RHEL-based distro
Contents
DKMS and kABI-tracking kmod style packages are provided for x86_64 RHEL- and CentOS-based distributions from the OpenZFS repository. These packages are updated as new versions are released. Only the repository for the current minor version of each current major release is updated with new packages.
To simplify installation, a zfs-release package is provided which includes a zfs.repo configuration file and public signing key. All official OpenZFS packages are signed using this key, and by default yum or dnf will verify a package’s signature before allowing it be to installed. Users are strongly encouraged to verify the authenticity of the OpenZFS public key using the fingerprint listed here.
For EL7 run:
yum install https://zfsonlinux.org/epel/zfs-release-2-3$(rpm --eval "%{dist}").noarch.rpm
and for EL8 and 9:
dnf install https://zfsonlinux.org/epel/zfs-release-2-3$(rpm --eval "%{dist}").noarch.rpm
After installing the zfs-release package and verifying the public key users can opt to install either the DKMS or kABI-tracking kmod style packages. DKMS packages are recommended for users running a non-distribution kernel or for users who wish to apply local customizations to OpenZFS. For most users the kABI-tracking kmod packages are recommended in order to avoid needing to rebuild OpenZFS for every kernel update.
DKMS
To install DKMS style packages issue the following commands. First add the EPEL repository which provides DKMS by installing the epel-release package, then the kernel-devel and zfs packages. Note that it is important to make sure that the matching kernel-devel package is installed for the running kernel since DKMS requires it to build OpenZFS.
For EL6 and 7, separately run:
yum install -y epel-release
yum install -y kernel-devel
yum install -y zfs
And for EL8 and newer, separately run:
dnf install -y epel-release
dnf install -y kernel-devel
dnf install -y zfs
Note
When switching from DKMS to kABI-tracking kmods first uninstall the existing DKMS packages. This should remove the kernel modules for all installed kernels, then the kABI-tracking kmods can be installed as described in the section below.
kABI-tracking kmod
By default the zfs-release package is configured to install DKMS style packages so they will work with a wide range of kernels. In order to install the kABI-tracking kmods the default repository must be switched from zfs to zfs-kmod. Keep in mind that the kABI-tracking kmods are only verified to work with the distribution-provided, non-Stream kernel.
For EL6 and 7 run:
yum-config-manager --disable zfs
yum-config-manager --enable zfs-kmod
yum install zfs
And for EL8 and newer:
dnf config-manager --disable zfs
dnf config-manager --enable zfs-kmod
dnf install zfs
By default the OpenZFS kernel modules are automatically loaded when a ZFS
pool is detected. If you would prefer to always load the modules at boot
time you can create such configuration in /etc/modules-load.d:
echo zfs >/etc/modules-load.d/zfs.conf
Note
When updating to a new EL minor release the existing kmod packages may not work due to upstream kABI changes in the kernel. The configuration of the current release package may have already made an updated package available, but the package manager may not know to install that package if the version number isn’t newer. When upgrading, users should verify that the kmod-zfs package is providing suitable kernel modules, reinstalling the kmod-zfs package if necessary.
Previous minor EL releases
The current release package uses “${releasever}” rather than specify a particular minor release as previous release packages did. Typically “${releasever}” will resolve to just the major version (e.g. 8), and the resulting repository URL will be aliased to the current minor version (e.g. 8.7), but you can specify –releasever to use previous repositories.
[vagrant@localhost ~]$ dnf list available --showduplicates kmod-zfs
Last metadata expiration check: 0:00:08 ago on tor 31 jan 2023 17:50:05 UTC.
Available Packages
kmod-zfs.x86_64 2.1.6-1.el8 zfs-kmod
kmod-zfs.x86_64 2.1.7-1.el8 zfs-kmod
kmod-zfs.x86_64 2.1.8-1.el8 zfs-kmod
kmod-zfs.x86_64 2.1.9-1.el8 zfs-kmod
[vagrant@localhost ~]$ dnf list available --showduplicates --releasever=8.6 kmod-zfs
Last metadata expiration check: 0:16:13 ago on tor 31 jan 2023 17:34:10 UTC.
Available Packages
kmod-zfs.x86_64 2.1.4-1.el8 zfs-kmod
kmod-zfs.x86_64 2.1.5-1.el8 zfs-kmod
kmod-zfs.x86_64 2.1.5-2.el8 zfs-kmod
kmod-zfs.x86_64 2.1.6-1.el8 zfs-kmod
[vagrant@localhost ~]$
In the above example, the former packages were built for EL8.7, and the latter for EL8.6.
Testing Repositories
In addition to the primary zfs repository a zfs-testing repository is available. This repository, which is disabled by default, contains the latest version of OpenZFS which is under active development. These packages are made available in order to get feedback from users regarding the functionality and stability of upcoming releases. These packages should not be used on production systems. Packages from the testing repository can be installed as follows.
For EL6 and 7 run:
yum-config-manager --enable zfs-testing
yum install kernel-devel zfs
And for EL8 and newer:
dnf config-manager --enable zfs-testing
dnf install kernel-devel zfs
Note
Use zfs-testing for DKMS packages and zfs-testing-kmod for kABI-tracking kmod packages.