ZFS on OSX and Windows

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gea

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Dec 31, 2010
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zfs-windows-2.3.1rc11 Latest

rc11

  • Rewrite OpenZVOL.sys installer, change to SCSIAdapter
  • BSOD in zfs_ctldir zfs_parent()
  • zfs_write deadlock, locking against self
  • Do not advertise block cloning if disabled
  • Correct FILENAME for streams

download: Releases · openzfsonwindows/openzfs
issues: openzfsonwindows/openzfs

problems I have seen
After an update it can happen that you must run the installer twice
When opening a ZFS volume you can get a message about corrupted recycle bin
 
B

bugacha

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Sep 21, 2024
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gea said:
zfs-windows-2.3.1rc11 Latest

rc11

  • Rewrite OpenZVOL.sys installer, change to SCSIAdapter
  • BSOD in zfs_ctldir zfs_parent()
  • zfs_write deadlock, locking against self
  • Do not advertise block cloning if disabled
  • Correct FILENAME for streams

download: Releases · openzfsonwindows/openzfs
issues: openzfsonwindows/openzfs

problems I have seen
After an update it can happen that you must run the installer twice
When opening a ZFS volume you can get a message about corrupted recycle bin
Click to expand...
Is it Debug build or Release build ?
 
G

gea

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Dec 31, 2010
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OpenZFS on Windows 2.3.1 rc11 has a bug with annoying messages of a corrupted recycle bin when deleting files.
There is a rc11 v2 edition that fixes this (on updates you may need to run the installer twice)

github.com

Releases · openzfsonwindows/openzfs

OpenZFS on Linux and FreeBSD. Contribute to openzfsonwindows/openzfs development by creating an account on GitHub.
github.com github.com
 
G

gea

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Dec 31, 2010
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openzfs-windows-2.3.1rc12

github.com

Releases · openzfsonwindows/openzfs

OpenZFS on Linux and FreeBSD. Contribute to openzfsonwindows/openzfs development by creating an account on GitHub.
github.com github.com
github.com

openzfsonwindows/openzfs

OpenZFS on Linux and FreeBSD. Contribute to openzfsonwindows/openzfs development by creating an account on GitHub.
github.com github.com


rc12
  • Attempt to fix the double-install issue
  • Fix BSOD in OpenZVOL re-install
  • Unlinked_drain leaked znodes, stalling export/unmount
  • zfsinstaller attempts to export before install
  • oplock fixes
  • hide Security.NTACL better
  • zfs_link/hardlinks has replace option under Windows.
  • fix deadlock in file IO
  • fixes to Security, gid work.
 
G

gea

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Dec 31, 2010
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OpenZFS for Windows 2.3.1 rc13


Still a release candidate/beta but already quite good with in most cases uncritical remaining issues.
Test it and report issues back to have a stable asap.

OpenZFS for Windows 2.3.1 rc13
Releases · openzfsonwindows/openzfs

Issues
openzfsonwindows/openzfs

rc13
  • Use stable paths to disks, log and l2arc
  • Add Registry sample to enable crash dumps for zpool.exe and zfs.exe
  • Change .exe linking to include debug symbols
  • Rewrite getmntany()/getmntent() to be threadsafe (zpool crash)
  • Mount fix, if reparsepoint existed it would fail to remove before mounting
  • Reparsepoints failed to take into account the Alternate Stream name, creating random Zone.Identifiers
Also contains a Proof Of Concept zfs_tray.exe icon utility, to show how it could be implemented, and communicate with elevated service, and link with libzfs. Simple Import, Export, Status is there, although it does not fully import ). The hope is that someone would be tempted to keep working on it. It was written with ChatGPT using vibe coding, so clearly you don't even need to be a developer :)
 
G

gea

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Dec 31, 2010
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OpenZFS for Windows 2.3.1 rc14

Still a release candidate/beta but already quite good with in most cases uncritical remaining issues.
Test it and report issues back to have a stable asap.

Download OpenZFS driver
Releases · openzfsonwindows/openzfs

Issues
openzfsonwindows/openzfs

rc14
  • Handle devices that are failed, ejected or removed, a bit better.
  • Fix rename, in particularly on SMB
  • Add basic sharesmb support
  • Fix "zpool clear" BSOD
  • Fix crypto file:// usage
  • zfs_tray add mount/unmount, password prompt.
 
G

gea

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Windows Server has some genuine advantages like SMB Direkt (rdma nics > 10G), Active Directory with worldwide unique ntfs ACL and groups in groups, extra server services, better Storage Spaces Management, usability and some more.

For Soho, Windows Server Essentials is best for up to 25 user and 50 devices and max 1 server per user
RAM, CPU/Core number can be limited, different for 2019/2022/2025.

cheap offer for example

https://www.trustpilot.com/review/digitlogs.com
Buy Windows Server 2019 Essentials Key – Genuine License

anyone with experience with digitlogs?
 
G

gea

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Dec 31, 2010
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While I am still waiting for a howto for a working Linux ksmbd server with SMB Direct/rdma and Windows clients, there are many infos for a troublefree working ultrafast Windows Server NAS setup with SMB Direct and up to 10Gbyte/s:

SMB Direct/rdma and Windows Server (cheap Windows 2019 Essentials is mostly ok with 25 users/ 50 devices included)

The key for ultrafast NAS transfers is SMB Direct/rdma. With 25G nics you can get a NAS performance similar to a local NVMe (3GB/s) with lowest latency and CPU load. With 100G you can even go up to 10 GB/s over SMB.
Especially for multi-user 4/8k video use cases such a performance is wanted for editing directly from NAS

Windows Server supports SMB Direct up from Server 2012 and is still the best option for SMB Direct as it is a „it just works“ solution. The only alternative is ksmbd on Linux but I have not seen a success story for SMB Direct and Windows clients up to now.

SMB Direct requirements
You need RDMA capable nics 25-100G that should support RoCE v2 (RDMA over Converged Ethernet)
Most common are Mellanox ConnectX 4-6 (single or dualport) or Intel E810 (up to 4x25G, or low profile)

You can use direct cabling
between a Windows Server NAS and Linux or Windows 11 Pro clients with DAC cables (passive up to 5m or active ones). This is the cheapest and most power efficient method as you do not need a 100G sitch. A power
efficient nic like a ConnectX- 4LX is under 10W with DAC cables. For normal communication you can use your 1-10G nic
connected to your current switch or router.

The alternative is a 100G switch.
A cheap 25W option with 4x100G is a Mikrotik CRS504-4XQ with newest firmware to support RoCEv2,

Switch setup

Quality of Service - RouterOS - MikroTik Documentation

help.mikrotik.com help.mikrotik.com

Example
www.hardwareluxx.de

[Sammelthread] - Der 100Gbit Netzwerk Thread, ein bisschen 40gbit und „beyond“ ;)

Hab gerade bei mir zuhause die Verkabelung umgestellt und dann 2h Fiber debugged... Stellt sich raus: Der Zulieferer hat mir komplett falsche Kabel geschickt. Bestellt war OS2 MTP APC... Die gibt es eigentlich NUR in APC, ich hab die noch nie UPC gesehen (Multimode MTP ist dagegen immer UPC...
www.hardwareluxx.de www.hardwareluxx.de

Linux client setup
www.hardwareluxx.de

[Sammelthread] - Der 100Gbit Netzwerk Thread, ein bisschen 40gbit und „beyond“ ;)

Hab gerade bei mir zuhause die Verkabelung umgestellt und dann 2h Fiber debugged... Stellt sich raus: Der Zulieferer hat mir komplett falsche Kabel geschickt. Bestellt war OS2 MTP APC... Die gibt es eigentlich NUR in APC, ich hab die noch nie UPC gesehen (Multimode MTP ist dagegen immer UPC...
www.hardwareluxx.de www.hardwareluxx.de

Windows Client setup

and infos about NVMe tuning for newest Windows 11 and Server 2025
www.pcgamer.com

This neat Windows 11 registry trick offers higher NVMe SSD performance—but it's not for everyone

Random 4K performance is looking good with a native NVMe implementation.
www.pcgamer.com www.pcgamer.com
 
Last edited:
G

gea

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Dec 31, 2010
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OpenZFS on OSX and Windows, current state:

OpenZFS on OSX 2.3.1 released

OpenZFS on OS X

OpenZFS on OS X
openzfsonosx.org openzfsonosx.org

improvements around Raid-Z expansion, vdev rebalance and Fast Dedup

OpenZFS on OSX 2.4 release candidate
improvements around performance and management
Check known issues prior use and report new issues

- faster encryption
- default quotas
- special vdev with Slog functionality (perfect for hybrid pools)
- less fragmentation


OpenZFS on Windows 2.3.1 release candidate 14

OpenZFS on Windows

OpenZFS on Windows
openzfsonwindows.org openzfsonwindows.org
Check known issues prior use and report new issues

Windows behaves different on mounts, volumes and locking with much more hardware and software options.
This is why the Windows port is more complicated than the Linux or OSX port and requires mor testings with different hard and software

I hope for the same state on Windows than on OSX asap.
 
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G

gea

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OpenZFS on Windows v 2.4.1 pre release available
github.com

Release zfs-windows-2.4.1rc1 · openzfsonwindows/openzfs

Synced up with upstream for openzfs-2.4.1 - This is a very large list of commits: https://github.com/openzfsonwindows/openzfs/commits/zfs-Windows-2.4.1-release/?since=20260116 It would seem file-ba...
github.com github.com

Main improvement of 2.4 are around hybrid pools
- special vdev is used as slog for sync writes
- special vdev can hold zvol data
- special vdev can hold metadata of a filesystem (small block size 0)
- special vdev can hold small files of a filesystem (small block size < filesize)
- special vdev can hold all files of a filesystem recsize <= small block size)
- you can move files between hd and flash with zfs rewrite

- improved encryption performance
- reduced fragmentation

Please report issues (new ones or remaining issues from 2.3)
github.com

openzfsonwindows/openzfs

OpenZFS on Linux and FreeBSD. Contribute to openzfsonwindows/openzfs development by creating an account on GitHub.
github.com github.com
 
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