ZFS Commands

Complete ZFS commands reference — 93 commands across 24 categories. Quick reference cheat sheet for Linux, FreeBSD & illumos.

General (6)

Shortcut	Action
zfs -?	Displays a help message
zfs -V, --version	Displays the software version of the zfs userland utility
zfs version [-j]	Displays the software version of the zfs userland utility
zpool -?	Displays a help message
zpool -V, --version	Displays the software version of the zpool userland
zpool version [-j]	Displays the software version of the zpool userland

Dataset Management (5)

Shortcut	Action
zfs list	Lists the property information for the given datasets
zfs create	Creates a new ZFS file system or volume
zfs destroy	Destroys the given dataset(s), snapshot(s), or bookmark
zfs rename	Renames the given dataset (filesystem or snapshot)
zfs upgrade	Manage upgrading the on-disk version of filesystems

Snapshots (5)

Shortcut	Action
zfs snapshot	Creates snapshots with the given names
zfs rollback	Roll back the given dataset to a previous snapshot
zfs hold	Add or remove a hold reference to the specified snapshot
zfs release	Add or remove a hold reference to the specified snapshot
zfs diff	Display the difference between a snapshot of a given

Clones (2)

Shortcut	Action
zfs clone	Creates a clone of the given snapshot
zfs promote	Promotes a clone file system to no longer be dependent

Send & Receive (4)

Shortcut	Action
zfs send	Generate a send stream, which may be of a filesystem
zfs receive	Creates a snapshot whose contents are as specified
zfs bookmark	Creates a new bookmark of the given snapshot or bookmark
zfs redact	Generate a new redaction bookmark

Properties (3)

Shortcut	Action
zfs get	Displays properties for the given datasets
zfs set	Sets the property or list of properties to the given
zfs inherit	Clears the specified property

Quotas (4)

Shortcut	Action
zfs userspace	Displays space consumed by, and quotas on, each user
zfs groupspace	Displays space consumed by, and quotas on, each user
zfs projectspace	Displays space consumed by, and quotas on, each user
zfs project	List, set, or clear project ID and/or inherit flag

Mountpoints (2)

Shortcut	Action
zfs mount	Displays all ZFS file systems currently mounted
zfs unmount	Unmounts currently mounted ZFS file systems

Shares (2)

Shortcut	Action
zfs share	Shares available ZFS file systems
zfs unshare	Unshares currently shared ZFS file systems

Delegated Administration (2)

Shortcut	Action
zfs allow	Delegate permissions on the specified filesystem or volume
zfs unallow	Remove delegated permissions on the specified filesystem

Encryption (3)

Shortcut	Action
zfs change-key	Add or change an encryption key on the specified dataset
zfs load-key	Load the key for the specified encrypted dataset
zfs unload-key	Unload a key for the specified dataset

Channel Programs (1)

Shortcut	Action
zfs program	Execute ZFS administrative operations programmatically via

Data rewrite (1)

Shortcut	Action
zfs rewrite	Rewrite specified files without modification

Jails (2)

Shortcut	Action
zfs jail	Attaches a filesystem to a jail
zfs unjail	Detaches a filesystem from a jail

Waiting (1)

Shortcut	Action
zfs wait	Wait for background activity in a filesystem to complete

Pool Creation (2)

Shortcut	Action
zpool create	Creates a new storage pool containing the virtual devices
zpool initialize	Begins initializing by writing to all unallocated regions

Pool Destruction (2)

Shortcut	Action
zpool destroy	Destroys the given pool
zpool labelclear	Removes ZFS label information from the specified device

Virtual Devices (6)

Shortcut	Action
zpool attach	Converts a non-redundant disk into a mirror
zpool detach	Converts a non-redundant disk into a mirror
zpool add	Adds the specified virtual devices to the given pool
zpool remove	Adds the specified virtual devices to the given pool
zpool replace	Replaces an existing device
zpool split	Creates a new pool by splitting all mirrors in an existing

Pool Properties (3)

Shortcut	Action
zpool list	Lists the given pools along with a health status and space
zpool get	Retrieves the given list of properties
zpool set	Retrieves the given list of properties

Monitoring (4)

Shortcut	Action
zpool status	Displays the detailed health status for the given pools
zpool iostat	Displays logical I/O statistics for the given pools/vdevs
zpool events	Lists all recent events generated by the ZFS kernel
zpool history	Displays the command history of the specified pool(s)

Maintenance (8)

Shortcut	Action
zpool prefetch	Prefetches specific types of pool data
zpool scrub	Begins a scrub or resumes a paused scrub
zpool condense	Condense, flush
zpool checkpoint	Checkpoints the current state of pool
zpool trim	Initiates an immediate on-demand TRIM operation
zpool sync	This command forces all in-core dirty data to be written
zpool upgrade	Manage the on-disk format version of storage pools
zpool wait	Waits until all background activity of the given types has

Fault Resolution (5)

Shortcut	Action
zpool offline	Takes the specified physical device offline or brings
zpool online	Takes the specified physical device offline or brings
zpool resilver	Starts a resilver
zpool reopen	Reopen all the vdevs associated with the pool
zpool clear	Clears device errors in a pool

Import & Export (3)

Shortcut	Action
zpool import	Make disks containing ZFS storage pools available
zpool export	Exports the given pools from the system
zpool reguid	Generates a new unique identifier for the pool

Environment Variables (17)

Shortcut	Action
ZFS_COLOR	Use ANSI color in zfs diff and zfs list output
ZFS_MOUNT_HELPER	Cause zfs mount to use mount(8) to mount ZFS datasets
ZFS_SET_PIPE_MAX	Tells zfs to set the maximum pipe size for sends/receives
ZFS_MODULE_TIMEOUT	Time, in seconds, to wait for /dev/zfs to appear
ZFS_ABORT	Cause zpool to dump core on exit for the purposes
ZPOOL_AUTO_POWER_ON_SLOT	Automatically attempt to turn on the drives enclosure slot
ZPOOL_POWER_ON_SLOT_TIMEOUT_MS	The maximum time in milliseconds to wait for a slot power
ZPOOL_IMPORT_PATH	The search path for devices or files to use with the pool
ZPOOL_IMPORT_UDEV_TIMEOUT_MS	The maximum time in milliseconds that zpool import will
ZPOOL_STATUS_NON_NATIVE_ASHIFT_IGNORE	If set, suppress warning about non-native vdev ashift
ZPOOL_VDEV_NAME_GUID	Cause zpool subcommands to output vdev GUIDs by default
ZPOOL_VDEV_NAME_FOLLOW_LINKS	Cause zpool subcommands to follow links for vdev names
ZPOOL_VDEV_NAME_PATH	Cause zpool subcommands to output full vdev path names
ZFS_VDEV_DEVID_OPT_OUT	Older OpenZFS implementations had issues when attempting
ZPOOL_SCRIPTS_AS_ROOT	Allow a privileged user to run zpool status/iostat -c
ZPOOL_SCRIPTS_PATH	The search path for scripts when running zpool
ZPOOL_SCRIPTS_ENABLED	Allow a user to run zpool status/iostat -c