ZFS Pools

Plugin: go.d.plugin Module: zfspool

Overview

This collector monitors the health and space usage of ZFS pools using the command line tool zpool.

This collector is only supported on the following platforms:

• Linux
• BSD

This collector only supports collecting metrics from a single instance of this integration.

Default Behavior

Auto-Detection

This integration doesn't support auto-detection.

Limits

The default configuration for this integration does not impose any limits on data collection.

Performance Impact

The default configuration for this integration is not expected to impose a significant performance impact on the system.

Metrics

Metrics grouped by scope.

The scope defines the instance that the metric belongs to. An instance is uniquely identified by a set of labels.

Per zfs pool

These metrics refer to the ZFS pool.

Labels:

Label	Description
pool	Zpool name

Metrics:

Metric	Dimensions	Unit
zfspool.pool_space_utilization	utilization	%
zfspool.pool_space_usage	free, used	bytes
zfspool.pool_fragmentation	fragmentation	%
zfspool.pool_health_state	online, degraded, faulted, offline, unavail, removed, suspended	state

Per zfs pool vdev

These metrics refer to the ZFS pool virtual device.

Labels:

Label	Description
pool	Zpool name
vdev	Unique identifier for a virtual device (vdev) within a ZFS pool.

Metrics:

Metric	Dimensions	Unit
zfspool.vdev_health_state	online, degraded, faulted, offline, unavail, removed, suspended	state

Alerts

The following alerts are available:

Alert name	On metric	Description
zfs_pool_space_utilization	zfspool.pool_space_utilization	ZFS pool ${label:pool} is nearing capacity. Current space usage is above the threshold.
zfs_pool_health_state_warn	zfspool.pool_health_state	ZFS pool ${label:pool} state is degraded
zfs_pool_health_state_crit	zfspool.pool_health_state	ZFS pool ${label:pool} state is faulted or unavail
zfs_vdev_health_state	zfspool.vdev_health_state	ZFS vdev ${label:vdev} state is faulted or degraded

Setup

You can configure the zfspool collector in two ways:

Method	Best for	How to
UI	Fast setup without editing files	Go to Nodes → Configure this node → Collectors → Jobs, search for zfspool, then click + to add a job.
File	If you prefer configuring via file, or need to automate deployments (e.g., with Ansible)	Edit go.d/zfspool.conf and add a job.

important

UI configuration requires paid Netdata Cloud plan.

Prerequisites

No action required.

Configuration

Options

The following options can be defined globally: update_every.

Config options

Option	Description	Default	Required
update_every	Data collection frequency.	10	no
binary_path	Path to the zpool binary. If an absolute path is provided, the collector will use it directly; otherwise, it will search for the binary in directories specified in the PATH environment variable.	/usr/bin/zpool	yes
timeout	Timeout for executing the binary, specified in seconds.	2	no

via UI

Configure the zfspool collector from the Netdata web interface:

1. Go to Nodes.
2. Select the node where you want the zfspool data-collection job to run and click the ⚙ (Configure this node). That node will run the data collection.
3. The Collectors → Jobs view opens by default.
4. In the Search box, type zfspool (or scroll the list) to locate the zfspool collector.
5. Click the + next to the zfspool collector to add a new job.
6. Fill in the job fields, then click Test to verify the configuration and Submit to save.
   • Test runs the job with the provided settings and shows whether data can be collected.
   • If it fails, an error message appears with details (for example, connection refused, timeout, or command execution errors), so you can adjust and retest.

via File

The configuration file name for this integration is go.d/zfspool.conf.

The file format is YAML. Generally, the structure is:

update_every: 1
autodetection_retry: 0
jobs:
  - name: some_name1
  - name: some_name2

You can edit the configuration file using the edit-config script from the Netdata config directory.

cd /etc/netdata 2>/dev/null || cd /opt/netdata/etc/netdata
sudo ./edit-config go.d/zfspool.conf

Examples

Custom binary path

The executable is not in the directories specified in the PATH environment variable.

Config

jobs:
  - name: zfspool
    binary_path: /usr/local/sbin/zpool

Troubleshooting

Debug Mode

Important: Debug mode is not supported for data collection jobs created via the UI using the Dyncfg feature.

To troubleshoot issues with the zfspool collector, run the go.d.plugin with the debug option enabled. The output should give you clues as to why the collector isn't working.

• Navigate to the plugins.d directory, usually at /usr/libexec/netdata/plugins.d/. If that's not the case on your system, open netdata.conf and look for the plugins setting under [directories].

  cd /usr/libexec/netdata/plugins.d/

• Switch to the netdata user.

  sudo -u netdata -s

• Run the go.d.plugin to debug the collector:

  ./go.d.plugin -d -m zfspool

  To debug a specific job:

  ./go.d.plugin -d -m zfspool -j jobName

Getting Logs

If you're encountering problems with the zfspool collector, follow these steps to retrieve logs and identify potential issues:

• Run the command specific to your system (systemd, non-systemd, or Docker container).
• Examine the output for any warnings or error messages that might indicate issues. These messages should provide clues about the root cause of the problem.

System with systemd

Use the following command to view logs generated since the last Netdata service restart:

journalctl _SYSTEMD_INVOCATION_ID="$(systemctl show --value --property=InvocationID netdata)" --namespace=netdata --grep zfspool

System without systemd

Locate the collector log file, typically at /var/log/netdata/collector.log, and use grep to filter for collector's name:

grep zfspool /var/log/netdata/collector.log

Note: This method shows logs from all restarts. Focus on the latest entries for troubleshooting current issues.

Docker Container

If your Netdata runs in a Docker container named "netdata" (replace if different), use this command:

docker logs netdata 2>&1 | grep zfspool