TrueNAS 12.0-U6 was released yesterday and is now the recommended update for even the most conservative users of both TrueNAS CORE and TrueNAS Enterprise. It will now ship by default on all new TrueNAS systems.
TrueNAS 12.0-U5 and U5.1 were the most popular releases of TrueNAS ever. Over 65% of the FreeNAS 11.3 installed base has upgraded to TrueNAS CORE. TrueNAS 12.0 exceeded one exabyte (EB) of data under management in June and is now approaching 2 EB. The FreeNAS.org website has been folded into the TrueNAS.com website to give our community one source for all things TrueNAS/FreeNAS-related. All FreeNAS versions have officially been moved to “legacy” status.
While releasing TrueNAS 12.0, we created a new lifecycle model for TrueNAS CORE and Enterprise releases. The history of TrueNAS 12.0 releases has been:
TrueNAS 12.0 RELEASE was made available October 20, 2020, and included many new features and performance enhancements, along with OpenZFS 2.0 support and a major OS update to FreeBSD 12.2, which also broadened hardware compatibility.
TrueNAS 12.0-U1 was released in December, resolved the most significant bugs, and enabled features like Fusion pools and efficient scrubbing/resilvering.
TrueNAS 12.0-U2 was released in February and included bug fixes with some minor features.
TrueNAS 12.0-U3 was released April 13, 2021, and included bug fixes with some minor features. This release was officially ready for mission-critical users.
TrueNAS 12.0-U4 was released June 1, 2021, and included bug fixes with robustness improvements.
TrueNAS 12.0-U5 was released August 3, 2021, and included bug fixes, python upgrades, and security improvements. This version has been very stable and is considered the best production version, including all previous FreeNAS versions.
TrueNAS users have reported that updates have been smoother than ever with the 12.0 releases.
TrueNAS 12.0-U6 was released on October 5, 2021, and includes a number of fixes, about ten improvements, and a few platform enhancements. These include:
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- NFSv4 HA improvements
- More extensive SMB regression testing with various SMB options
- SMB shadow copies feature has been fixed (bug in U5)
- OpenZFS dedup performance improvements by defaulting to SHA-512 algorithm
- Better webUI snapshot filtering by name
- UI improvements for disk temperature monitoring and UEFI booting
- Ongoing improvements to UI & middleware performance for large drive counts
- Improved UI for plugin updates/upgrades
- Various M-Series and R-Series webUI improvements
Please check out the updated TrueNAS documentation even if you don’t upgrade today. We’re extremely grateful for all the contributions received thus far and encourage the community to keep the suggestions coming!
In addition to improving TrueNAS 12.0 software, we’re also actively partnering with companies that deliver some significant value-add to TrueNAS users. Futurex announced yesterday that they have integrated their KMIP management servers with the KMIP capability in TrueNAS 12.0 Enterprise. Later this month, there will be a joint announcement with Nextcloud about collaboration between the TrueNAS and Nextcloud platforms.
FreeNAS to TrueNAS 12.0 Upgrades are Easy
For those with FreeNAS installed on your system, we recommend upgrading to FreeNAS 11.3-U5 first and then upgrading to TrueNAS 12.0-U6 with a single click to retain roll-back options. While it is an easy web update, we do recommend waiting to update your system’s zpool feature flags until you have validated your performance and functionality. New users will want to simply download TrueNAS 12.0-U6 to get started.
TrueNAS Hardware Platforms
TrueNAS 12.0-U6 is compatible with all of the iXsystems platforms from the FreeNAS/TrueNAS Minis, to the power-efficient X-Series, all the way up to the flagship High Availability (HA) M-Series. There is also an R-Series product line that can run CORE, Enterprise, and SCALE editions of TrueNAS. All of these can be updated via the web UI and include graphical enclosure management.
For those with TrueNAS HA systems and support contracts, we recommend contacting iXsystems support to schedule an upgrade. We will verify your systems’ health, configuration, and support the upgrade process as part of the “white glove” service that comes with any support contract.
TrueCommand 2.0 is the Single-Pane-of-Glass Management Platform
TrueNAS 12.0 includes support for TrueCommand (Docker or VM) and TrueCommand Cloud, a SaaS version that includes a VPN capability for managing across private networks. TrueCommand 2.0 includes a storage navigator to view datasets, files across multiple NAS systems, and real-time per-second statistics. The latest version, TrueCommand 2.0.2, includes the capability to track and report inventory with serial numbers and support status. 
TrueCommand inventory view of TrueNAS systems
TrueNAS 13.0 and SCALE are Progressing
TrueNAS users will have a choice of migrating to SCALE (Linux containers, hyperconvergence, and scale-out) or maintaining their TrueNAS CORE and Enterprise operations. TrueNAS 12.0-U7 is planned for the January timeframe. The next version of TrueNAS CORE and Enterprise will be 13.0 and will be based on FreeBSD 13.0. Early development has begun and more information will be available later this year.
TrueNAS SCALE 21.08-BETA already has over 3,000 users and is getting very positive early reviews. For the next few months, the focus will be on getting TrueNAS SCALE to a release quality similar to TrueNAS CORE/Enterprise 12.0. TrueNAS SCALE 22.02 is expected to be a solid, feature-complete Release Candidate (RC) release planned for the end of October.
TrueNAS CORE is the Best-Ever Free NAS
The improvements to TrueNAS further strengthen its position as the best-ever “free NAS” system available. In that way, TrueNAS still is and always will be FreeNAS in spirit.
If you have any questions or comments, we’d love to hear them on the community forums, on the TrueNAS subreddit, or in response to this blog. If you need additional information on how TrueNAS can streamline, accelerate, and unify data management for your business, please contact us, or visit the newly redesigned truenas.com and download the TrueNAS version that best fits your needs.
Here’s to storage freedom!