ZPool Cheatsheet

📦 ZFS Pool Basics

# Create a new pool
zpool create mypool /dev/sdX

# List all pools
zpool list

# Show detailed pool status
zpool status mypool

# Add a new vdev to an existing pool
zpool add mypool /dev/sdY

# Destroy a pool (⚠️ irreversible!)
zpool destroy mypool

# Export (unmount) a pool
zpool export mypool

# Import (mount) a pool
zpool import mypool

# Scrub a pool (check for errors)
zpool scrub mypool

# Check scrub status
zpool status mypool

🛠️ Vdev Types & RAID Equivalents

⚠️ ZFS pools are built from one or more vdevs. If any vdev fails, the entire pool fails—even if other vdevs are healthy.

📁 Dataset & Filesystem Management

# Create a dataset
zfs create mypool/mydataset

# List datasets
zfs list

# Set quota on a dataset
zfs set quota=10G mypool/mydataset

# Snapshot a dataset
zfs snapshot mypool/mydataset@snap1

# Roll back to a snapshot
zfs rollback mypool/mydataset@snap1

# Send snapshot to another system
zfs send mypool/mydataset@snap1 | ssh user@host zfs receive backup/mirror

🧮 Tips & Best Practices

• ✅ Always use whole disks (not partitions) for ZFS.
• ✅ Use ECC RAM if possible—ZFS relies heavily on memory integrity.
• ✅ Avoid mixing vdev types in a single pool.
• ✅ Use zpool scrub regularly to detect and fix silent corruption.
• ✅ Remember: redundancy is at the vdev level, not the pool level.