TrueNAS Scale Free vs Enterprise

[Ryan Haver]

I assume the model for SCALE will be similar to CORE where there is a Community/Free Edition vs Enterprise. Can we get a rundown on what features will be included in the free version of TrueNAS SCALE vs Enterprise?

I'd also like to note that there are many people that would happily pay for licensing features that may not be available in the Community/Free version. You could have an annual subscription that allows users to have access to enterprise features, with reasonable limitations. This is very similar to what VMWare does with EVALExperience or what Untangle does with their Home Protect Basic/Pro license.

 

[sretalla]

I assume the model for SCALE will be similar to CORE where there is a Community/Free Edition vs Enterprise.

Maybe, but you're perhaps not catching the nuance that the Enterprise edition only runs on iX hardware, so your whole question is a moot point until iX announces hardware running SCALE.

The "enterprise" or "pay-only" features (if there will be any in SCALE) are not yet set as far as I can tell.

Maybe @Kris Moore would like to weigh in on it.

 

[Ryan Haver]

It makes sense that the Enterprise version of SCALE would run on qualified hardware and even that they will use strict hardware validation, but it also makes sense for features to be licensed beyond the 1st party hardware. By offering different licensing models the iXSystems team will be able to provide a solution that fits into more budgets while increasing their revenue and market share.

There is obviously more to licensing things separately, but here is a high-level example of what I think would work.

Community Edition

• Free
• Limitations on Scalability/Clustering
• No High Availability/Dual Controllers
• No Enterprise Features
• No Official Support, but community-driven help via forums

Basic Edition

• Annual Subscription - $
• Limitations on Scalability/Clustering
• No High Availability/Dual Controllers
• A subset of Enterprise Features
• No Official Support, but community-driven help via forums

Pro Edition

• Annual Subscription - $$
• Limitations on Scalability/Clustering
• No High Availability/Dual Controllers
• All other Enterprise Features
• Basic Email Support with a 72 hour SLA for first response

Enterprise Edition

• Enterprise Support - $$$
• All Features
• Qualified Hardware Only
• Certified Vendor Compatibility

 

[morganL]

Hi Ryan,

All of TrueNAS SCALE is open source and free at this stage. The features available today will stay open source.

IXsystems has to pay its employees, so we will be pricing appliances, support services and future optional features. The current Enterprise features like enclosure management, High Availability (HA- dual node)), Fibre Channel, KMIP can be expected to stay as license only. For other features we have yet to make any decisions and our focus is on getting the TrueNAS SCALE software to a a high quality state with a large community testing it.

Your suggestions above make a lot of sense, but we don't plan to restrict scalability/clustering. It will be easier to operate SCALE with TrueCommand as the UI. TrueCommand is free for 50 drives and is priced beyond that.

If there are any specific feature or support questions for a project that anyone is planning, please ask or contact our sales team.

Morgan

 

[Ryan Haver]

Thank you for your response @morganL. I'm excited to see how things progress.

 

[JokerGermany]

For other features we have yet to make any decisions and our focus is on getting the TrueNAS SCALE software to a a high quality state with a large community testing it.

I am a private User and thinking about using TrueNas Scale.
I will only use it as Single Node System, therefore features like HA or Scalabillity won't bother me.

But what is meant with "other features"?
I need to get a feeling if i will lock-in myself when using TrueNas Scale and should better use OMV.

 

[Patrick M. Hausen]

But what is meant with "other features"?

Features that the product does not yet have and that are not yet defined. So if TN SCALE has all the features you need now, go ahead. They explicitly stated on multiple occasions that they won't remove anything from the community edition.

Maybe look into CORE, too. It's a great product.

 

[JokerGermany]

Features that the product does not yet have and that are not yet defined. So if TN SCALE has all the features you need now, go ahead. They explicitly stated on multiple occasions that they won't remove anything from the community edition.

The thing is that i like new features and i don't like not knowing which features "categories" have to been paid for. That's the reason why I am thinking about OMV...

Maybe look into CORE, too. It's a great product.

I want to have a Linux Distribution.
I want to install something beside TrueNas like https://github.com/spantaleev/matrix-docker-ansible-deploy

 

[Patrick M. Hausen]

Which new and yet unannounced features are coming or not coming to OMV in the future? See?

Does OMV support Docker based applications? I really don't know.

 

[JokerGermany]

Which new and yet unannounced features are coming or not coming to OMV in the future? See?

The difference is:
When OMV release a feature, I will get it or perhaps implement it on my own.

When TN Scale release a Feature, i don't know if i can get it and a pull request making on my own a paid feature free will be declined.

Does OMV support Docker based applications? I really don't know.

Yes with the OMV Extras
(My friend told me this. I don't use it at the moment. At the moment i use Ubuntu Server 18.04 and think about changing to one of them.)

 

[morganL]

The difference is:
When OMV release a feature, I will get it or perhaps implement it on my own.

When TN Scale release a Feature, i don't know if i can get it and a pull request making on my own a paid feature free will be declined.


Yes with the OMV Extras
(My friend told me this. I don't use it at the moment. At the moment i use Ubuntu Server 18.04 and think about changing to one of them.)

We can't make a blanket guarantee that all features will be free... we do potentially charge for features that we think are only applicable Enterprises, are complex to support, and not for home/lab use. It's important for the TrueNAS project that we have the funds to pay for the development and QA team which is much larger than OMV.

However, you can look at our track record to see how reasonable we have been... these forums let you search.

If there are any specific features you need, please ask.

 

[JokerGermany]

If there are any specific features you need, please ask.

ansible gui support (don't know if it already exists)
But i suppose such a feature would be enterprise ;)

 

[morganL]

ansible gui support (don't know if it already exists)
But i suppose such a feature would be enterprise ;)

You'd have to describe the feature more clearly.

Ansible can control TrueNAS via its APIs. There are several threads of users building playbooks.

 

[JokerGermany]

I would love to be able to install ansible scripts from e.G. github without without need to go onto the Debian Terminal.
e.G. this one:

GitHub - spantaleev/matrix-docker-ansible-deploy: Matrix (An open network for secure, decentralized communication) server setup using Ansible and Docker

Matrix (An open network for secure, decentralized communication) server setup using Ansible and Docker - spantaleev/matrix-docker-ansible-deploy

github.com

TrueNAS Download it and let you change the configuration files and then execute the ansible file.

 

[morganL]

I would love to be able to install ansible scripts from e.G. github without without need to go onto the Debian Terminal.
e.G. this one:

GitHub - spantaleev/matrix-docker-ansible-deploy: Matrix (An open network for secure, decentralized communication) server setup using Ansible and Docker

Matrix (An open network for secure, decentralized communication) server setup using Ansible and Docker - spantaleev/matrix-docker-ansible-deploy

github.com

TrueNAS Download it and let you change the configuration files and then execute the ansible file.

There is a Synapse (Matrix server) App on TrueCharts catalog. Otherwise you'd need to be more specific about the needs. Perhaps start a thread on the topic.

 

[MisterE2002]

Lets keep this thread on topic. Couple of years i created a ticket why not include a "donation" feature or a very basic license. I think the last will confuse the community and thus dangerous.
A "donation/supporter" status can also add some marker in the forum or some other perks.

Currently non of those tiers exists so my conclusion is that they create enough revenue.

 

[Patrick M. Hausen]

I would love to be able to install ansible scripts from e.G. github without without need to go onto the Debian Terminal.
e.G. this one:

GitHub - spantaleev/matrix-docker-ansible-deploy: Matrix (An open network for secure, decentralized communication) server setup using Ansible and Docker

Matrix (An open network for secure, decentralized communication) server setup using Ansible and Docker - spantaleev/matrix-docker-ansible-deploy

github.com

TrueNAS Download it and let you change the configuration files and then execute the ansible file.

This is never going to work. TrueNAS SCALE is not a "Debian server" on which you can run and install arbitrary software. This ansible project makes assumptions about its environment that are not met by SCALE.

Specifically you cannot install additional software using standard Linux methods. All apps must be installed via Helm charts and Kubernetes. There's a community project providing a ton of apps already. If you find one missing, you can create a chart for it.

TrueCharts | TrueCharts

TrueCharts - Your source for Helm Charts

truecharts.org

HTH,
Patrick

 

[morganL]

Lets keep this thread on topic. Couple of years i created a ticket why not include a "donation" feature or a very basic license. I think the last will confuse the community and thus dangerous.
A "donation/supporter" status can also add some marker in the forum or some other perks.

Currently non of those tiers exists so my conclusion is that they create enough revenue.

iX is happy to provide SCALE and CORE as free software. We benefit hugely from the ideas, the testing and the criticism. There are then many useful contributions including TrueCharts and other source code contributions.

The revenue comes from our sales of appliances and support services the Enterprises and small businesses. So, all we ask is that the Community accept that the iX business has two sides, with common TrueNAS software.

In future we'd love to offer a better method of contributing financially and provide some additional service. We'll be keeping this as a voluntary process. More revenue would allow us to have more engineers with more focus on home-lab type environments.

 

[NickF]

I'd be happy to pay some money to get "official" fibre channel support in SCALE or CORE for a nominal fee.

 

[morganL]

I'd be happy to pay some money to get "official" fibre channel support in SCALE or CORE for a nominal fee.

We're reluctant to support FC as SW-only without having an extensive FC lab with all HBAs and switches and clients. We would prefer that most users use iSCSI.

We can provide FC via a nominal fee...it includes the physical appliance.

Why are you using FC? Is it about performance or legacy integration?

Home lab or business?