Preparation

1. Disable Secure Boot. ZFS modules can not be loaded if Secure Boot is enabled.

2. Download a variant of AlmaLinux Minimal Live ISO and boot from it.

3. Connect to the Internet.

4. Set root password or /root/.ssh/authorized_keys.

5. Start SSH server:

   echo PermitRootLogin yes >> /etc/ssh/sshd_config
   systemctl restart sshd
   

6. Connect from another computer:

   ssh root@192.168.1.19
   

7. Target disk

   List available disks with:

   ls /dev/disk/by-id/*
   

   If using virtio as disk bus, use /dev/disk/by-path/*.

   Declare disk array:

   DISK='/dev/disk/by-id/ata-FOO /dev/disk/by-id/nvme-BAR'
   

   For single disk installation, use:

   DISK='/dev/disk/by-id/disk1'
   

8. Set partition size:

   Set swap size. It’s recommended to setup a swap partition. If you intend to use hibernation, the minimum should be no less than RAM size. Skip if swap is not needed:

   INST_PARTSIZE_SWAP=8
   

   Root pool size, use all remaining disk space if not set:

   INST_PARTSIZE_RPOOL=
   

9. Temporarily set SELinux to permissive in live environment:

   setenforce 0
   

   SELinux will be enabled on the installed system.

10. Add ZFS repo:

    dnf install -y https://zfsonlinux.org/epel/zfs-release-el-2-1.noarch.rpm
    

11. Check available repos:

    dnf repolist --all
    

12. Install ZFS packages:

    dnf config-manager --disable zfs
    dnf config-manager --enable zfs-kmod
    dnf install -y zfs
    #  if gpg import fails, add --nogpgcheck
    

13. Load kernel modules:

    modprobe zfs
    

14. Install partition tool:

    dnf install -y gdisk dosfstools