ZFS Cheatsheet

Zpool commands

Create a stripe

zpool create myStripe dev1 ... devN

Create a mirror with two devices

zpool create myMirror mirror dev1 dev2

Create a RAIDZ1 with four devices

zpool create myRaid raidz dev1 dev2 dev3 dev4

Create a stripe of two RAIDZ1s

zpool create raidz dev1 dev2 dev3 raidz dev4 dev5 dev6

Common options when creating a pool

-m none         # Don't mount the pool
-o ashift=12    # Disks have 4k block size (2^12 = 4096)

Export a pool (drives can be removed)

zpool export myPool

Import a pool

zpool import myPool

Import a pool with an alternative mountpoint

zpool import myPool -o altroot=/myPool

Import a pool and switch device labels

zpool import myPool -d /dev/disk/by-id

Scrub a pool

zpool scrub myPool

Abort a scrub

zpool scrub -s myPool

Take a device offline

zpool offline myPool dev1

Replace an (offline) device with a new disk

zpool replace myPool oldDev newDev

Report status

zpool status myPool

Create and mount datasets

Create a dataset

zfs create myPool/stuff

Common "zfs create" options

mountpoint=/mnt/stuff           # Specify a mountpoint
mountpoint=legacy               # Let fstab take care of mounting

fstab entry for a zfs legacy mountpoint

myPool/stuff  /mnt/stuff zfs defaults 0 0

Create and mount volumes

Create a 32G volume for a non-zfs filesystem

zfs create myPool/myVol -V 32G

Each volume has an associated shortcut to an associated /dev/zdN device:

/dev/zvol/myPool/myVol -> ../../zd0

Create an ext4 files system on the volume

mkfs -t ext4 /dev/zvol/myPool/myVol

Listing things

List all zfs pools and datasets

zfs list

List all zfs pools, datasets, and snapshots

zfs list -t all

Network shares

Share a filesystem using NFS

zfs set sharenfs=on myPool/stuff

Access a zfs/nfs share remotely

mount -t nfs zfs.host.com:/stuff /mnt/stuff

Share a filesystem using SMB

zfs set sharesmb=on myPool/stuff

Access a zfs/smb share remotely

\\zfs.host.com\mypool_stuff

Additions to smb.conf to enable zfs/smb shares

[global]
usershare path = /var/lib/samba/usershares
usershare max shares = 100
usershare allow guests = yes
usershare owner only = no

File system preparation to enable zfs/smb shares

cd /var/lib/samba
mkdir usershares
chmod o+t usershares
chmod g+w usershares

Enable smb sharing

systemctl restart smb
zfs share -a

Snapshots and clones

Create a snapshot

zfs snapshot myPool/myStuff@now

Access a snapshot from a mounted dataset

Look into the hidden .zfs directory.
DON'T do this if the snapshot will be the target of
subsequent incremental replication. See "Cloning" below.

Clone a snapshot

This is useful if the dataset has no mountpoint or
if it's the target of an incremental backup.

zfs clone myPool/mystuff@now myPool/myTemp
zfs set mountpoint=/myTemp myPool/myTemp

You can now explore /myTemp. When finished:

zfs destroy myPool/myTemp
rmdir /myTemp

Replication

Replicate a snapshot

zfs send myPool/myStuff@now | zfs receive -d myOtherPool/myStuff

Options for zfs send

-R      Replication: Include all descendents and properties

Options for zfs receive

-u      Don't mount anything created
-F      Rollback all changes since most recent snapshot
-d      Discard the pool name from the sending path

-x mountpoint
    Block mountpoints from taking effect on the target.
    If the replicated pool is restored without this
    option, all mountpoints will take effect which
    may cause conflicts when a pool is used to backup
    multiple operating systems.

Replicate a snapshot to another machine

zfs send myPool/myStuff@now | ssh destHost zfs receive -d myOtherPool/myStuff

For this to work, you must have passwordless access via ssh
to "destHost."

Create a recursive snapshot of a pool

zfs snapshot -r yule@now

-r      Recursively include all descendent datasets

Initial replication of a pool (yule to myPool)

zfs send -R yule@now | zfs receive -uFd -x mountpoint mrPool/yule

Incremental replication

zfs rename -r yule@now yule@then
zfs snapshot -r yule@now
zfs send -Ri yule@then yule@now | zfs receive -ud -x mountpoint mrPool/yule
zfs destroy -r yule@then
zfs destroy -r mrPool/yule@then

Features

List pool features

zpool get all | grep feature

Upgrade pool to enable all available features

zpool upgrade

Note: "Enabled" does not mean "active"