198 lines
7.2 KiB
Groff
198 lines
7.2 KiB
Groff
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.\" CDDL HEADER END
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.\"
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.\" Copyright (c) 2009 Sun Microsystems, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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.\" Copyright 2011 Joshua M. Clulow <josh@sysmgr.org>
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.\" Copyright (c) 2011, 2019 by Delphix. All rights reserved.
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.\" Copyright (c) 2013 by Saso Kiselkov. All rights reserved.
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.\" Copyright (c) 2014, Joyent, Inc. All rights reserved.
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.\" Copyright (c) 2014 by Adam Stevko. All rights reserved.
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.\" Copyright (c) 2014 Integros [integros.com]
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.\" Copyright 2019 Richard Laager. All rights reserved.
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.\" Copyright 2018 Nexenta Systems, Inc.
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.\" Copyright 2019 Joyent, Inc.
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.\"
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.Dd June 30, 2019
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.Dt ZFSCONCEPTS 8
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.Os
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.Sh NAME
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.Nm zfsconcepts
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.Nd An overview of ZFS concepts.
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.Sh DESCRIPTION
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.Ss ZFS File System Hierarchy
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A ZFS storage pool is a logical collection of devices that provide space for
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datasets.
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A storage pool is also the root of the ZFS file system hierarchy.
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.Pp
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The root of the pool can be accessed as a file system, such as mounting and
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unmounting, taking snapshots, and setting properties.
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The physical storage characteristics, however, are managed by the
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.Xr zpool 8
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command.
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.Pp
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See
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.Xr zpool 8
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for more information on creating and administering pools.
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.Ss Snapshots
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A snapshot is a read-only copy of a file system or volume.
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Snapshots can be created extremely quickly, and initially consume no additional
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space within the pool.
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As data within the active dataset changes, the snapshot consumes more data than
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would otherwise be shared with the active dataset.
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.Pp
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Snapshots can have arbitrary names.
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Snapshots of volumes can be cloned or rolled back, visibility is determined
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by the
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.Sy snapdev
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property of the parent volume.
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.Pp
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File system snapshots can be accessed under the
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.Pa .zfs/snapshot
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directory in the root of the file system.
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Snapshots are automatically mounted on demand and may be unmounted at regular
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intervals.
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The visibility of the
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.Pa .zfs
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directory can be controlled by the
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.Sy snapdir
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property.
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.Ss Bookmarks
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A bookmark is like a snapshot, a read-only copy of a file system or volume.
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Bookmarks can be created extremely quickly, compared to snapshots, and they
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consume no additional space within the pool. Bookmarks can also have arbitrary
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names, much like snapshots.
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.Pp
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Unlike snapshots, bookmarks can not be accessed through the filesystem in any
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way. From a storage standpoint a bookmark just provides a way to reference
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when a snapshot was created as a distinct object. Bookmarks are initially
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tied to a snapshot, not the filesystem or volume, and they will survive if the
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snapshot itself is destroyed. Since they are very light weight there's little
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incentive to destroy them.
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.Ss Clones
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A clone is a writable volume or file system whose initial contents are the same
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as another dataset.
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As with snapshots, creating a clone is nearly instantaneous, and initially
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consumes no additional space.
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.Pp
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Clones can only be created from a snapshot.
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When a snapshot is cloned, it creates an implicit dependency between the parent
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and child.
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Even though the clone is created somewhere else in the dataset hierarchy, the
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original snapshot cannot be destroyed as long as a clone exists.
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The
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.Sy origin
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property exposes this dependency, and the
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.Cm destroy
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command lists any such dependencies, if they exist.
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.Pp
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The clone parent-child dependency relationship can be reversed by using the
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.Cm promote
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subcommand.
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This causes the
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.Qq origin
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file system to become a clone of the specified file system, which makes it
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possible to destroy the file system that the clone was created from.
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.Ss "Mount Points"
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Creating a ZFS file system is a simple operation, so the number of file systems
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per system is likely to be numerous.
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To cope with this, ZFS automatically manages mounting and unmounting file
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systems without the need to edit the
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.Pa /etc/fstab
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file.
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All automatically managed file systems are mounted by ZFS at boot time.
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.Pp
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By default, file systems are mounted under
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.Pa /path ,
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where
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.Ar path
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is the name of the file system in the ZFS namespace.
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Directories are created and destroyed as needed.
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.Pp
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A file system can also have a mount point set in the
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.Sy mountpoint
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property.
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This directory is created as needed, and ZFS automatically mounts the file
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system when the
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.Nm zfs Cm mount Fl a
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command is invoked
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.Po without editing
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.Pa /etc/fstab
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.Pc .
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The
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.Sy mountpoint
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property can be inherited, so if
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.Em pool/home
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has a mount point of
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.Pa /export/stuff ,
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then
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.Em pool/home/user
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automatically inherits a mount point of
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.Pa /export/stuff/user .
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.Pp
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A file system
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.Sy mountpoint
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property of
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.Sy none
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prevents the file system from being mounted.
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.Pp
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If needed, ZFS file systems can also be managed with traditional tools
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.Po
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.Nm mount ,
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.Nm umount ,
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.Pa /etc/fstab
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.Pc .
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If a file system's mount point is set to
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.Sy legacy ,
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ZFS makes no attempt to manage the file system, and the administrator is
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responsible for mounting and unmounting the file system. Because pools must
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be imported before a legacy mount can succeed, administrators should ensure
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that legacy mounts are only attempted after the zpool import process
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finishes at boot time. For example, on machines using systemd, the mount
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option
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.Pp
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.Nm x-systemd.requires=zfs-import.target
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.Pp
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will ensure that the zfs-import completes before systemd attempts mounting
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the filesystem. See systemd.mount(5) for details.
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.Ss Deduplication
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Deduplication is the process for removing redundant data at the block level,
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reducing the total amount of data stored. If a file system has the
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.Sy dedup
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property enabled, duplicate data blocks are removed synchronously. The result
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is that only unique data is stored and common components are shared among files.
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.Pp
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Deduplicating data is a very resource-intensive operation. It is generally
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recommended that you have at least 1.25 GiB of RAM per 1 TiB of storage when
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you enable deduplication. Calculating the exact requirement depends heavily
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on the type of data stored in the pool.
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.Pp
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Enabling deduplication on an improperly-designed system can result in
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performance issues (slow IO and administrative operations). It can potentially
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lead to problems importing a pool due to memory exhaustion. Deduplication
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can consume significant processing power (CPU) and memory as well as generate
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additional disk IO.
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.Pp
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Before creating a pool with deduplication enabled, ensure that you have planned
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your hardware requirements appropriately and implemented appropriate recovery
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practices, such as regular backups. As an alternative to deduplication
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consider using
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.Sy compression=on ,
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as a less resource-intensive alternative.
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