+++
date = 2024-02-06
title = "How to Create a ZFS Pool on Ubuntu Linux"
description = "Learn how to create a simple ZFS pool on Ubuntu Linux."
+++

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:

- [Setup a ZFS storage pool](https://ubuntu.com/tutorials/setup-zfs-storage-pool)
- [Kernel/Reference/ZFS](https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Kernel/Reference/ZFS)
- [ZFS for Dummies](https://blog.victormendonca.com/2020/11/03/zfs-for-dummies/)

## Installation

To start, I installed the ZFS package with the following command:

```sh
sudo apt install zfsutils-linux
```

Once installed, you can check the version to see if it installed correctly.

```sh
> zsf --version

zfs-2.1.5-1ubuntu6~22.04.2
zfs-kmod-2.1.5-1ubuntu6~22.04.1
```

## 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.

- 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.

```sh
sudo fdisk -l
```

Or, if you currently have them mounted, you can use the `df` command to view
your disks.

```sh
> sudo df -h

Filesystem      Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on
...
/dev/sda1       7.3T   28K  6.9T   1% /mnt/red-01
/dev/sdb1       7.3T  144G  6.8T   3% /mnt/red-02
/dev/sdc1       7.3T  5.5T  1.9T  75% /mnt/white-02
/dev/sdd1       9.1T  8.7T  435G  96% /mnt/white-01
```

If you're going to use mounted disks, make sure to umount them before creating
the pool.

```sh
sudo umount /dev/sda1
sudo umount /dev/sdb1
```

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`.

```sh
sudo zpool create -f -m /mnt/pool tank mirror /dev/sda /dev/sdb
```

See below for the results of the new ZFS pool named `tank`, with a vdev
automatically named `mirror-0`.

```sh
> zfs list

NAME   USED  AVAIL     REFER  MOUNTPOINT
tank   396K  7.14T       96K  /tank
```

```sh
> zpool status

  pool: tank
 state: ONLINE
config:

	NAME        STATE     READ WRITE CKSUM
	tank        ONLINE       0     0     0
	  mirror-0  ONLINE       0     0     0
	    sda     ONLINE       0     0     0
	    sdb     ONLINE       0     0     0

errors: No known data errors
```

We can also look at the mounted filesystem to see where the pool is mounted and
some quick stats.

```sh
> df -h

Filesystem      Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on
...
tank            7.2T  128K  7.2T   1% /tank
```

### 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.

```sh
sudo zpool add tank mirror /dev/sdX /dev/sdY
```

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.

```sh
> zfs list

NAME         USED  AVAIL     REFER  MOUNTPOINT
tank         145G  14.3T      104K  /tank
tank/cloud   145G  14.3T      145G  /tank/cloud
tank/media    96K  14.3T       96K  /tank/media
```

### Creating Datasets

According to [ZFS
Terminology](https://docs.oracle.com/cd/E18752_01/html/819-5461/ftyue.html), 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.

```sh
sudo zfs create tank/cloud
sudo zfs create tank/media
```

Once created, you can see these datasets in the output of your pool list:

```sh
> zfs list
NAME         USED  AVAIL     REFER  MOUNTPOINT
tank         752K  7.14T      104K  /tank
tank/cloud    96K  7.14T       96K  /tank/cloud
tank/media    96K  7.14T       96K  /tank/media
```

### 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.

```sh
sudo zfs snapshot tank@$(date '+%Y-%m-%d_%H-%M')
```

We can list the snapshots in our pool with the following command:

```sh
> zfs list -t snapshot
NAME                    USED  AVAIL     REFER  MOUNTPOINT
tank@2024-02-06_19-41     0B      -      104K  -
```

### Destroy Snapshots

You can always destroy snapshots that are no longer needed:

```sh
sudo zfs destroy tank@2024-02-06_19-41
```

Once deleted, they will no longer appear in the list:

```sh
> zfs list -t snapshot
no datasets available
```

## 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.