ZFS Cheatsheet - Essential Commands and Operations

March 22, 2026

zfs system-administration cheatsheet

Make a snapshot

zfs snapshot -r tank@$(date +"%Y-%m-%d-%H%M")-TEST
zfs snapshot -r tank@2021-10-22-1054-TEST

List snapshots

zfs list -t snapshot

Destroy snapshots

zfs destroy -r tank@2021-10-22-105

Upgrade ZFS features

It is important to note this may affect your ability to boot if ROOT is ZFS.

zpool upgrade -a

Creating a new pool

zpool create -o ashift=12 -o autoexpand=on tank2 mirror sn-3FJ1K62U sn-3FHA29ET mirror sn-8CHVKK4E sn-2AH1LNLY
zfs set compression=lz4 tank2