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BSD: FreeBSD on Laptops and ZFS Commentary
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Feld ☛ FreeBSD Networking on a Laptop is Unpleasant – Makefile.feld
FreeBSD is maturing its support for laptops with the help of some of the new Linux compatibility work (using Linux WiFi drivers, sharing DRI for video, etc) but has a long way to go. I've been using it as my primary workstation for a couple months now and things generally work fine. In the few situations where software I wanted wasn't available I've ported it or I've been able to manually build and run it. The tools I need day to day just work. It helps that I have years of experience running Linux/BSD systems, but I think it's approachable for the average user who can handle popular Linux desktop distros.
However, the networking experience right now makes me very unhappy. FreeBSD isn't directly to blame for this because the situation I'm about to describe is not something you'd encounter on a server or workstation, but it is a standard scenario for many laptop users: one network, two interfaces. You'd definitely encounter this if you were issued a laptop by your employer and have a dock with Ethernet at your desk, but WiFi when you're walking around the office and going to meetings etc.
Before proceeding let me note that I have no idea what the current state is on Linux, but it is likely an improvement over what I will be describing below. I do not believe they have reached MacOS equivalent functionality yet either.
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Kernel
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Klara ☛ How Many VDEVs Is Too Many? ZFS VDEV Scaling Guide
ZFS offers powerful scalability through its virtual device (VDEV) model, allowing administrators to build pools that balance performance, redundancy, and capacity across diverse workloads. However, as systems grow, an important question arises: how far can you push VDEV scaling before performance degradation, redundancy limits, or administrative burdens set in?
This guide explores the practical boundaries of VDEV count, separating misconception from reality. Based on production deployments and operational experience, it lays out the considerations behind designing pools with high VDEV counts and offers strategies for scaling cleanly.
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Klara ☛ What We Built: Top ZFS Capabilities Delivered by Klara in 2025 - Klara Systems
ZFS keeps advancing - and much of the progress comes from what we see in real-world customer environments. At Klara Inc., our engineering team doesn’t just maintain ZFS; they actively evolve it.
The features we delivered this year were shaped by the patterns, edge cases, and performance behaviours that surface across high-scale deployments; free-space fragmentations that impact throughput, RAIDZ inefficiencies, flash hardware constraints, and the growing need for faster, more predictable recovery paths.
This overview covers the major ZFS capabilities our team built and upstreamed in 2025 - practical, production-ready improvements that boost performance, reliability, diagnostics, and flexibility across modern storage systems.
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