Goldbolt at 13:32, 17 March 2026

2026-03-17T13:32:16Z

Goldbolt at 17:35, 24 February 2026

2026-02-24T17:35:58Z

Goldbolt: Created page with "ZFS—previously Zettabyte File System—features: * logical volume management (pooled storage) with checkpoints, * copy-on-write, * snapshots, clones (writable snap..."

2026-02-24T17:19:45Z

Created page with "ZFS—previously Zettabyte File System—features: * logical volume management (pooled storage) with checkpoints, * copy-on-write, * snapshots, clones (writable snap..."

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ZFS—previously Zettabyte File System—features:

* logical volume management (pooled storage) with checkpoints,
* copy-on-write,
* snapshots, clones (writable snapshots) and bookmarks (lightweight change markers),
* scrubbing (data integrity verification and automatic repair),
* RAID-Z,
* a maximum 16 exabyte file size,
* a maximum 256 quadrillion zettabyte storage with no limit on number of filesystems (datasets) or files.

For an overview of ZFS concepts see zfsconcepts(7).

For an overview of ZFS storage pools see zpoolconcepts(7), see also zpool(8).

ZFS is licensed under the Common Development and Distribution License (CDDL). Because the CDDL is incompatible with the GNU General Public License (GPL), it is not possible for ZFS to be included in the Linux kernel. This requirement, however, does not prevent a native Linux kernel module from being developed and distributed by a third party, as is the case with OpenZFS (previously named ZFS on Linux).

As a result of ZFS not being included in the Linux kernel (with other words, ZFS kernel modules are out-of-tree), and Arch Linux is a rolling release distribution:

OpenZFS project must keep up with Linux kernel versions.
After making stable OpenZFS release—ArchZFS maintainers release them.
There will often be brief periods when the kernel-specific packages in the ArchZFS repository are not in sync with those in the Arch Linux repositories. This situation locks down the normal rolling update process by unsatisfied dependencies because the new kernel version, proposed by update, is unsupported by ArchZFS.
So you might prefer to use the Dynamic Kernel Module Support (DKMS) package, but ZFS modules may fail to compile with the latest kernel if it is unsupported by OpenZFS.

= Encrypted zpools on LUKS =
This shows how to encrypt a drive, enroll it to automatically unlock at boot using TPM, and set up a zpool on that encrypted drive.

!!!!!!!THIS IS DESTRUCTIVE!!!!!!!

Unmount:
zfs umount XXXXX
Export:
zpool export XXXXX
Destroy pool (irreversible!):
zpool destroy XXXXX
Wipe signatures:
wipefs -a /dev/sdX

Set up the encryption:
cryptsetup luksFormat /dev/sdX
cryptsetup luksOpen /dev/sdX cryptXXXXX

Enroll in TPM:
systemd-cryptenroll --tpm2-device=auto --tpm2-pcrs=0+7 /dev/sdX

Create the zpool:
zpool create -o ashift=12 XXXXX /dev/mapper/cryptXXXXX
zfs set mountpoint=/mnt/XXXXX XXXXX
zpool status XXXXX

Get the blkid for the crypttab:
blkid -s UUID -o value /dev/sdX

Add to /etc/crypttab:
crypttank2 UUID=$(UUID goes here!) none luks,tpm2-device=auto

update-initramfs -u -k all

Reboot when finished.

@@ Line 53: / Line 53: @@
 Add to /etc/crypttab:
-     crypttank2 UUID=$(UUID goes here!) none luks,tpm2-device=auto
+     cryptXXXXX UUID=$(UUID goes here!) none luks,tpm2-device=auto
      update-initramfs -u -k all
 Reboot when finished.

@@ Line 3: / Line 3: @@
 *    logical volume management (pooled storage) with checkpoints,
 *    copy-on-write,
-*    snapshots, clones (writable snapshots) and bookmarks (lightweight change markers),
+*    snapshots, clones (writable snapshots) and bookupdate-initramfs -u -k allmarks (lightweight change markers),
 *    scrubbing (data integrity verification and automatic repair),
 *    RAID-Z,
@@ Line 53: / Line 53: @@
 Add to /etc/crypttab:
-crypttank2 UUID=$(UUID goes here!) none luks,tpm2-device=auto
+    crypttank2 UUID=$(UUID goes here!) none luks,tpm2-device=auto
      update-initramfs -u -k all
 Reboot when finished.

ZFS - Revision history

Goldbolt at 13:32, 17 March 2026

Goldbolt at 17:35, 24 February 2026

Goldbolt: Created page with "ZFS—previously Zettabyte File System—features: * logical volume management (pooled storage) with checkpoints, * copy-on-write, * snapshots, clones (writable snap..."