---
name: "zfs-auto-snapshot"
section: "8"
platform: "linux"
package: "zfs-auto-snapshot"
version: "1.2.4-2"
release: "Debian 13 (Trixie)"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/zfs-auto-snapshot"
---

# zfs-auto-snapshot(8)

take regular ZFS snapshots

## NAME

zfs-auto-snapshot - take regular ZFS snapshots

## SYNOPSIS

**zfs-auto-snapshot** \[*options*\] \[*-l label*\] *\<'//' \| name* \[*name*...\]*\>*

## DESCRIPTION

**zfs-auto-snapshot** automatically creates, rotates, and destroys snapshots for all your ZFS datasets, and is compatible with both zfsonlinux and zfs-fuse.

## OPTIONS

- **--default-exclude**

  By default **zfs-auto-snapshot** will snapshot all datasets except for those in which the user-property **com.sun:auto-snapshot** is set to **false**.  This option reverses the behavior and requires **com.sun:auto-snapshot** to be set to **true**.

- **-d**, **--debug**

  Print debugging messages.

- **-e**, **--event**=*EVENT*

  Set the com.sun:auto-snapshot-desc property to EVENT.

- **--fast**

  Use a faster zfs list invocation.

- **-n**, **--dry-run**

  Print actions without actually doing anything.

- **-s**, **--skip-scrub**

  Do not snapshot filesystems in scrubbing pools.

- **-h**, **--help**

  Print the usage message.

- **-k**, **--keep**=*NUM*

  Keep NUM recent snapshots and destroy older snapshots.

- **-l**, **--label**=*LAB*

  LAB is usually 'hourly', 'daily', or 'monthly'.

- **-p**, **--prefix**=*PRE*

  PRE is 'zfs-auto-snap' by default.

- **-q**, **--quiet**

  Suppress warnings and notices at the console.

- **--send-full**=*F*

  Send zfs full backup. Unimplemented.

- **--send-incr**=*F*

  Send zfs incremental backup. Unimplemented.

- **--sep**=*CHAR*

  Use CHAR to separate date stamps in snapshot names.

- **-g**, **--syslog**

  Write messages into the system log.

- **-r**, **--recursive**

  Snapshot named filesystem and all descendants.

- **-v**, **--verbose**

  Print info messages.

- **--pre-snapshot**=*COMMAND*

  Command to run before each dataset is snapshotted.  It is passed the dataset and snapshot name. If it returns non-zero, snapshotting this dataset is  aborted.

- **--post-snapshot**=*COMMAND*

  Command to run after each dataset is snapshotted.  It is passed the dataset and snapshot name.

- **--destroy-only**

  Do not create new snapshots, but do destroy older  snapshots. Has no effect unless used with **-k**.

-

  A non-obvious use may be constructon of cron jobs or scripts that run pre-snapshot command(s), then run  zfs-auto-snapshot (without **-k**) to quickly snapshot all datasets, then run post-snapshot command(s) and clean up with zfs-auto-snapshot **--destroy-only**.

- name

  Filesystem and volume names, or '//' for all ZFS datasets.

## SEE ALSO

[**zfs**(8)](/zfs/8.md)