--- page-title: "Fedora Root on ZFS — OpenZFS documentation" url: https://openzfs.github.io/openzfs-docs/Getting%20Started/Fedora/Root%20on%20ZFS.html date: "2024-05-29 14:22:28" --- > find /dev/disk/by-id/ --- ## Fedora Root on ZFS[](https://openzfs.github.io/openzfs-docs/Getting%20Started/Fedora/Root%20on%20ZFS.html#fedora-root-on-zfs "Permalink to this heading") ## Notes[](https://openzfs.github.io/openzfs-docs/Getting%20Started/Fedora/Root%20on%20ZFS.html#notes "Permalink to this heading") - As an alternative to the below method of installing Fedora Linux on a ZFS root filesystem, you can use the unofficial script [fedora-on-zfs](https://github.com/gregory-lee-bartholomew/fedora-on-zfs), which is more automated and can generate a Fedora Linux installation that is closer to an official Fedora Linux configuration. The fedora-on-zfs script is different from the below method in that it uses one of Fedora’s official kickstarts (fedora-disk-minimal.ks, fedora-disk-workstation.ks, fedora-disk-kde.ks, etc.) to guide the installation, but with a few overrides to add the ZFS functionality. Bug reports should be submitted to Greg’s fedora-on-zfs GitHub repo. **ZFSBootMenu** [ZFSBootMenu](https://zfsbootmenu.org/) is an alternative bootloader free of such limitations and has support for boot environments. Do not follow instructions on this page if you plan to use ZBM, as the layouts are not compatible. Refer to their site for installation details. **Customization** Unless stated otherwise, it is not recommended to customize system configuration before reboot. **Only use well-tested pool features** You should only use well-tested pool features. Avoid using new features if data integrity is paramount. See, for example, [this comment](https://github.com/openzfs/openzfs-docs/pull/464#issuecomment-1776918481). **UEFI support only** Only UEFI is supported by this guide. ### Preparation[](https://openzfs.github.io/openzfs-docs/Getting%20Started/Fedora/Root%20on%20ZFS.html#preparation "Permalink to this heading") 1. Disable Secure Boot. ZFS modules can not be loaded if Secure Boot is enabled. 2. Because the kernel of latest Live CD might be incompatible with ZFS, we will use Alpine Linux Extended, which ships with ZFS by default. Download latest extended variant of [Alpine Linux live image](https://dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org/alpine/v3.19/releases/x86_64/alpine-extended-3.19.0-x86_64.iso), verify [checksum](https://dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org/alpine/v3.19/releases/x86_64/alpine-extended-3.19.0-x86_64.iso.asc) and boot from it. gpg \--auto-key-retrieve \--keyserver hkps://keyserver.ubuntu.com \--verify alpine-extended-\*.asc dd if\=input-file of\=output-file bs\=1M 3. Login as root user. There is no password. 4. Configure Internet setup-interfaces \-r \# You must use "-r" option to start networking services properly \# example: network interface: wlan0 WiFi name: ip address: dhcp manual netconfig: n 5. If you are using wireless network and it is not shown, see [Alpine Linux wiki](https://wiki.alpinelinux.org/wiki/Wi-Fi#wpa_supplicant) for further details. `wpa_supplicant` can be installed with `apk add wpa_supplicant` without internet connection. 6. Configure SSH server setup-sshd \# example: ssh server: openssh allow root: "prohibit-password" or "yes" ssh key: "none" or "" 7. Set root password or `/root/.ssh/authorized_keys`. 8. Connect from another computer 9. Configure NTP client for time synchronization 10. Set up apk-repo. A list of available mirrors is shown. Press space bar to continue 11. Throughout this guide, we use predictable disk names generated by udev apk update apk add eudev setup-devd udev 12. Target disk List available disks with If virtio is used as disk bus, power off the VM and set serial numbers for disk. For QEMU, use `-drive format=raw,file=disk2.img,serial=AaBb`. For libvirt, edit domain XML. See [this page](https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1245013) for examples. Declare disk array DISK\='/dev/disk/by-id/ata-FOO /dev/disk/by-id/nvme-BAR' For single disk installation, use DISK\='/dev/disk/by-id/disk1' 13. Set a mount point 14. Set partition size: Set swap size in GB, set to 1 if you don’t want swap to take up too much space Set how much space should be left at the end of the disk, minimum 1GB 15. Install ZFS support from live media: 16. Install partition tool apk add parted e2fsprogs cryptsetup util-linux ### System Installation[](https://openzfs.github.io/openzfs-docs/Getting%20Started/Fedora/Root%20on%20ZFS.html#system-installation "Permalink to this heading") 1. Partition the disks. Note: you must clear all existing partition tables and data structures from target disks. For flash-based storage, this can be done by the blkdiscard command below: partition\_disk () { local disk\="${1}" blkdiscard \-f "${disk}" || true parted \--script \--align\=optimal "${disk}" \-- \\ mklabel gpt \\ mkpart EFI 1MiB 4GiB \\ mkpart rpool 4GiB \-$((SWAPSIZE + RESERVE))GiB \\ mkpart swap \-$((SWAPSIZE + RESERVE))GiB \-"${RESERVE}"GiB \\ set 1 esp on \\ partprobe "${disk}" } for i in ${DISK}; do partition\_disk "${i}" done 2. Setup temporary encrypted swap for this installation only. This is useful if the available memory is small: for i in ${DISK}; do cryptsetup open \--type plain \--key-file /dev/random "${i}"\-part3 "${i##\*/}"\-part3 mkswap /dev/mapper/"${i##\*/}"\-part3 swapon /dev/mapper/"${i##\*/}"\-part3 done 3. Load ZFS kernel module 4. Create root pool - Unencrypted: \# shellcheck disable=SC2046 zpool create \\ \-o ashift\=12 \\ \-o autotrim\=on \\ \-R "${MNT}" \\ \-O acltype\=posixacl \\ \-O canmount\=off \\ \-O dnodesize\=auto \\ \-O normalization\=formD \\ \-O relatime\=on \\ \-O xattr\=sa \\ \-O mountpoint\=none \\ rpool \\ mirror \\ $(for i in ${DISK}; do printf '%s ' "${i}\-part2"; done) 5. Create root system container: > \# dracut demands system root dataset to have non-legacy mountpoint > zfs create \-o canmount\=noauto \-o mountpoint\=/ rpool/root Create system datasets, manage mountpoints with `mountpoint=legacy` zfs create \-o mountpoint\=legacy rpool/home zfs mount rpool/root mount \-o X-mount.mkdir \-t zfs rpool/home "${MNT}"/home 6. Format and mount ESP. Only one of them is used as /boot, you need to set up mirroring afterwards for i in ${DISK}; do mkfs.vfat \-n EFI "${i}"\-part1 done for i in ${DISK}; do mount \-t vfat \-o fmask\=0077,dmask\=0077,iocharset\=iso8859-1,X-mount.mkdir "${i}"\-part1 "${MNT}"/boot break done ### System Configuration[](https://openzfs.github.io/openzfs-docs/Getting%20Started/Fedora/Root%20on%20ZFS.html#system-configuration "Permalink to this heading") 1. Download and extract minimal Fedora root filesystem: apk add curl curl \--fail-early \--fail \-L \\ https://dl.fedoraproject.org/pub/fedora/linux/releases/39/Container/x86\_64/images/Fedora-Container-Base-39-1.5.x86\_64.tar.xz \\ -o rootfs.tar.gz curl \--fail-early \--fail \-L \\ https://dl.fedoraproject.org/pub/fedora/linux/releases/39/Container/x86\_64/images/Fedora-Container-39-1.5-x86\_64-CHECKSUM \\ -o checksum \# BusyBox sha256sum treats all lines in the checksum file \# as checksums and requires two spaces " " \# between filename and checksum grep 'Container-Base' checksum \\ | grep '^SHA256' \\ | sed \-E 's|.\*= (\[a-z0-9\]\*)$|\\1 rootfs.tar.gz|' \> ./sha256checksum sha256sum \-c ./sha256checksum rootfs\_tar\=$(tar t \-af rootfs.tar.gz | grep layer.tar) rootfs\_tar\_dir\=$(dirname "${rootfs\_tar}") tar x \-af rootfs.tar.gz "${rootfs\_tar}" ln \-s "${MNT}" "${MNT}"/"${rootfs\_tar\_dir}" tar x \-C "${MNT}" \-af "${rootfs\_tar}" unlink "${MNT}"/"${rootfs\_tar\_dir}" 2. Enable community repo sed \-i '/edge/d' /etc/apk/repositories sed \-i \-E 's/#(.\*)community/\\1community/' /etc/apk/repositories 3. Generate fstab: apk add arch-install-scripts genfstab \-t PARTUUID "${MNT}" \\ | grep \-v swap \\ | sed "s|vfat.\*rw|vfat rw,x-systemd.idle-timeout=1min,x-systemd.automount,noauto,nofail|" \\ > "${MNT}"/etc/fstab 4. Chroot cp /etc/resolv.conf "${MNT}"/etc/resolv.conf for i in /dev /proc /sys; do mkdir \-p "${MNT}"/"${i}"; mount \--rbind "${i}" "${MNT}"/"${i}"; done chroot "${MNT}" /usr/bin/env DISK\="${DISK}" bash 5. Unset all shell aliases, which can interfere with installation: 6. Install base packages dnf \-y install @core kernel kernel-devel 7. Install ZFS packages dnf \-y install \\ https://zfsonlinux.org/fedora/zfs-release-2-4"$(rpm \--eval "%{dist}"||true)".noarch.rpm dnf \-y install zfs zfs-dracut 8. Check whether ZFS modules are successfully built tail \-n10 /var/lib/dkms/zfs/\*\*/build/make.log \# ERROR: modpost: GPL-incompatible module zfs.ko uses GPL-only symbol 'bio\_start\_io\_acct' \# ERROR: modpost: GPL-incompatible module zfs.ko uses GPL-only symbol 'bio\_end\_io\_acct\_remapped' \# make\[4\]: \[scripts/Makefile.modpost:138: /var/lib/dkms/zfs/2.1.9/build/module/Module.symvers\] Error 1 \# make\[3\]: \[Makefile:1977: modpost\] Error 2 \# make\[3\]: Leaving directory '/usr/src/kernels/6.2.9-100.fc36.x86\_64' \# make\[2\]: \[Makefile:55: modules-Linux\] Error 2 \# make\[2\]: Leaving directory '/var/lib/dkms/zfs/2.1.9/build/module' \# make\[1\]: \[Makefile:933: all-recursive\] Error 1 \# make\[1\]: Leaving directory '/var/lib/dkms/zfs/2.1.9/build' \# make: \[Makefile:794: all\] Error 2 If the build failed, you need to install an Long Term Support kernel and its headers, then rebuild ZFS module \# this is a third-party repo! \# you have been warned. # \# select a kernel from \# https://copr.fedorainfracloud.org/coprs/kwizart/ dnf copr enable \-y kwizart/kernel-longterm-VERSION dnf install \-y kernel-longterm kernel-longterm-devel dnf remove \-y kernel-core ZFS modules will be built as part of the kernel installation. Check build log again with `tail` command. 9. Add zfs modules to dracut echo 'add\_dracutmodules+=" zfs "' \>> /etc/dracut.conf.d/zfs.conf echo 'force\_drivers+=" zfs "' \>> /etc/dracut.conf.d/zfs.conf 10. Add other drivers to dracut: if grep mpt3sas /proc/modules; then echo 'force\_drivers+=" mpt3sas "' \>> /etc/dracut.conf.d/zfs.conf fi if grep virtio\_blk /proc/modules; then echo 'filesystems+=" virtio\_blk "' \>> /etc/dracut.conf.d/fs.conf fi 11. Build initrd find \-D exec /lib/modules \-maxdepth 1 \\ -mindepth 1 \-type d \\ -exec sh \-vxc \\ 'if test -e "$1"/modules.dep; then kernel=$(basename "$1"); dracut --verbose --force --kver "${kernel}"; fi' sh {} \\; 12. For SELinux, relabel filesystem on reboot: 13. Enable internet time synchronisation: systemctl enable systemd-timesyncd 14. Generate host id zgenhostid \-f \-o /etc/hostid 15. Install locale package, example for English locale: dnf install \-y glibc-minimal-langpack glibc-langpack-en 16. Set locale, keymap, timezone, hostname rm \-f /etc/localtime rm \-f /etc/hostname systemd-firstboot \\ --force \\ --locale\=en\_US.UTF-8 \\ --timezone\=Etc/UTC \\ --hostname\=testhost \\ --keymap\=us || true 17. Set root passwd printf 'root:yourpassword' | chpasswd ### Bootloader[](https://openzfs.github.io/openzfs-docs/Getting%20Started/Fedora/Root%20on%20ZFS.html#bootloader "Permalink to this heading") 1. Install rEFInd boot loader: \# from http://www.rodsbooks.com/refind/getting.html \# use Binary Zip File option curl \-L http://sourceforge.net/projects/refind/files/0.14.0.2/refind-bin-0.14.0.2.zip/download \--output refind.zip dnf install \-y unzip unzip refind.zip mkdir \-p /boot/EFI/BOOT find ./refind-bin-0.14.0.2/ \-name 'refind\_x64.efi' \-print0 \\ | xargs \-0I{} mv {} /boot/EFI/BOOT/BOOTX64.EFI rm \-rf refind.zip refind-bin-0.14.0.2 2. Add boot entry: tee \-a /boot/refind-linux.conf <