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Comment by layer8 | Hacker News Reader

I never found a good non-tutorial introduction into ZFS concepts. Do you know any? By non-tutorial, I mean something that doesn’t focus on teaching you the command-line tooling. Like you can explain to someone how Git works conceptually in detail, without having to mention any Git commands and having them exercise some Git workflow hands-on.

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There really isn't many concepts to get. `zpool` is like the device manager, use it define how your disks are grouped i.e. turn two disks into a mirror or striped array. `zfs` creates, sets properties on and manages the datasets on the zpool.

For Linux specifically I also reccomend https://docs.zfsbootmenu.org/en/v3.1.x/.

ZFSBootmenu is a bootloader that is fully able to take advantage of all the ZFS features and it also has great documentation with installation guides for a range of distros. https://docs.zfsbootmenu.org/en/v3.1.x/guides/fedora/uefi.ht...

I reccomend you just play around with it a bit first (you can just use some 1Gb test files instead of actual disks), its really just a lack of familiarity that scares people away.

Did you read the fine manual?

https://openzfs.github.io/openzfs-docs/man/master/7/zpoolcon...

https://openzfs.github.io/openzfs-docs/man/master/8/zpool.8....

https://openzfs.github.io/openzfs-docs/man/master/8/zfs.8.ht...

I have seen those, yes. These are reference materials, not an introductory presentation that explains the concepts and their relations, design rationale and use cases in context.

ZFS: The last word in File Systems:

Part 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NRoUC9P1PmA

Part 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TwCXVp_u86o

ZFS In the trenches: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YGJ9cYecdCc

Some good stuff here: https://www.youtube.com/c/Deirdr%C3%A9Straughan/search?query...

It's a terrible manual. Doesn't explain how to export via NFS, SMB. For instance, when to use zfs set vs /etc/exports

Doesn't explain why zfs list sometimes shows datasets that have no mountpoint, but doesn't allow you to set a mountpoint (because it's not mountable).

ZFS is a great technology but it's documentation is terrible.

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