Renaming a ZFS File System

File systems can be renamed by using the zfs rename command. Using the rename subcommand can perform the following operations:

• Change the name of a file system

• Relocate the file system to a new location within the ZFS hierarchy

• Change the name of a file system and relocate it within the ZFS hierarchy

The following example uses the rename subcommand to do a simple rename of a file system:

# zfs rename tank/home/kustarz tank/home/kustarz_old

This example renames the kustarz file system to kustarz_old.

The following example shows how to use zfs rename to relocate a file system.

# zfs rename tank/home/maybee tank/ws/maybee

In this example, the maybee file system is relocated from tank/home to tank/ws. When you relocate a file system through rename, the new location must be within the same pool and it must have enough space to hold this new file system. If the new location does not have enough space, possibly because it has reached its quota, the rename will fail.

For more information about quotas, see Setting ZFS Quotas and Reservations.

The rename operation attempts an unmount/remount sequence for the file system and any descendent file systems. The rename fails if the operation is unable to unmount an active file system. If this problem occurs, you will need to force unmount the file system.

For information about renaming snapshots, see Renaming ZFS Snapshots.