# Backup and restore a jail



## balanga (Jan 26, 2018)

How do I backup and restore a jail?


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## balanga (Jan 26, 2018)

For anyone interested....

https://forums.freenas.org/index.php?threads/backup-and-restore-a-jail.61081/

Can't believe how easy it is...

For anyone constantly trying out new stuff on their system, this is a God send.


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## chrbr (Jan 26, 2018)

Dear balanga,
if the jail is on zfs you can take a snapshot and revert it using the command line using FreeBSD as well. To explore the power of zfs I consider it interesting to generate a kind of basejail and use `zfs clone` to re-use the common things for more than one jail. There are tools around which do that, but I think it is good it grasp the power behind.


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## balanga (Jan 27, 2018)

chrbr said:


> Dear balanga,
> but I think it is good it grasp the power behind.



You are right, of course, but some of these tools are so powerful and complicated that it does take a lot of time to 'grasp the power behind'. Sometimes it's just easier to click on an icon and let the power work automagically without really understanding it...


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