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  7. Updating TrueNAS Enterprise HA
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This content follows TrueNAS 25.10 (Goldeye) releases.
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Updating TrueNAS Enterprise HA

  5 minute read.

TrueNAS Enterprise

This procedure only applies to TrueNAS Enterprise (HA) systems. If attempting to migrate from FreeBSD- to Linux-based TrueNAS versions, see TrueNAS Migrations.

Installing, upgrading, or making some changes to TrueNAS on High Availability (HA) systems is complicated and should be guided by Enterprise-level support. Contact TrueNAS Enterprise Support for assistance whenever attempting to install or make some changes to TrueNAS on Enterprise HA hardware.

Contacting Support

Customers who purchase TrueNAS hardware or that want additional support must have a support contract to use TrueNAS Support Services. The TrueNAS Community forums provides free support for users without a TrueNAS Support contract.

TrueNAS Customer Support
Support Portalhttps://support.ixsystems.com
Emailsupport@ixsystems.com
Telephone and Other Resourceshttps://www.ixsystems.com/support/

Updating Enterprise (HA) Systems

If the system does not have an administrative user account, create the admin user as part of this procedure.

Take a screenshot of the license information found on the Support widget on the System > General Settings screen. You use this to verify the license after the update.

To update your Enterprise (HA) system to the latest TrueNAS release, log into the TrueNAS UI using the virtual IP (VIP) address and then:

  1. Check for updates. Go to the main Dashboard and click Check for Updates on the System Information widget for the active controller. This opens the System > Update screen. If an update is available for the Update Profile selected, it shows on this screen. Click Install Update.

  2. Save the password secret seed and configuration settings to a secure location. The Save configuration settings window opens. Leave Export Password Secret Seed selected, then click Save Configuration. The system downloads the file with sensitive system data. Keep this file in a secure location.

Why should I save the secret seed?

The secret seed is the key TrueNAS uses to decrypt encrypted fields in the configuration database. TrueNAS encrypts these fields because they can contain sensitive information such as cryptographic certificates, service passwords, or weak hashing algorithms (for example, the NT hashes of SMB users).

When you restore a configuration file that does not include the secret seed, TrueNAS generates a new seed and cannot read the encrypted fields. Services that rely on those fields stop working. Examples are SMB access for local user accounts and apps. Always select the Export Password Secret Seed option when you download the system config file.

What happens if I do not save the secret seed?

You can still log into the web UI with your existing password. TrueNAS stores login passwords and API keys as one-way hashes rather than encrypted values, so a missing secret seed does not affect them.

TrueNAS disables SMB authentication for all local user accounts. To restore SMB access for an account, go to Credentials > Users, edit the user, and set a new password. TrueNAS requires a new password before it re-enables SMB authentication for that account.

TrueNAS deletes some encrypted items entirely, such as cloud credentials, SSH keychain credentials, and Kerberos keytabs. It empties the values of others, such as SED passwords, certificate private keys, and service passwords. Reconfigure these settings after you log in.

After you log in, recheck all system settings to verify the configurations are correct. Then test the system to verify it works as desired. When the system operates per the desired configuration, download and save the system configuration with the secret seed option selected, and keep it in a secure location.

Always save the secret seed with the system configuration file after you change the system configuration. This gives you a current backup copy to use if you need it.

  1. Click Install to begin the installation, click Cancel to return to the Update screen.

If manually updating your system:

  1. click Install to the right of Manual Update.

  2. Save the secret seed, and configuration file to a secure location, and click Save Configuration to show the Manual Install screen.

  3. Click Choose File and use the file browser to select the update file downloaded to your system. Click Apply Update to start the update process. After the system finishes updating it restarts.

After the system sign-in screen shows:

  1. Sign in to the TrueNAS UI. If using root to sign in, create the admin account (see step 3). If using admin, continue to the next step.

  2. Verify the system license after the update. Go to System > General Settings. Verify the license information in the screenshot of the Support widget you took before the update matches the information on the Support widget after updating the system.  

  3. Verify the admin user settings, or if not created, create the admin user account now.

    Before adding a new admin user, create a dataset for home directories if you do not have one already set up.

    If editing an existing admin user, select the user on the Credentials > Users screen and click Edit.

    If you want the admin account to have the ability to execute sudo commands in an SSH session, set Allow Access to both TrueNAS Access and SSH Access, assign the new admin user the Full Admin role. Add the SSH pubic key, enter and confirm the password, then go to Sudo Commands to set the option for sudo access you want to allow.

    Verify Shell is set to bash if you want to give the admin user the ability to execute commands in Shell.

    To set a location where the admin user can save or browse files, and then select the dataset path in Home Directory. If set to the default /nonexistent files are not saved for this user.

    Click Save to create the user or save changes to the existing user.

  4. Verify the admin user can log in to the UI.

    a. Log out of the UI.

    b. Enter the admin user credentials in the sign-in splash screen.

  5. After validating access to the TrueNAS UI using the admin credentials, disable the root user password. Go to Credentials > User, select the root user, then click Edit. Select Dissable Password and click Save.

Finish the update by saving your updated system configuration file to a secure location and create a new boot environment to use as a restore point if it becomes necessary.

Related Content

Tutorials
Getting Started
UI Reference

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