ZFS ZoL status

6502

6502

What is the status of ZoL - is it the default ZFS and what is the latest FreeBSD with native ZFS (ZoF)?
 
ZoL as an acronym and an individual entity is no more. ZFS for Linux* (delivered as modules developed outside of the Linux kernel) and ZFS in FreeBSD (as included in FreeBSD 13.0 and higher) are both supported from the same OpenZFS repository and are treated as equal citizens; see also some OpenZFS info.

As to "the latest FreeBSD with native ZFS (ZoF)", that would be FreeBSD 12.4-RELEASE (and 12-STABLE) that has ZFS not based on OpenZFS.

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* possibly sometimes also referred to as "ZFS on Linux" but I'm not very familiar with the Linux side of ZFS.
 
Can it be said that latest ZoL is stable as ZoF and not slower or worse in any way?
 
6502 said:
Can it be said that latest ZoL is stable as ZoF and not slower or worse in any way?
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Stable enough for me on a couple of systems. Have not done any specific benchmarks so can't say anything on slower/worse, but it's fast enough and stable enough for my use.
 
On FreeBSD i currently use:
Code: 
openzfs-2022082900_1           OpenZFS userland for FreeBSD
openzfs-kmod-2022082900        OpenZFS kernel module for FreeBSD
When you don't have power outages it's ok.
 
6502 said:
What is the status of ZoL - is it the default ZFS and what is the latest FreeBSD with native ZFS (ZoF)?
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As Erichans says, 13.x is "ZoL", 12.x is "ZoF". Bootcode from 13.x should be able to boot 12.x pool, not sure if the other is true (if pool has not been zpool upgrade to 13.x I think should work)
Performance and corner cases should be tested carefully.
 
Is there a way to upgrade from 12.x to 13.x and keep ZoF, e.g. custom compilation with provided definition?
 
6502 said:
Is there a way to upgrade from 12.x to 13.x and keep ZoF, e.g. custom compilation?
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If you don't zpool upgrade, the pools will stay on 12.x. I believe that 13.x can boot and understand the 12.x pools.
As for "building a 13.x kernel with 12.x ZFS bits" I don't know, but think "probably not"
 
"zpool upgrade" can be dangerous.
Otherwise 14 kernel can boot 13 which can boot 12. There is always compatibility for "older.
 
6502 said:
Is there a way to upgrade from 12.x to 13.x and keep ZoF, e.g. custom compilation with provided definition?
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Why would you want that?

You also asked "latest ZoL is stable as ZoF and not slower or worse in any way". What you forgot to ask is: Is ZoL (meaning the FreeBSD 13.x version of ZFS) better in any way than the older 12.x version?

My personal answer to that last question is: The FreeBSD developers and maintainers who put the ZFS source code into 13.x are neither fools nor criminals. They did that because the new version is better than the old. Given that they are mostly seasoned storage system developers, they understand the metrics that define "better".
 
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6502 said:
Is there a way to upgrade from 12.x to 13.x and keep ZoF, e.g. custom compilation with provided definition?
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I don't think so. You maybe able to find a thread here on forums when somebody posted a message that 13 would be moved to openzfs. I think it was discussed there.

The only reason why my fileserver is on FreeBSD 12 is that's it's still ZoF. I will eventually upgrade but I want it (openzfs) to mature more. On one side it's nice to see more rapid development around zfs, new features, etc. But on the other hand. It's FS. I'd rather go out and drink beer or be with my kids than push restore because of some FS corruption. Also 12.x is still supported so no problem there. You know, new features, new bugs avoidance..

But many of my VMs are on 13/ZFS and I had no issues at all.
 
Alain De Vos said:
My bootloader is 14.
My kernel is 13.
Using openzfs & kmod.
As long as you don't have power outages it is rock-stable.
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I mean, I wouldn't call it "rock-stable" if you have to qualify it with "as long as you don't have power outages". ZFS transactioned and CoW nature is supposed to make power outages a non-event.
 
6502 said:
Is there a way to upgrade from 12.x to 13.x and keep ZoF, e.g. custom compilation with provided definition?
Click to expand...

No, you can't run the old ZFS code on 13.x; as mentioned above, you don't have to upgrade the on-disk version of the pool, if you're worried about being able to still read it from a 12.x install.

Also before upgrading the on-disk-zpool-version of any pool you boot from, make sure you have already updated to (and verified working) the latest boot loader.

I've been running OpenZFS ("ZoL" was renamed to "OpenZFS" when they brought FreeBSD compatibility code & CI in-tree) for some time with no major issues; the one I did run into has been fixed (related to NFS and snapshot access).

Note that OpenZFS is actively developed; if you do run into an issue, you'll find much more assistance (and interest in fixing it) than if you run into an issue on 12.x.

I would not recommend running the ports-based of OpenZFS unless you need to test new features before they land in base.
 
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