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The migrate command moves a workload — container and persistent volumes — from one machine to another within the cluster. Migration uses ZFS incremental send to transfer volume state efficiently, with minimal downtime. It is a single explicit operation with a clear result: the workload is running on the target machine or the command fails cleanly. 
ployzctl migrate <subcommand> <service-ref> --to <machine> [flags]
Migration transfers both the container configuration and any persistent ZFS volumes attached to the service. The source volumes are snapshotted, sent to the target incrementally, and the workload is restarted on the target. Always preview before applying in production.

​
Identifying a service

The service-ref positional argument identifies the workload to migrate. It takes the form namespace/service-name, for example production/web or staging/worker.

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Subcommands

Compute the migration plan without executing it. Returns what would be transferred, which volumes are involved, and the target machine. Use this before any production migration.
ployzctl migrate preview <service-ref> --to <machine>
​
service-ref
string
required
The service to migrate, in namespace/service format.
​
--to
string
required
ID or address of the target machine to migrate the workload to.
The preview response includes the target machine, the service’s current placement, and the list of volumes that will be transferred.
Execute the migration. The daemon stops the workload on the source machine, transfers its volumes using ZFS incremental send, and starts it on the target machine.
ployzctl migrate apply <service-ref> --to <machine>
​
service-ref
string
required
The service to migrate, in namespace/service format.
​
--to
string
required
ID or address of the target machine.
migrate apply stops the service on the source machine before transferring state. There will be a brief outage during the volume transfer and restart. For services with large volumes, the transfer time depends on the amount of changed data since the last snapshot.
Render the manifest that describes the migration operation, without applying it. Useful for auditing, storing in version control, or applying manually.
ployzctl migrate render-manifest <service-ref> --to <machine>
​
service-ref
string
required
The service to migrate, in namespace/service format.
​
--to
string
required
ID or address of the target machine.
Outputs the manifest to stdout.

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How migration works

  1. The daemon snapshots all ZFS volumes attached to the service on the source machine.
  2. The snapshot is sent to the target machine using ZFS incremental send over the cluster’s WireGuard overlay network.
  3. Once the transfer is complete, the workload is stopped on the source and started on the target from the received volumes.
  4. The cluster membership and routing records are updated to reflect the new placement.
Because ZFS send is incremental, migrating a service that was previously migrated (or whose volumes were cloned from the target) transfers only the delta since the last common snapshot — making repeated migrations between the same pair of machines fast.
1

Preview the migration

Confirm the source placement, target machine, and volumes involved.
ployzctl migrate preview production/worker --to machine-b
2

Drain the source machine (optional)

If migrating because of planned maintenance, drain the source first to stop new workload placements.
ployzctl machine drain machine-a
3

Apply the migration

Execute the migration. The daemon returns when the workload is running on the target.
ployzctl migrate apply production/worker --to machine-b
4

Verify

Confirm the service is running on the expected machine.
ployzctl --json machine ls

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Examples

# Preview migrating the 'worker' service in production to machine-b
ployzctl migrate preview production/worker --to machine-b

# Apply the migration
ployzctl migrate apply production/worker --to machine-b

# Get the migration manifest as JSON
ployzctl --json migrate render-manifest production/worker --to machine-b

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