The Storage Dashboard widgets provide enhanced storage provisioning capabilities and access to pool management options to keep the pool and disks healthy, upgrade pools and VDEVs, open datasets, snapshots, and data protection screens. This article provides instructions on pool management functions available in the TrueNAS UI.

Select Storage on the main navigation panel to open the Storage Dashboard. To see if the AutoTRIM function is enabled, locate the Storage Health widget for the pool.

Now that you are logged in to the web interface, it is time to set up TrueNAS storage. These instructions describe a simple mirrored pool setup, where half the selected disks are used for storage and the other half for data protection. However, there are many configuration possibilities for your storage environment!

You can read more about these options in Creating Storage Pools. You can also use the ZFS Capacity Calculator and ZFS Capacity Graph to compare configuration options.

The Storage Dashboard screen allows users to configure and manage storage resources such as pools (VDEVs) and disks. The dashboard widgets organize functions related to storage resources.

The No Pools screen displays before you add the first pool.

The Disks screen lists the physical drives (disks) installed in the system. The list includes the names, serial numbers, sizes, and pools for each system disk.

Use the Columns dropdown list to select options to customize the information displayed. Options are Select All, Name, Serial (the disk serial number), Disk Size, Pool (where the disk is in use), Disk Type, Description, Model, Transfer Mode, Rotation Rate (RPM), HDD Standby, Adv. Power Management, and Reset to Defaults. Each option displays the information you enter in the Edit Disk screen or when you install the disk.

Datasets, root, non-root parent, and child, or zvols with encryption include the Encryption widget in the set of dataset widgets shown on the Datasets screen.

The Datasets tree table includes lock icons and descriptions that indicate the encryption state of datasets.

Icon	State	Description
	Locked	Displays for locked encrypted root, non-root parent and child datasets.
	Unlocked	Displays for unlocked encrypted root, non-root parent and child datasets.
	Locked by ancestor	Displays for locked datasets that inherit encryption properties from the parent.
	Unlocked by ancestor	Displays for unlocked datasets that inherit encryption properties from the parent.

The Encryption option on the Pool Manager screen sets encryption for the entire pool.

The Pool Creation Wizard configuration screens include a configuration preview and an inventory list of disks available on the system.

Create Pool at the top right of the Storage Dashboard screen opens the Pool Creation Wizard.

Configuration Preview lists pool and VDEV settings that dynamically update as you configure settings in the wizard.

Unassigned Disks shows the number of available disks by size on the system. This list dynamically updates as disks move to VDEVs added in the wizard.

The Snapshots screen lists dataset snapshots on the system. It allows you to add new or manage existing snapshots.

Access to the Snapshots screen is available using the Manage Snapshots link on the Data Protection widget on the Datasets screen and by clicking Snapshots on the Periodic Snapshot Tasks widget on the Data Protection screen.

If the selected dataset does not have snapshots, the screen displays No Snapshots are Available.

The zvol screens and widgets, accessed from the Datasets screen, allow you to add or edit a zvol and manage the volume storage. Zvols are listed on the Datasets screen tree table.

The dataset tree table shows storage space used and available for that zvol (or dataset), encryption status (locked, unlocked, or unencrypted), and how that zvol or dataset is used (i.e., the system dataset, a share, virtual machine, or application).

ZFS supports deduplication as a feature. Deduplication means that identical data is only stored once, which can significantly reduce storage size. However, deduplication is a compromise and balance between many factors, including cost, speed, and resource needs. Consider and understand the implications of using deduplication before adding it to a pool.

Deduplication is one technique ZFS can use to store files and other data in a pool. If several files contain the same pieces (blocks) of data or any other pool data occurs more than once in the pool, ZFS stores just one copy of it. Instead of storing many copies of a book it stores one copy and an arbitrary number of pointers to that one copy. Only when no file uses the data is the data deleted. ZFS keeps a reference table that links files and pool data to the actual storage blocks containing their data. This is the deduplication table (DDT).

The Datasets screen and widgets show information about datasets and zvols, provide access to data management functions, indicate the dataset roles, list the services using the dataset, show encryption status, and list permissions for datasets. The screen focuses on managing data storage, including user and group quotas, snapshots, and other data protection measures.

The Datasets screen shows No Datasets and a Create Pool button until you add a pool and the first root dataset.