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Table of Contents
Managing ZFS on Debian
Installing ZFS
First, make sure your system is up-to-date and restarted. This prevents compilation issues later on.
Then, add the contrib section to your apt sources configuration. It should look similar to this:
# deb cdrom:[Debian GNU/Linux 12.5.0 _Bookworm_ - Official amd64 DVD Binary-1 with firmware 20240210-11:28]/ bookworm contrib main non-free-firmware deb http://deb.debian.org/debian/ bookworm main non-free-firmware contrib deb-src http://deb.debian.org/debian/ bookworm main non-free-firmware contrib deb http://security.debian.org/debian-security bookworm-security main non-free-firmware contrib deb-src http://security.debian.org/debian-security bookworm-security main non-free-firmware contrib # bookworm-updates, to get updates before a point release is made; # see https://www.debian.org/doc/manuals/debian-reference/ch02.en.html#_updates_and_backports deb http://deb.debian.org/debian/ bookworm-updates main non-free-firmware contrib deb-src http://deb.debian.org/debian/ bookworm-updates main non-free-firmware contrib
Then, add the backports repo, update apt and install the required packages. As root:
codename=$(lsb_release -cs);echo "deb http://deb.debian.org/debian $codename-backports main contrib non-free" | tee -a /etc/apt/sources.list apt update apt install linux-headers-amd64 apt install -t stable-backports zfsutils-linux
Creating a pool
To figure out what physical devices are available, you can use the lsblk command.
Creating a pool that simply appends all disks, without redundancy:
zpool create tank /dev/sdb /dev/sdc /dev/sdd /dev/sde
If a filesystem is already detected on the disks, use the -f parameter to force creation.
Checking available pools
zpool list
Destroying a dataset
zfs destroy tank/storage
Listing snapshots
zfs list -t snapshot
Creating a snapshot
zfs snapshot tank/data@snapshotname
Transferring a snapshot to a pool on another server
Ideally, do this in a screen or tmux session to avoid unexpected interruptions, as this might take a while.
You can transfer a snapshot via SSH:
zfs send tank/data@initial | ssh remotehost zfs recv -F tanker/data
Or via nc:
# On the sending server: zfs send storage-master/storage@backup-2024-04-12 | nc server5.nexus.home.arpa 7777 # On the receiving server: nc -l -p 7777 | zfs recv -F tank/storage
If you have pv installed, it's ideal for showing progress:
# On the sending server: zfs send storage-master/storage@backup-2024-04-12 | pv | nc server5.nexus.home.arpa 7777 # On the receiving server: nc -l -p 7777 | pv | zfs recv -F tank/storage
If the source dataset is encrypted, you might want to send it in its encrypted form using the raw parameter:
zfs send --raw storage-master/storage@backup-2024-04-12 | pv | nc server5.nexus.home.arpa 7777