December 11, 20241 yr I have a use case to create a backup of my zpool. I have a large single disk that I want to backup my zpool to. I keep this disk off site. I am a home user and this is my personal data only. Currently I tried the approach of creating a zpool with a single disk for this backup disk. However, I ran into a problem where unraid doesn't yet support exporting (or importing) a zpool via the GUI. it assumes (I think) that zpools are permanently attached to the system. When i stop the array, I can unassign the device from the pool, but not sure what happens if I start the pool; there is a message next to the start button: "Start will remove the missing pool disk and then bring the array on-line". I assume this means the zpool gets blown away and not exported (and no way to import). Technically ZFS does support exporting and importing pools, and I don't want to get into a philosophical debate about whether this is correct or incorrect, or optimal or suboptimal (I already did that over in reddit). So my questions quite simply are these: 1. Is it possible to export a zpool in Unraid today, or have a means of a pool being offline (and disk not in the server)? 2. If this is not possible today, are there any other methods of allowing for a single disk to be attached temporarily to Unraid to allow a backup? It looks like btrfs arrays only support 3 disks for example. The unassigned devices plugin is 'pending', so that seems not an option either? 3. Or should I just connect my single disk to my computer, and backup from the unraid server to that disk via my computer. Seems suboptimal, but it would work I guess... I can simply import and export the pool via command line, then use a backup utility. Any tips appreciated. Thanks!
December 11, 20241 yr Author OK, so even clicking the option to 'remove the missing pool and then bring the array on-line' doesn't work. It seems I am forced into having this zpool permanently connected. Is there a way of blowing this zpool away?
December 11, 20241 yr Author And exporting the pool doesn't work via command line in unraid, even though that pool is online. root@bnode:~# sudo zpool export Backup18tb cannot open 'Backup18tb': no such pool So It appears I am a little stuck... - I cannot start any array without having this disk inserted for the zpool. Nothing will start. Bug? - I cannot delete the pool (at least via the GUI). Seems to me like an oversight in the GUI implementation. Not a bug, just not implemented. - I cannot export the pool. Perhaps the zpool name is something different internally to unraid?
December 11, 20241 yr Author OK edit... I removed the pool... click on pool name, then click Remove Pool. I can now start the array without having this specific zpool attached.
December 11, 20241 yr Author So I solved the problem of removing that backup pool. That at least gets my backup out of the array during a big storm. My questions however still stand... 1. Is it possible to export a zpool in Unraid today, or have a means of a pool being offline (and disk not in the server)? 2. If this is not possible today, are there any other methods of allowing for a single disk to be attached temporarily to Unraid to allow a backup? It looks like btrfs arrays only support 3 disks for example. The unassigned devices plugin is 'pending', so that seems not an option either? 3. Or should I just connect my single disk to my computer, and backup from the unraid server to that disk via my computer. Seems suboptimal, but it would work I guess... I can simply import and export the pool via command line, then use a backup utility.
December 11, 20241 yr Community Expert 45 minutes ago, robbrown99 said: 1. Is it possible to export a zpool in Unraid today, or have a means of a pool being offline (and disk not in the server)? You have to stop the array and remove the pool 46 minutes ago, robbrown99 said: It looks like btrfs arrays only support 3 disks for example. There's no limit for btrfs, but you can also attach a zfs pool, just would need to manually import and then export it.
December 11, 20241 yr Community Expert Well that's not how unraid is meant to be used. You're better off using the "Unassigned Devices" plugin to mount and unmount drives you don't plan on keeping attached to unraid 24/7. In your case you'd mount it, perform your backup and simply unmount it, you'd never have to stop your array remove a pool, and start it up again. You're just making everything more difficult for yourself doing it the way you're doing it. It's fine if you prefer doing it your way but be aware there is a much more simple way of doing it. Edited December 11, 20241 yr by MowMdown
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