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ZFS Storage

Configure Podman to use ZFS on FreeBSD for optimal container storage.

Benefits

Feature Benefit
Copy-on-write Fast container creation
Snapshots Easy backup/restore
Compression Smaller storage footprint
Checksums Data integrity

Create ZFS Dataset

Create a dedicated dataset for container storage:

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# Create dataset (adjust 'zroot' to your pool name)
zfs create zroot/containers
zfs set mountpoint=/var/db/containers/storage zroot/containers

Configure Podman

Edit /usr/local/etc/containers/storage.conf:

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[storage]
driver = "zfs"
runroot = "/var/run/containers/storage"
graphroot = "/var/db/containers/storage"

[storage.options.zfs]
mountopt = "nodev"

Verify Configuration

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podman info | grep -A 5 "store"

Expected output:

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graphDriverName: zfs
graphRoot: /var/db/containers/storage
graphStatus:
  Dataset: zroot/containers

Separate Config Storage

Keep container configs on a separate dataset for easy backup:

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zfs create zroot/data/config
zfs set mountpoint=/data/config zroot/data/config

# Snapshot before upgrades
zfs snapshot zroot/data/config@before-upgrade

Troubleshooting

"driver zfs is not supported"

Ensure:

  1. Your ZFS pool is imported and healthy
  2. The graphroot directory exists and is a ZFS dataset
  3. You are running Podman as root

Permission Issues

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chown -R root:wheel /var/db/containers

Reset Storage

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# Stop all containers first
podman stop -a
podman system reset