ZFS on OSX and Windows

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G

gea

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Newest napp-it cs beta runs natively under OSX and Linux/Proxmox

# download napp-it cs web-gui from napp-it.org, unzip

You can run the napp-it cs web-gui under OSX with a cgi capable webserver.
You can use the included Apache or any other like lighttpd

################
Four step setup:
################

1. enable root (makes everything easier, can be disabled after setup) and allow remote root login
2. upload ./csweb-gui to /var (on OSX /private/var, I use WinSCP for remote file actions)
3. activate Apache (I use Putty as remote console as it can copy/paste with a mouse rightclick)
4. start csweb-gui with "sh /private/var/csweb-gui/data/webserver/apache/osx/apache_osx.sh" (Putty)
this configures the cs-web-gui, restarts Apache for OSX under user _www and starts needed background services

Details see included osx_readme

Current state on OSX/Apache : http is ok, I faiiled to enable https
Some menus like SMB sharing not working

osx.png
 
S

sultan.of.swing

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I got this installed on a Windows 11 Machine but the documentation that is included is very lacking and outdated.
Example was using the command wmic to check devices, well wmic has been deprecated and removed since windows 10.

Is there an updated source to figure out how to make all this work on Windows for a noob?
 
G

gea

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I use a default Windows 11 Pro 23H2 for development.

Which command does not work and should be replaced with Powershell?
Which napp-it cs beta release?

Documentation will be updated when development is not as fast as currently with native support added recently for OSX and Linux/Proxmox
 
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G

gea

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OpenZFS for Windows 2.3.0 rc5

Release zfs-windows-2.3.0rc5 · openzfsonwindows/openzfs
If you use a former 2.3.0 release on Windows you should update is it fixes some probleme around mount up to BSOD. The update can last a few minutes so wait.

Remaining problem that i see: a ctrl-c/ ctrl-v on a folder does not duplicate the folder but the content.
Please update and report remaining problems under Issues. As there is now a new rc every few days we are probably near to a release state.
 
G

gea

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OpenZFS for Windows 2.3.0 rc6
github.com

Release zfs-windows-2.3.0rc6 · openzfsonwindows/openzfs

** rc6 ** dirlist with searchpattern bug mkdir of existing dir should fail dont use storport if disabled check for NULL in dirlist remove usecount in volume open/close ** rc5 ** wrap volume_clos...
github.com github.com


** rc6 **
  • dirlist with searchpattern bug
  • mkdir of existing dir should fail
  • dont use storport if disabled
  • check for NULL in dirlist
  • remove usecount in volume open/close

remaining problem: possible bsod on multiple zfs unmount
 
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G

gea

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There is a new rc6e update that seems to fix the unmount problem.
Still a problem with zvols that should be avoided atm (use .vhdx if you need blockdevices under Windows)
 
G

gea

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OpenZFS for Windows rc6f
Release zfs-windows-2.3.0rc6 · openzfsonwindows/openzfs

Release seems not to too far away as we see a new release every few days to fix the remaining problems that came up as more users testing OpenZFS on Windows now on different soft and hardware environments. So folk test it and report remaining problems under Issues · openzfsonwindows/openzfs

In my case the rc6f from today fixed a remaining BSOD problem around unmount and zvol destroy. It is quite save to try OpenZFS on Windows as long as your bootdrive is not encrypted so you can boot cli mode directly to delete the filesystem driver /windows/system32/drivers/openzfs.sys on a driver bootloop problem (I have not seen a bootloop problem for quite a long time. Last time it was due an incompatibility with the Aomei driver).

I missed OpenZfS on Windows. While Storage Spaces is a superiour method to pool disks of any type or size with auto hot/cold data tiering, ZFS is far better for large arrays with many storage features not available on Windows with ntfs or ReFS. Windows ACL handling was allways a reason for me to avoid Linux/SAMBA. Only Illumos comes near with worldwide unique Windows AD SID and SMB groups that can contain groups.

Windows with SMB Direct/RDMA (requires Windows Server) and Hyper-V is on the way to be a premium storage platform.
 
B

bugacha

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Sep 21, 2024
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gea said:
OpenZFS for Windows rc6f
Release zfs-windows-2.3.0rc6 · openzfsonwindows/openzfs

Release seems not to too far away as we see a new release every few days to fix the remaining problems that came up as more users testing OpenZFS on Windows now on different soft and hardware environments. So folk test it and report remaining problems under Issues · openzfsonwindows/openzfs

In my case the rc6f from today fixed a remaining BSOD problem around unmount and zvol destroy. It is quite save to try OpenZFS on Windows as long as your bootdrive is not encrypted so you can boot cli mode directly to delete the filesystem driver /windows/system32/drivers/openzfs.sys on a driver bootloop problem (I have not seen a bootloop problem for quite a long time. Last time it was due an incompatibility with the Aomei driver).

I missed OpenZfS on Windows. While Storage Spaces is a superiour method to pool disks of any type or size with auto hot/cold data tiering, ZFS is far better for large arrays with many storage features not available on Windows with ntfs or ReFS. Windows ACL handling was allways a reason for me to avoid Linux/SAMBA. Only Illumos comes near with worldwide unique Windows AD SID and SMB groups that can contain groups.

Windows with SMB Direct/RDMA (requires Windows Server) and Hyper-V is on the way to be a premium storage platform.
Click to expand...
Remind me which version of Server are you running ?
 
G

gea

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I am still on 2019 but OpenZFS should work on any Windows up from Windows 10.
 
G

gea

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OpenZFS 2.3rc6g
Jorgen Lundman is fighting with the last remaining mount problems on some installations

github.com

Release zfs-windows-2.3.0rc6 · openzfsonwindows/openzfs

** rc6 ** dirlist with searchpattern bug mkdir of existing dir should fail dont use storport if disabled check for NULL in dirlist remove usecount in volume open/close ** rc5 ** wrap volume_clos...
github.com github.com
 
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smithse79

smithse79

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I am a long time Windows admin by trade. I fell in love with ZFS years ago when I was running some CentOS for services that needed linux. I switched my NAS from CentOS to TrueNAS core and have regretted it ever since. The fact that I may soon be able to run my NAS on Windows makes me happier than you can imagine. Thank you for all the hard work.
 
B

bugacha

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I'm waiting for few NVMes to arrive and will start testing ZFS on Windows with hope to migrate from TrueNAS to Windows Server
 
B

bugacha

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Well ZFS on Windows is a bit of a disaster

2 x NVMes finally arrived :

1741101441991.png

Installed :

Code: 
OpenZFSOnWindows-debug-2.3.0rc6g.exe
Created zfs mirror pool :

Code: 
PS C:\Users\Administrator> zpool.exe create -O casesensitivity=insensitive -O atime=off -o ashift=12 -O compression=off tank mirror PHYSICALDRIVE0 PHYSICALDRIVE1

PS C:\Users\Administrator> zpool status -v tank
  pool: tank
state: ONLINE
config:

        NAME                STATE     READ WRITE CKSUM
        tank                ONLINE       0     0     0
          mirror-0          ONLINE       0     0     0
            physicaldrive0  ONLINE       0     0     0
            physicaldrive1  ONLINE       0     0     0

errors: No known data errors
Shared a disk

RDMA on Server is good :

Code: 
PS C:\Users\Administrator> Get-SmbServerNetworkInterface

Scope Name Interface Index RSS Capable RDMA Capable Speed   IpAddress
---------- --------------- ----------- ------------ -----   ---------
*          16              True        True         25 Gbps 192.168.1.17
Net Use share on Windows 11 Pro client (RDMA is good) :

Code: 
PS C:\Windows\System32> Get-SMbMultichannelConnection
Server Name Selected Client IP    Server IP    Client Interface Index Server Interface Index Client RSS Capable Client RDMA Capable
----------- -------- ---------    ---------    ---------------------- ---------------------- ------------------ -------------------
nas3        True     192.168.1.16 192.168.1.17 6                      16                     False              True

PS C:\Windows\System32> Get-SmbClientNetworkInterface
Interface Index RSS Capable RDMA Capable Speed    IpAddresses                               Friendly Name
--------------- ----------- ------------ -----    -----------                               -------------
6               True        True         25 Gbps  {192.168.1.16}                            Ethernet 4

Copying 146GB file from client to ZFS pool, transmission just hangs and never recovers from here

1741101665648.png


The only way to cancel is to reboot the server.


Tried identical setups with NTFS and ReFS mirrors / stripes from Disk Manager - all work fine.


Looks like ZFS is very raw still.
 

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G

gea

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B

bugacha

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Just tried to create ZFS pool with sync and encryption disabled. No changes ...

1741105151148.png

iostat doesnt show much

Code: 
zpool.exe iostat -n 5 10
              capacity     operations     bandwidth
pool        alloc   free   read  write   read  write
----------  -----  -----  -----  -----  -----  -----
tank         343M  3.48T      0     50  3.93K  5.48M
tank         343M  3.48T      0      0      0      0
tank         343M  3.48T      0      0      0      0
tank         343M  3.48T      0      0      0      0
tank         343M  3.48T      0      0      0      0
tank         343M  3.48T      0      0      0      0
tank         343M  3.48T      0      0      0      0
tank         343M  3.48T      0      0      0      0
tank         343M  3.48T      0      0      0      0
tank         343M  3.48T      0      0      0      0
 
B

bugacha

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Sep 21, 2024
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gea said:
maybe this issue (not sure if only related to encryption)
github.com

Cannot copy non-tiny files and folders correctly across ZFS datasets · Issue #457 · openzfsonwindows/openzfs

System information Type Version/Name Distribution Name Windows Distribution Version 24H2 26100.3194 (Feature Experience Pack 1000.26100.48.0) Kernel Version N/A Architecture x86_64 OpenZFS Version ...
github.com github.com

anyway, report all issues to get them fixed or to be aware when using current release candidate!
Click to expand...
Nah, im done with it.

I wonder if the releases that they make on GitHub are debug as naming suggests? Or does it mean they just ship them with debug information?

Copy from NTFS volume to ZFS is quite slow too
 
G

gea

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The filesystem driver for OpenZFS is an Opensource project in beta state without Microsoft, many developers or a large company like HP or Dell behind. This will change once released when there are more users. This means that tests on different soft or hardware environments must be done with the help of users. It can even happen that a new release introduces new problems due larger modifications in code as had happened in 2.2.6

Is ZFS it worth? I say yes as ZFS on Solaris/Illumos and Linux allows far better storage servers as Windows + Storage Spaces..

btw.
While the filesystem driver may improve performance once released, ZFS cannot be as fast as ntfs as Copy on Write and additional checksums come with a price. But tests have shown it as fast enough for any use case with a data security not possible with ext4 or ntfs and features not available in btrfs or ReFS.
 
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