ZFS Pools & Datasets

ZFS pools (zpools) are the foundation of storage in both MayaNAS and MayaScale. Marketplace deployments create pools automatically, but you can create additional pools, filesystems, and volumes as needed.

Access

Navigate to Volumes & Pools in the Web UI sidebar, then select the Zpools tab.

Zpool Operations

View Pool Status

The Zpools tab shows each pool with:

• RAID level (mirror, raidz, raidz2)
• Pool size and device count
• Scan status (scrub progress)
• Trim status
• Per-disk read/write/checksum error counts

Create a ZFS Pool

Use the Create ZFS Pool quick action from the sidebar:

1. Enter pool name
2. Select RAID level:
   • mirror — 2-way mirror (recommended for HA)
   • raidz / raidz1 — Single parity
   • raidz2 — Double parity
3. Select disks (NVMe or cloud disks)
4. Optionally add:
   • Log device — ZIL for write-heavy workloads
   • Cache device — L2ARC for read-heavy workloads
   • Spare device — Hot spare for automatic replacement
5. Click Create

Import an Existing Pool

Use the Import ZFS Pool quick action to import a previously exported or migrated pool.

Add a VDEV

To expand an existing pool:

1. Select the pool
2. Click Add VDEV
3. Select additional disks
4. Click Add

Caution

VDEVs cannot be removed once added. Plan pool layout carefully.

Scrub

Scrub verifies data integrity by reading all blocks and checking checksums:

1. Select the pool
2. Click Scrub to start
3. Click Scrub again to cancel a running scrub

TRIM

TRIM reclaims unused blocks on SSDs:

1. Select the pool
2. Click Trim to start
3. Click Trim again to cancel

Run / Stop (Import / Export)

• Run — Import a pool (make it available)
• Stop — Export a pool (safe detach)

Replace a Disk

To replace a faulted or degraded disk:

1. Select the pool
2. Select the disk to replace
3. Click Fault to mark it faulted
4. Click Add to add the replacement disk
5. Resilver will start automatically

ZFS Filesystems

Filesystems are datasets within a pool used for NFS/SMB file sharing.

Create a Filesystem

1. Select a pool
2. Click New ZFS
3. Configure:

Field	Description	Default
Name	Dataset name	—
Record Size	Block size for the dataset	128K
Compression	LZ4, GZIP, ZSTD, or off	LZ4
Quota	Maximum size (optional)	—
Reservation	Guaranteed minimum space (optional)	—

4. Click Create

Tip

Use 1M record size for large sequential workloads (video, backups). Use 128K or smaller for databases and random I/O.

ZFS Volumes (ZVOLs)

ZVOLs are block devices within a pool used for iSCSI or NVMe-oF exports.

Create a ZVOL

1. Select a pool
2. Click New ZVOL
3. Configure:

Field	Description	Default
Name	Volume name	—
Size	Volume capacity	—
Block Size	ZVOL block size	64K
Compression	LZ4, GZIP, ZSTD, or off	LZ4
Sparse	Thin provisioning	Yes
Sync	Write barrier: standard, always, or disabled	standard

4. Click Create

Disk Management

Navigate to Disks in the sidebar to see all physical and virtual disks — NVMe SSDs (local), cloud disks (object-backed), device names, sizes, and allocation status.

CLI

# Show all zpools
mayacli show zpool

# Show a specific pool
mayacli show zpool tank

# Create a mirror pool
mayacli create zpool tank raidlevel=mirror \
  disk=/dev/nvme1n1 disk=/dev/nvme2n1

# Create a raidz2 pool
mayacli create zpool tank raidlevel=raidz2 \
  disk=/dev/sda disk=/dev/sdb disk=/dev/sdc

# Import an existing pool
mayacli zpool import tank

# Add a vdev (disk) to existing pool
mayacli bind zpool tank disk=/dev/nvme3n1

# Remove a disk from pool
mayacli unbind zpool tank disk=/dev/nvme2n1

# Start scrub
mayacli set zpool tank scrub=yes

# Stop scrub
mayacli set zpool tank scrub=no

# Enable TRIM
mayacli set zpool tank discard=1

# Export a pool
mayacli set zpool tank online=no

# Create a ZFS filesystem
mayacli create volume export1 filesys=zfs \
  pathname=/tank/data zp=tank

# Create a ZVOL
mayacli create volume vol1 zvol=1 zp=tank size=100G

# Extend a volume
mayacli set volume vol1 size=200G

# Show all volumes
mayacli show volume

# Show disks
mayacli show disk

See CLI Guide for the full command reference.