Ceph Foundation 2025: Community, Collaboration, and What’s Next

Anthony Middleton

Ceph Foundation 2025: Community, Collaboration, and What’s Next

Over the past few years, the Ceph Foundation and the wider Ceph community have undergone a tremendous transformation. A key part of this transformation has happened within the Ceph Governing Board, which in 2024 began shifting from a behind-the-scenes role to a more transparent and community-driven presence. As you read on, you’ll learn how the Ceph Board formed new working groups to improve communication and its plans to publish committee materials for community access. Despite challenges, the Ceph project remains vibrant, resilient, and uniquely positioned to drive the next era of open-source storage innovation.

As we look ahead, 2025 represents a pivotal moment for the Ceph ecosystem, calling on all of us to step up, contribute, and shape the future we wish to build together, whether by participating in working groups, engaging in discussions, or advocating for Ceph in unique ways. Before we explore what’s next, let’s take a moment to acknowledge the milestones that brought us here.

Hello from Your Ceph Community Manager

Hi everyone! I’m Anthony Middleton, your Ceph Community Manager. Since joining the Foundation, my focus has been on building inclusive, empowered spaces where contributors feel seen, supported, and celebrated. From global developer conferences to grassroots meetups, I’ve spent the last seven years helping open-source communities grow and connect.

I’m honored to help Ceph thrive in this next chapter and deeply grateful to all of you who’ve welcomed me so warmly. I’m excited to continue working together to grow our momentum.

Cephalocon 2024: A Celebration of Community

Cephalocon 2024 was a milestone event at CERN in Geneva, Switzerland. Over 350 attendees, from first-time contributors to seasoned Ceph operators, gathered for two days of technical deep dives, hallway conversations, and unforgettable moments.

Sessions like “Deploy Ceph in Kubernetes: Rook Deep Dive,” “Erasure Coding: 5 Ways to Split a Squid,” and “CephBos – A Home Cloud Personal Storage Solution” showcased the community’s technical depth, creativity, and real-world impact. The new Crush multi-strap retry capability also generated excitement, offering more innovative placement strategies for scaling clusters incrementally.

But the real magic was in the community—the keynote speeches, breakout sessions, BoFs, and side chats that reminded us why Ceph is so special: we’re not just building software; we’re building it together.

The Ceph Governing Board: Leading with Transparency

The Ceph Governing Board has been hard at work behind the scenes to ensure that the Foundation not only financially supports the project but also empowers its long-term growth.

In 2024, the board prioritized deeper collaboration with technical leadership and community contributors. One of the most important initiatives was the overhaul of the 2025 foundation budget. Built democratically from scratch, this new budget reflects our core values: sustainability, inclusivity, and impact.

2025 Budget Highlights

  • Funding a Ceph Community Manager: With private sponsorship for this role ending, the board stepped in to directly fund a full-time Community Manager to support growth and engagement.
  • New investments in engagement, including Community Hackathons, Ambassador Program efforts, and global outreach, now have dedicated funding.
  • Supporting the Upstream Lab: We maintained investment in our hosted lab environment and added hardware replacement capacity to support testing and development.
  • Strategic cuts: Areas like marketing services and technical writing saw budget reductions to reallocate funds toward community-facing initiatives.

Empowering Contributors: New Tools & Initiatives

Ceph Governing Board Committee GitHub Repository

Transparency is more than just a buzzword—it’s a value. That’s why we launched the official GitHub repository for active Ceph Board Committees. These public hubs include goals, OKRs, meeting notes, and more. This repository is ideal for Ceph members interested in governance, events, hardware testing, or community engagement.

Committees include:

  • Ambassador-Program-Committee
  • Community-Engagement-Committee
  • Events-Committee
  • Hardware-Committee
  • Marketing-Research-Committee
  • Outreach-Committee
  • Technical-Writing-Committee

You can explore the repo under the Ceph Governing Board Committee and join the work that speaks to you. These spaces aren’t just documentation, they’re invitations.

Ceph Funding Request Form

To support grassroots innovation, we've introduced the Ceph Funding Request Form, a streamlined way for community members to apply for financial support for initiatives that benefit the Ceph ecosystem.

Are you running a meetup, writing documents, or planning a performance test? Tell us what you’re working on and how it will impact the world—we want to help turn your ideas into action.

Please note: Submitting a request does not guarantee funding. The Ceph Governing Board reviews and evaluates all proposals based on their alignment with project priorities, available resources, and overall community impact.

Ceph Community Ambassadors: Growing the Global Community

The Ceph Community Ambassadors have been instrumental in extending the reach of the Ceph project throughout 2024 and into this year. They have helped organize Ceph Days and regional meetups, sourced speakers, shared community stories, and supported student contributors through university outreach. Located in seven regions, our Ambassadors are the local champions building Ceph's global momentum. They've promoted Ceph on social media, participated in upstream meetings, and gathered valuable feedback from users worldwide to drive the project forward.

Are you interested in becoming a Ceph Ambassador in your area? We would love to hear from you! Ceph Ambassadors play a vital role in growing the community and serve as a liaison to other related FLOSS projects. Reach out through the Ceph community channels to learn more and take the first step in representing Ceph where you live. You can also connect with Gaurav Sitlani, the Ceph Community Ambassador Lead, and an all-around Community MVP, on the Ceph Slack.

Looking Ahead: Cephalocon 2025 and Beyond

We’re already hard at work planning Cephalocon 2025, which will take place in Vancouver, Canada. Expect more community-driven content, inclusive spaces for contributors of all experience levels, and social media participation to reflect Ceph’s global reach.

Here’s what’s coming:

  • Deeper technical sessions and cross-project collaboration
  • Broader global participation, both in-person and online
  • More year-round engagement opportunities
  • Networking events that celebrate everything that makes Ceph great

Stay in the loop:

Let’s Build the Future of Ceph Together

The Ceph Foundation is embracing a new era defined by transparency, collaboration, and community-powered progress. The Governing Board is evolving, our budget reflects our values, and new tools make it easier than ever to get involved.

Now more than ever, your voice matters. Visit the Ceph Foundation’s website to stay updated on projects and discover how you can contribute.

No matter if you’re an experienced contributor, a curious newcomer, or in between, you belong here. Together, let’s continue to build, learn, and innovate.

Feel free to connect with me on Slack. I’d love to hear your Ceph story and ideas for the future.

—
Anthony Middleton
Community Manager, Ceph Foundation
community-manager@cehp.io