The ZFS file system is utilized by a variety of operating systems, primarily those within the Unix-like family, including different distributions of Solaris, illumos, FreeBSD, and Linux, among others.
Operating Systems Supporting ZFS
ZFS, known for its advanced features like data deduplication and copy-on-write, has seen adoption across numerous platforms. Its availability varies depending on the specific ZFS codebase, whether it's the original Sun Microsystems implementation, Oracle's proprietary version, or the open-source OpenZFS project.
Below is a breakdown of operating systems that support ZFS:
| ZFS Implementation | Supported Operating Systems | Key Details |
|---|---|---|
| Sun codebase | OpenSolaris, illumos distributions, OpenIndiana | These operating systems are built upon the open-source foundation originally released by Sun Microsystems. illumos is a leading open-source Unix operating system that forked from OpenSolaris. |
| Oracle ZFS | Solaris | Oracle's proprietary version of ZFS is integrated into its commercial Solaris operating system. |
| OpenZFS | FreeBSD, Mac OS X Server 10.5, NetBSD, Linux, OSv | OpenZFS is a community-developed, open-source project that continues to evolve and improve ZFS. |
Detailed Overview of ZFS Support by OS
- Solaris: The original platform for ZFS, both the OpenSolaris (Sun codebase) and the commercial Oracle Solaris versions fully support ZFS.
- Illumos Distributions: These include operating systems like OpenIndiana, SmartOS, and TrueOS (formerly PC-BSD), which inherited ZFS support from their OpenSolaris roots. They provide a robust environment for ZFS.
- FreeBSD: As a prominent open-source Unix-like operating system, FreeBSD has integrated OpenZFS as a first-class file system, offering comprehensive support and strong performance.
- Linux: ZFS is available on Linux through OpenZFS on Linux (ZFS on Linux), which is a third-party kernel module. Alternatively, it can be used via ZFS-FUSE, a FUSE-based implementation. This allows Linux users to leverage ZFS features, although integration might differ from native implementations.
- NetBSD: Another member of the BSD family, NetBSD, also supports ZFS through the OpenZFS project.
- Mac OS X Server 10.5: ZFS support on this older version of Apple's server operating system was limited to read-only capabilities. Modern macOS versions do not natively support ZFS.
- OSv: This is a cloud-focused operating system that supports ZFS as its file system.
The continuous development of OpenZFS ensures that ZFS remains a powerful and adaptable file system across a growing number of platforms.
