This post details the process I used to create ZFS pools, datasets, and snapshots on Ubuntu Server.
I found the following pages very helpful while going through this process:
Installation
To start, I installed the ZFS package with the following command:
Once installed, you can check the version to see if it installed correctly.
> zsf
ZFS Configuration
Now that ZFS is installed, we can create and configure the pool.
You have various options for configuring ZFS pools that all come different pros and cons. I suggest visiting the links at the top of this post or searching online for the best configuration for your use-case.
- Striped VDEVs (Raid0)
- Mirrored VDEVs (Raid1)
- Striped Mirrored VDEVs (Raid10)
- RAIDz (Raid5)
- RAIDz2 (Raidd6)
- RAIDz3
- Nested RAIDz (Raid50, Raid60)
I will be using Raid10 in this guide. However, the majority of the steps are the same regardless of your chosen pool configuration.
Creating the Pool
To start, let's list the disks available to use. You can use fdisk
command to
see all available disks.
Or, if you currently have them mounted, you can use the df
command to view
your disks.
> sudo
If you're going to use mounted disks, make sure to umount them before creating the pool.
Now that I've identified the disks I want to use and have them unmounted, let's
create the pool. For this example, I will call it tank
.
See below for the results of the new ZFS pool named tank
, with a vdev
automatically named mirror-0
.
> zfs
> zpool
We can also look at the mounted filesystem to see where the pool is mounted and some quick stats.
> df
Expanding the Pool
If you want to expand this pool, you will need to add a new VDEV to the pool.
Since I am using 2 disks per VDEV, I will need to add a new 2-disk VDEV to the
existing tank
pool.
If you're adding disks of different sizes, you'll need to use the -f
flag.
Keep in mind that the max size will be limited to the smallest disk added.
I added two 8TB hard drives and this process took around 10 seconds to complete.
When viewing the pool again, you can see that the pool has now doubled in size. We have 14.3 TB useable space and the same space used for mirroring.
> zfs
Converting Disks
Some disks, such as NTFS-formatted drives, will need to be partitioned and formatted prior to being added to the pool.
Start by identifying the disks you want to format and add to the pool.
|
I am going to format my /dev/sdc
and /dev/sdd
disks with the fdisk
command.
See below for instructions on how to use fdisk
. Here's what I did to create
basic Linux formatted disks:
g
: Create GPT partition tablen
: Create a new partition, hit Enter for all default optionst
: Change partition type to20
forLinux filesystem
w
: Write the changes to disk and exit
I repeated this process for both disks.
> sudo
)
Once the drives are formatted, we can add these disks to the pool.
When we list the pool again, we can see that our size is now updated to
approximately 22TB. This represents my hard drives totalling 45.6TB when shown
with fdisk -l
, with a Raid10 configuration using 22TB for mirroring and 22TB
of useable space.
> zfs
Creating Datasets
According to ZFS
Terminology, a
dataset
can refer to "clones, file systems, snapshots, and volumes.
For this guide, I will use the dataset
term to refer to file systems created
under a pool.
Within my tank
pool, I am going to create some datasets to help organize my
files. This will give me location to store data rather than simply dumping
everything at the /tank/
location.
Once created, you can see these datasets in the output of your pool list:
> zfs
Creating Snapshots
Next, let's create our first snapshot. We can do this by calling the snapshot
command and give it an output name. I will be throwing the current date and time
into my example.
We can list the snapshots in our pool with the following command:
> zfs
Destroy Snapshots
You can always destroy snapshots that are no longer needed:
Once deleted, they will no longer appear in the list:
> zfs
My Thoughts on ZFS So Far
- I sacrificed 25TB to be able to mirror my data, but I feel more comfortable with the potential to save my data by quickly replacing a disk if I need to.
- The set-up was surprisingly easy and fast.
- Disk I/O is fast as well. I was worried that the data transfer speeds would be slower due to the RAID configuration.
- Media streaming and transcoding has seen no noticeable drop in performance.
- My only limitation really is the number of HDD bays in my server HDD cage.