ZPOOL-CREATE(8) FreeBSD System Manager's Manual ZPOOL-CREATE(8)
NAME
zpool-create - create ZFS storage pool
SYNOPSIS
zpool create [-dfn] [-m mountpoint] [-o property=value]<?>
[-o feature@feature=value]
[-o compatibility=off|legacy|file[,file]<?>]
[-O file-system-property=value]<?> [-R root] [-t tname] pool
vdev<?>
DESCRIPTION
Creates a new storage pool containing the virtual devices specified on
the command line. The pool name must begin with a letter, and can only
contain alphanumeric characters as well as the underscore ("_"), dash
("-"), colon (":"), space (" "), and period ("."). The pool names
mirror, raidz, draid, spare and log are reserved, as are names beginning
with mirror, raidz, draid, and spare. The vdev specification is
described in the Virtual Devices section of zpoolconcepts(7).
The command attempts to verify that each device specified is accessible
and not currently in use by another subsystem. However this check is not
robust enough to detect simultaneous attempts to use a new device in
different pools, even if multihost= enabled. The administrator must
ensure that simultaneous invocations of any combination of zpool replace,
zpool create, zpool add, or zpool labelclear do not refer to the same
device. Using the same device in two pools will result in pool
corruption.
There are some uses, such as being currently mounted, or specified as the
dedicated dump device, that prevents a device from ever being used by
ZFS. Other uses, such as having a preexisting UFS file system, can be
overridden with -f.
The command also checks that the replication strategy for the pool is
consistent. An attempt to combine redundant and non-redundant storage in
a single pool, or to mix disks and files, results in an error unless -f
is specified. The use of differently-sized devices within a single raidz
or mirror group is also flagged as an error unless -f is specified.
Unless the -R option is specified, the default mount point is /pool. The
mount point must not exist or must be empty, or else the root dataset
will not be able to be be mounted. This can be overridden with the -m
option.
By default all supported features are enabled on the new pool. The -d
option and the -o compatibility property (e.g -o compatibility=2020) can
be used to restrict the features that are enabled, so that the pool can
be imported on other releases of ZFS.
-d Do not enable any features on the new pool. Individual
features can be enabled by setting their corresponding
properties to enabled with -o. See zpool-features(7) for
details about feature properties.
-f Forces use of vdevs, even if they appear in use or specify a
conflicting replication level. Not all devices can be
overridden in this manner.
-m mountpoint
Sets the mount point for the root dataset. The default mount
point is /pool or altroot/pool if altroot is specified. The
mount point must be an absolute path, legacy, or none. For
more information on dataset mount points, see zfsprops(7).
-n Displays the configuration that would be used without actually
creating the pool. The actual pool creation can still fail due
to insufficient privileges or device sharing.
-o property=value
Sets the given pool properties. See zpoolprops(7) for a list
of valid properties that can be set.
-o compatibility=off|legacy|file[,file]<?>
Specifies compatibility feature sets. See zpool-features(7)
for more information about compatibility feature sets.
-o feature@feature=value
Sets the given pool feature. See the zpool-features(7) section
for a list of valid features that can be set. Value can be
either disabled or enabled.
-O file-system-property=value
Sets the given file system properties in the root file system
of the pool. See zfsprops(7) for a list of valid properties
that can be set.
-R root Equivalent to -o cachefile=none -o altroot=root
-t tname Sets the in-core pool name to tname while the on-disk name will
be the name specified as pool. This will set the default of
the cachefile property to none. This is intended to handle
name space collisions when creating pools for other systems,
such as virtual machines or physical machines whose pools live
on network block devices.
EXAMPLES
Example 1: Creating a RAID-Z Storage Pool
The following command creates a pool with a single raidz root vdev that
consists of six disks:
# zpool create tank raidz sda sdb sdc sdd sde sdf
Example 2: Creating a Mirrored Storage Pool
The following command creates a pool with two mirrors, where each mirror
contains two disks:
# zpool create tank mirror sda sdb mirror sdc sdd
Example 3: Creating a ZFS Storage Pool by Using Partitions
The following command creates a non-redundant pool using two disk
partitions:
# zpool create tank sda1 sdb2
Example 4: Creating a ZFS Storage Pool by Using Files
The following command creates a non-redundant pool using files. While
not recommended, a pool based on files can be useful for experimental
purposes.
# zpool create tank /path/to/file/a /path/to/file/b
Example 5: Managing Hot Spares
The following command creates a new pool with an available hot spare:
# zpool create tank mirror sda sdb spare sdc
Example 6: Creating a ZFS Pool with Mirrored Separate Intent Logs
The following command creates a ZFS storage pool consisting of two, two-
way mirrors and mirrored log devices:
# zpool create pool mirror sda sdb mirror sdc sdd log mirror sde
sdf
SEE ALSO
zpool-destroy(8), zpool-export(8), zpool-import(8)
FreeBSD 15.1-STABLE-HBSD July 11, 2022 ZPOOL-CREATE(8)