Hello good people,

Hoping this is an appropriate place for troubleshooting questions, I’m learning Linux & OpenZFS in preparation of a server + NAS build, currently working in VMware Workstation. I have successfully setup OpenZFS on Fedora 39 and have configured my zpool using virtual disks.

Now I am looking to replicate the setup on Fedora Silverblue: setup OpenZFS, import the existing disks, then attach the zpool.

1. Import the OpenZFS repository

rpm-ostree install -y https://zfsonlinux.org/fedora/zfs-release-2-4$(rpm --eval "%{dist}").noarch.rpm

2. Confirmed zfs-fuse is not used

rpm-ostree override remove zfs-fuse

error: Package "zfs-fuse" not found
3. Layer the kernel headers

rpm-ostree install kernel-devel

4. Layer OpenZFS

rpm-ostree install zfs

5. Confirmed status

rpm-ostree status

State: idle
Deployments:
● fedora:fedora/39/x86_64/kinoite
                  Version: 39.20240304.0 (2024-03-04T00:39:42Z)
               BaseCommit: b30269aa0e2604e24fd74596a75ee79ef77e6bc2b20f87b49d02f2796ccd3da2
             GPGSignature: Valid signature by E8F23996F23218640CB44CBE75CF5AC418B8E74C
          LayeredPackages: kernel-devel zfs
            LocalPackages: zfs-release-2-4.fc39.noarch
6. I was expecting the next step to fail

modprobe zfs

modprobe: FATAL: Module zfs not found in directory /lib/modules/6.7.7-200.fc39.x86_64

Nevertheless, I went ahead and created the 2 zfs.conf files as described in the OpenZFS documentation.

cat /etc/modules-load.d/zfs.conf
zfs
cat /etc/dnf/protected.d/zfs.conf
zfs

7. This is where I am now stuck

I have tired a number of things such as:

i. Adding modprobe as a kernel argument similar to Silverblue using nVidia drivers

rpm-ostree kargs --append=modprobe=zfs

rpm-ostree kargs
rhgb quiet root=UUID=cbaf12f4-d5b4-4d24-83d6-83ad53730f2a rootflags=subvol=root rw ostree=/ostree/boot.1/fedora/5d2cc07d31373ad2a64ab4ed610ce5a45625bd317c1447d2947a489056a5c077/0 modprobe=zfs
ii. Installed, then disabled, rpm-ostree initramfs, continuing instead with initramfs-etc as described here

rpm-ostree initramfs-etc --track=/etc/modules-load.d/zfs.conf
rpm-ostree initramfs-etc --track=/etc/dnf/protected.d/zfs.conf

rpm-ostree status
State: idle
Deployments:
● fedora:fedora/39/x86_64/kinoite
                  Version: 39.20240304.0 (2024-03-04T00:39:42Z)
               BaseCommit: b30269aa0e2604e24fd74596a75ee79ef77e6bc2b20f87b49d02f2796ccd3da2
             GPGSignature: Valid signature by E8F23996F23218640CB44CBE75CF5AC418B8E74C
          LayeredPackages: kernel-devel zfs
            LocalPackages: zfs-release-2-4.fc39.noarch
             InitramfsEtc: /etc/dnf/protected.d/zfs.conf /etc/modules-load.d/zfs.conf
8. zfs, zpool seem ok as I can get the help output or read the man pages, however:

zpool status
The ZFS modules cannot be auto-loaded.
Try running 'modprobe zfs' as root to manually load them.

zfs get all
The ZFS modules cannot be auto-loaded.
Try running 'modprobe zfs' as root to manually load them.

Obviously, I’m missing something due to my gaps in experience with Linux. I see that Universal Blue has incorporated OpenZFS as described on the GitHub page, so it should be possible for me to achieve this as well, I suppose.

Any pointers, documentation or advice is appreciated!

  • MrSpandex@lemm.ee
    0·
    8 months ago

    Unfortunately this is why I chose to run Ubuntu server. As far as I know, it’s the only distro with ZFS set up by default. I wish you luck, as I run Silverblue as my desktop and would love to run it for my server too!

  • ScottE@lemm.ee
    0·
    8 months ago

    I don’t use Fedora, but I have ZFS on all my Arch systems for everything (including root fs). So, I’ll make a guess - is the package you installed for ZFS a DKMS kernel module, or a binary one? That’s the first thing. If it’s a DKMS module, I don’t see anything on your output showing it was compiled, which would explain the module not loading. If it’s a binary module in that package, it must be for the exact same version of the kernel that is installed - exact same. If it mismatches then you need either a different kennel or different ZFS package. In either case, you’ll probably need to wire in a hook for your initramfs, but it looks that part might be ok from your output. Hope that helps, good luck. ZFS is incredibly good.

    • iotzan@lemmy.worldOP
      0·
      8 months ago

      Thank you! This is the page where I discovered that I can try rpm-ostree kargs --append=modprobe=zfs, which didn’t work.
      Still, as far as I understand it, ublue managed to overcome this, as they do offer a Fedora version with zfs included.
      What am I missing?

  • biribiri11@lemmy.ml
    0·
    8 months ago

    You wouldn’t use Silverblue on a server, you’d use Fedora CoreOS (FCOS) or CentOS Stream CoreOS (COSS). The ublue project has a FCOS derivative called ucore with options for ZFS OOTB. I use it on my server.

    There’s some examples on how you’d use dockerfiles to build a ZFS module (as well as other things) from Fedora as well.

    In any case, building bootable container images containing stuff like kernel modules is currently how this type of thing is done on atomic Fedora variants.