openzfs-docs/docs/Getting Started/Arch Linux/Root on ZFS/2-system-installation.rst

.. highlight:: sh

System Installation
======================

.. contents:: Table of Contents
   :local:

#. Optional: wipe solid-state drives with the generic tool
   `blkdiscard <https://utcc.utoronto.ca/~cks/space/blog/linux/ErasingSSDsWithBlkdiscard>`__,
   to clean previous partition tables and improve performance.

   All content will be irrevocably destroyed::

    for i in ${DISK}; do
    blkdiscard -f $i &
    done
    wait

   This is a quick operation and should be completed under one
   minute.

   For other device specific methods, see
   `Memory cell clearing <https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Solid_state_drive/Memory_cell_clearing>`__

#. Partition the disks.
   See `Overview <0-overview.html>`__ for details::

     for i in ${DISK}; do
     sgdisk --zap-all $i
     sgdisk -n1:1M:+${INST_PARTSIZE_ESP}G -t1:EF00 $i
     sgdisk -n2:0:+${INST_PARTSIZE_BPOOL}G -t2:BE00 $i
     if [ "${INST_PARTSIZE_SWAP}" != "" ]; then
         sgdisk -n4:0:+${INST_PARTSIZE_SWAP}G -t4:8200 $i
     fi
     if [ "${INST_PARTSIZE_RPOOL}" = "" ]; then
         sgdisk -n3:0:0   -t3:BF00 $i
     else
         sgdisk -n3:0:+${INST_PARTSIZE_RPOOL}G -t3:BF00 $i
     fi
     sgdisk -a1 -n5:24K:+1000K -t5:EF02 $i
     done

#. Create boot pool::

    zpool create \
        -o compatibility=grub2 \
        -o ashift=12 \
        -o autotrim=on \
        -O acltype=posixacl \
        -O canmount=off \
        -O compression=lz4 \
        -O devices=off \
        -O normalization=formD \
        -O relatime=on \
        -O xattr=sa \
        -O mountpoint=/boot \
        -R /mnt \
        bpool_$INST_UUID \
        $INST_VDEV \
        $(for i in ${DISK}; do
           printf "$i-part2 ";
          done)

   You should not need to customize any of the options for the boot pool.

   GRUB does not support all of the zpool features. See ``spa_feature_names``
   in `grub-core/fs/zfs/zfs.c
   <http://git.savannah.gnu.org/cgit/grub.git/tree/grub-core/fs/zfs/zfs.c#n276>`__.
   This step creates a separate boot pool for ``/boot`` with the features
   limited to only those that GRUB supports, allowing the root pool to use
   any/all features.

   Features enabled with ``-o compatibility=grub2`` can be seen
   `here <https://github.com/openzfs/zfs/blob/master/cmd/zpool/compatibility.d/grub2>`__.

#. Create root pool::

       zpool create \
           -o ashift=12 \
           -o autotrim=on \
           -R /mnt \
           -O acltype=posixacl \
           -O canmount=off \
           -O compression=zstd \
           -O dnodesize=auto \
           -O normalization=formD \
           -O relatime=on \
           -O xattr=sa \
           -O mountpoint=/ \
           rpool_$INST_UUID \
           $INST_VDEV \
          $(for i in ${DISK}; do
             printf "$i-part3 ";
            done)

   **Notes:**

   - The use of ``ashift=12`` is recommended here because many drives
     today have 4 KiB (or larger) physical sectors, even though they
     present 512 B logical sectors. Also, a future replacement drive may
     have 4 KiB physical sectors (in which case ``ashift=12`` is desirable)
     or 4 KiB logical sectors (in which case ``ashift=12`` is required).
   - Setting ``-O acltype=posixacl`` enables POSIX ACLs globally. If you
     do not want this, remove that option, but later add
     ``-o acltype=posixacl`` (note: lowercase “o”) to the ``zfs create``
     for ``/var/log``, as `journald requires ACLs
     <https://askubuntu.com/questions/970886/journalctl-says-failed-to-search-journal-acl-operation-not-supported>`__
   - Setting ``normalization=formD`` eliminates some corner cases relating
     to UTF-8 filename normalization. It also implies ``utf8only=on``,
     which means that only UTF-8 filenames are allowed. If you care to
     support non-UTF-8 filenames, do not use this option. For a discussion
     of why requiring UTF-8 filenames may be a bad idea, see `The problems
     with enforced UTF-8 only filenames
     <http://utcc.utoronto.ca/~cks/space/blog/linux/ForcedUTF8Filenames>`__.
   - ``recordsize`` is unset (leaving it at the default of 128 KiB). If you
     want to tune it (e.g. ``-o recordsize=1M``), see `these
     <https://jrs-s.net/2019/04/03/on-zfs-recordsize/>`__ `various
     <http://blog.programster.org/zfs-record-size>`__ `blog
     <https://utcc.utoronto.ca/~cks/space/blog/solaris/ZFSFileRecordsizeGrowth>`__
     `posts
     <https://utcc.utoronto.ca/~cks/space/blog/solaris/ZFSRecordsizeAndCompression>`__.
   - Setting ``relatime=on`` is a middle ground between classic POSIX
     ``atime`` behavior (with its significant performance impact) and
     ``atime=off`` (which provides the best performance by completely
     disabling atime updates). Since Linux 2.6.30, ``relatime`` has been
     the default for other filesystems. See `RedHat’s documentation
     <https://access.redhat.com/documentation/en-us/red_hat_enterprise_linux/6/html/power_management_guide/relatime>`__
     for further information.
   - Setting ``xattr=sa`` `vastly improves the performance of extended
     attributes
     <https://github.com/zfsonlinux/zfs/commit/82a37189aac955c81a59a5ecc3400475adb56355>`__.
     Inside ZFS, extended attributes are used to implement POSIX ACLs.
     Extended attributes can also be used by user-space applications.
     `They are used by some desktop GUI applications.
     <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extended_file_attributes#Linux>`__
     `They can be used by Samba to store Windows ACLs and DOS attributes;
     they are required for a Samba Active Directory domain controller.
     <https://wiki.samba.org/index.php/Setting_up_a_Share_Using_Windows_ACLs>`__
     Note that ``xattr=sa`` is `Linux-specific
     <https://openzfs.org/wiki/Platform_code_differences>`__. If you move your
     ``xattr=sa`` pool to another OpenZFS implementation besides ZFS-on-Linux,
     extended attributes will not be readable (though your data will be). If
     portability of extended attributes is important to you, omit the
     ``-O xattr=sa`` above. Even if you do not want ``xattr=sa`` for the whole
     pool, it is probably fine to use it for ``/var/log``.
   - Make sure to include the ``-part3`` portion of the drive path. If you
     forget that, you are specifying the whole disk, which ZFS will then
     re-partition, and you will lose the bootloader partition(s).

#. This section implements dataset layout as described in `overview <0-overview.html>`__.

   Create root system container:

   - Unencrypted::

      zfs create -o canmount=off -o mountpoint=none rpool_$INST_UUID/$INST_ID

   - Encrypted:

     Pick a strong password. Once compromised, changing password will not keep your
     data safe. See ``zfs-change-key(8)`` for more info::

      zfs create -o canmount=off -o mountpoint=none -o encryption=on -o keylocation=prompt -o keyformat=passphrase rpool_$INST_UUID/$INST_ID

   Create other system datasets::

    zfs create -o canmount=off -o mountpoint=none bpool_$INST_UUID/$INST_ID
    zfs create -o canmount=off -o mountpoint=none bpool_$INST_UUID/$INST_ID/BOOT
    zfs create -o canmount=off -o mountpoint=none rpool_$INST_UUID/$INST_ID/ROOT
    zfs create -o canmount=off -o mountpoint=none rpool_$INST_UUID/$INST_ID/DATA
    zfs create -o mountpoint=/boot -o canmount=noauto bpool_$INST_UUID/$INST_ID/BOOT/default
    zfs create -o mountpoint=/ -o canmount=off    rpool_$INST_UUID/$INST_ID/DATA/default
    zfs create -o mountpoint=/ -o canmount=noauto rpool_$INST_UUID/$INST_ID/ROOT/default
    zfs mount rpool_$INST_UUID/$INST_ID/ROOT/default
    zfs mount bpool_$INST_UUID/$INST_ID/BOOT/default
    for i in {usr,var,var/lib};
    do
        zfs create -o canmount=off rpool_$INST_UUID/$INST_ID/DATA/default/$i
    done
    for i in {home,root,srv,usr/local,var/log,var/spool};
    do
        zfs create -o canmount=on rpool_$INST_UUID/$INST_ID/DATA/default/$i
    done
    chmod 750 /mnt/root

#. Format and mount ESP::

    for i in ${DISK}; do
     mkfs.vfat -n EFI ${i}-part1
     mkdir -p /mnt/boot/efis/${i##*/}-part1
     mount -t vfat ${i}-part1 /mnt/boot/efis/${i##*/}-part1
    done

    mkdir -p /mnt/boot/efi
    mount -t vfat ${INST_PRIMARY_DISK}-part1 /mnt/boot/efi

#. Create optional user data datasets to omit data from rollback::

     zfs create -o canmount=on rpool_$INST_UUID/$INST_ID/DATA/default/var/games
     zfs create -o canmount=on rpool_$INST_UUID/$INST_ID/DATA/default/var/www
     # for GNOME
     zfs create -o canmount=on rpool_$INST_UUID/$INST_ID/DATA/default/var/lib/AccountsService
     # for Docker
     zfs create -o canmount=on rpool_$INST_UUID/$INST_ID/DATA/default/var/lib/docker
     # for NFS
     zfs create -o canmount=on rpool_$INST_UUID/$INST_ID/DATA/default/var/lib/nfs
     # for LXC
     zfs create -o canmount=on rpool_$INST_UUID/$INST_ID/DATA/default/var/lib/lxc
     # for LibVirt
     zfs create -o canmount=on rpool_$INST_UUID/$INST_ID/DATA/default/var/lib/libvirt
     ##other application
     # zfs create -o canmount=on rpool_$INST_UUID/$INST_ID/DATA/default/var/lib/$name

   Add other datasets when needed, such as PostgreSQL.

#. Install base packages::

     pacstrap /mnt base vi mandoc grub efibootmgr mkinitcpio

#. Check compatible kernel version::

     INST_LINVER=$(pacman -Si zfs-${INST_LINVAR} \
     | grep 'Depends On' \
     | sed "s|.*${INST_LINVAR}=||" \
     | awk '{ print $1 }')

#. Install kernel. Download from archive if kernel is not available::

    if [ ${INST_LINVER} = \
    $(pacman -Si ${INST_LINVAR} | grep Version | awk '{ print $3 }') ]; then
     pacstrap /mnt ${INST_LINVAR}
    else
     pacstrap -U /mnt \
     https://archive.archlinux.org/packages/l/${INST_LINVAR}/${INST_LINVAR}-${INST_LINVER}-x86_64.pkg.tar.zst
    fi

   Ignore ``error: command failed to execute correctly``.

#. Install archzfs package::

     pacstrap /mnt zfs-$INST_LINVAR zfs-utils

#. Install firmware::

     pacstrap /mnt linux-firmware intel-ucode amd-ucode

#. For other optional packages,
   see `ArchWiki <https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Installation_guide#Installation>`__.