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+===================
+ Ceph Block Device
+===================
+
+.. index:: Ceph Block Device; introduction
+
+A block is a sequence of bytes (for example, a 512-byte block of data).
+Block-based storage interfaces are the most common way to store data with
+rotating media such as hard disks, CDs, floppy disks, and even traditional
+9-track tape. The ubiquity of block device interfaces makes a virtual block
+device an ideal candidate to interact with a mass data storage system like Ceph.
+
+Ceph block devices are thin-provisioned, resizable and store data striped over
+multiple OSDs in a Ceph cluster. Ceph block devices leverage
+:abbr:`RADOS (Reliable Autonomic Distributed Object Store)` capabilities
+such as snapshotting, replication and consistency. Ceph's
+:abbr:`RADOS (Reliable Autonomic Distributed Object Store)` Block Devices (RBD)
+interact with OSDs using kernel modules or the ``librbd`` library.
+
+.. ditaa::
+
+ +------------------------+ +------------------------+
+ | Kernel Module | | librbd |
+ +------------------------+-+------------------------+
+ | RADOS Protocol |
+ +------------------------+-+------------------------+
+ | OSDs | | Monitors |
+ +------------------------+ +------------------------+
+
+.. note:: Kernel modules can use Linux page caching. For ``librbd``-based
+ applications, Ceph supports `RBD Caching`_.
+
+Ceph's block devices deliver high performance with infinite scalability to
+`kernel modules`_, or to :abbr:`KVMs (kernel virtual machines)` such as `QEMU`_, and
+cloud-based computing systems like `OpenStack`_ and `CloudStack`_ that rely on
+libvirt and QEMU to integrate with Ceph block devices. You can use the same cluster
+to operate the :ref:`Ceph RADOS Gateway <object-gateway>`, the
+:ref:`CephFS filesystem <ceph-filesystem>`, and Ceph block devices simultaneously.
+
+.. important:: To use Ceph Block Devices, you must have access to a running
+ Ceph cluster.
+
+.. toctree::
+ :maxdepth: 1
+
+ Commands <rados-rbd-cmds>
+ Kernel Modules <rbd-ko>
+ Snapshots<rbd-snapshot>
+ Mirroring <rbd-mirroring>
+ Live-Migration <rbd-live-migration>
+ LIO iSCSI Gateway <iscsi-overview>
+ QEMU <qemu-rbd>
+ libvirt <libvirt>
+ librbd Settings <rbd-config-ref/>
+ OpenStack <rbd-openstack>
+ CloudStack <rbd-cloudstack>
+ RBD Replay <rbd-replay>
+
+.. toctree::
+ :maxdepth: 2
+
+ Manpages <man/index>
+
+.. toctree::
+ :maxdepth: 2
+
+ APIs <api/index>
+
+.. _RBD Caching: ./rbd-config-ref/
+.. _kernel modules: ./rbd-ko/
+.. _QEMU: ./qemu-rbd/
+.. _OpenStack: ./rbd-openstack
+.. _CloudStack: ./rbd-cloudstack