This article describes deploying a TrueNAS SCALE or CORE virtual machine (VM) in a VMWare ESXi environment. ESXi version 8 is shown in this article.
Before You Begin Before starting configuration work in VMWare:
Allocate a drive or a few drives in your server cluster for the TrueNAS virtual machine. The anticipated storage needs for your deployment determines the size and number of drives you need.
Download the .iso file from the TrueNAS.
Advanced settings have reasonable defaults in place. A warning message displays for some settings advising of the dangers of making changes. Changing advanced settings can be dangerous when done incorrectly. Use caution before saving changes.
Make sure you are comfortable with ZFS, Linux, and system configuration, backup, and restoration before making any changes.
The Console widget on the System Setting > Advanced screen displays current console settings for TrueNAS.
The TrueNAS SCALE System Settings > General screen includes widgets for Support, GUI, Localization, NTP, and system Email functions. Each widget displays information about current settings and includes one or more buttons for related actions and configuration options.
Figure 1: System General Screen The Manage Configuration dropdown provides three options to backup, restore, or reset system configuration settings.
Manage Configuration TrueNAS SCALE allows users to manage the system configuration via uploading/downloading configurations, or resetting the system to the default configuration.
The Console Setup menu displays at the end of the iso installation process and after the system boots up. You can access this menu to administer the TrueNAS system if it has a keyboard and monitor.
By default, TrueNAS does not display the Console Setup menu with SSH or web shell connections. The admin user, the root user (if enabled), or another user with administrator or root-level permissions can start the Console Setup menu by entering this command:
Advanced settings have reasonable defaults in place. A warning message displays for some settings advising of the dangers of making changes. Changing advanced settings can be dangerous when done incorrectly. Use caution before saving changes.
Make sure you are comfortable with ZFS, Linux, and system configuration, backup, and restoration before making any changes.
The Advanced settings screen provides configuration options for the console, syslog, audit, kernel, sysctl, storage (system dataset pool), replication, WebSocket sessions, cron jobs, init/shutdown scripts, allowed IP addresses, isolated GPU device(s), self-encrypting drives, and global two-factor authentication.
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, 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 select Show Text Console without Password Prompt to clear the checkbox.
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