Adding and Managing SMB Shares
When creating a share, do not attempt to set up the root or pool-level dataset for the share. Instead, create a new dataset under the pool-level dataset for the share. Setting up a share using the root dataset leads to storage configuration issues.
Windows Shares (SMB)
SMB (also known as CIFS) is the native file-sharing system in Windows. SMB shares can connect to most operating systems, including Windows, Mac OS, and Linux. TrueNAS can use SMB to share files among single or multiple users or devices.
SMB supports a wide range of permissions, security settings, and advanced permissions (ACLs) on Windows and other systems, as well as Windows Alternate Streams and Extended Metadata. SMB is suitable to manage and administer large or small pools of data.
Adding a Basic Time Machine SMB Share
When creating a share, do not attempt to set up the root or pool-level dataset for the share. Instead, create a new dataset under the pool-level dataset for the share. Setting up a share using the root dataset leads to storage configuration issues.
TrueNAS 25.04.0: Time Machine shares are incompatible with multiprotocol (SMB/NFS) shares. TrueNAS automatically disables SMB2/3 lease support and AAPL extensions globally when multiprotocol shares are configured, preventing Time Machine functionality.
Audit Logs
TrueNAS auditing and logs provide a trail of all actions performed by a session, user, or service (SMB, middleware).
The audit function backends are the syslog and Samba debug libraries. Syslog sends audit messages via an explicit syslog call with configurable priority (WARNING is the default) and facility (for example, USER). The default is syslog-sent audit messages. Debug sends audit messages from the Samba debug library. Messages have a configurable severity (WARNING, NOTICE, or INFO).
Configuring IPv6
TrueNAS provides the option to configure network interfaces using either IPv4 or IPv6 addresses. IPv4 networks cannot see or communicate with an IPv6 website or network unless a gateway or some other implementation is configured to allow it. See Understanding IPv6 for more information.
After configuring your network infrastructure for IPv6, assign the IP addresses for your TrueNAS system. Use the TrueNAS UI to configure your network settings. If setting TrueNAS up for the first time after a clean install, use the Console Setup menu to enter IPv6 addresses.
SMB Directory List Times
TrueNAS and ZFS by default can support large numbers of files. Per directory this can grow to 281+ trillion and per file system there is no upper limit. However, these are theoritical limits, and there are host and client side practical limits dealing with large quantity of files. Specifically when it comes to how fast you can list or “enumerate” them.
Configuring SMB Service
The Services > SMB screen displays after going to the Shares screen, finding the Windows (SMB) Shares section, and clicking + Config Service. Alternatively, you can go to System > Services and click the edit icon for the SMB service.
The SMB Services screen displays setting options to configure TrueNAS SMB settings to fit your use case. In most cases, you can set the required fields and accept the rest of the setting defaults. If you have specific needs for your use case, click Advanced Options to display more settings.
Multiprotocol Shares
TrueNAS 25.04.0: Time Machine shares are incompatible with multiprotocol (SMB/NFS) shares. TrueNAS automatically disables SMB2/3 lease support and AAPL extensions globally when multiprotocol shares are configured, preventing Time Machine functionality.
Setting Up Final Cut Pro SMB Shares
The Final Cut Pro Storage Share purpose enables Use Apple-style Character Encoding, which translates NTFS illegal characters to the Unicode private range. This ensures compatibility with Final Cut Pro.
Using SMB Shadow Copy
TrueNAS automatically enables shadow copies for SMB shares, exporting ZFS snapshots as Shadow Copies for Microsoft clients.
Shadow Copies, also known as the Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS) or Previous Versions, is a Microsoft service for creating volume snapshots. You can use shadow copies to restore previous versions of files from within Windows Explorer.