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The Software-Status table is now live at https://www.truenas.com/software-status/
Past the midway point of 2022, most users are still using TrueNAS 12.0 versions. Both TrueNAS SCALE 22.02.2.1 and TrueNAS 13.0-U1 are available and continue to mature.
Given this variety of choices, this post aims to provide advice on when and if you should update to the latest versions of TrueNAS based on where and how you use TrueNAS.
In all cases for TrueNAS Enterprise, we recommend contacting iX Support prior to updating. Our Support team can provide advice based on your requirements, help with best practice recommendations, and be there to help you resolve any unexpected issues. We are here to assist.
Where / How Do You Use TrueNAS?
TrueNAS 12.0
TrueNAS 12.0-U8.1 is the highest quality release of TrueNAS and is currently the most widely deployed. As you may be aware, TrueNAS 11.3 is no longer being deployed and therefore, we recommend all 11.3 systems be updated to TrueNAS 12.0 for security, quality, and support reasons. If you are a General, Conservativ user, or have Mission Critical Data you should stick with this version for now.
TrueNAS 13.0 and 13.0-U1
For those with TrueNAS CORE 12.0 installed on your system(s), that do not require the stability and don’t mind a few bugs, you can now upgrade to TrueNAS 13.0-U1. The primary benefits of TrueNAS 13.0 are faster failover and boot times, SMB security, and All-Flash performance improvements. TrueNAS 13.0 is the natural successor for TrueNAS 12.0 and supports the previous feature set with a very simple update process.
TrueNAS 13.0-U1, which has been released, will have security and performance improvements that should have a positive impact on both CORE and Enterprise systems. The maturity of TrueNAS 13.0 is not yet as high as TrueNAS 12.0 so we recommend having a reason for the update if everything is otherwise functioning well on TrueNAS 12.0.
TrueNAS SCALE
TrueNAS SCALE provides capabilities such as Containers, Scale-out, and Hyperconvergence. This is a major and exciting innovation for TrueNAS and is required in the major transition of TrueNAS from FreeBSD to Linux. This transition touched many areas of the software and needs significantly more Community testing to get to a similar level of maturity as TrueNAS 12.0.
TrueNAS SCALE is making very good progress with over 21,000 systems deployed. However, for storage-only workloads (SMB, NFS, iSCSI), TrueNAS 12.0 and TrueNAS 13.0 are more mature and often higher performing. We do not recommend migrating to SCALE unless you fall under the user type of Developer, Early Tester or Beta Tester. TrueNAS SCALE has inherited some of the maturity and automated testing of TrueNAS 12.0 and has yet to complete its enterprise software quality lifecycle.
TrueNAS SCALE 22.02.2 includes planned new functionality for High Availability. In this release, there are known bugs that still need to be ironed out in the HA code. We recommend testing and evaluation of HA be planned only for TrueNAS SCALE 22.02.3, which is scheduled for release in August 2022. This is a major step toward supporting HA needs for storage, as well as KVM and Linux Apps.
For users with immediate needs for TrueNAS SCALE, iX has an Early Access Support Program to support specific deployments and applications before they complete testing and enter the production phase. Please contact your iX Account Representative for more information, or email us at info@iXsystems.com.
We are Here to Help
If you have any additional questions or need advice on a new project, please contact us. We are always standing by to help.
Past the midway point of 2022, most users are still using TrueNAS 12.0 versions. Both TrueNAS SCALE 22.02.2.1 and TrueNAS 13.0-U1 are available and continue to mature.
Given this variety of choices, this post aims to provide advice on when and if you should update to the latest versions of TrueNAS based on where and how you use TrueNAS.
In all cases for TrueNAS Enterprise, we recommend contacting iX Support prior to updating. Our Support team can provide advice based on your requirements, help with best practice recommendations, and be there to help you resolve any unexpected issues. We are here to assist.
Where / How Do You Use TrueNAS?
TrueNAS 12.0
TrueNAS 12.0-U8.1 is the highest quality release of TrueNAS and is currently the most widely deployed. As you may be aware, TrueNAS 11.3 is no longer being deployed and therefore, we recommend all 11.3 systems be updated to TrueNAS 12.0 for security, quality, and support reasons. If you are a General, Conservativ user, or have Mission Critical Data you should stick with this version for now.
TrueNAS 13.0 and 13.0-U1
For those with TrueNAS CORE 12.0 installed on your system(s), that do not require the stability and don’t mind a few bugs, you can now upgrade to TrueNAS 13.0-U1. The primary benefits of TrueNAS 13.0 are faster failover and boot times, SMB security, and All-Flash performance improvements. TrueNAS 13.0 is the natural successor for TrueNAS 12.0 and supports the previous feature set with a very simple update process.
TrueNAS 13.0-U1, which has been released, will have security and performance improvements that should have a positive impact on both CORE and Enterprise systems. The maturity of TrueNAS 13.0 is not yet as high as TrueNAS 12.0 so we recommend having a reason for the update if everything is otherwise functioning well on TrueNAS 12.0.
TrueNAS SCALE
TrueNAS SCALE provides capabilities such as Containers, Scale-out, and Hyperconvergence. This is a major and exciting innovation for TrueNAS and is required in the major transition of TrueNAS from FreeBSD to Linux. This transition touched many areas of the software and needs significantly more Community testing to get to a similar level of maturity as TrueNAS 12.0.
TrueNAS SCALE is making very good progress with over 21,000 systems deployed. However, for storage-only workloads (SMB, NFS, iSCSI), TrueNAS 12.0 and TrueNAS 13.0 are more mature and often higher performing. We do not recommend migrating to SCALE unless you fall under the user type of Developer, Early Tester or Beta Tester. TrueNAS SCALE has inherited some of the maturity and automated testing of TrueNAS 12.0 and has yet to complete its enterprise software quality lifecycle.
TrueNAS SCALE 22.02.2 includes planned new functionality for High Availability. In this release, there are known bugs that still need to be ironed out in the HA code. We recommend testing and evaluation of HA be planned only for TrueNAS SCALE 22.02.3, which is scheduled for release in August 2022. This is a major step toward supporting HA needs for storage, as well as KVM and Linux Apps.
For users with immediate needs for TrueNAS SCALE, iX has an Early Access Support Program to support specific deployments and applications before they complete testing and enter the production phase. Please contact your iX Account Representative for more information, or email us at info@iXsystems.com.
We are Here to Help
If you have any additional questions or need advice on a new project, please contact us. We are always standing by to help.
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