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This guide introduces TrueNAS and walks through installing and accessing TrueNAS, storing and backing up data, sharing data over a network, and expanding TrueNAS with different applications solutions.
TrueNAS Quality Lifecycle
Release Stage | Completed QA Cycles | Typical Use | Description |
---|---|---|---|
NIGHTLY | 0 | Developers | Incomplete |
ALPHA | 1 | Testers | Not much field testing |
BETA | 2 | Enthusiasts | Major Feature Complete, but expect some bugs |
RC | 4 | Home Users | Suitable for non-critical deployments |
RELEASE | 6 | General Use | Suitable for less complex deployments |
U1 | 7 | Business Use | Suitable for more complex deployments |
U2+ | 8 | Larger Systems | Suitable for higher uptime deployments |
The Software Status page shows the latest recommendations for using the various TrueNAS software releases.
All release dates listed are tentative and are subject to change. The items in this list might not show every deadline or testing cycle that iXsystems uses to manage internal effort.
The progress and specific work is being tracked through tickets opened in Jira. If you have a feature suggestion or bug report, create a Jira account and file a ticket in the TrueNAS or TrueCommand projects. TrueNAS SCALE tickets are also tracked in the TrueNAS Jira Project.
Version | Checkpoint | Scheduled Date |
---|---|---|
TBD |
Due to security vulnerabilities and maintainability issues, the S3 service is deprecated in TrueNAS CORE 13.0 and removed in CORE 13.3 (NAS-127694). Beginning in CORE 13.0-U6, the CORE web interface generates an alert when the deprecated service is either actively running or enabled to start on boot. Users should move any production data away from the S3 service storage location before migrating to TrueNAS 24.04 or newer, which has MinIO applications available. See also Feature Deprecations.
SAS Multipath is supported as-is and receives no further maintenance updates. While multipath situations might be detected and be generally functional in TrueNAS CORE, there is a possibility this is not available in a future TrueNAS CORE major version. Users should avoid creating and managing SAS multipath scenarios with TrueNAS.
Following the upstream FreeBSD 13.2 end-of-life, announced July 1, 2024, virtualization features (plugins, jails, and virtual machines) in TrueNAS 13.0 are now obsolete.
Enterprise users or community users with a critical need to use containers or virtualization solutions in production should migrate to the tested and supported virtualization features available in TrueNAS SCALE. TrueNAS Enterprise customers can contact iXsystems to schedule a TrueNAS 24.04 or newer deployment. See CORE to SCALE Migrations for more information.
November 21, 2024
iXsystems is pleased to release TrueNAS CORE 13.0-U6.3!
This is a maintenance release with important security updates. It is recommended for all users of CORE and Enterprise running 13.x or previous software versions. TrueNAS SCALE & SCALE Enterprise systems are not impacted.
Resolve a vulnerability involving python deserialization (CVE-2020-22083).
Address a security vulnerability with the jails system (iocage).
In addition to the included fixes included, additional vulnerabilities are identified related to iocage (a FreeBSD jail manager), which is the infrastructure component that operates both the Jails and the Plugins system on CORE. This update includes a mitigation that ensures any systems not running jails or plugins are safe from the iocage vulnerability impact.
Because these vulnerabilities are architectural in nature and the iocage application has not been under active development for many years, it is unlikely to receive fixes related to these vulnerabilities. Systems running Jails or Plugins are still be exposed to the iocage vulnerabilities.
We highly encourage users who run 3rd party applications on TrueNAS to upgrade to SCALE, which is actively supported and not impacted by any known vulnerabilities. As always, users are encouraged to follow security best-practices to minimize the risk to your system and important data.
TrueNAS Enterprise 13.x users should schedule an update with TrueNAS Support.
July 3, 2024
iXsystems is pleased to release TrueNAS CORE 13.0-U6.2!
This is a small maintenance release with fixes for CVE-2024-6387, noted as the regreSSHion vulnerability. Additional details and links to the technical discussion and analysis of the vulnerability are available from NAS-129828.
December 7, 2023
iXsystems is pleased to release TrueNAS CORE 13.0-U6.1!
This is a small update to 13.0-U6 to update OpenZFS to version 2.1.14 and fix a data integrity issue discovered in that project (NAS-125356). While this bug has been present in OpenZFS for many years, this issue has not been found to impact any TrueNAS systems to date. This TrueNAS Community announcement has further details.
November 21, 2023
iXsystems is pleased to release TrueNAS CORE 13.0-U6!
This is a maintenance release and includes an update to the Asigra plugin, updated ports for ZFS, and fixes issues found in earlier releases. The improvements include:
Due to security vulnerabilities and maintainability issues, the S3 service is deprecated in TrueNAS CORE 13.0 and scheduled for removal in CORE 13.3. Beginning in CORE 13.0-U6, the CORE web interface generates an alert when the deprecated service is either actively running or is enabled to start on boot. Users should plan to use a separately maintained MinIO app available from TrueNAS 22.12 or newer releases or otherwise move any production data away from the S3 service storage location. Enterprise customers can contact iX Support for assistance with moving away from S3 or Minio services in TrueNAS 13.0.
Known issues are those found during internal testing or reported by the community and are listed in three tables:
Notice or Behavior | Details |
---|---|
iSCSI LUN can be removed on active controller but still advertised on passive | To avoid this issue, always remove any relevant iSCSI configuration details using the TrueNAS web interface prior to deleting the associated zvol. |
S3 Service deprecated | Due to security and maintainability issues, this service is deprecated and scheduled for removal in the next TrueNAS CORE major version. See Feature Deprecations for more details. |
SAS Multipath deprecated | Due to maintainability issues, SAS multipath scenarios are no longer receiving maintenance updates. See Feature Deprecations for more details. |
Virtual Machine display devices appear to be insecure. | This is under investigation and resolution is TBD. To secure the system, disable any VM display devices after configuring the VM. |
Netatalk deprecation in 13.0-U3 | Netatalk is deprecated in 13.0-U3 and users should begin migrating away from using it with TrueNAS. |
Nextcloud (official) plugin does not install. | Recommend users migrate to SCALE which provides a better experience with running applications. |
TrueNAS 12 cannot replicate to or from TrueNAS 13 | By default, TrueNAS 12 cannot initiate a replication to or from TrueNAS 13 due to an outdated SSH client library. Allowing replication to or from TrueNAS 13 to TrueNAS 12 requires allowing ssh.rsa algorithms. See OpenSSH 8.2 Release for security considerations. Log into the TrueNAS 13 system and go to Services->SSH. Add the SSH Auxiliary Parameter: PubkeyAcceptedAlgorithms +ssh-rsa . |
Replication fails between legacy TrueNAS 9.10 systems and 13.0-BETA1 systems. | Due to numerous improvements in the replication engine and ZFS, TrueNAS 9.10 systems (or earlier) cannot replicate to or from TrueNAS 13.0-BETA1. Update the legacy TrueNAS system to 11.3 first, then 12.0, and then 13.0. |
These instructions apply to systems installed with 13.0-Release only.
CLI commands are meant for advanced users and, when improperly applied, can result in serious system instability or production down scenarios. Please use CLI commands carefully and always back up critical data before attempting this kind of procedure.
As part of security hardening and improving feature maintainability, there are occasions when TrueNAS features must be deprecated. Features noted in this article are either no longer receiving any maintenance or, typically due to security vulnerabilities, might be scheduled for removal from TrueNAS in a future major version.
Begin planning migrations from these features immediately and note the TrueNAS upgrade paths required when a deprecated feature is in use.
Due to security vulnerabilities and maintainability issues, the S3 service is deprecated in TrueNAS CORE 13.0 and scheduled for removal in CORE 13.3. Beginning in CORE 13.0-U6, the CORE web interface generates an alert when the deprecated service is either actively running or is enabled to start on boot.
TrueNAS EnterpriseBeginning in CORE 13.0-U6, Enterprise customers with the S3 service running or enabled are prevented from upgrading to the next major version.
Users should plan to move any production data away from the S3 service storage location.
SAS Multipath is supported as-is and receives no further maintenance updates. While multipath situations might be detected and be generally functional in TrueNAS CORE, there is a possibility this is not available in a future TrueNAS CORE major version. Users should avoid creating and managing SAS multipath scenarios with TrueNAS.
Following the upstream FreeBSD 13.2 end-of-life, announced July 1, 2024, virtualization features (plugins, jails, and virtual machines) in TrueNAS 13.0 are now obsolete.
Enterprise users or community users with a critical need to use containers or virtualization solutions in production should migrate to the tested and supported virtualization features available in TrueNAS SCALE. TrueNAS Enterprise customers can contact iXsystems to schedule a TrueNAS 24.04 or newer deployment. See CORE to SCALE Migrations for more information.
This section contains the various legal agreements and notices pertaining to TrueNAS CORE software.
Important - Please Read This EULA Carefully
PLEASE CAREFULLY READ THIS END USER LICENSE AGREEMENT (EULA) BEFORE CLICKING THE AGREE BUTTON. THIS AGREEMENT SERVES AS A LEGALLY BINDING DOCUMENT BETWEEN YOU AND IXSYSTEMS, INC. BY CLICKING THE AGREE BUTTON, DOWNLOADING, INSTALLING, OR OTHERWISE USING TRUENAS CORE SOFTWARE, YOU AGREE TO BE BOUND BY THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF THIS AGREEMENT). IF YOU DO NOT AGREE TO THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS IN THIS AGREEMENT, DO NOT USE OR INSTALL TRUENAS CORE SOFTWARE.
This agreement is provided in accordance with the Commercial Arbitration Rules of the American Arbitration Association (the “AAA Rules”) under confidential binding arbitration held in Santa Clara County, California. To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, no arbitration under this EULA will be joined to an arbitration involving any other party subject to this EULA, whether through class arbitration proceedings or otherwise. Any litigation relating to this EULA shall be subject to the jurisdiction of the Federal Courts of the Northern District of California and the state courts of the State of California, with venue lying in Santa Clara County, California. All matters arising out of or relating to this agreement shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the internal laws of the State of California without giving effect to any choice or conflict of law provision or rule.
1.1 “Company”, “iXsystems” and “iX” means iXsystems, Inc., on behalf of themselves, subsidiaries, and affiliates under common control.
1.2 “TrueNAS CORE Software” means the TrueNAS CORE storage management software.
1.3 “TrueNAS Device” means the TrueNAS storage appliances and peripheral equipment provided by iXsystems or a third party.
1.4 “Product” means, individually and collectively, the TrueNAS CORE Software and the TrueNAS Device provided by iXsystems.
1.5 “Open Source Software” means various open source software components licensed under the terms of applicable open source license agreements, each of which has its own copyright and its own applicable license terms.
1.6 “Licensee”, “You” and “Your” refers to the person, organization, or entity that has agreed to be bound by this EULA including any employees, affiliates, and third party contractors that provide services to You.
1.7 “Agreement” refers to this document, the TrueNAS End User License Agreement.
Subject to the terms set forth in this Agreement, iXsystems grants You a non-exclusive, non-transferable, perpetual, limited license without the option to sublicense, to use TrueNAS CORE Software on Your TrueNAS Device(s). This use includes but is not limited to using or viewing the instructions, specifications, and documentation provided with the Product.
TrueNAS CORE software is made available as Open Source Software, subject to the license conditions contained within that Open Source Software.
TrueNAS CORE Software is authorized for use on any TrueNAS Device. TrueNAS Devices can include hardware provided by iXsystems or third parties. TrueNAS Devices may also include virtual machines and cloud instances. TrueNAS CORE software may not be commercially distributed or sold without an addendum license agreement and express written consent from iXsystems.
The TrueNAS CORE Software is protected by copyright laws and international treaties, as well as other intellectual property laws, statutes, and treaties. The TrueNAS CORE Software is licensed, not sold to You, the end user. You do not acquire any ownership interest in the TrueNAS CORE Software, or any other rights to the TrueNAS CORE Software, other than to use the TrueNAS CORE Software in accordance with the license granted under this Agreement, subject to all terms, conditions, and restrictions. iXsystems reserves and shall retain its entire right, title, and interest in and to the TrueNAS CORE Software, and all intellectual property rights arising out of or relating to the TrueNAS CORE Software, subject to the license expressly granted to You in this Agreement.
The TrueNAS CORE Software may contain iXsystems’ proprietary trademarks and collateral. By agreeing to this license agreement for TrueNAS CORE, You agree to use reasonable efforts to safeguard iXsystems’ intellectual property and hereby agree to not use or distribute iXsystems’ proprietary intellectual property and collateral commercially without the express written consent of iXsystems. Official iXsystems Channel Partners are authorized to use and distribute iXsystems’ intellectual property through an addendum to this license agreement. By accepting this Agreement, You are responsible and liable for all uses of the Product through access thereto provided by You, directly or indirectly.
The TrueNAS CORE software includes Open Source components and some proprietary extensions which are available through additional licences You agree to not alter the source code to take advantage of the proprietary extensions without a license to those proprietary extensions, including the TrueNAS Enterprise features sets.
4.1 Entire Agreement - This Agreement, together with any associated purchase order, service level agreement, and all other documents and policies referenced herein, constitutes the entire and only agreement between You and iXsystems for use of the TrueNAS CORE Software and all other prior negotiations, representations, agreements, and understandings are superseded hereby. No agreements altering or supplementing the terms hereof may be made except by means of a written document signed by Your duly authorized representatives and those of iXsystems.
4.2 Waiver and Modification - No failure of either party to exercise or enforce any of its rights under this EULA will act as a waiver of those rights. This EULA may only be modified, or any rights under it waived, by a written document executed by the party against which it is asserted.
4.3. Severability - If any provision of this EULA is found illegal or unenforceable, it will be enforced to the maximum extent permissible, and the legality and enforceability of the other provisions of this EULA will not be affected.
4.4 United States Government End Users - For any TrueNAS CORE Software licensed directly or indirectly on behalf of a unit or agency of the United States Government, this paragraph applies. Company’s proprietary software embodied in the Product: (a) was developed at private expense and is in all respects Company’s proprietary information; (b) was not developed with government funds; (c) is Company’s trade secret for all purposes of the Freedom of Information Act; (d) is a commercial item and thus, pursuant to Section 12.212 of the Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) and DFAR Supplement Section 227.7202, Government’s use, duplication or disclosure of such software is subject to the restrictions set forth by the Company and Licensee shall receive only those rights with respect to the Product as are granted to all other end users.
4.5 Title - iXsystems retains all rights, titles, and interest in TrueNAS CORE Software and all related copyrights, trade secrets, patents, trademarks, and any other intellectual and industrial property and proprietary rights, including registrations, applications, registration keys, renewals, and extensions of such rights. Contact Information - If You have any questions about this Agreement, or if You want to contact iXsystems for any reason, please email legal@ixsystems.com.
4.6 Maintenance and Support - You may be entitled to support services from iXsystems after purchasing a Product or a support contract. iXsystems will provide these support services based on the length of time of the purchased support contract. This maintenance and support is only valid for the length of time that You have purchased with Your Product. iXsystems may from time to time and at their sole discretion vary the terms and conditions of the maintenance and support agreement based on different business environmental and personnel factors. Any variations will be notified via email and the support portal. For more information on our Maintenance and Support contract, refer to https://www.ixsystems.com/support/.
4.7 Force Majeure - iXsystems will not be deemed to be in default of any of the provisions of this Agreement or be liable for any delay or failure in performance due to Force Majeure, which shall include without limitation acts of God, earthquake, weather conditions, labor disputes, changes in law, regulation or government policy, riots, war, fire, epidemics, acts or omissions of vendors or suppliers, equipment failures, transportation difficulties, malicious or criminal acts of third parties, or other occurrences which are beyond iXsystems’ reasonable control.
4.8 Termination - iXsystems may cease any and all support, services, or maintenance under this Agreement without prior notice, or liability, and for any reason whatsoever, without limitation, if any of the terms and conditions of this Agreement are breached. Other provisions of this Agreement will survive termination including, without limitation, ownership provisions, warranty disclaimers, indemnity, and limitations of liability.
4.9 Open Source Software Components - iXsystems uses Open Source Software components in the development of the TrueNAS CORE Software. Open Source Software components that are used in the TrueNAS CORE Software are composed of separate components each having their own trademarks, copyrights, and license conditions.
4.10 Assignment - Licensee shall not assign or otherwise transfer any of its rights, or delegate or otherwise transfer any of its obligations or performance, under this Agreement, in each case whether voluntarily, involuntarily, by operation of law, or otherwise, without iXsystems’ prior written consent. No delegation or other transfer will relieve Licensee of any of its obligations or performance under this Agreement. Any purported assignment, delegation, or transfer in violation of this Section is void. iXsystems may freely assign or otherwise transfer all or any of its rights, or delegate or otherwise transfer all or any of its obligations or performance, under this Agreement without Licensee’s consent. This Agreement is binding upon and inures to the benefit of the parties hereto and their respective permitted successors and assigns.
“The Product may be subject to export control laws. You shall not, directly or indirectly, export, re-export, or release the Product to, or make the Product accessible from, any jurisdiction or country to which export, re-export, or release is prohibited by law, rule, or regulation. You shall comply with all applicable laws, regulations, and rules, and complete all required undertakings (including obtaining any necessary export license or other governmental approval).”
TrueNAS CORE Software may collect non-sensitive system information relating to Your use of the Product, including information that has been provided directly or indirectly through automated means. Usage of TrueNAS CORE Software, device status and system configuration are allowed according to iXsystems’ privacy policy.
TrueNAS CORE Software will not collect sensitive User information including email addresses, names of systems, pools, datasets, folders, files, credentials.
By accepting this Agreement and continuing to use the Product, you agree that iXsystems may use any information provided through direct or indirect means in accordance with our privacy policy and as permitted by applicable law, for purposes relating to management, compliance, marketing, support, security, update delivery, and product improvement.
THE PRODUCT IS PROVIDED “AS IS” AND WITH ALL FAULTS AND DEFECTS WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND. TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED UNDER APPLICABLE LAW, IXSYSTEMS, ON ITS OWN BEHALF AND ON BEHALF OF ITS AFFILIATES AND ITS AND THEIR RESPECTIVE LICENSORS AND SERVICE PROVIDERS, EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, WHETHER EXPRESS, IMPLIED, STATUTORY, OR OTHERWISE, WITH RESPECT TO THE PRODUCT, INCLUDING ALL IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, TITLE, AND NON-INFRINGEMENT, AND WARRANTIES THAT MAY ARISE OUT OF COURSE OF DEALING, COURSE OF PERFORMANCE, USAGE, OR TRADE PRACTICE. WITHOUT LIMITATION TO THE FOREGOING, IXSYSTEMS PROVIDES NO WARRANTY OR UNDERTAKING, AND MAKES NO REPRESENTATION OF ANY KIND THAT THE PRODUCT WILL MEET THE LICENSEE’S REQUIREMENTS, ACHIEVE ANY INTENDED RESULTS, BE COMPATIBLE, OR WORK WITH ANY OTHER SOFTWARE, APPLICATIONS, SYSTEMS, OR SERVICES, OPERATE WITHOUT INTERRUPTION, MEET ANY PERFORMANCE OR RELIABILITY STANDARDS OR BE ERROR FREE, OR THAT ANY ERRORS OR DEFECTS CAN OR WILL BE CORRECTED.
TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED UNDER APPLICABLE LAW: (A) IN NO EVENT WILL IXSYSTEMS OR ITS AFFILIATES, OR ANY OF ITS OR THEIR RESPECTIVE LICENSORS OR SERVICE PROVIDERS, BE LIABLE TO LICENSEE, LICENSEE’S AFFILIATES, OR ANY THIRD PARTY FOR ANY USE, INTERRUPTION, DELAY, OR INABILITY TO USE THE PRODUCT; LOST REVENUES OR PROFITS; DELAYS, INTERRUPTION, OR LOSS OF SERVICES, BUSINESS, OR GOODWILL; LOSS OR CORRUPTION OF DATA; LOSS RESULTING FROM SYSTEM OR SYSTEM SERVICE FAILURE, MALFUNCTION, OR SHUTDOWN; FAILURE TO ACCURATELY TRANSFER, READ, OR TRANSMIT INFORMATION; FAILURE TO UPDATE OR PROVIDE CORRECT INFORMATION; SYSTEM INCOMPATIBILITY OR PROVISION OF INCORRECT COMPATIBILITY INFORMATION; OR BREACHES IN SYSTEM SECURITY; OR FOR ANY CONSEQUENTIAL, INCIDENTAL, INDIRECT, EXEMPLARY, SPECIAL, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, WHETHER ARISING OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THIS AGREEMENT, BREACH OF CONTRACT, TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE), OR OTHERWISE, REGARDLESS OF WHETHER SUCH DAMAGES WERE FORESEEABLE AND WHETHER OR NOT IXSYSTEMS WAS ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES; (B) IN NO EVENT WILL IXSYSTEMS’ AND ITS AFFILIATES’, INCLUDING ANY OF ITS OR THEIR RESPECTIVE LICENSORS’ AND SERVICE PROVIDERS’, COLLECTIVE AGGREGATE LIABILITY UNDER OR IN CONNECTION WITH THIS AGREEMENT OR ITS SUBJECT MATTER, UNDER ANY LEGAL OR EQUITABLE THEORY, INCLUDING BREACH OF CONTRACT, TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE), STRICT LIABILITY, AND OTHERWISE, EXCEED THE TOTAL AMOUNT PAID TO IXSYSTEMS PURSUANT TO THIS AGREEMENT FOR THE PRODUCT THAT IS THE SUBJECT OF THE CLAIM; (C) THE LIMITATIONS SET FORTH IN THIS SECTION SHALL APPLY EVEN IF THE LICENSEE’S REMEDIES UNDER THIS AGREEMENT FAIL OF THEIR ESSENTIAL PURPOSE.
You hereby acknowledge that you have read and understand this Agreement and voluntarily accept the duties and obligations set forth herein by clicking accept on this Agreement.
Important - Please Read This EULA Carefully
PLEASE CAREFULLY READ THIS END USER LICENSE AGREEMENT (EULA) BEFORE CLICKING THE AGREE BUTTON. THIS AGREEMENT SERVES AS A LEGALLY BINDING DOCUMENT BETWEEN YOU AND IXSYSTEMS, INC. BY CLICKING THE AGREE BUTTON, DOWNLOADING, INSTALLING, OR OTHERWISE USING TRUENAS SOFTWARE, YOU AGREE TO BE BOUND BY THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF THIS AGREEMENT). IF YOU DO NOT AGREE TO THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS IN THIS AGREEMENT, DO NOT USE OR INSTALL TRUENAS SOFTWARE.
This agreement is provided in accordance with the Commercial Arbitration Rules of the American Arbitration Association (the “AAA Rules”) under confidential binding arbitration held in Santa Clara County, California. To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, no arbitration under this EULA will be joined to an arbitration involving any other party subject to this EULA, whether through class arbitration proceedings or otherwise. Any litigation relating to this EULA shall be subject to the jurisdiction of the Federal Courts of the Northern District of California and the state courts of the State of California, with venue lying in Santa Clara County, California. All matters arising out of or relating to this agreement shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the internal laws of the State of California without giving effect to any choice or conflict of law provision or rule.
1.1 “Company”, “iXsystems” and “iX” means iXsystems, Inc., on behalf of themselves, subsidiaries, and affiliates under common control.
1.2 “TrueNAS Software” means the TrueNAS Enterprise storage management software.
1.3 “TrueNAS Device” means the TrueNAS hardware storage appliances and peripheral equipment.
1.4 “Product” means, individually and collectively, the TrueNAS Software and the TrueNAS Device.
1.5 “Open Source Software” means various open source software components licensed under the terms of applicable open source license agreements, each of which has its own copyright and its own applicable license terms.
1.6 “Licensee”, “You” and “Your” refers to the person, organization, or entity that has agreed to be bound by this EULA including any employees, affiliates, and third party contractors that provide services to You.
1.7 “Agreement” refers to this document, the TrueNAS End User License Agreement.
Subject to the terms set forth in this Agreement, iXsystems grants You a non-exclusive, non-transferable, perpetual, limited license without the option to sublicense, to use TrueNAS Software on Your TrueNAS Device(s) in accordance with Your authorized purchase and use of a TrueNAS Device(s) for Your internal business purposes. This use includes but is not limited to using or viewing the instructions, specifications, and documentation provided with the Product.
TrueNAS Software is only authorized for use with a TrueNAS Device identified by a specific serial number and manufactured by iXsystems. This license may be extended to a second TrueNAS Device if an additional TrueNAS Device was purchased for high availability data protection. The license is provided as a digital license key that is installed on the TrueNAS Device.
The TrueNAS Software is protected by copyright laws and international treaties, as well as other intellectual property laws, statutes, and treaties. The TrueNAS Software is licensed, not sold to You, the end user. You do not acquire any ownership interest in the TrueNAS Software, or any other rights to the TrueNAS Software, other than to use the TrueNAS Software in accordance with the license granted under this Agreement, subject to all terms, conditions, and restrictions. iXsystems reserves and shall retain its entire right, title, and interest in and to the TrueNAS Software, and all intellectual property rights arising out of or relating to the TrueNAS Software, subject to the license expressly granted to You in this Agreement.
The TrueNAS Software may contain iXsystems’ trademarks, trade secrets, and proprietary collateral. iXsystems strictly prohibits the acts of decompiling, reverse engineering, or disassembly of the TrueNAS Software. You agree to use commercially reasonable efforts to safeguard iXsystems’ intellectual property, trade secrets, or other proprietary information You may have access to, from infringement, misappropriation, theft, misuse, or unauthorized access. You will promptly notify iXsystems if You become aware of any infringement of the TrueNAS Software and cooperate with iXsystems in any legal action taken by iXsystems to enforce its intellectual property rights.
By accepting this Agreement, You agree You will not disclose, copy, transfer, or publish benchmark results relating to the Product without the express written consent of iXsystems. You agree not to use, or permit others to use, the TrueNAS Software beyond the scope of the license granted under Section 2, unless otherwise permitted by iXsystems, or in violation of any law, regulation or rule, and you will not modify, adapt, or otherwise create derivative works or improvements of the TrueNAS Software. You are responsible and liable for all uses of the Product through access thereto provided by You, directly or indirectly.
4.1 Entire Agreement - This Agreement, together with any associated purchase order, service level agreement, and all other documents and policies referenced herein, constitutes the entire and only agreement between You and iXsystems for use of the TrueNAS Software and all other prior negotiations, representations, agreements, and understandings are superseded hereby. No agreements altering or supplementing the terms hereof may be made except by means of a written document signed by Your duly authorized representatives and those of iXsystems.
4.2 Waiver and Modification - No failure of either party to exercise or enforce any of its rights under this EULA will act as a waiver of those rights. This EULA may only be modified, or any rights under it waived, by a written document executed by the party against which it is asserted.
4.3 Severability - If any provision of this EULA is found illegal or unenforceable, it will be enforced to the maximum extent permissible, and the legality and enforceability of the other provisions of this EULA will not be affected.
4.4 United States Government End Users - For any TrueNAS Software licensed directly or indirectly on behalf of a unit or agency of the United States Government, this paragraph applies. Company’s proprietary software embodied in the Product: (a) was developed at private expense and is in all respects Company’s proprietary information; (b) was not developed with government funds; (c) is Company’s trade secret for all purposes of the Freedom of Information Act; (d) is a commercial item and thus, pursuant to Section 12.212 of the Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) and DFAR Supplement Section 227.7202, Government’s use, duplication or disclosure of such software is subject to the restrictions set forth by the Company and Licensee shall receive only those rights with respect to the Product as are granted to all other end users.
4.5 Foreign Corrupt Practices Act - You will comply with the requirements of the United States Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (the “FCPA”) and will refrain from making, directly or indirectly, any payments to third parties which constitute a breach of the FCPA. You will notify Company immediately upon Your becoming aware that such a payment has been made. You will indemnify and hold harmless Company from any breach of this provision.
4.6 Title - iXsystems retains all rights, titles, and interest in TrueNAS Software and all related copyrights, trade secrets, patents, trademarks, and any other intellectual and industrial property and proprietary rights, including registrations, applications, registration keys, renewals, and extensions of such rights.
4.7 Contact Information - If You have any questions about this Agreement, or if You want to contact iXsystems for any reason, please email legal@ixsystems.com.
4.8 Maintenance and Support - You may be entitled to support services from iXsystems after purchasing a TrueNAS Device or a support contract. iXsystems will provide these support services based on the length of time of the purchased support contract. This maintenance and support is only valid for the length of time that You have purchased with Your TrueNAS Device. iXsystems may from time to time and at their sole discretion vary the terms and conditions of the maintenance and support agreement based on different business environmental and personnel factors. Any variations will be notified via email and the support portal. For more information on our Maintenance and Support contract, refer to https://www.ixsystems.com/support/.
4.9 Force Majeure - iXsystems will not be deemed to be in default of any of the provisions of this Agreement or be liable for any delay or failure in performance due to Force Majeure, which shall include without limitation acts of God, earthquake, weather conditions, labor disputes, changes in law, regulation or government policy, riots, war, fire, epidemics, acts or omissions of vendors or suppliers, equipment failures, transportation difficulties, malicious or criminal acts of third parties, or other occurrences which are beyond iXsystems’ reasonable control.
4.10 Termination - iXsystems may terminate or suspend Your license to use the TrueNAS Software and cease any and all support, services, or maintenance under this Agreement without prior notice, or liability, and for any reason whatsoever, without limitation, if any of the terms and conditions of this Agreement are breached. Upon termination, rights to use the TrueNAS Software will immediately cease. Other provisions of this Agreement will survive termination including, without limitation, ownership provisions, warranty disclaimers, indemnity, and limitations of liability.
4.11 Open Source Software Components - iXsystems uses Open Source Software components in the development of the TrueNAS Software. Open Source Software components that are used in the TrueNAS Software are composed of separate components each having their own trademarks, copyrights, and license conditions.
4.12 Assignment - Licensee shall not assign or otherwise transfer any of its rights, or delegate or otherwise transfer any of its obligations or performance, under this Agreement, in each case whether voluntarily, involuntarily, by operation of law, or otherwise, without iXsystems’ prior written consent. No delegation or other transfer will relieve Licensee of any of its obligations or performance under this Agreement. Any purported assignment, delegation, or transfer in violation of this Section is void. iXsystems may freely assign or otherwise transfer all or any of its rights, or delegate or otherwise transfer all or any of its obligations or performance, under this Agreement without Licensee’s consent. This Agreement is binding upon and inures to the benefit of the parties hereto and their respective permitted successors and assigns.
The Product may be subject to US export control laws, including the US Export Administration Act and its associated regulations. You shall not, directly or indirectly, export, re-export, or release the Product to, or make the Product accessible from, any jurisdiction or country to which export, re-export, or release is prohibited by law, rule, or regulation. You shall comply with all applicable federal laws, regulations, and rules, and complete all required undertakings (including obtaining any necessary export license or other governmental approval), prior to exporting, re-exporting, releasing, or otherwise making the Product available outside the US.
TrueNAS Software may collect non-sensitive system information relating to Your use of the Product, including information that has been provided directly or indirectly through automated means. Usage of TrueNAS Software, device status and system configuration are allowed according to iXsystems’ privacy policy.
TrueNAS Software will not collect sensitive User information including email addresses, names of systems, pools, datasets, folders, files, credentials.
By accepting this Agreement and continuing to use the Product, you agree that iXsystems may use any information provided through direct or indirect means in accordance with our privacy policy and as permitted by applicable law, for purposes relating to management, compliance, marketing, support, security, update delivery, and product improvement.
THE PRODUCT IS PROVIDED “AS IS” AND WITH ALL FAULTS AND DEFECTS WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND. TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED UNDER APPLICABLE LAW, IXSYSTEMS, ON ITS OWN BEHALF AND ON BEHALF OF ITS AFFILIATES AND ITS AND THEIR RESPECTIVE LICENSORS AND SERVICE PROVIDERS, EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, WHETHER EXPRESS, IMPLIED, STATUTORY, OR OTHERWISE, WITH RESPECT TO THE PRODUCT, INCLUDING ALL IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, TITLE, AND NON-INFRINGEMENT, AND WARRANTIES THAT MAY ARISE OUT OF COURSE OF DEALING, COURSE OF PERFORMANCE, USAGE, OR TRADE PRACTICE. WITHOUT LIMITATION TO THE FOREGOING, IXSYSTEMS PROVIDES NO WARRANTY OR UNDERTAKING, AND MAKES NO REPRESENTATION OF ANY KIND THAT THE PRODUCT WILL MEET THE LICENSEE’S REQUIREMENTS, ACHIEVE ANY INTENDED RESULTS, BE COMPATIBLE, OR WORK WITH ANY OTHER SOFTWARE, APPLICATIONS, SYSTEMS, OR SERVICES, OPERATE WITHOUT INTERRUPTION, MEET ANY PERFORMANCE OR RELIABILITY STANDARDS OR BE ERROR FREE, OR THAT ANY ERRORS OR DEFECTS CAN OR WILL BE CORRECTED.
TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED UNDER APPLICABLE LAW: (A) IN NO EVENT WILL IXSYSTEMS OR ITS AFFILIATES, OR ANY OF ITS OR THEIR RESPECTIVE LICENSORS OR SERVICE PROVIDERS, BE LIABLE TO LICENSEE, LICENSEE’S AFFILIATES, OR ANY THIRD PARTY FOR ANY USE, INTERRUPTION, DELAY, OR INABILITY TO USE THE PRODUCT; LOST REVENUES OR PROFITS; DELAYS, INTERRUPTION, OR LOSS OF SERVICES, BUSINESS, OR GOODWILL; LOSS OR CORRUPTION OF DATA; LOSS RESULTING FROM SYSTEM OR SYSTEM SERVICE FAILURE, MALFUNCTION, OR SHUTDOWN; FAILURE TO ACCURATELY TRANSFER, READ, OR TRANSMIT INFORMATION; FAILURE TO UPDATE OR PROVIDE CORRECT INFORMATION; SYSTEM INCOMPATIBILITY OR PROVISION OF INCORRECT COMPATIBILITY INFORMATION; OR BREACHES IN SYSTEM SECURITY; OR FOR ANY CONSEQUENTIAL, INCIDENTAL, INDIRECT, EXEMPLARY, SPECIAL, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, WHETHER ARISING OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THIS AGREEMENT, BREACH OF CONTRACT, TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE), OR OTHERWISE, REGARDLESS OF WHETHER SUCH DAMAGES WERE FORESEEABLE AND WHETHER OR NOT IXSYSTEMS WAS ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES; (B) IN NO EVENT WILL IXSYSTEMS’ AND ITS AFFILIATES’, INCLUDING ANY OF ITS OR THEIR RESPECTIVE LICENSORS’ AND SERVICE PROVIDERS’, COLLECTIVE AGGREGATE LIABILITY UNDER OR IN CONNECTION WITH THIS AGREEMENT OR ITS SUBJECT MATTER, UNDER ANY LEGAL OR EQUITABLE THEORY, INCLUDING BREACH OF CONTRACT, TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE), STRICT LIABILITY, AND OTHERWISE, EXCEED THE TOTAL AMOUNT PAID TO IXSYSTEMS PURSUANT TO THIS AGREEMENT FOR THE PRODUCT THAT IS THE SUBJECT OF THE CLAIM; (C) THE LIMITATIONS SET FORTH IN THIS SECTION SHALL APPLY EVEN IF THE LICENSEE’S REMEDIES UNDER THIS AGREEMENT FAIL OF THEIR ESSENTIAL PURPOSE.
You hereby acknowledge that you have read and understand this Agreement and voluntarily accept the duties and obligations set forth herein by clicking accept on this Agreement.
The TrueNAS Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) is the process of planning, creating, testing, deploying, and maintaining TrueNAS releases.
The TrueNAS SDLC applies to the latest two release branches. As new releases are created for TrueNAS, the oldest TrueNAS release branch is dropped out of the SDLC and labeled as End of Life (EoL). For example, TrueNAS/FreeNAS 11.3 and TrueNAS 12.0 were in active development under the SDLC in August 2020. In early 2021, TrueNAS Core/Enterprise 12.0 and 13.0 branches were in active development under the SDLC. These versions of the software are in active development and maintenance. We encourage users to actively keep their software updated to an active development version to continue to receive security patches and other software improvements.
The Software Status page shows the latest recommendations for using the various TrueNAS software releases.
TrueNAS releases follow a general adoption guideline for their lifetime. Starting with the NIGHTLY builds, each stage of a major release incorporates more testing cycles and bug fixes that represent a maturation of the release. With each version release stage, users are encouraged to install, upgrade, or otherwise begin using the major version, depending on the specific TrueNAS deployment and use case:
Release Stage | Completed QA Cycles | Typical Use-case | Description |
---|---|---|---|
NIGHTLY | 0 | Developers | Incomplete |
ALPHA | 1 | Testers | Not much field testing |
BETA | 2 | Enthusiasts | Major Feature Complete, but expect some bugs |
RC | 3 | Home Users | Suitable for non-critical deployments |
RELEASE | 4 | General Use | Suitable for less complex deployments |
U1 | 5 | Business Use | Suitable for more complex deployments |
U2+ | 6+ | Mission Critical | Suitable for critical uptime deployments |
TrueNAS collects non-sensitive system data and relays the data to a collector managed by iXsystems. This system data collection is enabled by default and can be disabled in the web interface under System > General > Usage collection.
When disabled, no information about system configuration and usage is collected. The system capacity and software version is still collected.
The protocol for system data collection uses the same TCP ports as HTTPS (443) and passes through most firewalls as an outgoing web connection. If a firewall blocks the data collection or the data collection is disabled, there is no adverse impact to the TrueNAS system.
Non-sensitive system data is used to identify the quality and operational trends in the fleet of TrueNAS systems used by the entire community. The collected data helps iXsystems identify issues, plan for new features, and determine where to invest resources for future software enhancements.
The non-sensitive system data collected is clearly differentiated from sensitive user data that is explicitly not collected by TrueNAS. This table describes the differences:
Sensitive User Data (NOT COLLECTED) | Non-Sensitive System Data (Optionally Collected) | |
---|---|---|
Description | Any data that includes user identity or business information | Data that only includes information about the TrueNAS system and its operation |
Frequency | NEVER | Daily |
Examples | Usernames, passwords, email addresses | Anonymous hardware inventory, faults, statistics, Pool configuration |
User-created System and dataset names | Software versions, firmware versions | |
Directory, files names, user data | Services and features enabled, Usage and Performance statistics |
From repurposed systems to highly custom builds, the fundamental freedom of TrueNAS is the ability to run it on almost any x86 computer.
Our recommended system requirements to install TrueNAS:
Processor | Memory | Boot Device | Storage |
---|---|---|---|
2-Core Intel 64-Bit or AMD x86_64 processor | 8 GB Memory | 16 GB SSD boot device | Two identically-sized devices for a single storage pool |
The TrueNAS installer recommends 8 GB of RAM. TrueNAS installs, runs, and operates jails. It also hosts SMB shares and replicates TBs of data with less. iXsystems recommends the above for better performance and fewer issues.
You do not need an SSD boot device, but we discourage using a spinner or a USB stick. We do not recommend installing TrueNAS on a single disk or striped pool unless you have a good reason to do so. You can install and run TrueNAS without any data devices, but we strongly discourage it.
TrueNAS does not require two cores, as most halfway-modern 64-bit CPUs likely already have at least two.
For help building a system according to your unique performance, storage, and networking requirements, keep reading.
The heart of any storage system is the symbiotic pairing of its file system and physical storage devices. The ZFS file system in TrueNAS provides the best available data protection of any file system at any cost and makes effective use of both spinning-disk and all-flash storage or a mix of the two. ZFS is prepared for the eventual failure of storage devices, and is highly configurable to achieve the perfect balance of redundancy and performance to meet any storage goal. A properly-configured TrueNAS system can tolerate multiple storage device failures and recreate its boot media with a copy of the configuration file.
TrueNAS can manage many storage devices as part of a single storage array. With more Enterprise-level tuning in the mature 13.0 release and similar tuning in the upcoming SCALE Cobia release, TrueNAS can manage as many as 1,250 drives in a single storage array!
Choosing storage media is the first step in designing the storage system to meet immediate objectives and prepare for future capacity expansion.
These storage device media arrange together to create powerful storage solutions.
TrueNAS SCALE does not officially support T10-DIF drives. Users on our forums have developed a workaround for using T10-DIF drives in TrueNAS SCALE, but using unsupported storage devices imposes data-loss risks.
Zpool layout (the organization of LUNs and volumes, in TrueNAS/ZFS parlance) is outside of the scope of this guide. The availability of double-digit terabyte drives raises a question TrueNAS users now have the luxury of asking: How many should I use to achieve my desired capacity? You can mirror two 16 TB drives to achieve 16 TB of available capacity, but that does not mean you should. Mirroring two large drives offers the advantage of redundancy and balancing reads between the two devices, which could lower power draw, but little else. The write performance of two large drives is similar to that of a single drive. By contrast, an array of eight 4 TB drives offers a wide range of configurations to optimize performance and redundancy at a lower cost. If configured as striped mirrors, eight drives could yield four times greater write performance with a similar total capacity. You might also consider adding a hot-spare drive with any zpool configuration, which lets the zpool automatically rebuild itself if one of its primary drives fails.
Spinning disk hard drives have moving parts that are highly sensitive to shock and vibration and wear out with use. Consider pre-flighting every storage device before putting it into production, especially:
smartctl -t long /dev/
), and after the test completes (could take 12+ hrs)smartctl -a /dev/
)smartctl -a /dev/ | grep Current_Pending_Sector
)smartctl -a /dev/ | grep Reallocated_Sector_Ct
)smartctl -a /dev/ | grep UDMA_CRC_Error_Count
)diskinfo -wS
) Unformatted drives only!smartctl -a /dev/ | grep Power_On_Hours
)nvmecontrol logpage -p 2 nvme0 | grep “Percentage used”
)Take time to create a pool before deploying the system.
Subject it to as close to a real-world workload as possible to reveal individual drive issues and help determine if an alternative pool layout is better suited to that workload.
Be cautious of used drives, as vendors might not be honest or informed about their age and health.
Verify vendors have not recertified all new drives by checking the hours using smartctl(8)
.
A drive vendor could also zero the hours of a drive during recertification, masking the drive age.
iXsystems tests all storage devices it sells for at least 48 hours before shipment.
The uncontested most popular storage controllers used with TrueNAS are the 6 and 12 Gbps (Gigabits per second, sometimes expressed as Gb/s) Broadcom (formerly Avago, formerly LSI) SAS host bus adapters (HBA).
Controllers ship embedded on some motherboards but are generally PCIe cards with four or more internal or external SATA/SAS ports.
The 6 Gbps LSI 9211 and rebranded siblings with the LSI SAS2008 chip, such as the IBM M1015 and Dell H200, are legendary among TrueNAS users who build systems using parts from the second-hand market.
Flash using the latest IT or Target Mode firmware to disable the optional RAID functionality found in the IR firmware on Broadcom controllers.
For those with the budget, newer models like the Broadcom 9300/9400 series give 12 Gbps SAS capabilities and even NVMe to SAS translation abilities with the 9400 series.
TrueNAS includes the sas2flash
, sas3flash
, and storcli
commands to flash or perform re-flashing operations on 9200, 9300, and 9400 series cards.
Onboard SATA controllers are popular with smaller builds, but motherboard vendors are better at catering to the needs of NAS users by including more than the traditional four SATA interfaces. Be aware that many motherboards ship with a mix of 3 Gbps and 6 Gbps onboard SATA interfaces and that choosing the wrong one could impact performance. If a motherboard includes hardware RAID functionality, do not use or configure it, but note that disabling it in the BIOS might remove some SATA functionality, depending on the motherboard. Most SATA compatibility-related issues are immediately apparent.
There are countless warnings against using hardware RAID cards with TrueNAS. ZFS and TrueNAS provide a built-in RAID that protects your data better than any hardware RAID card. You can use a hardware RAID card if it is all you have, but there are limitations. First and most importantly, do not use their RAID facility if your hardware RAID card supports HBA mode, also known as passthrough or JBOD mode (there is one caveat in the bullets below). When used, it allows it to perform indistinguishably from a standard HBA. If your RAID card does not have this mode, you can configure a RAID0 for every disk in your system. While not the ideal setup, it works in a pinch. If repurposing hardware RAID cards with TrueNAS, be aware that some hardware RAID cards:
A direct-attached system, where every disk connects to an interface on the controller card, is optimal but not always possible. A SAS expander (a port multiplier or splitter) enables each SAS port on a controller card to service many disks. You find SAS expanders only on the drive backplane of servers or JBODs with more than twelve drive bays. For example, a TrueNAS JBOD that eclipses 90 drives in only four rack units of space is not possible without SAS expanders. Imagine how many eight-port HBAs you need to access 90 drives without SAS expanders.
While SAS expanders, designed for SAS disks, can often support SATA disks via the SATA Tunneling Protocol or STP, we still prefer SAS disks for reasons mentioned in the NL-SAS section above (SATA disks function on a SAS-based backplane). Remember that you cannot use a SAS drive in a port designed for SATA drives.
A much-cited study floating around the Internet asserts that drive temperature has little impact on drive reliability. The study makes for a great headline or conversation starter, but carefully reading the report indicates that they tested the drives under optimal environmental conditions. The average temperature that a well-cooled spinning hard disk reaches in production is around 28 °C, and one study found that disks experience twice the number of failures for every 12 °C increase in temperature. Before adding drive cooling that often comes with added noise (especially on older systems), know that you risk throwing money away by running a server in a data center or closet without noticing that the internal cooling fans are at their lowest setting. Pay close attention to drive temperature in any chassis that supports 16 or more drives, especially if they are exotic, high-density designs. Every chassis has certain areas that are warmer for whatever reason. Watch for fan failures and the tendency for some models of 8 TB drives to run hotter than other drive capacities. In general, try to keep drive temperatures below the drive specification provided by the vendor.
TrueNAS has higher memory requirements than many Network Attached Storage solutions for good reason: it shares dynamic random-access memory (DRAM or simply RAM) between sharing services, add-on plugins, jails, and virtual machines, and sophisticated read caching. RAM rarely goes unused on a TrueNAS system, and enough RAM is vital to maintaining peak performance. You should have 8 GB of RAM for basic TrueNAS operations with up to eight drives. Other use cases each have distinct RAM requirements:
Electrical or magnetic interference inside a computer system can cause a spontaneous flip of a single bit of RAM to the opposite state, resulting in a memory error. Memory errors can cause security vulnerabilities, crashes, transcription errors, lost transactions, and corrupted or lost data. So RAM, the temporary data storage location, is one of the most vital areas for preventing data loss.
Error-correcting code or ECC RAM detects and corrects in-memory bit errors as they occur. If errors are severe enough to be uncorrectable, ECC memory causes the system to hang (become unresponsive) rather than continue with errored bits. For ZFS and TrueNAS, this behavior virtually eliminates any chances that RAM errors pass to the drives to cause corruption of the ZFS pools or file errors.
To summarize the lengthy, Internet-wide debate on whether to use error-correcting code (ECC) system memory with OpenZFS and TrueNAS:
Most users strongly recommend ECC RAM as another data integrity defense.
However:
Choosing ECC RAM limits your CPU and motherboard options, but that can be beneficial. Intel® limits ECC RAM support to their lowest and highest-end CPUs, cutting out the mid-range i5 and i7 models.
Which CPU to choose can come down to a short list of factors:
Watch for VT-d/AMD-Vi device virtualization support on the CPU and motherboard to pass PCIe devices to virtual machines. Be aware if a given CPU contains a GPU or requires an external one. Also note that many server motherboards include a BMC chip with a built-in GPU. See below for more details on BMCs.
AMD CPUs are becoming more popular thanks to the Ryzen and EPYC (Naples/Rome) lines. Support for these platforms is limited on FreeBSD and, by extension, TrueNAS CORE. However, Linux has more support, and TrueNAS SCALE should work with AMD CPUs without issue.
As a courtesy to further limit the motherboard choices, consider the Intelligent Platform Management Interface or IPMI (a.k.a. baseboard management controller, BMC, iLo, iDrac, and other names depending on the vendor) if you need:
TrueNAS relies on its web-based user interface (UI), but you might occasionally need console access to make network configuration changes. TrueNAS administration and sharing use a single network interface by default, which can be challenging when you upgrade features like LACP aggregated networking. The ideal solution is to have a dedicated subnet to access the TrueNAS web UI, but not all users have this luxury. The occasional visit to the hardware console is necessary for global configuration and system recovery. The latest TrueNAS Mini and R-Series systems ship with full-featured, HTML5-based IPMI support on a dedicated gigabit network interface.
The top criteria to consider for a power supply unit (or PSU) on a TrueNAS system are:
Select a PSU rated for the initial and a future load placed on it. Have a PSU with adequate power to migrate from a large-capacity chassis to a fully-populated chassis. Also, consider a hot-swappable redundant PSU to help guarantee uptime. Users on a budget can keep a cold spare PSU to limit their potential downtime to hours rather than days. A good, modern PSU is efficient and integrates into the IPMI management system to provide real-time fan, temperature, and load information.
Most power supplies carry a certified efficiency rating known as an 80 Plus rating. The 80 plus rating indicates the PSU loses the power drawn from the wall as heat, noise, and vibration instead of powering your components. If a power supply needs to draw 600 watts from the wall to provide 500 watts of power to your components, it operates at 500/600 = ~83% efficiency. The other 100 watts get lost as heat, noise, and vibration. Power supplies with higher ratings are more efficient but also far more expensive. Do some return-on-investment calculations if you are unsure what efficiency to buy. For example, if an 80 Plus Platinum PSU costs $50 more than the comparable 80 Plus Gold, it should save you at least $10 per year on your power bill for that investment to pay off over five years. You can read more about 80 Plus ratings in this post.
TrueNAS allows the system to comunicate with a battery-backed, uninterruptible power supply (UPS) over a traditional serial or USB connection to coordinate a graceful shutdown in the case of power loss. TrueNAS works well with APC brand UPS, followed by CyberPower. Consider budgeting for a UPS with pure sine wave output. Some models of SSD can experience data corruption on power loss. If several SSDs experience simultaneous power loss, it could cause total pool failure, making a UPS a critical investment.
The network in Network Attached Storage is as important as storage, but the topic reduces to a few key points:
Higher-band hardware is becoming more accessible as the hardware development pace increases and enterprises upgrade more quickly. Home labs can now deploy and use 40 GB and higher networking components. Home users are now discovering the same issues and problems with these higher speeds found by Enterprise customers.
iXsystems recommends using optical fiber over direct attached copper (DAC) cables for the high-speed interconnects listed below:
iXsystems also recommends using optical fiber for any transceiver form factors mentioned when using fiber channels. Direct attached copper (DAC) cables can create interoperability issues between the NIC, cable, and switch.
Finally, the ultimate TrueNAS hardware question is whether to use actual hardware or choose a virtualization solution. At the heart of the TrueNAS design is OpenZFS. OpenZFS works best with physical storage devices. It is aware of their strengths and compensates for their weaknesses.
TrueNAS developers virtualize TrueNAS every day as part of their work, and it is intended only for use as a development environment.
While possible to deploy TrueNAS in a virtual environment, we do not recommend doing so for regular deployment of TrueNAS when storing production or critical data. Virtualizing TrueNAS and using virtual disks for your zpool is fine for ad hoc proof-of-concept, but it is not a supported configuration and might result in data corruption.
When the need arises to virtualize TrueNAS (for ad hoc proof-of-concept):
Now that the
Choose the install type to see specific instructions:
With the installer added to a device, you can now install TrueNAS onto the desired system. Insert the install media, or load the iso using IPMI, and reboot or boot the system. At the motherboard splash screen, use the hotkey defined by your motherboard manufacturer to boot into the motherboard UEFI/BIOS.
Choose to boot in UEFI mode or legacy CSM/BIOS mode. When installing TrueNAS, make the matching choice for the installation. For Intel chipsets manufactured in 2020 or later, UEFI is likely the only option.
If your system supports SecureBoot, you need to either disable it or set it to Other OS to be able to boot the install media.
Select the install device as the boot drive, exit, and reboot the system. If the USB stick is not shown as a boot option, try a different USB slot. Which slots are available for boot differs by hardware.
After the system has booted into the installer, follow these steps.
Select Install/Upgrade.
Select the desired install drive.
Select Yes
Select Fresh Install to do a clean install of the downloaded version of TrueNAS. This erases the contents of the selected drive.!
When the operating system device has enough additional space, you can choose to allocate some space for a swap partition to improve performance.
Next, set a password for the TrueNAS administrative account, named root
by default.
This account has full control over TrueNAS and is used to log in to the web interface.
Set a strong password and protect it.
After following the steps to install, reboot the system and remove the install media.
Congratulations, TrueNAS is now installed!
The next step is to log in to the web interface using the administrative account credentials and begin configuring the system.
The Console Setup menu displays at the end of the boot process. If the TrueNAS system has a keyboard and monitor, this menu can be used to administer the system.
When connecting with SSH or the web shell, the Console Setup menu is not shown by default.
It can be started by the root
user or another user with root permissions by entering /etc/netcli
.
To disable the Console Setup menu, go to System > Advanced and unset Show Text Console without Password Prompt.
On HA systems, some of these menu options are not available unless HA has been administratively disabled.
The menu provides these options:
Configure Network Interfaces provides a configuration wizard to set up the system’s network interfaces. If the system has been licensed for High Availability (HA), the wizard prompts for IP addresses for both “This Controller” and “TrueNAS Controller 2”.
Configure Link Aggregation is for creating or deleting link aggregations.
Configure VLAN Interface is used to create or delete VLAN interfaces.
Configure Default Route is used to set the IPv4 or IPv6 default gateway. When prompted, enter the IP address of the default gateway.
Configure Static Routes prompts for the destination network and gateway IP address. Re-enter this option for each static route needed.
Configure DNS prompts for the name of the DNS domain and the IP address of the first DNS server. When adding multiple DNS servers, press Enter to enter the next one. Press Enter twice to leave this option.
Reset Root Password is used to reset a lost or forgotten root password. Select this option and follow the prompts to set the password.
Reset Configuration to Defaults Caution! This option deletes all of the configuration settings made in the administrative GUI and is used to reset TrueNAS® back to defaults. Before selecting this option, make a full backup of all data and make sure all encryption keys and passphrases are known! After this option is selected, the configuration is reset to defaults and the system reboots. Storage ➞ Pools ➞ Import Pool can be used to re-import pools.
Shell starts a shell for running FreeBSD commands. To leave the shell, type exit.
Reboot reboots the system.
Shut Down shuts down the system.
The numbering and quantity of options on this menu can change due to software updates, service agreements, or other factors. Please carefully check the menu before selecting an option, and keep this in mind when writing local procedures.
During boot, TrueNAS automatically attempts to connect to a DHCP server from all live interfaces.
If it successfully receives an IP address, the address is displayed so it can be used to access the graphical user interface.
In the example shown above, TrueNAS is accessible at 10.0.0.102
.
Some TrueNAS systems are set up without a monitor, making it challenging to determine which IP address has been assigned.
On networks that support Multicast DNS (mDNS), the hostname and domain can be entered into the address bar of a browser.
By default, this value is truenas.local
.
If TrueNAS is not connected to a network with a DHCP server, use the console network configuration menu to manually configure the interface as shown here.
In this example, the TrueNAS system has one network interface, em0
.
Enter an option from 1-12: 1
1) em0
Select an interface (q to quit): 1
Remove the current settings of this interface? (This causes a momentary disconnec
tion of the network.) (y/n) n
Configure interface for DHCP? (y/n) n
Configure IPv4? (y/n) y
Interface name: (press enter, the name can be blank)
Several input formats are supported
Example 1 CIDR Notation:
192.168.1.1/24
Example 2 IP and Netmask separate:
IP: 192.168.1.1
Netmask: 255.255.255.0, or /24 or 24
IPv4 Address: 192.168.1.108/24
Saving interface configuration: Ok
Configure IPv6? (y/n) n
Restarting network: ok
...
The web user interface is at
http://192.168.1.108
Now that TrueNAS is installed, it’s time to log in to the web interface and begin managing data!
By default, TrueNAS provides a default address for logging in to the web interface. To view the web interface IP address or reconfigure web interface access, you will need to connect a monitor and keyboard to your TrueNAS system or connect with IPMI for out-of-band system management.
When powering on a TrueNAS system, the system attempts to connect to a DHCP server from all live interfaces and provide access to the web interface. On networks that support Multicast Domain Name Services (mDNS), a hostname and domain can be used to access the TrueNAS web interface. By default, TrueNAS is configured to use the hostname and domain truenas.local You can change this after logging in to the web interface by going to Network > Global Configuration and setting a new Hostname and Domain.
If an IP address is needed, connect a monitor to the TrueNAS system and view the console setup menu that displays at the end of the boot process.
When able to automatically configure a connection, the system shows the web interface IP address at the bottom of the console setup menu. If needed, you can reset the root password in the TrueNAS console setup menu or by clicking Settings > Change Password in the web interface. To require logging in to the system before showing the system console menu, go to System > Advanced and unset Show Text Console without Password Prompt.
TrueNAS Enterprise hardware from iXsystems is preconfigured with your provided networking details. The IP address of the TrueNAS web interface is provided on the system sales order or configuration sheet. Please contact iX Support if the TrueNAS web interface IP address has not been provided with these documents or cannot be identified from the TrueNAS system console.
Customers who purchase iXsystems hardware or that want additional support must have a support contract to use iXsystems Support Services. The TrueNAS Community forums provides free support for users without an iXsystems Support contract.
iXsystems Customer Support | |
---|---|
Support Portal | https://support.ixsystems.com |
support@ixsystems.com | |
Telephone and Other Resources | https://www.ixsystems.com/support/ |
If the TrueNAS system is not connected to a network with a DHCP server, you can use the console network configuration menu to manually Configure Network Interfaces.
This example shows configuring a single interface, em0:
Enter an option from 1-12: 1
1) em0
Select an interface (q to quit): 1
Remove the current settings of this interface? (This causes a momentary disconnec
tion of the network.) (y/n) n
Configure interface for DHCP? (y/n) n
Configure IPv4? (y/n) y
Interface name: (press enter, the name can be blank)
Several input formats are supported
Example 1 CIDR Notation:
192.168.1.1/24
Example 2 IP and Netmask separate:
IP: 192.168.1.1
Netmask: 255.255.255.0, or /24 or 24
IPv4 Address: 192.168.1.108/24
Saving interface configuration: Ok
Configure IPv6? (y/n) n
Restarting network: ok
...
The web user interface is at
http://192.168.1.108
Depending on the network environment, review the Configure Default Route option to define your IPv4 or IPv6 default gateway. Configure Static Routes allows adding destination network and gateway IP addresses, one for each route. To change the DNS domain and add nameservers, select Configure DNS.
These settings can be adjusted later in the various Network options available in the web interface.
On a computer that can access the same network as the TrueNAS system, enter the hostname and domain or IP address in a web browser to connect to the web interface.
The quality of your user experience can be impacted by the browser that you use. We generally recommend using Firefox, Edge, or Chrome.
Enter the administrative account credentials to log in.
By default, the administrative account username is root
and the password is set when installing TrueNAS.
After logging in, the TrueNAS web interface present options across the top and left side of the screen.
The horizontal menu at the top of the web interface contains status indicators, system alerts, UI theme options, and system power options.
The column on the left side of the screen contains some information about the system and links to the various TrueNAS configuration screens. The box at the top of the columns shows the current logged in user account and the system host name.
Configuration screens are organized by feature. For example, to find options related to storing data, click the Storage option and to make data stored in TrueNAS available to client systems, go to the Sharing section.
The system Dashboard is the default screen when logging in to TrueNAS. Basic information about the installed version, systems component usage and network traffic are all presented on this screen. For users with compatible TrueNAS Hardware, clicking the system image goes to the System > View Enclosure page.
The Dashboard provides access to all TrueNAS management options.
Now that you can access the TrueNAS web interface and see all the management options, it’s time to begin storing data!
Now that you have logged in to the web interface, it’s time to set up TrueNAS storage. These instructions demonstrate a simple mirrored pool setup, where you use one disk for storage and the other for data protection. However, there are many configuration possibilities for your storage environment! You can read more about these options in the in-depth Pool Creation article.
The system needs at least two identically sized disks to create a mirrored storage pool. While a single-disk pool is technically allowed, we do not recommend it. The disk you used for the TrueNAS installation does not count toward this limit.
You can configure data backups in several ways and have different requirements. Backing data up in the Cloud requires a 3rd party Cloud Storage provider account. Backups with Replication require either additional storage on the TrueNAS system or (ideally) another TrueNAS system in a different location.
Go to Storage > Pools and click ADD. Set Create a new pool and click CREATE POOL
For the Name, enter tank or any other preferred name. In the Available Disks, set two identical disks and click the to move them to the Data VDevs area.
If the disks used have non-unique serial numbers, they do not populate the Available Disks section until you enable the Show disk with non-unique serial numbers checkbox.
TrueNAS automatically suggests Mirror as the ideal layout for maximized data storage and protection.
Review the Estimated total raw data capacity and click CREATE. TrueNAS wipes the disks and adds tank to the Storage > Pools list.
New pools have a root dataset that allows further division into new datasets or zvols. A dataset is a file system that stores data and has specific permissions. A zvol is a virtual block device with a predefined storage size. To create either one, go to Storage > Pools, click , and select Add Dataset or Add Zvol.
Users create datasets and zvols as part of configuring specific data-sharing situations:
Organize the pool with additional datasets or zvols according to your access and data-sharing requirements before moving any data into the pool.
When you finish building and organizing your TrueNAS pools, move on to configuring how the system shares data
With TrueNAS Storage configured and backed up, it’s time to begin sharing data. There are several available sharing solutions, but we’ll look at the most common in this article. Choose a tab to get started with simple sharing examples:
Go to Storage > Pools and find the dataset to share. Click and Edit Permissions.
Click SELECT AN ACL PRESET, open the drop down, and choose OPEN. Click SAVE.
Go to Sharing > Windows Shares (SMB) and click ADD.
Only the Path and Name are initially required. The Path is the directory tree on TrueNAS that is shared using the SMB protocol. The Name forms part of the “full share pathname” when SMB clients connect.
Click SUBMIT to save the configuration to Sharing > Windows Shares (SMB).
Go to Services and toggle SMB. Set Start Automatically when you want the share to become accessible immediately after TrueNAS boots.
On a Windows 10 system, open the File Browser.
In the navigation bar, enter \\
and the TrueNAS system name.
When prompted, enter the TrueNAS user account credentials and begin browsing the dataset.
nfs-common
.Go to Sharing > Unix Shares (NFS) and click ADD.
Use the file browser to select the dataset to be shared and click SUBMIT. When prompted, click ENABLE SERVICE to immediately begin sharing the dataset.
On a Unix-like system, open a command line.
Enter showmount -e
IPADDRESS
, replacing IPADDRESS with your TrueNAS system address:
tmoore@ChimaeraPrime:~$ showmount -e 10.238.15.194
Export list for 10.238.15.194:
/mnt/pool1/testds (everyone)
Now make a local directory for the NFS mount:
tmoore@ChimaeraPrime:~$ sudo mkdir nfstemp/
Finally, mount the shared directory:
tmoore@ChimaeraPrime:~$ sudo mount -t nfs 10.238.15.194:/mnt/pool1/testds nfstemp/
From here, cd
into the local directory and view or modify the files as needed.
With simple sharing done, TrueNAS is now installed, accessible, and capable to receive or share data over your network. Now it’s time to protect the TrueNAS storage by setting up data backups
With storage created and shared, it’s time to ensure TrueNAS data is effectively backed up. TrueNAS offers several options for backing up data.
This option requires an account with the Cloud Storage provider and a storage location created with the provider, like an Amazon S3 bucket. Major providers like Amazon S3, Google Cloud, Box and Microsoft Azure are supported, along with a variety of other vendors. These can charge fees for data transfers and storage, so please review your cloud storage provider’s policies before transferring any data.
You can configure TrueNAS to send, receive, or synchronize data with a Cloud Storage provider. Configuring a Cloud Sync task allows you to transfer data a single time or set up a recurring schedule to periodically transfer data.
Go to System > Cloud Credentials > ADD. Enter a Name and choose the Provider from the dropdown menu. The authentication options change depending on the selected Provider. Credentials either must be entered manually or a single provider login is required and the credentials add automatically.
After entering the Provider credentials, click VERIFY CREDENTIAL. When verification is confirmed, click SUBMIT.
Go to Tasks > Cloud Sync Tasks and click ADD.
Select the previously saved Credential to populate the Remote section.
Add a Description for the task, select PUSH or PULL as the Direction and COPY as the Transfer Mode. Under Directory/Files, choose the tank dataset previously created.
Now, use the Control options to define how often this task runs. Open the Schedule drop down and choose a preset time when running the task is least intrusive to your network. When the task only needs to run once, unset Enabled. The task can then be triggered a single time from the Tasks > Cloud Sync Tasks list to do the initial migration or backup.
To test your task, click DRY RUN. When the test run is successful, click SUBMIT to save the task and add it to Tasks > Cloud Sync Tasks.
To manually run the task, go to Tasks > Cloud Sync Tasks, click > to expand the new task, and click RUN NOW.
The Status shows success or failure. Click the status entry to see a detailed log of the action.
Replication is the process of taking a moment in time “snapshot” of the data and copying that snapshot to another location. Snapshots typically use less storage than full file backups and have more management options. This instruction shows using the TrueNAS Wizard to create a simple replication.
Go to Tasks > Replication Tasks and click ADD. Set the source location to the local system and pick which datasets to snapshot. The wizard takes new snapshots of the sources when no existing source snapshots are found.
Set the destination to the local system and define the path to the storage location for replicated snapshots. When manually defining the destination, be sure to type the full path to the destination location.
You can define a specific schedule for this replication or choose to run it immediately after saving the new task. Unscheduled tasks are still saved in the replication task list and can be run manually or edited later to add a schedule.
Clicking START REPLICATION saves the new task and immediately attempts to replicate snapshots to the destination.
To confirm that snapshots have been replicated, go to Storage > Snapshots and verify the destination dataset has new snapshots with correct timestamps.
TrueNAS is now accessible and configured to store, share, and back up your data!
When you’re ready to fine-tune the system configuration or learn more about the advanced features, see the remaining sections in the TrueNAS CORE and Enterprise section. These sections are organized in order of appearance in the TrueNAS interface, with additional topics for 3rd party solutions, API reference guide, and community recommendations.