Oracle Solaris ZFS Device Removal

At long last, we provide the ability to remove a top-level VDEV from a ZFS storage pool in the upcoming Solaris 11.4 Beta refresh release.

For many years, our recommendation was to create a pool based on current capacity requirements and then grow the pool to meet increasing capacity needs by adding VDEVs or by replacing smaller LUNs with larger LUNs. It is trivial to add capacity or replace smaller LUNs with larger LUNs, sometimes with just one simple command.

The simplicity of ZFS is one of its great strengths!

I still recommend the practice of creating a pool that meets current capacity requirements and then adding capacity when needed. If you need to repurpose pool devices in an over-provisioned pool or if you accidentally misconfigure a pool device, you now have the flexibility to resolve these scenarios.