Creating, Destroying, and Renaming ZFS File Systems

ZFS file systems can be created and destroyed by using the zfs create and zfs destroy commands. ZFS file systems can be renamed by using the zfs rename command.

• Creating a ZFS File System

• Destroying a ZFS File System

• Renaming a ZFS File System

Creating a ZFS File System

ZFS file systems are created by using the zfs create command. The create subcommand takes a single argument: the name of the file system to be created. The file system name is specified as a path name starting from the name of the pool as follows:

pool-name/[filesystem-name/]filesystem-name

The pool name and initial file system names in the path identify the location in the hierarchy where the new file system will be created. The last name in the path identifies the name of the file system to be created. The file system name must satisfy the naming requirements in ZFS Component Naming Requirements.

In the following example, a file system named jeff is created in the tank/home file system.

# zfs create tank/home/jeff

ZFS automatically mounts the newly created file system if it is created successfully. By default, file systems are mounted as /dataset, using the path provided for the file system name in the create subcommand. In this example, the newly created jeff file system is mounted at /tank/home/jeff. For more information about automatically managed mount points, see Managing ZFS Mount Points.

For more information about the zfs create command, see zfs(1M).

You can set file system properties when the file system is created.

In the following example, a mount point of /export/zfs is created for the tank/home file system:

# zfs create -o mountpoint=/export/zfs tank/home

For more information about file system properties, see Introducing ZFS Properties.

Destroying a ZFS File System

To destroy a ZFS file system, use the zfs destroy command. The destroyed file system is automatically unmounted and unshared. For more information about automatically managed mounts or automatically managed shares, see Automatic Mount Points.

In the following example, the tank/home/mark file system is destroyed:

# zfs destroy tank/home/mark

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Caution - No confirmation prompt appears with the destroy subcommand. Use it with extreme caution.

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If the file system to be destroyed is busy and cannot be unmounted, the zfs destroy command fails. To destroy an active file system, use the -f option. Use this option with caution as it can unmount, unshare, and destroy active file systems, causing unexpected application behavior.

# zfs destroy tank/home/matt
cannot unmount 'tank/home/matt': Device busy

# zfs destroy -f tank/home/matt

The zfs destroy command also fails if a file system has descendents. To recursively destroy a file system and all its descendents, use the -r option. Note that a recursive destroy also destroys snapshots, so use this option with caution.

# zfs destroy tank/ws
cannot destroy 'tank/ws': filesystem has children
use '-r' to destroy the following datasets:
tank/ws/jeff
tank/ws/bill
tank/ws/mark
# zfs destroy -r tank/ws

If the file system to be destroyed has indirect dependents, even the recursive destroy command fails. To force the destruction of all dependents, including cloned file systems outside the target hierarchy, the -R option must be used. Use extreme caution with this option.

# zfs destroy -r tank/home/eric
cannot destroy 'tank/home/eric': filesystem has dependent clones
use '-R' to destroy the following datasets:
tank/clones/eric-clone
# zfs destroy -R tank/home/eric

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Caution - No confirmation prompt appears with the -f, -r, or -R options to the zfs destroy command, so use these options carefully.

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For more information about snapshots and clones, see Chapter 7, Working With Oracle Solaris ZFS Snapshots and Clones.

Renaming a ZFS File System

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

• Change the name of a file system.

• Relocate the file system 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 rename of a file system from eric to eric_old:

# zfs rename tank/home/eric tank/home/eric_old

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

# zfs rename tank/home/mark tank/ws/mark

In this example, the mark 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 disk space to hold this new file system. If the new location does not have enough disk space, possibly because it has reached its quota, rename operation fails.

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 command fails if the operation is unable to unmount an active file system. If this problem occurs, you must forcibly unmount the file system.

For information about renaming snapshots, see Renaming ZFS Snapshots.