Is there a ZFS "For Dummies" Guide?

FLECOM

FLECOM

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I have been trying to read into ZFS as something I want to play around with and eventually deploy in real enviornments, and everything I read just makes it more confusing... is there some kind of ZFS 101 guide out there?
 
FLECOM said:
I have been trying to read into ZFS as something I want to play around with and eventually deploy in real enviornments, and everything I read just makes it more confusing... is there some kind of ZFS 101 guide out there?
Click to expand...

some basics
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ZFS
http://wiki.illumos.org/display/illumos/ZFS
http://nex7.blogspot.de/2013/03/readme1st.html
http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1573272

not really up to date but mostly valid
The Solaris Bible
http://www.amazon.com/OpenSolaris-Bible-Nicholas-A-Solter/dp/0470385480
 
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Install an OS into Virtualbox, for instance Solaris or FreeBSD or Linux, and create some empty 100MB files. Those files acts as a hard disk, so you can create a raidz2 or whatever and try it out. Make snapshots, delete them, etc. No need to format your disk or something like that.
 
Are you wanting to know how to use it, how it does what it does (technical details) or a sort of broad overview of features?
 
The basics are very easy. I am doing it by command line and there are about 3 lines I have to type to get a pool going and then after that it's on its own.

The more elaborate features you can do later on, but just getting started is easy enough.
 
PinkyThePig said:
Are you wanting to know how to use it, how it does what it does (technical details) or a sort of broad overview of features?
Click to expand...

I have a general idea of what it is/does...

but lets say I want to make a simple NAS/file server with a bunch of disks and a RAID-Z2 or something, where does one start?
 
Gea has some nice guides on his website and he developed Napp-it which really makes managing a ZFS based NAS nice.

http://www.napp-it.org/manuals/to-go_en.html

His Napp-it togo is basically a NAS on a usbstick. I personally have not used the to-go setup but do use a vm setup. Which he also provides a VM image for a NAS setup.
 
Follow any of Gea's guides, if you aren't doing an all in one just skip the VM part

Its basically:
Install Openindiana or OmniOS
Install Napp-it
log into napp-it web gui
initialize disks and create a pool
Create the Share type you want (SMB/NFS/AFP) and the security settings

Boom NAS
 
I wouldn't recommend ZFS to dummies but from your last post I guess you're not really one !
 
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