Is there a fully supported FreeNAS version?

[Kam]

Hi,
Till recently I was using 9.10.2-U6 version. Stable, but unsupported and didn't get any sexurity updates. So I decided to upgrade, to latest 11.1-U6. iocage not finished yet, latest updates even removed link to new gui (with iocage), so trying to recreate my jails under warden and 11.1 freebsd jails.
But I stopped very soon because almost all programs I want to use in a jail fails with:
Shared object "libdl.so.1" not found

I searched through google and quicky found, that this library was added by later freebsd 11.2 release and it won't be fixed in 11.1. Because 11.1 is now unsupported freebsd release. Packages are now build against 11.2, where library exists.

So the question is, which release should we be running?
Freenas 9.10.2-U6 - no new fixes, not supported by FreeNAS and FreeBSD teams.
Freenas 11.1-U6 - currently only supported FreeNAS version. But based on unsupported FreeBSD 11.1 version? That means also not supported by FreeBSD security team?
Freenas 11.2 - based on FreeBSD 11.2, but still in BETA, so not recommended for production
Freenas 12.0 - just planned

Do we have any supported FreeNAS version, which is based on FreeBSD version, which is currently fully supported?

As I understand, FreeBSD supports older branch 3 months after new is released. Isn't it possible to folow similar release cycle, so that new FreeNAS version would be released on newer FreeBSD release, before older is dessuported?

Thanks,
Kam

 

[zambanini]

you csn buy truenas

 

[Kam]

Yes, or Oracle ZFS Storage Appliance or other commercial ZFS product.
Now back to question - it was on FreeNAS, based on FreeBSD, community supported OS.
https://www.freebsd.org/releases/

 

[Chris Moore]

Stable, but unsupported and didn't get any sexurity updates.

What kind of updates?

So the question is, which release should we be running?

Freenas 11.1-U6
It may not be getting updates but it works. Your FreeNAS should not be exposed to the internet in any way, so the security updates should not be as significant as you are making it out to be.

Do we have any supported FreeNAS version, which is based on FreeBSD version, which is currently fully supported?

Only if you want to run the Freenas 11.2-RC1, which is effectively still a BETA version.
The problem you have is that you waited too long to update, so you will now need to wait more, until the next version (11.2) is actually ready for 'prime time'.
The ideal time to update is when the next FreeNAS version (from the one you are on) is at the U2 revision. So, when you were on FreeNAS 9.10.2-U6, and Freenas 11.1-U2 was released, that is when you should have upgraded and gotten everything working. Then you could be at Freenas 11.1-U6 with all the last updates and all your jails working and wait patiently for the next version to be in a usable state. You already appear to recognize that you don't want to be an early adopter that struggles with bugs, but at the same time, you don't wait too long.

 

[C2Opps]

What kind of updates?
Freenas 11.1-U6
It may not be getting updates but it works. Your FreeNAS should not be exposed to the internet in any way, so the security updates should not be as significant as you are making it out to be.

Only if you want to run the Freenas 11.2-RC1, which is effectively still a BETA version.
The problem you have is that you waited too long to update, so you will now need to wait more, until the next version (11.2) is actually ready for 'prime time'.
The ideal time to update is when the next FreeNAS version (from the one you are on) is at the U2 revision. So, when you were on FreeNAS 9.10.2-U6, and Freenas 11.1-U2 was released, that is when you should have upgraded and gotten everything working. Then you could be at Freenas 11.1-U6 with all the last updates and all your jails working and wait patiently for the next version to be in a usable state. You already appear to recognize that you don't want to be an early adopter that struggles with bugs, but at the same time, you don't wait too long.

Hey Chris! - ref this post have finally got our servers arriving tomorrow and was wondering which version to use and found this post - one question - as we wanted to use 2 Linux VM's on the FreeNAS server when I look at the download page it says:
"STORAGE, PLUGINS, AND VIRTUALIZATION Download FreeNAS 11.2-RC1"
Does this mean 11.1U6 is not suitable for Virtualization? - to note I'm more interested in everything storage / ZFS / FreeNAS itself being as stable as possible rather than the 2 VM's running on top being more stable but at the expense of running on a release candidate build and the whole system being less tested.

Many Thanks,
C2

 

[Chris Moore]

Does this mean 11.1U6 is not suitable for Virtualization?

No. However we are in a transitional phase right now. FreeNAS 11.2 is still in the RC1 phase of development where it is not fully complete and FreeNAS 11.1-U6 is using BSD 11.1 as the base OS so there are problems associated with that being unsupported also. My understanding is, the virtualization in FreeNAS 11.1 is not fully configurable in the GUI and could need some tweaking from the command-line, however I personally had a Linux VM running on my FreeNAS 11.1-U6 system for a few weeks. Problem was a system reboot caused the VM to become unusable.

Edited: If I were setting up a system right now, I would use FreeNAS 11.1-U6 but that is just my opinion.

 

[fracai]

If I were setting up a system right now, I would use 11.2-U6 but that is just my opinion.

You mean "11.1-U6" ?

 

[Chris Moore]

You mean "11.1-U6" ?

Yes, sorry. I made a mistake there.