Sending and Receiving Complex ZFS Snapshot Streams

This section describes how to use the zfs send -I and -R options to send and receive more complex snapshot streams.

Keep the following points in mind when sending and receiving complex ZFS snapshot streams:

• Use the zfs send -I option to send all incremental streams from one snapshot to a cumulative snapshot. Or, use this option to send an incremental stream from the original snapshot to create a clone. The original snapshot must already exist on the receiving side to accept the incremental stream.

• Use the zfs send -R option to send a replication stream of all descendent file systems. When the replication stream is received, all properties, snapshots, descendent file systems, and clones are preserved.

• Use both options to send an incremental replication stream.

  • Changes to properties are preserved, as are snapshot and file system rename and destroy operations are preserved.

  • If zfs recv -F is not specified when receiving the replication stream, dataset destroy operations are ignored. The zfs recv -F syntax in this case also retains its rollback if necessary meaning.

  • As with other (non zfs send -R) -i or -I cases, if -I is used, all snapshots between snapA and snapD are sent. If -i is used, only snapD (for all descendents) are sent.

• To receive any of these new types of zfs send streams, the receiving system must be running a software version capable of sending them. The stream version is incremented.

  However, you can access streams from older pool versions by using a newer software version. For example, you can send and receive streams created with the newer options to and from a version 3 pool. But, you must be running recent software to receive a stream sent with the newer options.

Example 7–1 Sending and Receiving Complex ZFS Snapshot Streams

A group of incremental snapshots can be combined into one snapshot by using the zfs send -I option. For example:

# zfs send -I pool/fs@snapA pool/fs@snapD > /snaps/fs@all-I

Then, you would remove snapB, snapC, and snapD.

# zfs destroy pool/fs@snapB
# zfs destroy pool/fs@snapC
# zfs destroy pool/fs@snapD

To receive the combined snapshot, you would use the following command.

# zfs receive -d -F pool/fs < /snaps/fs@all-I
# zfs list
NAME                      USED  AVAIL  REFER  MOUNTPOINT
pool                      428K  16.5G    20K  /pool
pool/fs                    71K  16.5G    21K  /pool/fs
pool/fs@snapA              16K      -  18.5K  -
pool/fs@snapB              17K      -    20K  -
pool/fs@snapC              17K      -  20.5K  -
pool/fs@snapD                0      -    21K  -

You can also use the zfs send -I command to combine a snapshot and a clone snapshot to create a combined dataset. For example:

# zfs create pool/fs
# zfs snapshot pool/fs@snap1
# zfs clone pool/fs@snap1 pool/clone
# zfs snapshot pool/clone@snapA
# zfs send -I pool/fs@snap1 pool/clone@snapA > /snaps/fsclonesnap-I
# zfs destroy pool/clone@snapA
# zfs destroy pool/clone
# zfs receive -F pool/clone < /snaps/fsclonesnap-I

You can use the zfs send -R command to replicate a ZFS file system and all descendent file systems, up to the named snapshot. When this stream is received, all properties, snapshots, descendent file systems, and clones are preserved.

In the following example, snapshots are created for user file systems. One replication stream is created for all user snapshots. Next, the original file systems and snapshots are destroyed and then recovered.

# zfs snapshot -r users@today
# zfs list
NAME                USED  AVAIL  REFER  MOUNTPOINT
users               187K  33.2G    22K  /users
users@today            0      -    22K  -
users/user1          18K  33.2G    18K  /users/user1
users/user1@today      0      -    18K  -
users/user2          18K  33.2G    18K  /users/user2
users/user2@today      0      -    18K  -
users/user3          18K  33.2G    18K  /users/user3
users/user3@today      0      -    18K  -
# zfs send -R users@today > /snaps/users-R
# zfs destroy -r users
# zfs receive -F -d users < /snaps/users-R
# zfs list
NAME                USED  AVAIL  REFER  MOUNTPOINT
users               196K  33.2G    22K  /users
users@today            0      -    22K  -
users/user1          18K  33.2G    18K  /users/user1
users/user1@today      0      -    18K  -
users/user2          18K  33.2G    18K  /users/user2
users/user2@today      0      -    18K  -
users/user3          18K  33.2G    18K  /users/user3
users/user3@today      0      -    18K  -

In the following example, the zfs send -R command was used to replicate the users dataset and its descendents, and to send the replicated stream to another pool, users2.

# zfs create users2 mirror c0t1d0 c1t1d0
# zfs receive -F -d users2 < /snaps/users-R
# zfs list
NAME                 USED  AVAIL  REFER  MOUNTPOINT
users                224K  33.2G    22K  /users
users@today             0      -    22K  -
users/user1           33K  33.2G    18K  /users/user1
users/user1@today     15K      -    18K  -
users/user2           18K  33.2G    18K  /users/user2
users/user2@today       0      -    18K  -
users/user3           18K  33.2G    18K  /users/user3
users/user3@today       0      -    18K  -
users2               188K  16.5G    22K  /users2
users2@today            0      -    22K  -
users2/user1          18K  16.5G    18K  /users2/user1
users2/user1@today      0      -    18K  -
users2/user2          18K  16.5G    18K  /users2/user2
users2/user2@today      0      -    18K  -
users2/user3          18K  16.5G    18K  /users2/user3
users2/user3@today      0      -    18K  -

Remote Replication of ZFS Data

You can use the zfs send and zfs recv commands to remotely copy a snapshot stream representation from one system to another system. For example:

# zfs send tank/cindy@today | ssh newsys zfs recv sandbox/restfs@today

This command sends the tank/cindy@today snapshot data and receives it into the sandbox/restfs file system. The command also creates a restfs@today snapshot on the newsys system. In this example, the user has been configured to use ssh on the remote system.