems like this code may work for some customers that don’t want to use NVMe-OF but this code is not currently maintained since the last update was three years ago.

Exactly.  There are some people who are using the Dokan bits successfully, others who are hesitant if it’s unmaintained.

  • And lastly, is there some other role the respondents see for Windows that I haven’t included?

The client is I think the focus.  

It seems to me that unless there are shortcomings in either the Windows NVMe-OF initiator or the Ceph NVMe-OF target that the best way to support Windows clients is via NVMe-OF. What are the shortcomings that lead you toward putting effort into the native Ceph client for Windows?


The native client predates the Ceph NVMe gateway.  The latter is resource-intensive and acts as a translator.  A native RBD client is more efficient, less to manage on the Ceph side, and needs fewer resources. The NVMeoF gateway basically attaches RBD volumes and exports via the other protocol.  It replaces the older iSCSI GW that wasn’t great, and which is itself unmaintained.  

I see more interest in MS Windows CephFS client than RBD, ymmv.  


Here is a bit about myself for those who want to know about my background. I worked as a developer on storage technologies for Microsoft from 1990 until I retired in September 2025. Here's a quick list of some of the things that I worked on for Microsoft that may be relevant to Ceph:

- SMB Server (as lead)

- LDAP client

- WebDAV client

- VHD mount and boot

- NTFS file system (designed much of the tiered storage and thinly provisioned architecture)

- REFS file system (as lead)

- DFS

- Storage Spaces

- Azure fabric controller

- Azure XStore storage client

- Azure UltraDisk client (as lead)

- Azure Boost host driver and firmware


Impressive.  Ceph SMB folks might benefit from your insights too.  



My goal is to help organizations with data sovereignty and scalable on-premise storage solutions. I'm interested in helping the Ceph team and I know quite a bit about Windows storage. I'm looking forward to continuing the talk about what the Ceph team needs help with.


Thanks for the conversation.

-Andy Herron

andy.herron@proton.me


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