NAME

SYNOPSIS

DESCRIPTION

Boot environments allow the system to be upgraded, while preserving the old system environment in a separate ZFS dataset.

COMMANDS

activate beName

Activate the given beName for the next boot.

create [-e nonActiveBe|beName@snapshot] beName

Create a new boot environment named beName. If the -e option is specified, the new environment will be cloned from the given nonActiveBe boot environment or beName@snapshot snapshot.

create beName@snapshot

Create a snapshot of the existing boot environment named beName.

destroy [-F] beName|beName@snapshot

Destroy the given beName boot environment or beName@snapshot snapshot. Specifying -F will automatically unmount the target without confirmation.

list [-aDHs]

Display all boot environments. The “Active” field indicates whether the boot environment is active now (“N”); active on reboot (“R”); or both (“NR”).

The following options are available:

-a

Display all datasets.

-D

Display the full space usage for each boot environment, assuming all other boot environments were destroyed.

-H

Does not print headers and separate fields by a single tab instead of arbitrary white space. Use for scripting.

-s

Display all snapshots.

mount beName [mountpoint]

Temporarily mount the beName boot environment. Mount at the specified mountpoint if provided.

rename origBeName newBeName

Rename the given nonactive origBeName boot environment to newBeName.

umount [-f beName]

Unmount the given boot environment, if it is mounted. Specifying -f will force the unmount if busy. This command can be called with either umount or unmount.

version

Print the beadm version and exit.

EXAMPLES

Perform a system upgrade in a jail(8):

Create a new boot environment called jailed:

beadm create -e default jailed
    

Set a mountpoint for the new jail to /usr/jails/jailed:

beadm mount jailed /usr/jails/jailed
    

The currently active boot environment is now replicated into the jailed system and ready for an upgrade. Start up the jail, log in and perform the normal upgrade process. Once this is done, stop the jail and disable it in /etc/rc.conf. Now activate the boot environment for the next boot:

beadm activate jailed
    

Reboot into the new environment:

reboot
    

SEE ALSO

The original “FreeBSD ZFS Madness” how-to guide is available at the FreeBSD Forums: https://forums.freebsd.org/showthread.php?t=31662

HISTORY

AUTHORS

Slawomir Wojciech Wojtczak (vermaden) <vermaden@interia.pl>:

• Creator and maintainer of beadm.

Bryan Drewery (bdrewery) <bryan@shatow.net>:

• Wrote this manual page and contributed child dataset fixes.

Mike Clarke (rawthey) <jmc-fbsd@milibyte.co.uk>:

• Wrote fast implementation of beadm list.
• Contributed a lot of fixes and usability changes.