TrueNAS 13.0 retains all the unified storage services and middleware of TrueNAS 12.0 while significantly improving security, availability, quality, and performance. After the testing performed by over 25,000 users over the last four months, the second update (TrueNAS 13.0-U2) is now ready for larger and more critical enterprise use-cases.
TrueNAS 13.0-U2 includes over 60 bug fixes and improvements, including:
- TrueNAS 13.0-U1.1 SMB fixes
- ZFS 2.1.5 updates
- SAMBA 4.15.9 updates
- SMB1 Security vulnerability resolution
- NextCloud plugin installation fixes
- Intel E810 NIC performance improvement
- Collected memory leak fix
- AWS S3 Secret Keys for Cloud Sync fix
The significant new components of TrueNAS 13.0 were described in the Release Blog:
- FreeBSD 13.0 performance security and efficiency improvements
- OpenZFS 2.1 performance and reliability improvements
- Samba 4.15 security vulnerability resolution
- iSCSI target bandwidth increases
- NFS server: Improved NFS 4.x support
TrueNAS 13.0-U1 and TrueNAS 13.0-U1.1 (minor update for SMB fixes) have been widely and successfully deployed, and the Community has also reported that compatibility of plugins and jails with FreeBSD 13.0 has helped with many application updates.
TrueNAS 13.0-U1.1 has already become the 2nd most popular version of TrueNAS, only 12.0-U8.1 is higher. TrueNAS users at Linus Tech Tips recently released a video detailing their 270 drive configuration build-out using TrueNAS 13.0-U1.1.
TrueNAS 13.0 is a single, unified image that supports either TrueNAS CORE or TrueNAS Enterprise capabilities. TrueNAS Enterprise is delivered as TrueNAS appliances to organizations that want a turnkey experience, optimized hardware, and professional support. It also includes Enterprise-grade features such as High Availability (HA), Fibre Channel, Proactive Support, and Key Management (KMIP). TrueNAS 13.0 delivers a significant reduction (>95% in some cases) in failover times, which most users greatly appreciate.
TrueNAS 13.0-U2 is intended for mission-critical deployments
TrueNAS 13.0 has matured much more rapidly than previous TrueNAS releases. There is a TrueNAS 13.0 sub-forum on the Community forums for this accelerated process and Community feedback. Tens of thousands of users have already reported a smooth software update experience from TrueNAS 12.0. For mission-critical workloads, TrueNAS Enterprise appliances with HA and support are recommended.
Please check out the TrueNAS 13.0 documentation even if you don’t upgrade today. Users can now comment on any documentation article. Please use this if you think the documentation is missing advice or needs more clarity.
When should you update your TrueNAS system?
This is the perennial question with the same reliable answer: “it depends”.
To address this with additional clarity, we have added a TrueNAS Software Status page that outlines the iX recommendations based on the type of user and how critical the workload is. Beta testers, early adopters, and mission critical users all have different needs and tolerances.
For example, TrueNAS 13.0-U2 is intended for mission critical deployments. However, our recommendation is that users choose to wait a few weeks for early user feedback before updating their software to 13.0-U2.
SMB users with security concerns should update from TrueNAS 12.0 to TrueNAS 13.0. TrueNAS makes it easy to update and roll back if there are any issues. Users are also encouraged to check the TrueNAS forums to see the experiences of other users.
Future updates to TrueNAS 13.0 will happen less frequently and will resolve issues seen in real deployments. The focus will be on increasing quality to the next level beyond TrueNAS 12.0. Users with storage-centric use cases (file, block, object) that are generally satisfied with TrueNAS 12.0 will find that upgrading to TrueNAS 13.0 will provide significant advantages without any major changes to features, data layout, tools, or user interface.
TrueNAS SCALE: The Path to Scale-out and Linux Support
Users of TrueNAS 12.0 and TrueNAS 13.0 also have an option to migrate to TrueNAS SCALE, which is based on Linux (Debian Bullseye). Users looking for scale-out storage capabilities and/or Linux-friendly hyperconvergence with Kubernetes and KVM should look at SCALE. The latest update, TrueNAS SCALE 22.02.3, was released in August and the next update will be available in October.
TrueNAS CORE: Still the Best Free NAS
For those with systems installed with TrueNAS 12.0, you can upgrade to TrueNAS 13.0 very easily. For new systems, download TrueNAS 13.0 and get started. TrueNAS Enterprise customers should contact iXsystems Technical Support for a complimentary technical review and assistance before updating.
TrueNAS 13.0 security, quality, and performance improvements should positively impact your system(s). If you have any questions or comments, we’d love to hear them on our community forums, the TrueNAS subreddit, or in response to this blog. If you ever need additional information on how TrueNAS can streamline, accelerate, and unify data management for your business, please contact us and we’ll be glad to assist you.