Help wanted: Preference Pane (no ZFS coding needed)

[Graham Perrin]

At https://groups.google.com/d/msg/zfs-macos/D9zHnE7ypzI/YAJPoHM24NIJ in zfs-macos: 

> Let's please take this discussion to the maczfs-devel list!

[Graham Perrin]

With an emphasis on no coding, I suggest approaching this topic with an *idealistic* vision that assumes: 

* no bugs to block the presence of something within either (a) a preference pane or (b) a complementary GUI

* implementation of com.delphix:async_destroy com.delphix:empty_bpobj org.illumos:lz4_compress and other zpool-features that may appear in the future.

Visualise your ideals spread across a trio of interfaces: 

a) Terminal

b) a ZFS Setup Assistant or ZFS Configuration Assistant

c) System Preferences

– in as comprehensive a way as possible (not cramming too much into any pane or page), then reel yourselves in to the reality of what will be practical in the near future. 

The result might be: 

* a relatively sparse preference pane

– with space for future addition of features. 

And: 

* spin off to separate topics or for development issues that affect development of a pane (or assistant or whatever). 

Think: foolproof! Assume that users of a preference pane will be completely new to ZFS, and disinterested in technical stuff. 

----

In the ZEVO support area, but not ZEVO-specific: 

ZFS Setup Assistant

<http://zevo.getgreenbytes.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1486>

[Graham Perrin]

Early thoughts …

Overview (tab one)

==================

Amber alert when the percentage used exceeds seventy-five percent for any pool – time to think about adding a disk. 

Red alert when the percentage used exceeds eighty percent for any pool – time to add a disk. 

An indication of whether any scrub or resilver is in progress. 

An indication of any state that may require attention

* don't try to cram in, to any tab, the actions that may be appropriate for that state. 

Datasets (tab two)

==================

The simplest possible list or grid of ZFS datasets and mount points

* one line per file system

* for each file system that is not mounted, maybe use grey text or a grey background for that line

* for each mount that is of a snapshot, maybe purple for that line.

A button to perform a recursive snapshot of all ZFS file systems. 

Pools (tab three)

=================

A radio button for each pool. 

Disallow selection of any pool where there's a resilver. 

A switch, or button, to start or stop a scrub for the selected pool. 

[Bjoern Kahl]

Hi Graham,

nice to have you on the list, I very much look up to your incredible
work in the Zevo forum!

Am 14.04.13 16:18, schrieb Graham Perrin:
> Early thoughts …

I have read twice through your suggestions, and would not called it
"early thoughts", I would more use the words "a rock-solid plan".

Very good thoughts, I have not much to add.

Except maybe we should think of a forth tab to list (and possibly
mount / clone) existing snapshots. I know from experience, that the
snapshot list from "zfs list -t snapshot" can quickly get long. Some
nice GUI to search for snapshot names (and maybe times when it has
been taken, exploiting the output of "zpool history" or a recursive
"zfs get ...") would significantly enhance usability.


Best regards

Björn

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