Solved bectl vs snapshot

Maturin

Maturin

Hi Guys,

I just killed a snapshot I can't remember I did it (as it turned out I didn't, freebsd-update did), and being convinced I don't need it it anymore (which seems also be the case.) Then (afterwards:rolleyes:) I checked it was a BE.
No harm was done (I believe), system boots - was not my default NR BE, but one left from former patches, so obsolete anyway.

So, as far as I understand, the (older) BEs are snapshots, right? (When I think about it, it makes pretty much sense...)
However, here my question:
Does it make a difference if I destroy a BE with
bectl destroy ... or snapshot zfs destroy -R ..., is it the same, or what's the difference (danger?)?

Thanks in advance!
 
zfs destroy NOT snaphot destroy, pardon.
Thanks.
So, you're saying technically it makes no difference, using bectl is just easier, more comfortable?
 
I think most of us using ZFS have been bitten by this at times. Boot Environments at the core are clones, which are kind of like "writable snapshots" so there is a snapshot but also writable. If one does zfs list commands to see snapshots, you also get BEs. My solution as been to always start with bectl commands to list them, bectl commands to remove them then move on to snapshots. bectl destroy -o <BENAME> removes the BE (clone) and the underlying snapshot
 
Thanks mer
That's my normal standard procedure to deal with BEs.

What happened:
I was simply checking my snapshots, thought:"...which are those? I didn't do them. And above all I don't use them anymore." So I did a zfs destroy over them. Afterwards I realized I destroyed BEs. I'm a bit tired today.😴 In a state better not dealing with such things. But I thought twice too late, so did it anyway. Lucky, not produced some real damage, hit some vital stuff (Those are the days when one kills harddrive's partition schemes or do likewise BS 😁.)
So I was concerned for a moment, until I realized, those were just obsolete BEs I don't use anymore anyway, and not the current default - NR one (it does not appear as a snapshot [of course not; I believe, I also understand this, too.])

Then I made out: "Of course, BEs are snapshots, makes pretty much sense."
But I wanted to know if this is really true.
And if there was a difference in destroying them with zfs destroy or bectl. Maybe there are additional files somewhere else, that may cause some problems later (it's my Windows registry paranoia 😅 [I know there is no registry under FreeBSD]) ...or something else.
So, I thought:"Simply ask the guys!" :cool:

So: Thank you!

I guess the idea of backupping BEs wasn't a total silly idea after all, those could be done with zfs clone or zfs send? Or how to install a new BE when you accidently killed your default NR one.
Somehow this feels to me as a stupid question, I could answer myself. But I'm tired right now.💤
Don't bother!
See you tomorrow. 🛌

And thanks again.
 
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