Optimize the Ceph Object Gateway's garbage collection

When new data objects are written into the storage cluster, the Ceph Object Gateway immediately allocates the storage for these new objects. After you delete or overwrite data objects in the storage cluster, the Ceph Object Gateway deletes those objects from the bucket index. Some time afterward, the Ceph Object Gateway then purges the space that was used to store the objects in the storage cluster. The process of purging the deleted object data from the storage cluster is known as Garbage Collection, or GC.

Garbage collection operations typically run in the background. You can configure these operations to either run continuously, or to run only during intervals of low activity and light workloads. By default, the Ceph Object Gateway conducts GC operations continuously. Because GC operations are a normal part of Ceph Object Gateway operations, deleted objects that are eligible for garbage collection exist most of the time.