TrueNAS 12.0 Schedule

Kris Moore

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Hello TrueNAS and FreeNAS Community,

TrueNAS 12.0 unifies FreeNAS and TrueNAS into a single image and will make maintaining and documenting these releases significantly more efficient. The development of TrueNAS 12.0 is “feature-complete” and we’re now in the multi-stage QA, test, and fix cycle to ensure we provide the highest quality release possible.

The release stages for TrueNAS 12.0 have different meanings than for FreeNAS 11.3 because each stage now applies to both TrueNAS CORE and TrueNAS Enterprise. To progress through each stage requires a full QA cycle which includes 2 weeks of over 1000 automated tests. After each QA cycle, each bug is documented, rated, and published in the bug tracker along with all bugs found by the Community. To review TrueNAS 12.0’s current progress, you can monitor this Jira query to see a live list of all items still in the queue before 12.0-RELEASE becomes available.

The table below provides a description of the release stages and the dates we expect to meet (or exceed). The BETA version of TrueNAS 12.0 is scheduled for June 30 and will be similar in quality to the RC1 version of FreeNAS 11.3. Today’s TrueNAS 12.0 Nightly is similar in quality to FreeNAS 11.3 BETA with both versions having gone through a single QA cycle.

Use-caseQualityFreeNAS 11.3TrueNAS 12.0
TypicalCyclesStagesStagesDate
Developers0ALPHANIGHTLYMarch 11
Testers1BETANIGHTLYJune 2
Enthusiasts2RC1BETAJune 30
Home Users3RELEASERC1September
Business Users4U1RELEASEOctober
Mission Critical5U2U1December


We’re very happy to report that this simpler, unified image model is saving us significant development and test time. The time gap between FreeNAS 11.3 RELEASE and TrueNAS 12.0 BETA is shorter than it has ever been, and the quality metrics are improving as well. We could not be more excited by the productivity improvements and quality impact.

TrueNAS 12.0 will also be launching with a revamped user documentation site, which provides more real-world how-to’s as well as being more open for Community contribution. While this site is still under development, most of the FreeNAS 11.3 User Guide can be used directly for 12.0 assistance. We’re aiming for this new docs site to debut along with the upcoming 12.0-BETA1 release.

If you have a test system or VM available, please try out the Nightly images and report any issues for your use-case and hardware platform. The upcoming BETA version is recommended for enthusiasts who want to use the system with all of the new features.
 

zambanini

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will there be commercial addons available, like the sas jbod shelf service?
 

Kris Moore

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will there be commercial addons available, like the sas jbod shelf service?

At the moment those features are limited to only while running on TrueNAS Enterprise hardware. Maybe down the road that will change, I will make sure our PM team sees the request though.
 

Patrick M. Hausen

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Promising! Will I be able to switch to the release train if I upgrade one of my systems to the nightly now?

P.S. You guys rock!
 

Kris Moore

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Promising! Will I be able to switch to the release train if I upgrade one of my systems to the nightly now?

P.S. You guys rock!

Yes, you will be able to switch. Once 12.0-BETA1 is tagged / pushed, you'll be able to switch to that train, and then follow it through RC/RELEASE progression.
 

ornias

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Yes, you will be able to switch. Once 12.0-BETA1 is tagged / pushed, you'll be able to switch to that train, and then follow it through RC/RELEASE progression.
What I find interesting:
How certain are you OpenZFS2.0 is ready at that time? Did I miss a statement from the OpenZFS leadership team? Missed last leadership meeting and i'm to lazy to rewatch.
 

Kris Moore

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What I find interesting:
How certain are you OpenZFS2.0 is ready at that time? Did I miss a statement from the OpenZFS leadership team? Missed last leadership meeting and i'm to lazy to rewatch.

That's just optimistic on our part. We're hoping they tag 2.0 before then, but we have a branch we can ship BETA1 with either way.
 

Patrick M. Hausen

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So is it 202006010424 which you consider "reasonably stable" or will it be the nightly published today?
 

Patrick M. Hausen

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Of course ... duh!
 

Patrick M. Hausen

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Is this already known and worked on or does it call for a JIRA issue?
Bildschirmfoto 2020-06-02 um 13.37.25.png Bildschirmfoto 2020-06-02 um 13.37.49.png
 

Kris Moore

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I'd say a ticket would be in order for that one.
 

Patrick M. Hausen

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VladTepes

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Awesome, excellent. Great to have a timetable like this.

Not sure where to ask but

Q1. Will update to TN12.0 from FN11.3 be as per usual FN updates?

Q2. Where possible, is a fresh install better than an update?
 

ornias

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Q1. Will update to TN12.0 from FN11.3 be as per usual FN updates?
Afaik, yes... there is no reason that wouldn't be possible technically speaking...

Q2. Where possible, is a fresh install better than an update?
An update is (basically) a fresh install while saving settings.
Operating system wise it's mostly pristine, just like a clean install.

Any issues that occur are mostly due to user config porting.
If with "fresh install" you mean "100% clean install", yes that would limit the amount of issues you could run into.
if you mean "fresh install and restoring config", no... thats basically already (somewhat) what happens.
 

xoxled

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Really exciting news, nice job iXsystems!

I have a question concerning ZFS Native Encryption: I checked up on this about a year ago, an important question back then was by what means the encryption keys for the native ZFS encryption were to be provided (stored locally, file on an USB-Stick, USB-Token like YubiKey etc.). Any news on this, and will there be an option not to save it locally (therefore the USB device discussion), or are there plans to introduce such an option later?

Thank you very much!
 

VladTepes

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Mark Knutson

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A quick question. An announcement said that products would unify on truenas 12. So, I would have expected that by december--after both products are GA, that there would no longer be a freenas column on the chart. Not a criticism, just wanting to understand what is happening. Thanks for a great software product, I have a freenas nas running at home.
 
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