TrueNAS – Welcome to the Open Storage Era

TrueNAS Apps Made Easy

Pee Jay Latombo — Thu, 24 Apr 2025 18:29:17 +0000

It’s been over three years since we introduced the converged Apps feature of TrueNAS SCALE in February 2022, and deploying powerful applications on TrueNAS became even easier with the added support for industry-standard Docker powered Apps in the TrueNAS 24.10 “Electric Eel” release. With nearly 140,000 deployments in only six months, the marriage of Docker and OpenZFS has been a smash hit with the TrueNAS community.

TrueNAS 25.04 “Fangtooth” extends this App support further with configurable IP addresses, similar to the jail/plugin capability of TrueNAS CORE 13.x. Newly added Apps already have the capability, and all existing Apps will enable this functionality by June 1st. Current App users on TrueNAS 24.04 or earlier will need to migrate to TrueNAS 24.10 or later by that date to take advantage of the automated Apps migration process.

Since its release a week ago, TrueNAS 25.04 has shown a rapid uptake, with over 20,000 early adopters – and the number of Apps both available and deployed has increased significantly with the new, easier Docker engine powering them.

With hundreds of easy-to-deploy Apps and thousands more available through advanced deployment, over 80,000 members of the TrueNAS 24.10 community have deployed at least one App, extending functionality to their system on top of the benefits of data management, performance, and integrity that ZFS provides.

To further support our community, we are introducing a new TrueNAS Apps Market to help you discover, manage, and customize TrueNAS Apps. This tool automatically updates from the TrueNAS Apps Catalog, ensuring that you have the latest available information on these additional add-on services.

There’s an App for That!

With the new TrueNAS Apps Market site, finding and customizing Apps has been made even easier. With a listing of top Apps by installation count as well as recent additions, TrueNAS users can explore Apps by category, status as Enterprise, , or Community, and even view the raw metadata used to allow advanced users to customize the installation to suit their unique needs.

Explore the TrueNAS Apps Market from anywhere at apps.truenas.com

With over 50 different Apps from multiple categories actively running on at least 1,000 TrueNAS systems, and our top 10 Apps scoring over 10,000 active installations, the Apps Catalog offers a well-tested method to customize the functionality of your TrueNAS system.

Detailed App Datasheets and Customization

When browsing the catalogs, once you find an interesting app, simply click on it for more details about the community behind it, sample screenshots, the current version available, and additional security capabilities.

See screenshots, version information, and more on detailed App pages.

Some of the additional information available on the detailed App page includes:

Software version number and date of the last update
App Home Page for further information
A badge indicating approximate user count
Example Screenshots
List of processes and their UID/GIDs
Security notes
App metadata file that describes all user-configurable options
Links to additional Resources such as deployment guides

Getting Started With Apps

Most new and existing App users should be using TrueNAS 24.10.2.1, the latest version of Electric Eel with robust Docker support and the largest user base of all versions of TrueNAS to date.

Early Adopters have started using TrueNAS 25.04 (Fangtooth), which will be more commonly used by June. We recommend checking the Software Status page for advice based on your user profile, as well as reviewing the docs and the release notes. No matter which of these versions of TrueNAS you opt for, the steps to enable Apps and make your first download from the catalog at apps.truenas.com are the same.

We’re grateful to the dedicated TrueNAS community for their ongoing feedback and support, as your insights continue to shape the evolution of TrueNAS. Download your copy of TrueNAS Community Edition today and join the thousands of users exploring our new Apps catalog. You can also visit the TrueNAS Community Forums and connect with us on to share your experiences and insights as you customize your TrueNAS system.

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TrueNAS H30 Secures Two ‘Best of Show’ Honors at NAB 2025

Pee Jay Latombo — Thu, 24 Apr 2025 17:20:04 +0000

San Jose, CA – April 17, 2025. TrueNAS® is proud to announce that the TrueNAS H30 storage system has been awarded two prestigious Best of Show Awards at this year’s NAB Show, as recognized by both ITPro and TVBEurope. These dual accolades underscore the H30’s position as a transformative solution for demanding media workflows and content creation environments.

As the flagship system in the TrueNAS H-Series, the H30 combines performance, efficiency, and data protection in a compact 2U form factor. Recognized for its relevance to today’s high-resolution, real-time production needs, the H30 stood out for its ability to support modern broadcast, VFX, and post-production workflows through a flexible hybrid architecture, efficient design, and enterprise-grade data protection. The back-to-back honors reflect growing industry confidence in TrueNAS as a powerful alternative to proprietary storage solutions.

“These awards are not just a celebration of technical excellence,” said Brett Davis, Executive Vice President at TrueNAS. “They validate our mission to provide powerful, open, and affordable enterprise storage solutions that empower creative professionals without locking them into proprietary ecosystems.”

Performance-Driven Innovation

Designed for today’s high-bandwidth, real-time media workloads, the TrueNAS H30 offers:

Unrivaled Throughput. Sustains up to 8–10 GB/s to support the most demanding post-production and broadcast environments.
Flexible Configuration. Supports custom combinations of NVMe flash and HDDs to meet specific performance and capacity needs.
Enterprise Reliability. Built on OpenZFS with optional High Availability, offering 99.999% uptime and ransomware-resistant snapshots for around-the-clock data protection.
Operational Efficiency. Reduces power, cooling, and rack space requirements for up to 30% lower TCO.

Powered by a 20-core Intel® Xeon® processor and up to 256 GB ECC memory, the H30 accelerates AI/ML tasks, VM consolidation, and parallel workflows with ease.

A Community-Driven Milestone

The H30’s award-winning architecture was shaped in close collaboration with the TrueNAS community of developers, media professionals, and enterprise users. Every feature reflects real-world feedback and a shared commitment to innovation without compromise.

These honors at NAB 2025 mark a significant milestone for TrueNAS and reaffirms its role as a leader in open storage for media creation, broadcast, and beyond.

To learn more about the TrueNAS H30 or request a demo, visit: www.truenas.com/h-series

About TrueNAS

TrueNAS is the world’s most trusted open storage platform, relied on by millions of users and a majority of Fortune 500™ companies. Powered by the acclaimed OpenZFS file system, TrueNAS delivers scalable, unified storage with unmatched reliability and performance. TrueNAS Enterprise combines data center grade hardware and professional support to meet the demands of enterprise users, providing cost-effective, modern data storage solutions.

Learn more at www.truenas.com.

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TrueNAS H30 Wins Two ‘Best of Show’ Awards at NAB 2025

Pee Jay Latombo — Wed, 16 Apr 2025 21:12:43 +0000

Recognition from both ITPro and TVBEurope

At TrueNAS, we’ve never built storage just for the sake of storing data. We build it to unleash creativity, empower innovation, and give organizations the freedom to scale without compromise.

That’s why we’re beyond proud to announce that the TrueNAS H30 has won not just one, but TWO Best of Show Awards at NAB 2025, presented by both ITPro and TVBEurope.

These back-to-back wins aren’t just a celebration of performance. They are a true validation of our core mission: to deliver enterprise open storage that solves real-world media challenges without the complexity or cost of proprietary alternatives.

Media Storage That Had Everyone Talking

The judges’ decision was definitive. Amid fierce competition from across the industry, the TrueNAS H30 distinguished itself in measurable ways.

ITPro’s panel of engineers and industry experts awarded the H30 their Best of Show Award, noting its exceptional performance characteristics for media-intensive environments. The system’s ability to deliver 8-10 GB/s throughput in a compact 2U form factor particularly impressed the judges, who noted its ideal suitability for demanding broadcast and post-production applications.

TVBEurope followed with their own Best of Show Award, highlighting the H30’s innovative approach to addressing the evolving challenges of modern content creation. The recognition underscores how the H30 delivers exceptional flexibility for managing complex media workflows while upholding the performance and reliability required in enterprise environments.

What Makes the H30 Different?

In an industry where performance demands continue to intensify, the H30 stands apart with capabilities specifically engineered for media professionals who require uncompromising storage solutions. As the pinnacle of the versatile TrueNAS H-series platform lineup, the H30 brings award-winning features including:

Superior Throughput: With up to 8-10 GB/s of performance on tap, the H30 smoothly handles 4K/8K workflows and complex VFX rendering
Configuration Flexibility: Customizable combinations of high-performance NVMe flash and/or HDD drives for capacity allow precise tailoring to specific production requirements
Enterprise Protection: OpenZFS implementation with high availability design provides 99.999% uptime, ransomware-resistant snapshots, and exceptional protection against media corruption that can occur with other data storage offerings
Operational Efficiency: Reduced power, cooling, and rack space requirements deliver up to 30% lower total cost of ownership

These capabilities represent a fundamental rethinking of what media storage infrastructure can and should deliver. The H30 embodies our philosophy that storage should accelerate and simplify creative work rather than constrain it.

Engineering Excellence with Purpose

The H30’s architecture reflects our core belief that enterprise infrastructure should be open, secure, and adaptable. With a 20-core Intel® Xeon® processor and up to 256 GB of ECC memory, the system handles parallel workflows with remarkable efficiency—whether processing AI/ML tasks, supporting video editing, or managing VM consolidation.

This performance doesn’t come at the expense of reliability. The H30’s OpenZFS foundation provides native checksumming, real-time replication, and comprehensive data protection features within an optional high-availability framework that ensures operational continuity.

A Milestone Built on Community

These prestigious awards represent more than just recognition of technical achievement, they validate the collaborative approach that drives our development process. Every aspect of the H30’s design has been informed by direct feedback from our customers, user community, partners, and industry professionals.

We’re profoundly grateful to this community. Your insights, challenges, and aspirations have shaped a product that truly addresses the needs of today’s media professionals.

Experience Award-Winning Performance

For organizations managing increasingly complex media pipelines, scaling to higher resolutions, or seeking liberation from vendor lock-in, the TrueNAS H30 provides the foundation for next-generation content creation.

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TrueNAS 25.04.0: Fangtooth is RELEASED

Pee Jay Latombo — Mon, 14 Apr 2025 20:10:50 +0000

TrueNAS “Fangtooth” has been released with the today’s launch of TrueNAS 25.04.0. This RELEASE version of TrueNAS brings improvements to Apps and OpenZFS for both Community and Enterprise users, and is the recommended and unified upgrade path for both SCALE 24.10 and CORE 13.x installations. For our TrueNAS Enterprise users there are additional major Performance, Security, and Storage integration improvements detailed below.

With over 7,000 users providing valuable feedback and bug reports, Fangtooth BETA and RC.1 were a success thanks to the efforts of the testers and early adopters in the TrueNAS community. Today’s RELEASE version is ready for users to deploy the new feature set and experience the improved performance of its unified code base.

Built on the Mature Foundation of Electric Eel

TrueNAS 25.04 builds on the widely adopted TrueNAS 24.10 “Electric Eel” which delivered both integrated Docker support and significantly improved performance over TrueNAS 13.0. TrueNAS 24.10 is currently recommended for Enterprise users, in use by the majority of the TrueNAS Community, and is by far the most popular TrueNAS version in history.
While the recent TrueNAS 24.10.2.1 hot patch fixed a small number (5) of outstanding issues, TrueNAS 25.04 provides a much larger feature update with over 1,000 improvements,approximately 160 bug fixes, and multiple feature enhancements. For further details, see the Fangtooth introduction blog and TrueNAS release notes.

For our TrueCommand users looking to centrally administer Fangtooth systems, please ensure that you upgrade to TrueCommand 3.1 first before upgrading any systems to TrueNAS 25.04.

Fangtooth Unification is Delivered

Fangtooth builds on the combined capabilities of both TrueNAS CORE and SCALE. As Fangtooth matures, CORE and SCALE will unify into a common Community Edition and Enterprise version. Fangtooth introduces a number of new features, including:
Linux Kernel 6.12 featuring improved and extended hardware support

Fast Deduplication offers significant data footprint reduction on the all-NVMe TrueNAS H30 and F100 to help slash your virtualization infrastructure costs

5X Acceleration of the RAID-Z expansion process lets you make use of added capacity with less wait

LXC containers & QEMU/KVM Virtualization via Incus “instances”. LXC provides a lightweight functionality similar to Jails on CORE, while the updated VM layer includes Secure Boot support for operating systems requiring a TPM device. This feature is currently marked as “experimental.” In general, Incus greatly improves the virtualization capabilities of TrueNAS, but is marked as “experimental” while it matures.

Configurable IP addresses for newly added Apps in the catalog are available. All existing Apps will have this support added by June 1st. Current TrueNAS 24.04 users should migrate to 24.10 or later by this date to take advantage of the automated Apps migration process.

TrueNAS Enterprise Extensions

Improved Security (GPOS STIG) with additional logging and auditing. Security Technical Implementation Guides (STIGs) are used to support Defense-grade government security with many of the same capabilities used to secure Enterprises.
RDMA Extensions for iSCSI (iSER) and NFS improve latency and IOPS by as much as 50% and are used for virtualization and analytics.

iSCSI Block Cloning accelerates VMware clusters and virtualization workloads like VM cloning by 10X

Fast File Copy accelerates SMB workloads that copy files by 10X

Fibre Channel support for Enterprise SANs. This also enables FC for high performance NVMe storage on TrueNAS F-Series, allowing the same TrueNAS unit to support FC, iSCSI, and NFS/SMB from a single appliance.

NFS access to snapshot directories makes it easier for end users to restore changed or deleted files without burdening storage admins.

Select TrueNAS Enterprise appliances with the new features of TrueNAS 25.04 can be ordered today. These enhancements will be recommended as an update for current Enterprise customers in Q2 2025.

For more information about these features and other Enterprise benefits, including up to 24×7 support, connect with a TrueNAS product specialist to discuss available options.

When Should I Update?

If you are deploying a new TrueNAS system, we recommend TrueNAS 24.10.2.1 for its maturity, broad hardware support, expanded App catalog, better performance, and improved Web UI, all of which make managing TrueNAS easier.
TrueNAS 25.04.0 adds to this and is recommended for Early adopters only. Later blogs will document specific features and performance measurements.

Current TrueNAS 13.x users looking for the new capabilities outlined above can migrate to TrueNAS 25.04, preserving data and essential NAS functionality such as SMB, NFS, iSCSI, and VM images. Once migrated, Docker and LXC can be set up to provide 3rd party Application services.

If you are a conservative user, we recommend waiting for a recommendation to upgrade. For current software recommendations, always review the Software Status page for recommendations based on your profile.

Join the TrueNAS Community

Whether you’re looking to deploy TrueNAS 25.04 or help shape the future of TrueNAS, now is the perfect time to engage with our growing community. Download your copy of TrueNAS Community Edition today and join thousands of users already benefiting from True Data Freedom. Visit the TrueNAS Community Forums or connect with us on social media to share your experiences and insights.

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Slash Your Virtualization Costs with TrueNAS

Pee Jay Latombo — Mon, 07 Apr 2025 20:44:53 +0000

Virtualization Costs Are Out of Control. Here’s How to Regain Control with Smarter Storage.

As virtualization remains the backbone of modern enterprise IT, a new challenge is emerging: costs are escalating rapidly, and unchecked. With Broadcom’s acquisition of VMware leading to licensing fee hikes of 200 – 300%, many organizations are finding themselves trapped between rising infrastructure demands and shrinking IT budgets.

This is not just a VMware story – it’s a wake-up call.
Abandoning VMware is not only costly, but changing hypervisors carries risk, not least of which is the risk of being locked into yet another vendor’s ecosystem. Enterprises must now rethink not only their virtualization strategies but also the underlying storage infrastructure that fuels them. And for savvy, forward-thinking IT leaders, that means turning to open enterprise storage platforms like TrueNAS.

The Strategic Case for Rethinking Virtualization Economics

Storage plays a critical, and often underestimated, role in virtualization costs. When your storage architecture is inefficient, it doesn’t just inflate storage hardware spend. It also drives up server count, and with it, your VMware licensing, power usage, and operational overhead.

That’s where TrueNAS offers a unique lifeline by turning the conventional storage-cost equation on its head: flexible, performant Open Enterprise storage with Fast Dedup and sub-millisecond NVMe performance.

How TrueNAS Cuts Virtualization Costs Through Efficiency

With the latest release of TrueNAS 25.04 (“Fangtooth”), TrueNAS H30 and F100 platforms unlock a new generation of cost-optimized storage for virtualized infrastructure. Here’s how:

✅ Sub-Millisecond Latency: With powerful performance backed by higher endurance triple-layer cell (TLC) NVMe drives, your virtualization hosts spend less time waiting for storage, letting you consolidate workloads, reduce server counts – and thus, VMware license needs.

✅ Fast Deduplication: Built for virtualized environments where identical OS and app data proliferate across VMs, Fast Dedup slashes storage footprint and bandwidth requirements.

✅ Fast Copy: Accelerates VM cloning and provisioning while reducing performance bottlenecks.

✅ Open Architecture: Avoids the lock-in and inflated pricing of proprietary vendors.

The result? Some organizations report up to 50% total savings on storage and VMware licensing. One TrueNAS customer, a leading electric vehicle manufacturer, projected over $2 million in lifetime cost avoidance across its 5 virtualization clusters, all while improving performance and maintaining 24×7 support.

Purpose-Built Platforms for Modern Workloads

Whether you’re managing edge infrastructure or scaling a high-performance datacenter, TrueNAS has you covered with the latest NVMe flash storage:

TrueNAS H30:
Compact, 2U design ideal for remote offices and edge workloads. Up to 1 PB effective flash capacity with high-efficiency deduplication.
TrueNAS F100:
High-performance flagship delivering over 10 GB/s bandwidth and 20 PB effective flash capacity, engineered for virtualization at scale.

Both systems maintain 0.5ms average latency even with deduplication enabled; a level of consistent performance that’s rare even among higher-cost enterprise storage solutions.

Why TrueNAS, Why Now?

The economics of virtualization are shifting. Licensing changes, budget constraints, and performance expectations are converging to make traditional storage models unsustainable. Organizations need:

Transparent, predictable pricing
Scalable performance that doesn’t break the budget
Proven enterprise support, without proprietary lock-in

TrueNAS delivers all three. TrueNAS 25.04 (Fangtooth) unlocks these capabilities for the first time. Deduplication is typically expensive or slow. TrueNAS changes that equation by combining smart software with powerful NVMe hardware at a fraction of the cost. Backed by the open-source innovation of OpenZFS and a global community of adopters, it offers CIOs and IT leaders a smarter path forward.

Lead the Infrastructure Conversation

Today’s IT leaders must drive transformation, not just keep the lights on. That means aligning technology decisions with financial discipline, and choosing platforms that do more with less.

TrueNAS isn’t just an alternative. It’s a strategic advantage.

In a market of rising costs and diminishing ROI, now is the time to rethink storage economics and regain control of your virtualization stack.

🔗 Ready to take control?

Talk to our team to see how much you can save with TrueNAS.

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TrueCommand 3.1 delivers Fangtooth and Improvements

Václav Navrátil — Fri, 21 Mar 2025 22:38:08 +0000

TrueCommand simplifies fleet management for environments running multiple TrueNAS systems, including TrueNAS Enterprise and TrueNAS Community Edition. Monitoring, configuring, and troubleshooting TrueNAS systems is greatly simplified from a single pane of glass. Enterprise IT teams can manage multiple TrueNAS systems with robust user management controls.

TrueCommand 3.1 adds support for the latest TrueNAS 25.04 “Fangtooth” releases, while managing ZFS replication, performance monitoring, and security has become even more streamlined and intuitive.

Available as both a Docker container and a cloud-based SaaS solution, TrueCommand secures communications via SSH tunnels and provides centralized control. While TrueCommand can run as an app on TrueNAS, we recommend deploying TrueCommand separately for optimal reliability and management.

Enhanced Monitoring and Management

TrueCommand 3.1 continues its evolution as a comprehensive management solution, bringing significant improvements:

Disk IOPS Reporting Widget: A new widget offers accurate real-time insights into disk performance, empowering administrators to monitor and respond promptly to performance anomalies.
Snapshot Task Toggling: Easily enable or disable scheduled snapshot tasks, giving you greater control over data protection schedules.
Improved STARTTLS Support: New configuration options offer enhanced security and compatibility for Microsoft 365 users.
Upgraded Runtime Environment: Node.js has been updated from version 20 to 22, offering improved efficiency, security enhancements, and performance.

Streamlined Replication Management

TrueCommand’s Replication Manager simplifies the administration of ZFS snapshots across multiple TrueNAS systems. With its intuitive wizard, setting up and monitoring replication tasks becomes straightforward, reducing manual administration effort and enhancing data protection capabilities.

The Replication Manager dashboard simplifies ZFS replication monitoring across your entire fleet.

Comprehensive Fleet Dashboard

TrueCommand 3.1 further enhances the Fleet Dashboard introduced in TrueCommand 3.0, providing additional insight into system health, disk utilization, and alert status across multiple systems. The dashboard allows administrators to quickly identify and address issues, significantly reducing downtime and improving overall operational efficiency.

(Image byline: Quickly assess system health and disk usage across your TrueNAS environment using the enhanced Fleet Dashboard.)

Expanded TrueNAS Compatibility

TrueCommand 3.1 supports a broad range of TrueNAS versions, including:

TrueNAS 13.0 (Sustaining mode)
TrueNAS 24.10 “Electric Eel” (GA version)
TrueNAS 25.04 “Fangtooth” (RC.1 for early adopters)

While TrueCommand 3.1 is generally backwards compatible with older versions of TrueNAS, we encourage users running these older versions to immediately upgrade to ensure compatibility and security while benefiting from the hard work of the TrueNAS Engineering team. Please review the TrueNAS software status page for the latest recommendations.

Upgrade Recommendations

TrueCommand Cloud deployments will be automatically updated to TrueCommand 3.1 over time. Self-hosted Docker-based deployments should follow standard container update procedures, including backing up your TrueCommand instance data, and reapplying TrueNAS passwords post-upgrade to ensure connectivity. Ensure that after upgrading your TrueCommand instance, administrators clear their browser cache (CTRL+F5) to help avoid potential UI issues.

Known Issues and Workarounds

While ongoing enhancements have addressed many reported issues, environments with large numbers of snapshots may still experience slower performance in the Snapshot Explorer. Additionally, users deploying TrueNAS Enterprise HA systems should manage system upgrades directly from the TrueNAS UI to avoid potential boot environment mismatches on controller restart.

Getting Started with TrueCommand 3.1

TrueCommand remains free for deployments with up to 50 drives. Larger environments can acquire software and support licenses via the iXsystems portal.

Docker Container: Available on Docker Hub under the tag release-3.1.0.
Cloud Service: Register for TrueCommand Cloud at the iXsystems portal.

Thanks to our dedicated community for providing valuable feedback and support. We continue to welcome your insights and suggestions as TrueCommand evolves.

To learn more about TrueCommand, including instructions on how to deploy a self-hosted container, see the TrueNAS Docs Hub on TrueCommand. There is also a guide on how to set up TrueCommand Cloud instances.

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TrueNAS Fangtooth Bares its Teeth

Pee Jay Latombo — Tue, 11 Mar 2025 19:31:33 +0000

TrueNAS “Fangtooth” is progressing toward its release with the launch of TrueNAS 25.04-RC.1, the first Release Candidate. This release brings features for both Community and Enterprise users, and offers an upgrade path for users currently on SCALE 24.10 and CORE 13.x.

With over 2,500 users providing feedback and a few bug reports, Fangtooth BETA was a success thanks to the efforts of early adopters. The new RC.1 version is ready for Community testers to further explore the new feature set and improved performance of its unified code base. As a Release Candidate, 25.04-RC.1 is considered fully stable and almost feature-complete.

Electric Eel keeps setting records

The incredibly popular TrueNAS 24.10 “Electric Eel” was the foundation for Fangtooth development. The latest version, TrueNAS 24.10.2, brings both integrated Docker support and significantly improved performance over TrueNAS 13.0. It is recommended for Enterprise users and is also in use by the majority of the TrueNAS Community. With over 125,000 systems in operation today, Electric Eel is by far the most popular TrueNAS version in history.

Electric Eel also enabled the very popular TrueNAS H-series to leverage both NVMe drives and SAS HDDs on the same backplane. It supports our newest hardware platform, the TrueNAS H30, which delivers 100 GbE performance as a compact, energy-efficient edge storage system. Fangtooth takes the power of these NVMe-powered systems a step further with support for Fast Deduplication, further increasing space efficiency with reduced performance overhead.

Fangtooth Unification is on Track

The transition to TrueNAS Community Edition allows the TrueNAS engineering team to develop new features faster, provide a common codebase, and unite the community under a single release that provides a superset of the functional capabilities of CORE and SCALE.

Fangtooth unifies CORE and SCALE and introduces a numbe r of new features to TrueNAS to improve performance, security, and scalability for users, including:

Upgraded Linux Kernel 6.12 with improved and extended hardware support
OpenZFS 2.3 with Fast Deduplication for data footprint reduction on flash systems
Massive RAID-Z expansion acceleration (by 5X)
Experimental LXC containers (like Jails) & QEMU/KVM Virtualization via Incus “instances”
Support for Secure Boot for Windows 11 VMs
Ongoing delivery of TrueNAS Versioned API for third-party application integration
Configurable IP address for newly added Apps in the catalog

NOTE: Existing Apps users on TrueNAS 24.04 or earlier should migrate to TrueNAS 24.10 in order to take advantage of the automated Apps migration process from the legacy Kubernetes system. Once these legacy Apps receive feature updates to allow for per-App IP addressing, they will no longer be compatible with the automatic migration process, and will require manual intervention.

TrueNAS Fangtooth RC.1 includes approximately 250 bug fixes and enhancements. For further details, see the Fangtooth introduction blog, the OpenZFS 2.3 feature highlights, and TrueNAS release notes on our Docs website.

NOTE: TrueCommand 3.0 users should refrain from upgrading to Fangtooth RC.1 at this time, as these versions are not yet compatible. An upcoming release of TrueCommand 3.1, arriving next week, will add the ability to manage Fangtooth systems while retaining backward compatibility with previous TrueNAS versions.

Enterprise-Specific Extensions

TrueNAS 25.04 also receives major new functionality for TrueNAS Enterprise appliances. This includes improved security and performance features designed for more business focused Enterprise workloads:

Improved Security (GPOS STIG) with additional logging and auditing
iSCSI Extensions for RDMA (iSER) and NFS over RDMA (Remote Direct Memory Access) improves latency and IOPS
iSCSI Block Cloning for faster VMware clusters and virtualization workloads
Veeam Fast Clone for SMB backup acceleration
Fibre Channel support for SAN transitions and extended compatibility
Optional NFS access to hidden snapshot directories

These enhancements and more will become available as an update for current Enterprise customers in late Q2. For more information about these features and other Enterprise benefits, including up to 24×7 support, connect with a TrueNAS product specialist to discuss available options.

When Should I Update?

If you are deploying a new TrueNAS system, we recommend TrueNAS 24.10.2 for added functionality, broad hardware support, an expanded App catalog, better performance, and an improved Web UI, all of which make managing TrueNAS easier.

TrueNAS 25.04-RC.1 is recommended for mainstream Community testing. Experienced users are welcome to try it out and provide feedback on the new features, improved performance, and user experience, to help us shape the final Release version.

Current TrueNAS 13.x users looking for the new capabilities outlined above can upgrade to TrueNAS 24.10.2 anytime, preserving data and essential NAS functionality such as SMB, NFS, iSCSI, and VMs. TrueNAS 25.04 adds LXC, the Linux equivalent of jails.

Following today’s release of TrueNAS 25.04-RC.1, a Release version will follow in April 2025. By July 2025, Fangtooth is expected to be recommended to Enterprise users and available by default on our TrueNAS Enterprise hardware.

For current software recommendations, always review the Software Status page for recommendations based on your profile.

Join the TrueNAS Community

Whether you’re looking to deploy TrueNAS 24.10 or help shape the future of TrueNAS, now is the perfect time to engage with our growing community. Download your copy of TrueNAS Community Edition today and join thousands of users already benefiting from True Data Freedom. Visit the TrueNAS Community Forums or connect with us on social media to share your experiences and insights.

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Fangtooth Unification Begins

Pee Jay Latombo — Thu, 13 Feb 2025 20:29:41 +0000

TrueNAS “Fangtooth” takes its first big step into the limelight with today’s release of TrueNAS 25.04-BETA. With new features for both Community and Enterprise users, TrueNAS 25.04 will offer an upgrade to SCALE 24.10 and CORE 13.x users alike – and the BETA release is ready for eager testers to explore the new feature set and improved performance of this unified code base.

The incredibly popular TrueNAS 24.10 release was used as the foundation for Fangtooth development. The latest release, TrueNAS 24.10.2, brings the integrated Docker support and significantly improved performance over TrueNAS 13.0 to a level where it is recommended for (and used by) the majority of the TrueNAS Community, with over 100,000 systems in operation today.

Performance, Security, and Scalability

Fangtooth unifies CORE and SCALE and introduces a number of new features to TrueNAS to improve performance, security, and scalability for users, including:

Upgraded Linux Kernel 6.12 with improved and extended hardware support
OpenZFS 2.3 with Fast Dedup for data reduction on flash systems
Massive RAID-Z expansion acceleration (by 5X)
iSCSI Block Cloning for faster VMware clusters and virtualization workloads
New! Instances Support – LXC containers (similar to Jails) & Virtualization via Incus
Experimental TrueNAS Versioned API for third-party application integration

For further details, see the Fangtooth introduction blog, the OpenZFS 2.3 feature highlights, and TrueNAS release notes on our Docs website.

Existing TrueCommand users should refrain from upgrading to the Fangtooth BETA at this time, as the current release of TrueCommand 3.0.2 does not yet support this. The upcoming TrueCommand 3.1 will add the ability to manage 25.04 systems, in addition to retaining backwards compatibility with other versions.

Enterprise-Specific Extensions

TrueNAS Enterprise appliances running 25.04 will also receive improved security and performance features designed for more intense Enterprise workloads:

Improved Security (GPOS STIG) with additional logging and auditing
iSCSI Extensions for RDMA (iSER) and NFS over RDMA (Remote Direct Memory Access) improves latency and IOPS for many applications
Veeam Fast Clone for SMB backup acceleration
Fibre Channel support for SAN transitions and extended compatibility

For more information about these features and other Enterprise benefits, including up to 24×7 support, connect with a TrueNAS product specialist to discuss available options.

More Flexible Virtualization Options

In addition to the robust Apps catalog powered by Docker Compose, the BETA release of Fangtooth leverages the Incus manager to offer both lightweight Linux containers and powerful KVM virtualization in the same management interface.

Containers, like the Jails functionality offered in TrueNAS CORE, offer lightweight, efficient virtualization by sharing the host OS kernel, providing faster startup times and reduced resource usage compared to full virtual machines. When stronger isolation, kernel independence, or a different guest operating system entirely is desired, a VM can be deployed and configured. This functionality is still under significant development in 25.04-BETA, and is suggested for early adopters who are comfortable with this emerging feature.

Fangtooth Unification Goals

The transition to TrueNAS Community Edition will allow the TrueNAS engineering team to undertake faster development of new features, provide a common codebase, and unite the community under a single release that provides a superset of the functional capabilities of CORE and SCALE.

Over 100,000 TrueNAS users have already taken the first step of migrating to the unified environment, with the transition of the Apps ecosystem from Kubernetes in 24.04 to the more stable and user-friendly Docker Compose in 24.10 laying the foundation and making TrueNAS 24.10 the most popular version of TrueNAS today. Today’s launch of TrueNAS 25.04-BETA marks the next step in the process.

When Should I Update?

Current TrueNAS 13.x users looking for the new capabilities outlined above can upgrade to TrueNAS 24.10.2 anytime, preserving data and essential NAS functionality such as SMB, NFS, iSCSI, and VMs.

Following today’s release of TrueNAS 25.04-BETA, a Release Candidate will follow in March, with the official release of 25.04 in April 2025. By July 2025, Fangtooth will be recommended to Enterprise users and available by default on our TrueNAS Enterprise hardware.

For current software recommendations, always review the Software Status page for recommendations based on your profile.

Join the TrueNAS Community

Whether you’re looking to deploy TrueNAS 24.10 or help shape the future of TrueNAS 25.04, now is the perfect time to engage with our growing community. Download your copy of TrueNAS Community Edition today and join thousands of users already benefiting from True Data Freedom. Visit the TrueNAS Community Forums or connect with us on social media to share your experiences and insights.

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iXsystems Experiences Record Growth in TrueNAS Enterprise Storage, Spins Off Server Business to Amaara Networks

Václav Navrátil — Wed, 12 Feb 2025 16:33:25 +0000

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

San Jose, CA – February 12, 2025 – iXsystems, the leader in Open Enterprise Storage, is sharpening its focus on the rapid growth of its TrueNAS Enterprise storage business by transitioning its server hardware integration division to its trusted partner, Amaara Networks.

Effective immediately, this strategic move allows iXsystems to accelerate innovation in open enterprise storage, ensuring that customers benefit from both cutting-edge storage solutions and high-quality server offerings. Amaara Networks, with deep expertise in server solutions and a strong customer-first approach, will seamlessly take over server operations, delivering continued excellence.

Strengthening Leadership in Open Enterprise Storage

This transition reinforces iXsystems’ leadership in enterprise storage by enabling a sharper focus on the expansion of TrueNAS Enterprise, the industry’s leading open enterprise storage platform. As demand continues to surge, iXsystems is dedicating more resources to driving continued TrueNAS innovation, enhancing security, and delivering the best value in enterprise storage while ensuring customers continue to receive top-tier server solutions through Amaara Networks.

For customers, this move ensures best-in-class offerings in both storage and server solutions. It also marks a milestone in iXsystems’ long-term strategy—solidifying its position as the go-to provider for versatile, scalable, and secure enterprise storage.

Leadership Commentary

“As enterprises increasingly adopt open enterprise storage, we see a tremendous opportunity to expand and enhance TrueNAS for the global market,” said Mike Lauth, CEO of iXsystems. “By transitioning our server business to Amaara Networks, we ensure our customers receive the best possible experience while allowing us to dedicate our full focus to advancing TrueNAS as the industry’s leading open enterprise storage solution. Amaara’s deep expertise and commitment to customer success make them the perfect partner for this transition.”

“We are honored to be entrusted with iXsystems’ server business and are fully committed to maintaining the high level of service and reliability that their customers have come to expect,” said Victor Ahuja, Co-Founder and Head of Sales of Amaara Networks. “This partnership strengthens our collaboration with iXsystems and allows us to expand our solutions while ensuring a smooth and seamless transition for all server customers.”

The Future of iXsystems and TrueNAS Enterprise

With record sales, increasing adoption of TrueNAS Enterprise storage appliances, and expanded manufacturing capabilities, iXsystems is doubling down on its commitment to delivering best-in-class enterprise storage. The company recently moved into a new Silicon Valley headquarters to support its growing operations and will continue to push the boundaries of innovation in open enterprise storage.

For inquiries regarding TrueNAS storage solutions, please contact sales@ixsystems.com. If you have any questions regarding the transition, visit our FAQ page or reach out to servertransition@ixsystems.com.

About iXsystems

For over two decades, iXsystems has been a pioneer in open storage solutions, helping thousands of enterprises and organizations build, deploy, and support TrueNAS storage systems. With a deep commitment to open-source innovation, security, and customer success, iXsystems continues to redefine enterprise storage, delivering unmatched reliability, performance, and value.

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TrueNAS Delivers Record Growth in 2024, Plans Strategic Expansions in 2025

Václav Navrátil — Tue, 04 Feb 2025 16:08:02 +0000

Campbell, CA – February 4, 2025 – TrueNAS, the global leader in open enterprise storage, has announced another year of record-breaking growth in 2024, cementing its position as the world’s most widely used storage software.

Leveraging its position as a trusted storage solution, TrueNAS is addressing the industry’s most pressing challenges, from data security to cloud cost management.

With over 40% CAGR since 2021, TrueNAS recorded an all-time revenue high, driven by the following growth highlights:

104% increase in TrueNAS Community Edition adoption
900% growth in NVMe capacity, powered by F-Series All-NVMe flash systems.
4X rise in deployments exceeding $1M.
39% Sales Growth in EMEA
4.9 out of 5 rating in Gartner Peer Insights for Primary Storage.
Gartner Peer Insights “Customer Choice Award” in North America in two categories: “Primary Storage” and “File and Object Storage”
Expanded in key verticals such as media and defense.

“TrueNAS is redefining what’s possible in open storage by delivering enterprise reliability and security at a fraction of the cost of traditional vendors,” said Brett Davis, EVP, TrueNAS. “With our focus on customer needs and service, we’re uniquely positioned to help organizations address data growth and budget challenges.”

2024: A Year of Innovation and Growth

In 2024, TrueNAS delivered major product advancements that propelled its growth trajectory:

Unified TrueNAS Community Edition: CORE and SCALE merged into a single offering, with upcoming Fangtooth (TrueNAS 25.04) driving innovation.
H-Series Trimode Edge Appliance: Launched with full flexibility to support both HDDs and NVMe SSDs.
TrueSecure: Advanced security package meeting FIPS 140 and NIST standards, and trusted by military, government, and enterprise customers.
All-NVMe “F-Series”: Achieved 10PB system scalability with extreme value and performance.
AI Integration: Introduced the first TrueNAS AI bot, simplifying operations and setting the stage for future AI-driven solutions.
OpenZFS 2.3: Integrated enhancements like Fast Deduplication, dRAID, and RAID-Z expansion to maintain leadership as the “most trusted” file system.

Emerging Storage Trends to Watch in 2025

TrueNAS identified five key trends shaping enterprise storage:

Balanced Edge-Core-Cloud Strategies: Organizations are moving beyond cloud-first strategies, seeking resilience, performance, and cost efficiency across all environments.
Virtualization Upheaval: VMware’s pricing changes are driving enterprises to reexamine their IT budgets and explore alternatives.
Data Sovereignty: Governments and enterprises are prioritizing localized data storage to mitigate risks associated with global cloud providers and AI misuse.
Big Data Growth: Video content and AI-generated datasets are driving exponential data growth outside hyperscalers.
Military-Grade Security for Enterprises: Rising AI-driven cyberattacks are accelerating demand for robust data protection.

“Organizations are navigating a perfect storm of data growth, cost pressures, and security threats,” added Davis. “TrueNAS is here to help them face these challenges head-on by delivering solutions that combine technical innovation with economic value.”

2025 Roadmap: Meeting Tomorrow’s Storage Needs

In 2025, TrueNAS will expand its leadership in open enterprise storage with key initiatives:

Fangtooth (TrueNAS 25.04): A unified release to streamline development and community support.
H-Series Edge Expansion: Launching a 100GbE-capable system with High Availability and comprehensive protocol and application support.
Storj Collaboration: Partnering to deliver affordable hybrid cloud and backup solutions with the security and sovereignty required.
F-Series All-NVMe Advancements: Adding RDMA and NVMe-over-Fabric technologies to further increase performance.
Scaling Beyond 100PB: Introducing new tools for managing ultra-large datasets.

About TrueNAS

Learn more at www.truenas.com.

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The TrueNAS H30 is the Swiss Army Knife of Storage

Pee Jay Latombo — Thu, 30 Jan 2025 04:40:28 +0000

Today, we’re capping off our TrueNAS H-series platform line with the upgraded TrueNAS H30. With support for 60 TB NVMe drives in each of its twelve bays and 100 GbE connectivity, the H30 delivers new levels of performance and capacity in the compact 2U storage market.

Powered by the newly released (TrueNAS 24.10.2) “Electric Eel” software and under active testing with the new TrueNAS 25.04 “Fangtooth” software, the H30 navigates effortlessly through a variety of enterprise workloads, from the edge of the cloud to the heart of your datacenter.

Like its H10 and H20 siblings, the H30 is a compact, low-power 2U platform designed for Edge workloads. With tri-mode technology to enable NVMe SSDs or SAS HDDs in each of its 12 bays, the H30 offers incredible advances in efficiency over previous-generation hardware, increasing performance and capacity by over 300%

All H-Series systems can be configured as either single controller or dual controller High Availability (HA) and offer expansion up to 114 drive bays in a 6U footprint. Upgrades from H10 and H20 to H30 can be done without data migration, and without downtime in HA systems. With network connectivity options from 1 Gbps through to 100 Gbps, the H30 is ready to be integrated into any network..

TrueNAS 24.10 delivers File, Block, Object, and Docker Apps services with HA using the highly reliable OpenZFS 2.3 as the unifying file system. 24.10 is now the most widely installed version of TrueNAS, with over 100,000 adopters in less than three months. The new TrueNAS H30 inherits all of the robust Electric Eel capabilities, including TrueSecure, with its federal FIPS 140 capabilities.

All TrueNAS platforms come with industry-leading Enterprise support, which is one of the highest rated on Gartner Peer Insights.

TrueNAS Fangtooth is preparing to enter its BETA release, adding several new capabilities to the TrueNAS H30 including:

16 Gb and 32 Gb Fibre Channel for SAN migration
Fast Deduplication of NVMe flash storage for improved data reduction
Support for LXC containers and VMs through new Incus integration

Apps, Containers, and VMs enable TrueNAS storage systems to add new services, software. These can include MinIO, Nextcloud, backup software, and data migration tools like SyncThing. Integrating applications and storage reduces the cost, power, complexity, and space for Edge deployments like retail storefronts, and allow workloads with heavy IO demands to run directly adjacent to high-performance storage.

WIth tri-mode capability allowing NVMe, SAS SSD, or HDDs in its twelve integrated bays, and additional SAS expansion up to 114 bays, the TrueNAS H30 delivers a broad choice of storage media:

Hard Drives (HDDs) from 8 TB to 22 TB
- Expansion from 12 Bays (2U) to 114 Bays (6U)
- Max HDD Capacity: 2.5 PB + 100 TB Cache
NVMe Drives from 3.2 TB to 60 TB
- Max NVMe Capacity: 720 TB + Dedup/Compression

Monster-sized NVMe SSDs have proven very popular for M&E companies looking to edit 8K videos and other content. These new 60 TB SSDs will enable even larger systems while increasing capacity-per-watt and per rack unit. Existing 30 TB SSDs have also proven to perform well for virtualization workloads. For customers with specific security requirements, self-encrypting and FIPS-compliant drives are available as well. To discuss available options in detail, contact a TrueNAS sales representative.

HDDs are growing in size more slowly than NVMe SSDs, but can still deliver 75% lower cost per usable terabyte. For backup, archive video surveillance, and other use cases, spinning disks still offer the best capacity per dollar. Unlike flash-only systems, TrueNAS can seamlessly back up and replicate flash to HDDs without any change in web UI or API. Each TrueNAS H30 can start with low-cost HDDs and add NVMe flash as performance is needed.

The TrueNAS H30 delivers 8-10 GB/s of all-NVMe performance and well over 100,000 IOPS for each primary protocol (iSCSI, NFS, SMB, S3) twice as fast as the H20, with 20 cores vs 10 cores and greater RAM capacity. Even with this high performance on tap, the H30 is energy-efficient, consuming approximately 400W when equipped with dual controllers.

TrueNAS F-Series Also Grows NVMe Capacity

For those looking for even more performance than the new H30, our all-NVMe F-Series delivers up to 4×100 Gbe performance. With 60 TB SSDs, the all-NVMe TrueNAS F-Series can accelerate even more data with up to 10 PB capacity in 14U. Both the TrueNAS F60 and F100 can be expanded with NVMe-powered expansion shelves with the same robust enclosure management support as traditional SAS expansion.

TrueNAS F100 with both Flash and HDD Expansion Shelves

Ready When You Are

Talk to a TrueNAS sales representative if you need more information on any of our TrueNAS Enterprise systems. Our experts will match your use case requirements with the most cost-effective and future-proof platform. The H-Series platforms start from under $10,000 and grow based on performance and capacity needs.

The latest release of TrueNAS 24.10.2 is available now and is ready to download or update from the Web UI.

Monitor the Software Status page to see when your use case aligns with the updated version. When you’re ready, join the 100,000+ users already powering up with Electric Eel, and don’t forget to stop by the TrueNAS Forums to share your knowledge and experience.

Join today and help others unlock the power of True Data Freedom with TrueNAS.

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TrueNAS “Electric Eel” Shines Brightly

Pee Jay Latombo — Thu, 30 Jan 2025 01:49:55 +0000

Following the highly successful initial release and first update of “Electric Eel” (24.10) the TrueNAS team is excited to announce the availability of the TrueNAS 24.10.2 update, downloadable from truenas.com/truenas-community-edition/ or within your existing TrueNAS system.

TrueNAS 24.10.2 provides over 120 bug fixes and delivers Enterprise quality. It is also the basis for the all-new TrueNAS H30.

With this update, TrueNAS 24.10 “Electric Eel” will become the recommended stable version for our Mission-Critical users, as well as the shipping version of TrueNAS on new Enterprise storage appliances. For recommendations on when to update your system, visit the Software Status page.

The high quality of the predecessor (TrueNAS 24.10.1) is evident in the rapid adoption and its popularity with TrueNAS users. It is easily the most commonly used TrueNAS version. With over 100,000 early adopters in a 12-week release period, 24.10 is the most popular TrueNAS release ever, and with good reason – it’s packed with several long-anticipated features like:

Docker Compose for simplified, containerized apps
RAIDZ Expansion for added flexibility in growing capacity
Updated WebUI with Global Search to help you get more done with fewer clicks
Customizable Dashboard Widgets for your most important information at a glance
NVMe enablement for H-Series for even more capacity and performance options
Improved Performance for all TrueNAS systems

Electric Eel is a great foundation for building the next TrueNAS release, Fangtooth, which will enter its first BETA in February. Fangtooth will be a unifying release for TrueNAS SCALE and TrueNAS CORE. This version introduces Incus support for LXC containers, further improves flexibility around IP addressing for Apps, and delivers several additional functionality and performance boosts. Further details will be made available before the BETA version.

Refined to Enterprise with Over 120 Improvements

TrueNAS 24.10.2 adds Enterprise quality to the “Electric Eel” release, with over 120 bug fixes and improvements in the update. With this release, we expect many of our Enterprise customers who want to leverage the features to add to the growing numbers.

Major fixes include more robust support for updates with NVIDIA GPUs and fixing compatibility of the SED (disk encryption) utilities for encrypted pool upgrades from CORE to SCALE.

Introducing the TrueNAS H30

Our versatile TrueNAS H-Series is the perfect Edge vehicle for delivering the power of TrueNAS in a compact (2U), power-efficient package, and with SAS/NVMe storage options on all twelve bays.

Designed for the demanding Edge environments, the TrueNAS H30 is the big brother of the H10 and H20, with twice the Cores, RAM, Flash capacity, and performance. As the first TrueNAS appliance with support for 60 TB NVMe drives, the H30 offers up to 720 TB of NVMe storage in 2U for all-flash solutions. With 20 cores and 256 GB of RAM, the new H30 delivers over 8 GB/s and supports a combination of NVMe and HDD pools. More information is available in a separate blog.

Want to learn more about how the TrueNAS H30 fits into your organization? Contact us to speak to a product specialist, and find out how to harness the power of open source storage.

True Data Freedom Awaits

This updated version, TrueNAS 24.10.2, has been released and is ready to download or update from the Web UI.

Monitor the Software Status page to see when your use case aligns with the updated version. When ready, join the tens of thousands of users already powering up with Electric Eel, and share your experience on the TrueNAS Forums.

Join today and help others unlock the power of True Data Freedom with TrueNAS!

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The new TrueNAS H30 brings NVMe Performance to the Edge

Václav Navrátil — Wed, 29 Jan 2025 15:57:32 +0000

Campbell, CA – January 29, 2025 – TrueNAS, the global leader in open enterprise storage, has unveiled the TrueNAS H30, a high-performance, adaptable storage solution designed for organizations of any size that demand speed, flexibility, and efficiency.

The H30, the latest addition to the TrueNAS H-Series appliance lineup, combines NVMe and HDD support in each bay, 100GbE networking, dual-controller High Availability (HA), and FIPS 140-certified security in a low-power 2U form factor.

“As data demands surge and edge computing evolves, organizations need storage that balances speed, scalability, and security,” said Brett Davis, SVP, TrueNAS. “The H30 sets a new standard for adaptable, high-performance storage, giving businesses the flexibility to expand without compromising efficiency or budge

Powerful Performance and Future-Proof Scalability

The TrueNAS H30 adds twice the performance of its H10 and H20 siblings in the H-Series product line. The H30 is engineered to support demanding Edge workloads, offering:

Unified storage supports file, block, object, and Docker apps
60TB NVMe SSDs scale up to a total capacity of 720TB in 2U
Expand up to 2.5 PB of HDD storage in 5U of rack space
10-100GbE networking delivers storage bandwidth of 8-10GB/s
Tri-mode drive support enables NVMe SSDs and HDDs in the same bays
Dual-controller High Availability (HA) or Single Controller configurations
Optional TrueSecure with FIPS 140 and enterprise security compliance
Extremely low power consumption of less than 400W

Each H-Series system is designed to scale efficiently, with options to expand up to 114 drive bays in a 6U footprint. The modular design allows seamless upgrades from H10 to H20 to H30 without data migration, ensuring investment protection.

TrueNAS Software: Optimized for Performance and Security

The H30 ships with TrueNAS Enterprise 24.10.2 and is optimized for upcoming enhancements in TrueNAS Enterprise 25.04, which introduces:

Fast Deduplication for more efficient NVMe storage
16Gb and 32Gb Fibre Channel for seamless SAN integration.
Support for LXC containers and VMs adds flexibility for virtualization and edge computing

With OpenZFS 2.3 as its foundation, the TrueNAS H30 ensures data integrity, efficient storage management, and enterprise reliability.

Modernize Your Storage

The TrueNAS H-Series is available now with configurations starting at under $10,000, and a variety of customization options based on your performance and capacity needs. Enterprises looking for more performance can explore the TrueNAS F-Series, which now supports over 10 petabytes of NVMe with 4x100GbE performance. Enterprises looking for more capacity can explore the TrueNAS M-Series, which supports up to 30PB of HDD storage.

Organizations interested in exploring how to future-proof their infrastructure with the TrueNAS H30 can contact TrueNAS sales representatives for tailored recommendations.

About TrueNAS

Learn more at www.truenas.com.

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TrueNAS: A Lifetime of Ransomware Resilience

Václav Navrátil — Mon, 27 Jan 2025 23:29:42 +0000

Ransomware attacks grow more sophisticated every day, threatening organizations of all sizes by locking up vital data assets and demanding costly payouts. Beyond the immediate threat of downtime and lost revenue, these attacks can erode trust and damage your brand for the long term. In this evolving landscape, you need a storage solution that isn’t just robust in the present, but one that will continue to protect your data over the lifetime of your infrastructure. TrueNAS, powered by OpenZFS, offers exactly that—a sustainable, ever-improving platform designed to keep you safe from digital threats.

Understanding the Modern Ransomware Challenge

Ransomware isn’t a one-and-done threat. Attackers are constantly adapting their methods, refining existing strains, and exploiting zero-day vulnerabilities. Even a single security lapse can give adversaries the upper hand, potentially halting critical operations and undermining your customers’ trust. You need a solution that not only detects these threats early but also enables you to bounce back quickly if an attack does succeed.

Key Elements of Effective Protection

Frequent, Lightweight Snapshots: Quickly restore to a known good state if data becomes compromised.
Ongoing Security Updates: Evolve your storage platform alongside emerging threats.
Scalable Redundancy: Ensure your storage environment remains resilient and adapts to your growing data needs.

A Lifetime of Updates and Security Patches

A pivotal differentiator of TrueNAS is its commitment to lifelong software updates—even after your initial support contract is complete. Rather than locking you into the traditional vendor’s endless cycle of subscription fees, risking outdated security once your support contract expires, TrueNAS ensures you can keep your system current and secure without hidden paywalls.

Lifetime License Model: No matter if you choose an entry-level R-series or our flagship F100, your system will always be able to receive updates free of charge.
Constant Improvements: Receive the latest features, functionality, and security patches—even long after initial deployment.

This emphasis on perpetual improvement means you can sidestep the risks and budget woes associated with being cut off from essential fixes the moment a support contract ends. You own your data; you shouldn’t have to keep paying just to keep it safe.

Fast-Paced Development and Rapid Zero-Day Resolutions

TrueNAS’s collaborative ecosystem combines the strengths of a vibrant open-source community with the expertise of the TrueNAS security team, creating a powerful engine for both innovation and rapid response.

Community-Driven Insights: A global network of contributors continuously tests and scrutinizes the TrueNAS codebase, quickly identifying potential exploits or emerging threats.
Open Disclosure: Rather than relying on “security through obscurity” the TrueNAS Team quickly assesses and responds to potential vulnerabilities openly on the TrueNAS Security Advisory site.
Professional Security Team: When a serious vulnerability is discovered, TrueNAS engineers prioritize rapid fixes to protect your operations from downtime or data loss.

By blending community collaboration with professional oversight, TrueNAS consistently delivers timely updates that tackle security challenges head-on.

Multi-Layered Protection Powered by OpenZFS

At the heart of the TrueNAS platform lies OpenZFS, a robust file system designed to maintain data integrity and withstand everything from bit rot to malicious encryption attempts. Its battle-tested features serve as powerful tools in the fight against ransomware:

Immutable Snapshots: Take quick, point-in-time snapshots of your data. If ransomware encrypts your files, you can restore to a clean state in seconds—drastically reducing downtime and data loss.
Efficient Replication: Replicate data to another TrueNAS system anywhere in the world, or leverage the distributed storage of iX-Storj. Even if your primary environment is breached, your replicated data remains safe and easily recoverable.
Encryption & Compression: Built-in encryption safeguards data at rest, while compression maximizes storage efficiency.
Self-Healing & Checksumming: Automatic checksumming identifies and repairs data corruption on the fly, ensuring your backups and snapshots remain reliable when you need them most.

Staying Ahead in an Evolving Threat Landscape

Ransomware isn’t standing still. By combining the power of open-source innovation, a rapid patching cycle, and a resilient file system, TrueNAS gives your data the best fighting chance—no matter how threats evolve. Rather than locking you into an endless cycle of subscription fees or risking outdated security once a contract expires, TrueNAS is engineered to protect, adapt, and endure for the long haul.

Ready to Protect Your Data for Life?

Your data is one of your organization’s most valuable assets. Don’t settle for a storage solution that might leave you behind a paywall in a crisis. Whether you’re a small business seeking a cost-effective deployment, or an enterprise with multiple datacenter and mission-critical workloads, TrueNAS ensures your data remains secure, available, and up-to-date—long after other solutions would have left you paying extra just to stand still.

Don’t wait for the next attack to test your resilience. Take the first step toward securing your data today—because your organization’s future deserves nothing less than lifetime protection. Request a Demo to see how TrueNAS can transform your data protection strategy. Would you prefer to talk to an expert? Contact Us to discuss how TrueNAS can meet your organization’s unique needs.

Stand strong against the growing menace of ransomware. With TrueNAS, you trust that your storage platform is poised to handle evolving threats, protect vital assets, and provide peace of mind for years to come.

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TrueNAS Fangtooth includes OpenZFS 2.3.0

Václav Navrátil — Tue, 21 Jan 2025 06:11:17 +0000

Here at TrueNAS, we’re excited to be at the forefront of OpenZFS development, leveraging OpenZFS as the foundation for our data management layer, and are proud to be the deployment vehicle for the majority of OpenZFS storage systems in use today. We’re excited to share the latest improvements in OpenZFS, with the release of OpenZFS version 2.3.0 on January 13, 2025. This new version of OpenZFS is being integrated into the next TrueNAS release, TrueNAS 25.04 (Fangtooth).

The TrueNAS Engineering team has made significant contributions to OpenZFS 2.3.0, with a pre-release version of OpenZFS 2.3 integrated into TrueNAS 24.10 (Electric Eel). This version has performed well and stood up to the standard of reliability set by OpenZFS. Customers can use Electric Eel today if they want several of these OpenZFS 2.3 features and the stability it offers.

The current development version of TrueNAS, Fangtooth, aligns with the OpenZFS 2.3.0 release. Fangtooth will use this version of OpenZFS throughout its version lifecycle. This blog outlines the current status of the full set of OpenZFS features in the upcoming release.

Fast Dedupe Delivers Good Performance

Deduplication is highly desirable for many workloads, including virtualization and several file storage use cases. Where there is naturally a high ratio of redundant data within a pool, deduplication effectively increases not only the usable capacity of the drives, but also the efficiency of the ZFS Adaptive Replacement Cache (ARC) and Level 2 ARC (L2ARC).

To improve the performance for deduplication, the new Fast Dedupe capability was co-developed by TrueNAS and Klara Systems. Internal testing of Fast Dedupe has shown very positive results and confirmed the expected performance. Reads of unique data are largely unimpacted by dedupe, with reads of duplicate data being significantly more likely to be served by the primary ARC. Writes experience a reduction in performance compared to a system without deduplication, approximately 60% slower overall, due to the overhead of hashing and indexing the contents for later comparison and data reduction.

Fast Dedupe performs very well with NVMe drives (which are extremely fast by default) and we will be making this technology available on our F-Series and H-Series NVMe platforms with Fangtooth. With 21 NVMe drives (arranged as 4 x 5wZ1) and fast dedupe, TrueNAS performance was better than a comparable unit with 240 mirrored HDDs.

RAIDZ Expansion has been accelerated

A much-anticipated feature for smaller systems and home users of TrueNAS, RAIDZ expansion allows a small pool (e.g., a single RAIDZ vdev) to be gradually expanded with one drive at a time. Existing data is preserved with its original parity level and rewritten across all drives, while new data is written with the new parity configuration. This simplified administrative process gives smaller TrueNAS systems the flexibility to expand in single drive increments, rather than adding a full vdev of drives. The same expansion feature works regardless of the parity level used – RAIDZ1, Z2, or Z3 – but cannot migrate between protection levels.

The TrueNAS team helped sponsor and complete RAIDZ expansion in OpenZFS.

Many systems have tested this feature with Electric Eel. Because the process of rebalancing requires reflowing the existing data, the expansion often took days on an HDD-based pool. Our engineering team recognized that the reflow algorithms could be improved and have submitted a patch into the final OpenZFS 2.3.0 which typically accelerates this process by 5X, with potential gains up to 10X. TrueNAS Fangtooth will include this feature.

What else is in Fangtooth?

In addition to the major features highlighted above, TrueNAS 25.04 includes much more. At this stage of development, the NVMe Direct IO is not yet validated or activated. In addition, the ability to assign Apps to unique IP addresses or interfaces is in process, but will not be testable until the App catalogs are updated with the Fangtooth BETA release, currently targeted for February 2025.

For more details, see the Release Notes and join the discussion on the TrueNAS Forums, where early testers of the 25.04 pre-release versions are sharing their feedback and tips.

TrueNAS 25.04 “Fangtooth” is planned for formal release in April 2025, and will support upgrades from existing TrueNAS 24.10 installations. Get started today with the free TrueNAS Community Edition, and easily upgrade to Fangtooth upon release.

Want to learn more about TrueNAS solutions in your business? Contact us to speak to a product specialist and find out how to harness the power of open Enterprise storage.

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Fangtooth Unifies the TrueNAS Community

Pee Jay Latombo — Tue, 07 Jan 2025 23:37:08 +0000

The Fangtooth is a deep sea fish with two outsized teeth, the largest of any ocean fish in proportion to their body. It’s also the code name for the next version of TrueNAS, the successor to the very successful TrueNAS Electric Eel.

For TrueNAS, the two teeth of the Fangtooth fish represent CORE and SCALE, combining together with the goal of unifying both CORE and SCALE versions into the common TrueNAS Community Edition (CE). TrueNAS “Fangtooth” will be an upgrade for both SCALE 24.10 and CORE 13.x users, introducing new features for both Community and Enterprise users.

TrueNAS Fangtooth (aka TrueNAS 25.04) nightly images are available for developers, and the BETA1 version is expected to be ready in February. Bug fixes, feature updates, and ongoing polishing will continue until the targeted release date in April 2025.

Where TrueNAS Began Its Swim

TrueNAS CORE is the original successor of FreeNAS based on the FreeBSD Operating System. With the introduction of TrueNAS SCALE in 2022, modern Linux capabilities were introduced to TrueNAS, enabling adoption by a much larger and still rapidly growing community.

We were realistic that SCALE would not be as mature and polished as CORE for many software versions, so SCALE was initially created as a fork of CORE, with each version continuing their development, bug fixes and security updates independently. CORE 13.x has been in sustaining mode for the last 18 months and received its latest major update in November, to reach 13.0-U6.

Achieving Parity and Building Upon Success

As of October 2024, roughly equal numbers of SCALE and CORE users exist. SCALE is continuing to grow at a rapid rate, having doubled in system count over the past year, and CORE is declining slowly as users migrate to SCALE.

TrueNAS 24.04 “Dragonfish” achieved parity in storage quality with 13.x, and 24.10 “Electric Eel” added a better Apps infrastructure based on Docker while retaining all the storage quality benefits. With OpenZFS features such as RAIDZ expansion and improved performance, 24.10 is now superior in many dimensions to 13.x and has the most users of any release. We expect TrueNAS SCALE 24.10.1 will see even higher adoption among Enterprise users.

However, there are a few capabilities (discussed later) in CORE that Electric Eel does not provide. Fangtooth addresses these issues and enables it to be the upgrade path for both CORE and SCALE users alike. Fangtooth is the new, unified Community Edition.

The benefits of re-unification will be enormous for the community, both users and developers. Before the end of 2025, we expect the following to be true:

Most TrueNAS users will be on Fangtooth. The community experience will be streamlined, benefiting users by allowing them to share a common software base.

New features and security patches will be on a single, unified TrueNAS version, simplifying the process for users and developers. Features, APIs, and UIs will not diverge. Engineering, quality assurance, and support resources will ensure that the common version meets all users’ functional and stability needs.

The TrueNAS community will be larger, and satisfaction with the software and documentation will be higher. The TrueNAS business will also get stronger with increased resources and accelerated new features.

Fangtooth Bridges the Feature Gap

Fangtooth not only unifies CORE and SCALE, but also introduces a variety of new features to TrueNAS that improve performance, security, and scalability for both users and developers. The most notable of these new capabilities are:

TrueNAS Versioned API: This allows third parties to use APIs to control TrueNAS, knowing that future versions of TrueNAS will honor the same API schemas. TrueNAS can evolve and improve in a more organized manner, allowing external tools to run with longer stability. Future versions of TrueCommand can more easily maintain better system longevity. User-Linked API Tokens are also included to provide secure and restricted management.

Fast Dedup: This feature is experimental in Electric Eel and is undergoing additional testing to be ready for production use. The significant reduction in storage media costs can benefit many use cases.

iSCSI Block Cloning: Virtualization solutions can benefit from using iSCSI XCOPY commands to efficiently and rapidly copy data.

Upgraded Containerization & Virtualization: TrueNAS further improves its virtualization capabilities with the integration of Incus support, and an upgraded WebUI with support for native LXC containers.

Upgraded Linux Kernel: By upgrading to Linux kernel 6.12 LTS, Fangtooth will have updated support for new hardware. This will be an advantage for both CORE and SCALE users upgrading their hardware.

Apps with Configurable IP addresses: Apps in Electric Eel use TrueNAS’s host IP address. Fangtooth enables IP alias addresses to be created and assigned to one or more Apps.

Fangtooth bridges the gap between CORE and SCALE by bringing features new to SCALE users, but equivalent to CORE 13.x features.

LXC Containers: LXC is the next generation of Linux Sandbox and a natural evolution for those coming from FreeBSD Jails. These will also be managed via Incus and provide a consistent UI for LXC and traditional VMs. Like Jails, there is efficient use of RAM and the ability to allocate a separate IP address. Within an LXC, there can be a full Linux instance and a Docker/Kubernetes engine. Tools like Dockge and Portainer can be used. You can see an early demonstration of the Incus management in TrueNAS on the TrueNAS Tech Talk (T3) Podcast – Episode 8

Fangtooth takes TrueNAS Enterprise appliances to the next level with features enabling Enterprises to build more secure, scalable, and performant solutions:

Improved Security (STIG): Additional work on logging and auditing will take TrueNAS to the next level in government security compliance and robustness.

NFS over RDMA: The performance needs of applications increase with data size, compute speed, and cluster size. NFS over RDMA (Remote Direct Memory Access) increases bandwidth and CPU efficiency on clients and the TrueNAS systems.

Veeam Fast Clone: Veeam data movers can use SMB COPY commands to accelerate specific actions and improve general performance. TrueNAS is working with Veeam to better integrate solutions for Enterprise users.

Fibre Channel: FC storage has been supported on Enterprise 13.x for over 5 years, and with its addition to Fangtooth, Enterprise users not only have a migration and upgrade path, but existing customers searching for Fibre Channel storage for their existing SAN will be able to choose from our full line of solutions, including the powerful TrueNAS F-Series. The same LUNs can be accessed via FC or iSCSI and backed up through True Cloud backup.

Systems upgraded from CORE to Fangtooth will also be more secure and perform better. Most users prefer the modernized UI and the addition of the global UI search capability. More information on Fangtooth will be made available prior to the BETA.

When Should I Migrate?

If you are deploying a new TrueNAS system, we recommend TrueNAS SCALE 24.10 for added functionality, vastly broader hardware support, an expanded App catalog, better performance on most workloads, and an improved Web UI, all of which make managing TrueNAS easier than ever.

TrueNAS 13.0 users looking for the new capabilities outlined above can upgrade to TrueNAS 24.10 at any time, preserving data and essential NAS functionality such as SMB, NFS, iSCSI, and VMs – the primary exception being Jails. Jails can be manually migrated to 24.10 using Linux Sandboxes and either Dockge or Portainer. For those interested in the full set of unified features, Fangtooth will provide even better tools (e.g., LXC) for Jail-like functionality while avoiding the security concerns of iocage.

Fangtooth is completing an internal ALPHA and is available as a Nightly image for development and testing. We anticipate that Fangtooth BETA testing will start in February, and the Fangtooth RELEASE version in April would be the earliest for any significant upgrades. By July 2025, we expect Fangtooth to be recommended to Enterprise users.

For current software recommendations, always review the Software Status page for recommendations based on your profile.

Join the TrueNAS Community

Whether you’re interested in deploying the existing TrueNAS 24.10 or helping shape the future of TrueNAS 25.04, there’s never been a better time to join the growing TrueNAS community. Download your copy of TrueNAS Community Edition today and join the thousands of users experiencing True Data Freedom. Share your experience on the newly relaunched TrueNAS Community Forums or find us on social media!

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TrueNAS Electric Eel Performance Sizzles

Václav Navrátil — Fri, 20 Dec 2024 23:41:56 +0000

After a successful release and the fastest software adoption in TrueNAS history, TrueNAS SCALE 24.10 “Electric Eel” is now widely deployed. The update to TrueNAS 24.10.1 has delivered the quality needed for general usage. Electric Eel’s performance is also up to 70% better than TrueNAS 13.0 and Cobia and ahead of Dragonfish, which previously provided dramatic performance improvements of 50% more IOPS and 1000% better metadata. This blog dives into how we test and optimize TrueNAS Electric Eel performance.

While the details can get technical, you don’t have to handle everything yourself. TrueNAS Enterprise appliances come pre-configured and performance-tested, so you can focus on your workloads with confidence that your system is ready to deliver. For our courageous and curious Community members, we’ve outlined the steps to defining, building, and testing a TrueNAS system to meet performance requirements.

Step 1: Setting Your Performance Target

Performance targets are typically defined using a combination of bandwidth (measured in GB/s) and IOPS (short for “Input/Output Operations Per Second.”) For video editing and backups, the individual file and IO size is large, but the number of IOPS is typically low. When supporting virtualization or transactional databases, the IO size is much smaller, but significantly more IOPS are needed.

Bandwidth needs are often best estimated by looking at file sizes and transfer time expectations. High-resolution video files can range from 1 GB to several hundred GB in size. When multiple editors are reading directly from files on the storage, bandwidth needs can easily reach 10GB/s or more; and in the opposite direction, a business may have a specific time window that all backup jobs must complete in.

IOPS requirements can be more challenging, but are often expressed as an expectation from a software vendor or end-user in terms of responsiveness. If a database query needs to return in less than 1 ms, one might think that this means 1000 IOPS is the minimum – but that database query might result in authentication, a table lookup, and an audit or access log update in addition to returning the data itself – a single query might be responsible for a factor of 10 or more IOPS generated. Consider the size of IO that will be sent as well – smaller IO sizes may only be able to be stored on or read from a smaller number of disks in your array.

Client count and concurrency also impacts performance. If a single client requires a given amount of bandwidth or IOPS, but only a handful of clients will access your NAS simultaneously, the requirements can be fulfilled with a much smaller system than if ten or a hundred clients are concurrently making those same demands.

Typically, systems that need more IOPS may also need lower latency. It’s essential to determine whether reliable and consistent sub-millisecond latency or low cost per TB is more important, and find the ideal configuration.

After deciding on your performance target, it’s time to move on to selecting your media and platform.

Step 2: Choosing Your Media

Unlike many other storage systems, TrueNAS supports all-flash (SSD), Hard Drive (HDD) configurations, and Hybrid (mixed SSD and HDD) systems. Choosing the media also determines the system capacity and price point.

With current technology, SSDs best meet high IOPS needs. NVMe SSDs are even faster and becoming increasingly economical. TrueNAS deploys with SSDs up to 30TB in size today, with larger drives planned for availability in the future. Each of these high-performance NVMe SSDs can deliver well over 1 GB/s and over 10,000 IOPS.

Hard drives provide the best cost per TB for capacity, but are limited in two performance dimensions. Sustained bandwidth is typically around 100 MB/s for many drives, and IOPS are around 100. The combination of OpenZFS’s transactional behavior and adaptive caching technology allow for the aggregation of these drives into larger, better-performing systems. The TrueNAS M60 can support over 1,000 HDDs to deliver 10 GB/s and 50,000 IOPS from as low as $60/TB. For high-capacity storage, magnetic hard drives offer an unbeatable cost per TB.

When your performance target is consistent sub-millisecond latency, and IOPS numbers are critical, systems like the all-NVMe TrueNAS F100 bring 24 NVMe drives. With directly connected NVMe drives, there’s no added latency or PCI Express switching involved, giving you maximum performance. With a 2U footprint, and the ability to expand with up to six additional NVMe-oF (NVMe over Fabric) 2U shelves, the F100 is the sleek, high-performance sports car to the M60’s box truck – lighter, nimble, and screaming fast, but at the cost of less “cargo capacity.”

While TrueNAS and OpenZFS cannot make HDDs faster than all-Flash, the Adaptive Replacement Cache (ARC) and optional read cache (L2ARC) and write log (SLOG) devices can help make sure each system meets its performance targets. Read more about these devices in the links to the TrueNAS Documentation site above, or tune in to the TrueNAS Tech Talk (T3) Podcast episode, where the iX engineering team gives some details about where and when these cache devices can help increase performance.

Step 3: Choosing the Platform

After selecting suitable media, the next step to achieving a performance target is by selecting the proper hardware platform. Choose a platform balanced with the CPU, memory size, HBAs, network ports, and media drives needed to achieve a target performance level. Ensure that when designing your system to consider any requirements for power delivery and cooling in order to ensure overall stability.

Depending on the number and type of storage media selected, this may drive your platform decisions in a certain direction. A system designed for a high-bandwidth backup ingest with a hundred spinning disks will have a drastically different design from one that needs a few dozen NVMe devices. Each system will only perform as fast as its slowest component; software cannot fix a significant hardware limitation.

Each performance level has different platforms for different capacity and price points. Our customers typically choose the platforms based on the bandwidth and capacity required now or in the future. For systems where uptime and availability are crucial, platforms supporting High Availability (HA) are typically required.

Community users can build their own smaller systems using the same principles. Resources such as the TrueNAS Hardware Guide can offer excellent guidance for system component selection, as well as the TrueNAS Community Forums.

A key feature of TrueNAS is that all of our systems run the same software, from our all-NVMe F-series to the compact Mini line. While TrueNAS Enterprise and High-Availability systems carry some additional, hardware-specific functionality, the same key features and protocols are supported by TrueNAS Community Edition. There’s no need to re-learn or use a different interface – simply build or buy the hardware platform that supports your performance and availability requirements, and jump right into the same familiar interface that users around the world already know and love.

Step 4: Configuring a Test Lab

Not many users have the opportunity to build a full test lab to run a comprehensive performance test suite. At the TrueNAS Engineering lab, we maintain a performance lab for our customers and for the benefit of the broader TrueNAS community user base.

There are three general categories of tests that the TrueNAS team runs:

Single Client: A single client (Linux, Windows, Mac) connects via a higher-speed LAN (faster than the target bandwidth by 50%) to the NAS. The test suite (e.g., fio) runs on the client. This approach often tests the client operating system and software implementation as much as the NAS, and IOPS and bandwidth results are frequently client-limited. For example, a client may be restricted to less than 3GB/s even though the NAS itself has been verified as capable of greater than 10GB/s total. TCP and storage session protocols (iSCSI, NFS, SMB) can limit the client’s performance; but this test is important to conduct as it is a realistic use-case.

Multi-client: Given that each client is usually restricted to 2-3GB/s, a system capable of 10 or 20 GB/s needs more than 10 clients to test a NAS simultaneously. The only approach is to have a lab with tens of virtual or physical clients running each of the protocols. Purely synthetic tests like fio are used, as well as more complicated real-world workload tests like virtualization and software-build tests. The aggregate bandwidth and IOPS served to all clients are the final measures of success in this test.

Client Scalability: The last class of tests is needed to simulate use cases with thousands of clients accessing the same NAS. Thousands of users in a school, university, or large company may use a shared storage system, typically via SMB. How the NAS handles those thousands of TCP connections and sessions is important to scalability and reliable operation. To set up this test, we’ve invested in virtualizing thousands of Windows Active Directory (AD) and SMB clients.

Step 5: Choosing a Software Test Suite

There are many test suites out there. Unfortunately, most are for testing individual drives. We recommend the following to get useful results:

Test with a suite that is intended for NAS systems. Synthetic tests like fio fall into this category, providing many options for identifying performance issues.

Do not test by copying data. Copying data goes through a different client path than reading and writing data. Depending on your client, copying data can be very single-threaded and latency-sensitive. Using dd or copying folders will give you poor measurements compared with fio, and in this scenario you may be testing your copy software, not the NAS.

Pick a realistic IO size for your workload. The storage industry previously fixated on 4KB IOPS because applications like Oracle would use this size IO – but unless you’re using Oracle or a similar transactional database, it’s likely your standard IO size is between 32 KB and 1 MB. Test with that to assess your bandwidth and IOPS.

Look at queue depth. A local SSD will often perform better than a network share because of latency differences. Unless you use 100Gbe networking, networks will restrict bandwidth and add latency. Storage systems overcome latency issues by increasing “queue depth”, the number of simultaneous outstanding IOs. If your workload allows for multiple outstanding IOs, increase the testing queue depth. Much like adding more lanes on a highway, latency remains mostly the same, but with potentially greater throughput and IOPS results.

Make sure your network is solid. Ensure that the network path between testing clients and your NAS is reliable with no packet loss, jitter, or retransmissions. Network interruptions or errors impact TCP performance and reduce bandwidth. Using lossy mediums like Wi-Fi to test is not recommended.

In the TrueNAS performance labs, we run these tests across a range of platforms and media. Our goals are to confidently measure and predict the performance of Enterprise systems, as well as ensuring optimizations across the hardware and software stack of TrueNAS. We can also experiment with tuning options for specific workloads to offer best practices for our customers and community.

Electric Eel delivers Real Performance Improvements

Electric Eel benefits from improvements in OpenZFS, Linux, Samba, and of course optimizations in TrueNAS itself. Systems with an existing hardware bottleneck may not see obvious performance changes, but larger systems need software that scales its performance with hardware such as increasing CPU core and drive counts.

TrueNAS 24.10 builds on the 24.04 base and increases performance for basic storage services. Typically, we have measured up to a 70% IOPS improvement for all 3 major storage protocols (iSCSI, SMB, and NFS) when compared to TrueNAS 13.0. The improvement was measured on an identical hardware configuration, implying that the previous level of performance can be achieved with 30% fewer drives and processor cores for a budget-constrained use case.

“iSCSI Mixed Workload with VDIv2 Benchmark”

These performance gains are the result of tuning at each level of the software stack. The Linux OS has improved management of threads and interrupts, the iSCSI stack has lower latency and better parallelism, and code paths in OpenZFS 2.3 have made their own improvements to parallelism and latency. In the spirit of open source, the TrueNAS Engineering team helped contribute to the iSCSI and OpenZFS endeavours, ensuring that community members of both upstream projects can benefit.

Additionally, we also observed more than 50% performance improvements from changing media to NVMe SSDs vs SAS SSDs. Platforms like the all-NVMe F-Series can deliver 150% more performance than the previous generation of SAS-based storage.

Other highlights of the Electric Eel testing include:

Exceeding 20GB/s read performance on the F100 for all three storage protocols. The storage protocols all behave similarly over TCP. Write performance is about half as much due to the need to both write to the SLOG device and the pool for data integrity.

Exceeding 250K IOPS for 32KB block sizes on the F100. 32KB is a typical block size for virtualization workloads or more modern databases. This performance was observed over all three primary storage protocols.

Exceeding 2.5GB/s on a single client for each storage protocol (SMB, NFS, iSCSI) for read, write, and mixed R/W workloads. The F-Series is the lowest latency and offers the greatest throughput, but other platforms are typically above 2GB/s.

Each platform met its performance target across all three primary storage protocols, which is a testament not only to OpenZFS’s tremendous scalability, but the refinement of their implementation within TrueNAS to extract maximum performance.

Future Performance Improvements

Electric Eel includes an experimental version of OpenZFS Fast Dedup. After confirming stability and performance, we plan to introduce new TrueNAS product configurations for optimal use of this feature. The goal of this testing is to allow Fast Dedup to have a relatively low impact on performance if the system is well configured.

The upcoming OpenZFS 2.3 release (planned for availability with TrueNAS 25.04 “Fangtooth”) also includes Direct IO for NVMe, which enables even higher maximum bandwidths when using high-performance storage devices with workloads that don’t benefit as strongly from caching. Tests for this feature are still pending completion, so stay tuned for future updates and information on the upcoming TrueNAS 25.04 as we move forward with development.

The TrueNAS Apps ecosystem has moved to a Docker back end, which has significantly reduced base CPU load and memory overhead. This reduced overhead has enabled better performance for systems running Apps like Minio and Syncthing. While we don’t have quantified measurements in terms of bandwidth and IOPS, our community users have reported an overall positive perceived impact.

Evolution of TrueNAS

Given the quality, security, performance, and App improvements, we recommend that new TrueNAS users start their journey with “Electric Eel” to benefit from the latest changes. We will begin shipping TrueNAS 24.10 as the default software installed on our TrueNAS products in Q1 2025.

With the explosive popularity of Electric Eel, already more popular than Dragonfish and CORE 13.0, nearly all new deployments should deploy TrueNAS 24.10. Current TrueNAS CORE users can elect to remain on CORE or upgrade to Electric Eel. Performance has now exceeded 13.0 and the software is expected to mature further in 2025.

Join the Growing SCALE Community

With the release of TrueNAS SCALE 24.10, there’s never been a better time to join the growing TrueNAS community. Download the SCALE 24.10 installer or upgrade from within the TrueNAS web UI and experience True Data Freedom. Then, ensure you’ve signed up for the newly relaunched TrueNAS Community Forums to share your experience. The TrueNAS Software Status page advises which TrueNAS version is right for your systems.

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TrueNAS 24.10.1 “Electric Eel” is Charged Up

Václav Navrátil — Wed, 18 Dec 2024 20:18:34 +0000

Following the highly successful initial release of “Electric Eel” the TrueNAS team is excited to announce the availability of the TrueNAS 24.10.1 update, downloadable from truenas.com/download-truenas-scale/ or within your existing TrueNAS installation. With over 60,000 adopters in a 6-week release period, 24.10 is the most popular TrueNAS release yet, and with good reason – it’s packed with several long-anticipated features like:

Docker Compose
RAIDZ Expansion
Updated WebUI with Global Search
Customizable Dashboard Widget
NVMe enablement for H-Series
Fast Dedup (experimental)

With its robust feature set, it’s no surprise that TrueNAS has seen record-setting adoption rate, with 24.10 already surpassing even the most popular versions of 13.0 and TrueNAS 24.04 to claim first-place on the charts. With the interest in Docker Compose powered Apps and reports of users leveraging the RAIDZ expansion, it’s the first time that an initial release version of TrueNAS has leapfrogged the previous one. Our previous release, TrueNAS 24.04 “Dragonfish” is still widely used both in Community and Enterprise installations, and is still the recommended version for our Mission-Critical users. For recommendations on when to update your system, visit the Software Status page..

Over 160 Improvements in the First Update

TrueNAS 24.10.1 adds polish and maturity to the “Electric Eel” release, with over 160 bug fixes and improvements included in the update. We expect this version to be just as popular as the initial release with our Community users, and anticipate some of our Enterprise customers who want to leverage the Docker features to add to the growing numbers. The TrueNAS team has already begun work on preparing the next update 24.10.2 – planned for release in February of 2025. The next major version of TrueNAS, codenamed “Fangtooth”, is scheduled to be available for BETA testers in February 2025. This version will include Incus support for LXC containers, further improve flexibility around IP addressing for Apps, and several other functionality and performance boosts. Additional details will be made available prior to the BETA version.

TrueNAS H-Series Gains NVMe Support

Our versatile TrueNAS H-Series gained even more flexibility with the release of 24.10, unlocking NVMe storage options on all existing units in the field. The H-Series is the perfect vehicle for delivering the power of TrueNAS in a compact (2U), power-efficient package, and with tri-mode SAS/NVMe storage options on all twelve bays, up to 360 TB of NVMe storage is available for all-flash solutions. When paired with the 4U 102-bay ES102 expansion shelf, the TrueNAS H-Series also supports up to 2.5PB of HDD capacity in a compact 6U total package, letting you leverage both performance and capacity in a single solution. With connection options available in 10/25/40/100 GbE, and up to 2 GB/s of storage bandwidth available from the TrueNAS H10 or up to 4 GB/s from the H20, the H-Series delivers incredible value and high availability at an attractive cost of ownership.

TrueNAS F-Series Grows NVMe Capacity

For our customers seeking maximum performance, the all-NVMe TrueNAS F-Series can now accelerate even more of your data with up to 5 PB capacity available, and 10 PB capacity expected in the near future. Both the TrueNAS F60 and F100 can be expanded with the ES24N, an NVMe-powered expansion shelf with the same robust enclosure management support of a traditional SAS expansion. Talk to a TrueNAS sales rep if you need more information.

Enhanced Performance with the latest OpenZFS Developments

All of the new features in 24.10 benefit from the latest development work in the OpenZFS filesystem and Linux protocol stack. With the latest TrueNAS 24.10.1 release, the performance team has observed up to 45% improvements in the most demanding workloads, including virtualization access over iSCSI. These performance improvements bring TrueNAS 24.10 ahead of not only prior Linux-powered TrueNAS releases, but also the BSD-powered TrueNAS 13.0. The new Fast Dedup capability remains tagged as “Experimental” in 24.10.1 while we continue testing in our Performance lab. We expect full production availability in Q1 2025. In a well-engineered system, we expect deduplication to be performed while maintaining the majority of system performance. If you’re interested in learning more about Fast Dedup or want to be notified of availability as soon as possible, talk to a TrueNAS sales representative today and let us know you’re interested.

Ready When You Are

This updated version, TrueNAS 24.10.1, has been released and is ready to download or update from the Web UI. Monitor the Software Status page to see when your use case aligns with the updated version. When you’re ready, join the tens of thousands of users already powering up with Electric Eel. Don’t forget to stop by the TrueNAS Forums to share your knowledge and experience. Join today and help others unlock the power of True Data Freedom with TrueNAS.

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TrueNAS Wins TrustRadius 2025 Buyer’s Choice Award for Exceptional Value and Customer Experience

Václav Navrátil — Wed, 30 Oct 2024 19:29:22 +0000

SAN JOSE, CA, October 30, 2024 – iXsystems, the company behind TrueNAS Enterprise storage solutions, today announced that TrueNAS has been recognized with the inaugural 2025 Buyer’s Choice Award from TrustRadius, a leading customer review platform for business technology. The award honors products rated highest by customers for capabilities, value, and customer relationships, highlighting TrueNAS’s dedication to providing reliable, enterprise storage solutions.

The TrustRadius Buyer’s Choice Award is entirely based on verified customer reviews, emphasizing the significance of unbiased feedback in recognizing product excellence. TrueNAS has earned a 9.1 out of 10 rating on TrustRadius from dozens of customers, demonstrating its excellence in security and performance capabilities, value for price, and customer support. TrueNAS’s recognition reaffirms its commitment to delivering quality, transparency, and true customer satisfaction.

“Input from our customer community is integral to the TrueNAS development process, and this recognition by TrustRadius is a testament to the value our users see in TrueNAS,” said Brett Davis, Executive Vice President at iXsystems. “We remain committed to helping our customers leverage open storage to simplify operations, reduce costs, and enhance data protection. The Buyer’s Choice Award speaks to our continuous mission of providing open and reliable storage solutions that deliver peace of mind. Tremendous thanks to our customers who took the time to share their TrueNAS experiences with the world.”

TrueNAS is open enterprise storage, trusted globally from the data center to the edge. Built around the legendary ZFS file system, it offers high-performance, reliable, and scalable storage solutions for enterprises and small businesses, excelling in virtualization, media production, backup, and big data workloads, with robust data protection, cloud integration, and multi-protocol support. Winning the Buyer’s Choice Award, one of several awards TrueNAS has won in the past year, further demonstrates the success of open enterprise storage in addressing customer needs and providing exceptional value.

For more information about the TrustRadius Buyer’s Choice Award and to read customer reviews, please visit the TrustRadius website.

About TrueNAS

TrueNAS is the world’s most deployed storage software. Relied upon by millions globally, TrueNAS is an award-winning data platform used by a majority of Fortune 500™ companies. TrueNAS harnesses the power of the ZFS file system to provide scalable, unified storage with reliability and performance demanded by data-heavy workloads. TrueNAS helps organizations modernize data storage by leveraging open technology to simplify operations and drastically reduce costs.

To learn more about TrueNAS Enterprise storage solutions, visit: www.truenas.com.

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TrueNAS 24.10 “Electric Eel” Powers Up Your Storage

Václav Navrátil — Tue, 29 Oct 2024 19:33:49 +0000

After a tremendously successful and widely deployed BETA and RC, we’re pleased to announce that TrueNAS 24.10 “Electric Eel” has reached its official RELEASE version today, and is downloadable now from truenas.com/download-truenas-scale/ or by selecting to upgrade from within your existing SCALE installation.

Electric Eel succeeds Dragonfish (24.04.2.3), which is widely adopted in both Community and Enterprise installations. Dragonfish has become the most deployed version of TrueNAS, surpassing 13.0. TrueNAS 24.04 is also recommended for Mission-Critical deployments with significantly improved security and faster failover capabilities.

With over 9000 testers in our pre-release period, it’s no secret that Electric Eel is our most-anticipated release yet, and with good reason – it’s packed with several long-anticipated features like Docker Compose, both on the surface and under the hood, so let’s dig right in.

RAIDZ Expansion Is Here

One of the sticking points that we’ve heard from our community for years was the limitation that OpenZFS wasn’t able to expand its parity-based RAIDZ layouts by a single drive at a time.

After several years of intense development, testing, and debugging, we’re proud to announce that you can now pair the legendary resilience of OpenZFS with the easy expansion of conventional RAID solutions – drive-at-a-time expand is here.

Systems can be expanded online, one drive at a time, with no interruption in service – regardless of whether you’re using single, double, or triple-parity protection.

Traditional expansion using full vdevs is still available as before, and is the preferred method, but the new single-drive expansion offers new flexibility for smaller systems that may not have as many available drive bays.

Docker Touches Down with Improved Apps Handling

Since the initial launch of TrueNAS SCALE, Apps have played a major role in its adoption and flexibility.

Being able to run applications directly on the same system as their storage allows for both small “micro-service” style apps to leverage available power on a server, and for I/O-intensive applications to cut out network latency entirely from their workflow.

TrueNAS 24.10 migrates the previous Kubernetes-based Application back-end to the simpler Docker Compose solution, while seamlessly migrating and preserving the data of existing App installations.

If we haven’t built your preferred application out in our easy-to-install App catalog yet, or you’d like to customize it for your own specific needs, TrueNAS 24.10 also has full support for custom YAML config files (with the exception of individual IP addresses per application – coming in a post-release update) allowing you to import any of the hundreds of thousands of public Docker applications.

Want still more customization? Install the Dockge or Portainer runtimes on top of TrueNAS, directly from our App catalog – and tweak to your heart’s content.

For those who still want to leverage Kubernetes applications, a Kubernetes runtime can still be installed into a containerized or virtualized solution directly on TrueNAS; however, the primary method of App development and delivery will be through Docker and Docker Compose.

Fast Dedup Breaks Cover

Over a year ago, the TrueNAS development team and Klara Systems, along with members of the OpenZFS community, embarked on a journey to improve the data-reduction capabilities of OpenZFS through the Fast Deduplication project.

Several use cases can benefit from deduplication, including virtualization and office file storage where files may be copied to multiple locations by end-users; however, with the legacy OpenZFS deduplication algorithms, the overhead of maintaining the deduplication metadata tables in-memory at all times led to performance challenges and usability issues at scale.

Fast Dedup addresses these issues with multiple adjustments, including a more efficient metadata structure, a log-based write queue, and pruning of non-duplicate entries – all of which combine to shrink the memory footprint of deduplication by up to 90% in many scenarios.

The Fast Dedup feature is now ready for testing in TrueNAS 24.10, but is not recommended for serious production use at this time. We expect to provide testing results and any necessary code improvements in early 2025.

Global Search and Customizable Dashboard Widgets

Our new global UI search option helps you get to the settings you want faster than ever before. With just a few keystrokes, find the page you want, go there with a single click, and helpful highlights will appear to guide your eyes to the correct form, button, or area to explore next.

Can’t find what you want or need to dig deeper? Use the same menu to search the TrueNAS Docs site for more information. You can also use the new TrueNAS AI Search tool to ask more conversational questions and generate solutions to specific TrueNAS problems.

Usability and customization go hand-in-hand. While the TrueNAS team has designed a default dashboard with essential information, we know users have unique needs.

With our new customizable dashboard, you can place your most crucial information front and center, ready the moment you log in.

TrueNAS H-Series Gains NVMe Support

This spring, we launched the newest member of our TrueNAS Enterprise hardware family, the versatile TrueNAS H-Series, the perfect vehicle for delivering the power of TrueNAS in a compact, power-efficient package.

Now, the H-Series gets a jolt of extra horsepower from the release of TrueNAS 24.10 with the enabling of NVMe storage options on all twelve bays, bringing the maximum capacity of the H-Series to 360 TB using twelve 30 TB NVMe drives.

This new functionality is ready to be enabled in the field with an upgrade to Electric Eel; no controller replacement or component swaps needed. This tri-mode (SAS & NVMe) capability with High Availability is relatively unique in a 2U cost-effective platform.

New TrueNAS H-Series units configured with NVMe drives will ship with TrueNAS 24.10 already installed; existing TrueNAS Enterprise customers looking to take advantage of NVMe on H-Series platforms should reach out to our Support team to discuss an upgrade path that fits their needs.

Ready When You Are

The initial version, TrueNAS 24.10.0, is released and ready to download immediately.

Keep an eye on the Software Status page to see when your use case aligns with the new version, and when you’re ready, join the thousands of users already powering up with Electric Eel by downloading the installer or upgrading from within the TrueNAS UI; and don’t forget to stop by the TrueNAS Forums to share your knowledge and experience.

Join today and help others unlock the power of True Data Freedom with TrueNAS.

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TrueNAS Delivers the Industry’s First Integration of OpenZFS 2.3

Václav Navrátil — Mon, 21 Oct 2024 20:44:01 +0000

TrueNAS uses OpenZFS as the foundation for its data management layer and is the deployment vehicle for the majority of OpenZFS storage systems used today. Here at TrueNAS, we love OpenZFS, and it continues to improve with the branching of OpenZFS 2.3 on October 4th, 2024.

The TrueNAS Engineering team has been significantly contributing to the codebase of OpenZFS 2.3, and Electric Eel (TrueNAS 24.10) includes several new and long-anticipated OpenZFS 2.3 features. The current development version of TrueNAS, “Fangtooth”, aligns with the full OpenZFS 2.3 release and will use this version of OpenZFS throughout its version lifecycle.

With every new version of both TrueNAS and OpenZFS, additional features, test cases, and bug fixes are included. The previous OpenZFS 2.2 brought dRAID and block cloning to TrueNAS Dragonfish (24.04) and CORE 13.3. TrueNAS 24.10 adds a number of new features, including two highly anticipated enhancements: Fast Dedup and RAIDZ expansion.

This blog highlights these new capabilities and their status within TrueNAS.

Fast Dedup Development is Complete

Deduplication is highly desirable for many workloads, including virtualization and several file storage use cases. Where there is naturally a high ratio of redundant data within a pool, deduplication effectively increases the usable capacity of the drives and the efficiency of the Adaptive Replacement Cache (ARC) and Level 2 ARC (L2ARC).

One of the primary challenges with traditional ZFS deduplication has been keeping the large deduplication metadata tables in memory at all times to avoid significant performance penalties. This existing functionality was not performant and led to usability issues during operation. As the size of the deduplication tables increased, the ZFS ARC would shrink, and performance would degrade as the pool filled, leading to a poor user experience and challenges when scaling to higher storage capacities.

With the inclusion of Fast Dedup, the metadata size can now be automatically constrained to fit in either primary RAM or dedicated flash devices to avoid hitting the performance penalty wall. In addition, the metadata structure for Fast Dedup has been completely re-engineered to enable efficient updates and the ability to prune non-duplicate blocks, effectively shrinking the memory footprint of the deduplication tables by 90% in many cases.

Combining these metadata improvements with properly configured storage will improve deduplication performance by an order of magnitude for larger systems. Performance is more stable as the pool is filled, leading to predictable behavior and enhanced space-efficiency.

This Fast Dedup project started in 2023 and was committed to the OpenZFS project as a “Valentine’s Day Gift” in 2024. Allan Jude and Klara Systems collaborated with Alexander Motin and the TrueNAS Engineering team along with members of the OpenZFS community, and development was completed in September of this year. We appreciate the hard work and dedication shown by all contributors and testers to help bring this project through to completion.

With development completed, Fast Dedup is now ready for testing but not yet suggested for serious production use. Within TrueNAS, it is marked as Experimental. We expect to provide test results along with any necessary code improvements in early 2025.

RAIDZ Expansion is Finally Available

The expansion process is done while the ZFS pool is online, similar to the resilvering process when a drive fails and is replaced. Once completed, the larger pool’s full performance is available. The new disk is used immediately, with additional capacity being reclaimed as existing data is rewritten.

This project took several years to complete and test, will be included in OpenZFS 2.3, and is available now in TrueNAS 24.10. TrueNAS sponsored this work to benefit smaller systems and is fully supported within TrueNAS Electric Eel.

OpenZFS Direct IO Improves NVMe Performance

Direct IO is one of the latest features included in OpenZFS 2.3 and was provided by Los Alamos Labs. It provides the option to bypass the ARC when storing data directly on NVMe drives. Removing memory copies can increase a system’s bandwidth by over 30%. The primary use case for Direct IO is storing checkpoint data in High-Performance Computing (HPC) clusters. This specific use case sees very little benefit from the read caching of the ZFS ARC (Adaptive Replacement Cache).

The Direct IO feature will only be available via Fangtooth. We are looking forward to testing for use cases that benefit our customers. Most workloads, however, will continue to benefit significantly from the default settings with ARC fully enabled.

What else is in TrueNAS 24.10?

In addition to the major features highlighted above, TrueNAS 24.10 includes an upgraded and improved webUI, enhancements to cloud backup integration, the replacement of Kubernetes with Docker for TrueNAS Apps, improved hardware support and drivers, and much more. For more details, see the Release Notes and join the discussion on the TrueNAS Forums, where some of the over 5,000 testers of 24.10 pre-release versions are sharing their feedback and tips.

TrueNAS 24.10 “Electric Eel” is planned for formal release near the end of October 2024. Want to learn more about TrueNAS solutions in your business? Contact us to speak to a product specialist, and find out how to harness the power of open source storage.

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Electric Eel is Now Feature-Complete

Pee Jay Latombo — Wed, 02 Oct 2024 18:21:03 +0000

TrueNAS Electric Eel (SCALE 24.10) is now feature-complete with the availability of the first Release Candidate. TrueNAS SCALE 24.10-RC.1 is now available for download, or update directly from within your existing TrueNAS installation. As always, please carefully read the Release Notes before deploying or updating your system.

Electric Eel emerged into the BETA stage on August 29th. In the last four weeks, a record number of users have volunteered to test Electric Eel and explore the new Docker-powered App capabilities. The Electric Eel uptake rate is over 3X Dragonfish and over 10X the 13.3 BETA versions.

The BETA process has proven that in-place App migration from Kubernetes to Docker will work for the existing catalog applications, with user data preserved. As of RC1, we have reached 100% in the Porting and Migration progress, as tracked on our GitHub Apps page. All previous Apps have been ported for new installs under the Docker framework, and users with existing Kubernetes-based installations from Dragonfish can automatically migrate during the TrueNAS upgrade process. Shout-out to our amazing Apps engineering team, as well as the community members who helped us test the migration processes during BETA. With this important migration milestone reached, we can now turn our attention to adding new Apps and Features in the coming months.

In addition to achieving parity between the old and new App catalogs, Custom Apps deployed under Dragonfish and earlier as Docker images can now be migrated to the native Docker framework in Electric Eel. More advanced settings such as manually installed Docker provisioning in a systemd-nspawn container using the community Jailmaker will need to be manually migrated.

What’s new in Electric Eel RC.1

We’d like to extend our thanks to our community members who jumped into the BETA release with both feet, eagerly testing, reporting, and helping us correct bugs. Our first BETA version was a success, and today’s RC.1 has 200 additional fixes and improvements.

Building on our community feedback, the engineering team has made several major improvements and has now completed the Electric Eel feature set. New functionality and changes in 24.10-RC.1 include:

Login Alerts on root/admin user login or attempted login
App logs are better captured and displayed in the UI
Improved App Info cards (now with links)
App Utilization (CPU/Memory/Network/Disk IO) displayed on the Apps page
New Dashboard is completed with better mobile support. The legacy “Old Dashboard” has been removed.
Custom App YAML Editor allows for custom application configurations to be deployed. (If a GUI is desired, we suggest deploying the built-in Portainer App.)
Custom App Migration is enabled for users who deployed Docker images in Dragonfish and earlier using the “Custom App” UI option
NVIDIA drivers are now handled in a more modular manner, and can be installed dynamically post-installation

Install the new modular NVIDIA drivers from the Apps -> Settings Page in 24.10

One of the major anticipated features of the Docker framework in Electric Eel that users have expressed interest in is the YAML editor for advanced Apps configuration. In 24.10-RC.1, the Custom App YAML editor now allows more complex Apps to be created and deployed through editing of the configuration file. For RC1, the ability to allocate a unique IP address for an installed App is not yet present. This functionality is planned as an App infrastructure update after the RELEASE version of Electric Eel is completed.

With BETA completed and now RC.1 released, the total feature set of Electric Eel can be summarized. We’re looking forward to more feedback (and bug reports!) from our community.

You can look forward to more blog posts and emails highlighting these new features and upgrades in 24.10 – while many of them are already present in RC.1, some of these features won’t be ready until RELEASE, while others such as Fast Deduplication are labeled as Experimental and should be handled with care by early adopters and testers only.

With Electric Eel now feature-complete, the TrueNAS engineering team is focused on the development of the next release, “Fangtooth” in mid 2025. More information will be available at the end of 2024. Many thanks to those who submitted, and voted for, the Feature Requests that have already been adopted. If you have a specific feature or functionality that you feel would benefit TrueNAS, please feel free to submit it on our Community Forums, and vote for other suggested features to help us enhance 24.10 and beyond.

When Should I Migrate?

If you are deploying a new TrueNAS system, we recommend TrueNAS SCALE Dragonfish 24.04.2.2 for:

Added functionality over CORE
Vastly broader hardware support
Expanded App catalog (which will migrate to Electric Eel)
Sandboxes provide jail-like capabilities using systemd containers
Better performance on most workloads
Improved web UI makes managing TrueNAS easier than ever

Dragonfish users can easily update to Electric Eel RC.1 when desired, but at this point we only recommend it for early adopters. We recommend users review the TrueNAS Software Status page for advice.

If you’re ready to explore the Electric Eel Release Candidate, grab it from our downloads page now – and stay tuned for the upcoming full release!

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Enhanced Data Migration in Electric Eel

Pee Jay Latombo — Thu, 26 Sep 2024 17:05:03 +0000

One of the cornerstones of TrueNAS is how your data can be managed and manipulated. We believe that your data belongs to you, free from proprietary systems and vendor lock-in – part of our promise to what we call True Data Freedom.

While vendor lock-in can be deliberate and calculated on the part of the vendor, feeling locked-in to a storage ecosystem can often have more to do with simply fearing the time, effort, and pain of migrating the data to another vendor’s product, only to risk being stranded again in yet another different vendor’s ecosystem. While most vendors often provide tools to migrate to another one of their own products, they never make it simple to move to another vendor’s product.

To combat this, TrueNAS 23.10 introduced the Enterprise File Sync feature with Syncthing to enhance data mobility and simplify data migrations both onto – and off of – TrueNAS systems. TrueNAS 24.04 refined that feature set, and now TrueNAS 24.10 is poised to enhance it even further with the inclusion of SMB Alternate Data Stream (ADS) import. With the inclusion of SMB ADS migration, it will be easier than ever to migrate from a third-party NAS solution onto TrueNAS, or if you so please, off of TrueNAS onto something else.

With TrueNAS, the only way we want to lock you in is by providing an experience so good you don’t want to leave. And, if we can’t provide that, we provide the tools to help you do so.

What are Alternate Data Streams?

Have you ever downloaded a program or document from the internet, and received a warning message from your operating system that the file or some component was blocked because it was “untrusted” or “unsafe”?

This so-called “Mark of the Web” comes from the presence of an SMB Alternate Data Stream, in this case a flag attached to the file called “Zone.Identifier” that indicates the original URL of the file.

The Mark of the Web is just one of many Alternate Data Streams; with other applications choosing to store application data or metadata – ranging from simple timestamps to answer “when was this file last opened?” or more complex organization features such as MacOS file colors and tagging.

While TrueNAS has supported Alternate Data Streams when serving SMB shares for some time, Electric Eel now allows for the migration of these crucial pieces of metadata when importing data from third-party NAS solutions.

Migrate Data Easily From Any Compatible Third-Party NAS Solution

Using the Syncthing Enterprise application, TrueNAS 24.10 will have the ability to connect to a remote SMBv3 server directly from your TrueNAS installation. No plugin or service installation will be required on the source NAS server. A common identity service (such as Active Directory) must be used in order to synchronize security information and descriptors. If the two systems cannot use the same identity service, permissions will need to be updated after the migration. More information can be found on the TrueNAS Docs site under Third-Party Data Migration, and TrueNAS Enterprise customers with a valid support agreement can contact iXsystems for direct assistance.

Using two copies of Syncthing Enterprise, TrueNAS can ensure that file consistency is maintained during the migration process, while keeping the source data available for use. Any changes made on the third-party system are automatically reflected on TrueNAS. No more manually running scripts or batch jobs, no more “pivot” systems in the middle of the data flow – simply enjoy the power and simplicity of TrueNAS and Syncthing working together.

Learn More

As we draw closer to the full release of TrueNAS 24.10, stay tuned for additional updates on new features and functionality that will arrive later this year. If you’re just starting out with your journey, you can download the current version of TrueNAS SCALE 24.04, and upgrade to 24.10 later this year.

For supported, Enterprise-ready solutions, check out our full line of TrueNAS systems, from the energy-efficient, highly-available H-series edge system to the performance flagship all-NVMe F-series. For help selecting and right-sizing the systems for your particular need, contact us directly to arrange a chat with one of our experts to learn more about how TrueNAS can help your organization.

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TrueNAS Security in 2024

Pee Jay Latombo — Thu, 12 Sep 2024 20:38:45 +0000

Network security is the first line of defense against data breaches. TrueNAS, when configured within a secure network, offers enhanced protection against security risks.

This blog explores the security features in TrueNAS SCALE, including the new features in Electric Eel (24.10), as well as the TrueSecure™ package, designed to meet stringent commercial and government security standards.

TrueSecure^TM is an optional feature package for TrueNAS Enterprise that offers a robust set of enterprise-level software and hardware capabilities to meet high security and compliance standards.

The key features of TrueSecure^TM include:

- FIPS 140-validated cryptographic modules for SSL-based encryption of data in transit
- FIPS 140-validated HDD and SSD media for encryption of data at rest
- KMIP for centralized management of encryption keys
- Optional restricted administration roles for limited access
- Immutable ZFS Snapshots to further enhance ransomware protection
- General Purpose OS STIG support and NIST 800-209 compliance to meet US federal requirements

With the optional TrueSecure^TM feature package, TrueNAS complies with the requirements of the NIST Cybersecurity Framework to make Federal-level storage security as cost-effective as possible. With this foundation, TrueNAS can be used for federal government use cases from military bases to law enforcement and secure research organizations.

By default, TrueNAS includes a wide range of capabilities intended to simplify the delivery of secure storage infrastructure, including network encryption, access control, auditing, and logging functions.

Security notices (CVEs) and the Software Bill of Materials (SBoM) are available via the updated TrueNAS security site. For developers or those with an intimate knowledge of programming, the TrueNAS source code is available for review via GitHub. We believe that sunlight is one of the best disinfectants.

Secure for Enterprises

While some consumer storage vendors prioritize ease of use over security, exposing themselves to exploits that lead to virus or ransomware attacks, TrueNAS places security at the forefront. With built-in features that reduce attack vectors and restrict admin access, TrueNAS is designed to seamlessly integrate into secure network environments, providing enterprise protection against evolving threats.

New threats come online with such frequency that new features and tools are always needed to stay ahead of the curve. In the last year, TrueNAS Enterprise has added a FIPS 140-2 validated crypto module and the option to enable Restricted Admins on Enterprise appliances. Let’s dive into Restricted Admins and then review the other key security features available in Electric Eel.

Restricted Admins

TrueNAS Enterprise 24.04 and later versions introduce three admin roles—System Admins, Storage Admins, and Monitor-Only Admins—to enhance security and limit access. This multi-level admin structure ensures that sensitive actions are restricted to authorized personnel, significantly reducing the risk of unauthorized data access or manipulation.

System Admins have the authority to set up the system, much like the original root user. They set up the system and its security posture, including connections to AD, LDAP, and KMIP and configuring any passwords required. However, once the system is set up, they then create storage admins to operate the system. They are needed to retire systems and delete pools or immutable snapshots. For security reasons, only a select few users should be made System Admins.

Storage Admins have the authority to create, configure, and delete shares and snapshots, and can also set immutability; however, they do not have the authority to destroy pools or immutable snapshots. There can be as many Storage Admins as needed.

Monitor-Only Admins have the authority to review configurations, performance, and check alerts, but can’t make changes to the system. They are often the storage users in the organization who can check that systems are supporting their applications. Where needed, they can request that a Storage Admin sign in to make approved changes.

Administrator roles are restricted regardless of the method of access, whether that be the WebUI, CLI, or API, with optional Two-Factor Authentication (2FA) used to secure interactive access.

TrueNAS Security Features

TrueNAS offers a comprehensive suite of security features, including encryption, access control, and logging, all designed to protect data integrity and compliance. These features ensure that TrueNAS remains a secure and reliable choice for organizations of any size.

While TrueNAS provides robust security, it’s essential to also follow general network security best practices, such as using firewalls, Intrusion Detection/Prevention Systems, and integrating with a directory service such as Active Directory or LDAP, to maximize your defense-in-depth..

With recent releases of TrueNAS SCALE, there have been many security advancements:

Rootless administration allows changing away from using the commonly known “root” username, and instead setting up your own unique administrator usernames and passwords. This is the precursor to Restricted Admins.

Snapshot retention tags can prevent snapshots from being deleted, remaining on the system permanently as a restore point. This provides additional protection against ransomware by allowing the administrator to make a decision on when it is safe and appropriate to remove the ZFS snapshot outside of normal retention policies. Immutability is managed via this mechanism and ensured through Restricted Admins.

2-Factor Authentication (2FA) verifies the identities of administrators using Google Authenticator or any Time-based One-Time Password (TOTP) compliant authentication application.

iX-Storj Globally Distributed Storage inherently protects data by encrypting it on the TrueNAS system before distributing the data via erasure coding over a global network. Thanks to the combination of zero-trust and zero-knowledge encryption in use, no storage provider or government entity has access to your private data stored on iX-Storj. Electric Eel adds a cloud backup capability that provides robust backup and restore capabilities with immutable cloud snapshots for both shares and LUNs.

Auditing and logging capabilities have been added to increase security of system administration and SMB file sharing. Electric Eel adds logging of all configuration changes, any sudo commands, and attempts to login via ssh or Web UI.

Authentication and Authorization capabilities are required in any organization. Active Directory and LDAP are used to provide identity authentication and user authorization services for a whole organization. TrueNAS integrates well into these services. With Electric Eel, FreeIPA is also supported for those looking for an Open Source identity management.

TrueSecure Features

Some security capabilities are specific to the TrueSecure feature package available with TrueNAS Enterprise. As a reminder, TrueSecure provides the following additional security capabilities:

Restricted Admins provide separate roles for system/security admins, storage admins and monitors. As described earlier, these role separations are critical for larger organizations.

FIPS 140-2 validated storage media provide highly secure Data-at-Rest capabilities. Both HDD and SSD (SAS or NVMe) drives can be provided on standard TrueNAS Enterprise systems. These drives are similar to self-encrypting drives (SED) but include tamper-proof mechanisms for additional security.

FIPS 140-2 validated software encryption module provides highly secure Data-in-Transit capabilities. The validated encryption algorithms are more secure than the current open source algorithms and validated for use in critical Federal use-cases. For example, these algorithms will protect administration and data replication tasks.

Key Management Interoperability Protocol (KMIP) provides the capability to centralize the management of SED and ZFS encryption passwords for larger organizations. This capability is also in TrueNAS Enterprise 13.0.

Security Technical Information Guides (STIGs) for use with TrueSecure to help lockdown TrueNAS Enterprise systems and ensure secure operation. A General Purpose OS STIG is available for guidance.

TrueNAS Enterprise is secure storage that can be configured for government-grade security. Together, all of these features can be used with Active Directory to comply with the requirements identified in NIST 800-209, the USA cyber security standard for storage systems. Similarly, these features address the security requirements identified for storage systems in ISO/IEC 27040.

With the upcoming Electric Eel release in fall 2024, new features and tools will continue to enhance security. If you’d like to learn about any TrueNAS Enterprise system or security needs, please feel free to contact us.

Discuss this article in the TrueNAS Forums!

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TrueNAS Electric Eel Emerges

Pee Jay Latombo — Thu, 22 Aug 2024 00:46:37 +0000

TrueNAS Electric Eel (aka SCALE 24.10) delivers its own shocks by introducing Docker Compose capabilities within Apps. Industry-standard Docker Compose applications can now be easily deployed on TrueNAS to benefit from the stability, flexibility, and performance of ZFS. The Electric Eel Nightly images are now available for testing, and the BETA1 version is expected to be ready in the week of August 27th. Bug fixes, feature updates, and ongoing polishing will continue until the targeted release date in October 2024.

Electric Eel Automatically converts Existing Apps to Docker

We’ve previously revealed that the transition of the TrueNAS Apps system from Kubernetes to Docker will take place in Electric Eel. We’re working hard to ensure that the migration from Helm Charts & Kubernetes to Docker Compose will be as seamless as possible for our user base.

The straightforward configuration of Docker Compose has led it to become the industry-standard tool for application distribution. Combined with optional Docker management layers like Dockge and Portainer, it’s now even easier to configure complex applications and networks.

Early testing has shown that Docker Apps not only deploy up to three times faster but also have lower CPU overhead when idle, reducing overall system power consumption. With this change, your TrueNAS Apps experience will be both faster and more efficient.

Electric eels are a neotropical freshwater fish known for their ability to stun their prey by delivering shocks at up to 860 volts. Their electrical capabilities contributed to the invention in 1800 of the electric battery. Electric Eels are now helping us save the planet!

The update to Electric Eel automates the entire Docker Compose transition process for official TrueNAS charts and standard Docker Apps deployed through the “Custom App” button. Apps like NextCloud, Plex, Syncthing, and hundreds of others will reboot with the TrueNAS Electric Eel update using Docker, but their software, data, and networking configuration will be preserved.

Because these Apps features and migration process need significant testing and validation, users with production workloads should refrain from deploying Electric Eel until after BETA and community feedback.

In addition to expanding the available Apps list and improving performance, leveraging Docker Compose capability also provides the ability to create more complex App environments, such as multiple Apps, dependencies, and associated ingress, load-balancing, VPN, and gateway policies. Multiple Apps can be bundled into their own private network. Please review the documentation and give us feedback on what works or is missing.

Sandboxes will persist during the upgrade to Electric Eel, and the existing Jailmaker script can still be utilized. Custom sandboxes are a common approach for advanced users wishing to run a Kubernetes, Podman, or other stack for those who need specific capabilities beyond Docker, such as Kubernetes APIs and Helm charts.

Electric Eel delivers more features on top of Dragonfish

TrueNAS Dragonfish (aka SCALE 24.04) has delivered on its promises with both a rich set of new features and the achievement of Enterprise quality with 24.04.2.

In addition to the Docker Compose transition, TrueNAS Electric Eel includes 400+ enhancements and bug fixes. The most obvious of the new features include the following.

Major Web UI Overhaul

The web UI has its largest overhaul since SCALE was first introduced in 2022. While the SCALE WebUI was significantly more dynamic and easier to use, the overhaul adds modern features for even greater ease-of-use.

Global Search capability significantly reduces the time to complete a task. Search for an item, and you’ll be taken to the right screen, highlighting the element to examine.

Table searching and filtering improves manageability for systems with hundreds of datasets, shares, LUNs or drives. Find problems or perform tasks in much less time.

Dashboard widgets have been extended and become size configurable. Create your own dashboards and share your recommendations.

Cloud Backup

Cloud backup to iX-Storj has been enabled. Cloud Backup extends TrueNAS functionality to backup your data to the Cloud by providing integrated snapshots (LUNs and shares), deduplication, and simple restore capabilities.

OpenZFS 2.3

OpenZFS 2.3 is still in development, and TrueNAS is tracking the latest approved updates, with several highly anticipated additions.

RAIDZ Expansion allows RAIDZ (Parity) vdevs to be expanded by one drive at a time, ideal for small footprint systems looking to expand incrementally. This feature also permits 2-drive RAIDZ1 systems, ideal for home users who want to start small on a budget.

The re-engineered Fast Dedup feature allows for deduplication to have much less performance overhead than the current dedup algorithm. Please note that Fast Dedup is not fully complete or tested and is still considered “experimental” at this time, and should not be used on production systems.

System Integration Improvements

TrueNAS is designed to simplify integration with other systems with its fully capable API. Electric Eel adds even more system integration capabilities.

Improved Data Migration: When using Syncthing to migrate from another SMB storage system, the Alternative Data Streams (ADS) are now also migrated. This can be used to migrate data from any SMB server, such as Windows, Synology, QNAP, Netapp, Pure, or Dell systems.

Cloud Management: A general initiative enables TrueNAS to be more easily installed and operated by cloud management services. This doesn’t reduce the ability to use the WebUI but makes it easier to install and operate tens and thousands of systems. Electric Eel has hooks for API-driven installation and a globally unique system ID.

FreeIPA support: While Microsoft Active Directory dominates the market, TrueNAS now enables FreeIPA, an open-source alternative to traditional AD environments.

Modular NVIDIA Drivers: The binary drivers for NVIDIA GPUs are now decoupled from the TrueNAS installation, allowing for these drivers to be updated on separate cycles from the main product.

Improved Logging: The TrueNAS built-in auditing capabilities will now log a wider variety of important changes made to the system. This includes audit logs of all changes made to any share settings or permissions and all commands run via sudo or with elevated administrative permissions. These are important for NIST 800-209 compliance.

TrueNAS Enterprise Improvements

Every TrueNAS version includes improvements that enable us to build faster and better-managed TrueNAS Enterprise appliances. Electric Eel includes a few of those features. Enterprise users should wait until Electric Eel is battle-tested before using the new software.

Tri-Mode Support: Some TrueNAS platforms are being enabled with tri-mode storage capabilities, allowing for combinations of HDDs, SAS SSDs, or NVMe SSDs in the same slots. This improves the cost, performance, and power of edge systems.

NVMe-oF Support: TrueNAS F-Series is stacked with ES24N (all-NVMe) expansion shelves for very large flash systems. This NVMe-oF architecture enables high-performing 5PB all-NVMe systems with similar management capabilities to SAS expansion shelves (JBODs).

Improved Enclosure Management: We’ve improved this popular tool for remotely managing the TrueNAS appliances. It allows the admin to visualize systems remotely and provide clear instructions for repair. The improvements include more accurate pictures of the enclosures and much faster rendering of the visual depiction, especially for very large systems.

When Should I Migrate?

If you are deploying a new TrueNAS system, we recommend TrueNAS SCALE 24.04.2 for added functionality, vastly broader hardware support, an expanded App catalog, better performance on most workloads, and an improved Web UI, all of which make managing TrueNAS easier than ever. TrueNAS 24.04 “Dragonfish” includes support for Sandboxes, which provide jail-like capabilities using systemd nspawn containers.

TrueNAS 13.0 users looking for the new capabilities outlined above can sidegrade to TrueNAS SCALE anytime, preserving data and essential NAS functionality such as SMB, NFS, iSCSI, and VMs – with the primary exception being Jails. TrueNAS 13.3 allows updates to FreeBSD jails.

As discussed here, TrueNAS 24.10 “Electric Eel” also provides a native Docker Compose environment that vastly improves running applications with lower overheads and opens the door to more complex network setups (similar to Jails). However, we do not recommend updating to Electric Eel until it is more tested and mature. For current software recommendations, always review the Software Status page for recommendations based on your profile.

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TrueNAS Launches “Powered by TrueNAS” Initiative with First Partner HexOS

Václav Navrátil — Wed, 31 Jul 2024 18:12:39 +0000

TrueNAS, the world’s leading open-source storage software, today announced the launch of its “Powered by TrueNAS” initiative. This new initiative will see TrueNAS partner with industry leaders and visionaries to deliver tailored storage solutions for specific use cases and industries.

The first partner in this exciting venture is Eshtek, the pioneering company behind the upcoming HexOS home server, dedicated to making network-attached storage accessible and easy for the less IT-savvy. By leveraging the robust and reliable TrueNAS platform, HexOS will offer users a streamlined and automated experience for managing and protecting their personal data.

HexOS provides a beautifully simple UI, making it easy for users to set up and manage their own home servers. Jonathan Panozzo, the co-founder of Eshtek, commented, “Our mission is to empower individuals with complete control over their data and privacy without requiring IT admin skills. Partnering with TrueNAS enables us to provide an enterprise foundation for our home server solution, ensuring top-notch performance, reliability and security.”

“We are thrilled to support HexOS in their mission,” said Brett Davis, EVP at TrueNAS. “Our collaboration combines TrueNAS’s enterprise reliability with HexOS’s user-friendly interface, creating a powerful solution for both content creators and everyday users.”

The HexOS beta is planned for Q3 2024, and interested users can sign up on the HexOS website to enroll in their newsletter and stay updated on the latest developments.

For more information about HexOS, please visit www.hexos.com.
To learn more about the Powered by TrueNAS initiative, click here to contact us.

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Fortify Your Data Storage: The Benefits of Expanding from One to Multiple TrueNAS Systems

Pee Jay Latombo — Wed, 24 Jul 2024 18:26:37 +0000

In today’s hyper-digital landscape, data is the lifeblood of any enterprise. For key technical decision-makers, such as solution architects, storage architects, or IT directors, the stakes are high.

Managing large amounts of data while ensuring reliability, performance, and protection from failures and breaches—all within a limited budget and with minimal complexity—is a formidable challenge.

TrueNAS, a trusted name in enterprise data storage, offers robust and scalable systems that can meet these needs. Starting with a single unit is a great way to experience TrueNAS’s capabilities, but here’s why expanding to multiple systems can truly transform your data strategy.

Unleashing the True Power of Expanding to Multiple TrueNAS Systems

Enhanced Data Protection

Starting with one TrueNAS system provides robust storage solutions, but adding a second or more units significantly enhances your data protection.

With multiple systems, you can create off-site backups using TrueNAS’s powerful replication functionality, protecting against localized disasters like fires or floods. This ensures your data is always available and secure.

Optimize for Diverse Workloads

Different tasks require different performance characteristics. By deploying multiple TrueNAS systems, you can fine-tune each unit to handle specific workloads—whether it’s high-speed NVMe storage on a flagship TrueNAS F-Series, multi-petabyte archives on a TrueNAS M-Series, or anything in between.

This customization ensures peak performance without compromise. For instance, you can dedicate one system to handle high-throughput transactional databases while another manages long-term data archives, optimizing your infrastructure to deliver superior performance tailored to each application’s unique demands.

Empower Remote Offices

With multiple TrueNAS systems, remote offices can enjoy the benefits of local storage. This setup minimizes productivity loss due to network outages and slow file transfers. TrueNAS’s two-way file synchronization keeps remote offices seamlessly connected and operational, even during network interruptions.

By having local storage at each remote site, employees can work efficiently without relying on potentially unstable internet connections, thus maintaining high productivity and operational continuity.

Unified Management with TrueCommand

Managing multiple systems can be daunting, but TrueNAS makes it simple. With a unified software stack and the powerful TrueCommand management tool, you can oversee all your TrueNAS units from a single interface. This simplifies administration and enhances operational efficiency.

TrueCommand offers comprehensive monitoring, alerting, and analytics across your entire storage environment, allowing you to manage capacity, performance, and security from a single pane of glass, reducing the administrative burden and improving response times.

Enhanced Ransomware Protection

Multiple TrueNAS systems offer layered defenses against ransomware and other cybersecurity threats. By combining snapshots, one-way replication, and isolated system trusts, your data remains secure even if one system is compromised. This redundancy ensures rapid recovery and uninterrupted operations.

The advanced security features of TrueNAS, such as immutable snapshots and one-way replication, provide an additional layer of defense, ensuring that your data can be quickly restored to a known good state, minimizing downtime and data loss.

Future-Proof Your Data Storage

Investing in multiple TrueNAS systems is more than an upgrade—it’s a strategic move to protect, optimize, and future-proof your data. The flexibility and resilience of TrueNAS make it the ideal choice for enterprise environments where data integrity and performance are paramount.

As your business grows and data demands increase, TrueNAS’s scalable architecture allows you to expand your storage capabilities seamlessly, ensuring that your infrastructure can adapt to changing needs without requiring a complete overhaul.

Start Small, Grow Big

Adopting TrueNAS units, whether starting with one and expanding to two or more, is a decisive step towards safeguarding your enterprise data. Experience the benefits of TrueNAS with a single unit, and see how scaling up to multiple systems can enhance your data strategy.

Shield your data. Boost your performance. Future-proof your storage—with TrueNAS.

For more information on TrueNAS solutions and how expanding to multiple TrueNAS systems can transform your data storage strategy, visit our community forums or contact our sales team.

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TrueNAS SCALE Dragonfish Matures with Second Major Quality Update

Pee Jay Latombo — Mon, 08 Jul 2024 20:21:02 +0000

TrueNAS SCALE 24.04 “Dragonfish” continues to mature with today’s release of the second major update. TrueNAS SCALE 24.04.2 is focused on security and stability, in preparation for widespread enterprise adoption.

In the last month, TrueNAS SCALE has reached over 130,000 users, slightly more than TrueNAS 13.0. Over 50,000 members of the TrueNAS Community have already upgraded to TrueNAS SCALE 24.04 and benefited from the new functionality introduced in the release version, and the performance tuning of the first major update. Thanks to their helpful and detailed feedback, we’re releasing 24.04.2 for our more mission-critical customers.

TrueNAS Enterprise users looking to upgrade their systems to 24.04.2 from an earlier version should contact iXsystems support to schedule a planned upgrade. TrueNAS 13.0 users will also have a choice of 13.3 later this year.

Added Features

TrueNAS SCALE 24.04.2 brings over 80 fixes and improvements, including:

Linux kernel 6.6.32
OpenZFS 2.2.4
Reduction of writes to boot devices (we still recommend high-quality boot SSDs)
Fix for CVE-2024-6387 (aka “regreSSHion”)
Faster iSCSI failover times and fixes to ALUA bug
Fixes for Intel ARC GPU transcoding support
Fixes for Apple Time Machine users
Improved dynamic ARC resizing under increased memory pressure

For a full list of the improvements in TrueNAS SCALE 24.04.2, please see the release notes on the TrueNAS Documentation Hub.

Enterprise Ready

With the release of 24.04.2, TrueNAS SCALE will be rolling out to our users with Mission Critical use cases after a few weeks of validation. Check the TrueNAS Software Status page for further details on the best time to upgrade your TrueNAS installation.

Intel ARC GPU Support

Included with TrueNAS SCALE 24.04.2 is hardware support for the line of Intel ARC graphics cards, bringing powerful video encoding and decoding capabilities with minimal additional power consumption.

Refinements and Quality-of-Life Improvements

In addition to improvements and updates to the pivotal services that make TrueNAS the safest place for your data, SCALE 24.04.2 improves the user interface by adding clearer tooltips, improves the readability and user-friendliness of informational and alert dialogs, and adds improved defaults for some popular command-line tools used by the more technical members of the community to fine-tune their TrueNAS installations.

“Electric Eel” is in Development

TrueNAS SCALE 24.04 “Dragonfish” is the predecessor to 24.10 “Electric Eel,” which is in active development for a Q4 release. As previously outlined in the TrueNAS Community Forums, Electric Eel will change the Apps engine from Kubernetes to Docker and Docker Compose. All of the official TrueNAS Catalog Apps, including Community apps, will be switched seamlessly. Look forward to the first 24.10-BETA release and additional details about Apps migration in August.

Get TrueNAS SCALE 24.04.2 Today

TrueNAS SCALE 24.04.2 is available today from the TrueNAS SCALE download page, and will be rolling out shortly as an optional update for users to download through the System Update menu in the TrueNAS web UI. Come join the over 50,000 Community members running the latest version of SCALE, and take your storage to the next level.

Download now

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TrueNAS Dragonfish Performance Breathes Fire

Pee Jay Latombo — Fri, 31 May 2024 10:47:08 +0000

After a successful release and the fastest adoption of software in TrueNAS history, TrueNAS SCALE 24.04 “Dragonfish ” has its first update today. The performance being achieved is significantly beyond TrueNAS 13.0 and Cobia.

Dragonfish is proving to be the best-ever TrueNAS version with significant improvements in the following areas:

Quality has been improved and demonstrated with a tremendously successful RC.1 and Release. There have been a record number of early adopters (32,000) and simultaneously a low number of reported issues. This update resolves all the major known issues with the initial release, including the excessive use of swap space and slow webUI performance.

Security enhancements, such as logging, auditing, restricted admins, and session monitoring have now been deployed by TrueNAS users with success.

Functionality and ease-of-use improvements have been getting positive feedback. The SMB/NFS share wizards, Netdata monitoring, SMB share importing, and Linux Sandboxes are all getting a good workout. Explore the TrueNAS Dragonfish Documentation for the other features.

Performance has been improved in many dimensions; IOPS, bandwidth, caching, metadata handling. Below, we’ll discuss this in more detail.

Fire-Breathing Performance Improvements

Dragonfish benefits from OpenZFS, Linux, SAMBA improvements, and some TrueNAS optimizations. The performance changes may not be obvious for smaller systems, but larger systems need software performance that scales with core and drive count. Dragonfish has significant improvements in IOPS (virtualization and databases), bandwidth (video and backup), and File Metadata (directory listings).

50% more IOPS: IOPS (Input/Outputs Per Second) is a classic storage metric for transactional workloads like virtual desktops and databases. On the same platform and pool configuration (a TrueNAS M50 with 20 SSDs in 4x 5wZ1) we see 50% higher IOPS with Dragonfish when compared to TrueNAS 13.0. This often implies 50% more VMs on a system and a 30% lower storage cost. As indicated in the chart below, Dragonfish uncorks the cache bottleneck present in Cobia and improves majorly on 13.0 performance.

1000% faster File Metadata: Metadata performance is critical for applications that deposit thousands of files in a single directory, like some more automated scientific and manufacturing workloads, for example. Writing and reading the files can be fine, but listing the contents of a 100,000 file directory could take many minutes. With Dragonfish, a directory can have 10X more files than TrueNAS 13.0 or 23.10, but maintain the same performance for directory listings. For example, a million files in a directory can now be listed in as few as 15 seconds. Operating systems that access additional metadata in an inefficient manner (such as MacOS) may continue to experience slow directory listing times, due to the additional overhead of these clients.

WebUI performance was reported to be occasionally slow in 24.04 due to a change to Linux Kernel 6.6 swap algorithms. Thanks to prompt and helpful feedback from the early adopters of Dragonfish, iXsystems was able to track down the root of the problem and make the necessary adjustments. Swap has been disabled by default in this update, and the algorithms are configured better for situations where swap is enabled.

Evolution of TrueNAS

TrueNAS SCALE Dragonfish is expected to become the most commonly used software version during Q3 of 2024. Already, it is in 3rd position behind CORE 13.0 and SCALE 23.10.

Given the quality, security, performance, and Apps improvements, iX recommends that new TrueNAS users start with TrueNAS SCALE 24.04.1, and we will begin shipping SCALE as the default install on our TrueNAS Mini products in the near future.

Existing TrueNAS CORE users are welcome to stay on 13.0 or update to the new 13.3 version when it is released later in 2024. CORE users can choose to sidegrade to SCALE at any time if desired, but support for TrueNAS CORE will continue unchanged.

Join the Growing SCALE Community

With the release of TrueNAS SCALE 24.04, there’s never been a better time to join the growing TrueNAS community. Download the SCALE 24.04 installer or upgrade from within the TrueNAS web UI today, and experience True Data Freedom for yourself. Then, make sure you’ve signed up for the newly relaunched TrueNAS Community Forums to share your experience.

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TrueNAS CORE 13.3 BETA is now Available

Pee Jay Latombo — Wed, 08 May 2024 18:13:52 +0000

The plans for TrueNAS CORE 13.3 are becoming reality with today’s release of TrueNAS 13.3 BETA. TrueNAS CORE 13.3 continues the tradition of being the most reliable and highest-quality platform for traditional primary storage use cases.

The focus of TrueNAS CORE continues to be ensuring storage reliability, stability, and security for existing users. Taking into account its macro lifecycle, TrueNAS CORE is now entering a sustaining engineering phase within the TrueNAS project. It is not anywhere near its end-of-lifecycle phase. We are just going through a new release cycle for CORE and users can expect to receive maintenance updates for many years still to come.

This BETA version is only recommended for developers and testers. TrueNAS CORE 13.3 includes the following updates:

FreeBSD 13.3
OpenZFS 2.2.3-1
Samba v4.19
Updates to SMART, Network UPS Tools (NUT), and other services
Various security and bug fixes

Much of this new code has also been successfully tested in TrueNAS SCALE Dragonfish, which is breaking all records for adoption rate and Release quality. Please review the Release Notes before using.

The release candidate for the next version of TrueNAS CORE (13.3) is planned for June, followed by its formal release in July 2024. TrueNAS CORE 13.3 will continue to receive bug fixes related to stability and security. These updates will ensure that 13.3 is a reliable platform for both homelab and enterprise customers as well as a staging version for those users who wish to migrate to SCALE at a later date.

When Should You Migrate?

If you are installing a new TrueNAS system, iXsystems recommends that you begin with TrueNAS SCALE. There is more added functionality, vastly broader support for hardware, catalogs of Apps, better performance on most workloads, and an improved Web UI, all of which make managing TrueNAS easier than ever.

Existing TrueNAS 13.0 users who are comfortable with their TrueNAS system can update to TrueNAS 13.3 when they see a need based on the TrueNAS Software Status page. Upgrading from 13.0 to 13.3 will be a simple and direct process and includes storage services, VM, Jails, and Plugins. This BETA version is only recommended for developers and testers.

TrueNAS 13.0 users looking for the new capabilities outlined above can sidegrade to TrueNAS SCALE anytime, preserving data and essential NAS functionality such as SMB, NFS, iSCSI, S3, and VMs. Jails do not have an automated migration path to SCALE, and are also more mature in TrueNAS 13.3 than the Linux Sandboxes in TrueNAS SCALE Dragonfish.

Community Involvement

Thanks to the Community for feedback during the planning phase of TrueNAS CORE 13.3.

The BETA version is where we are keen for users to test systems in non-production environments and provide both positive feedback and bug reports. We expect quality to be higher because of the improved QA process.

In addition to your input, there are many ways TrueNAS users can give back and enrich the experience of others in the Community. Check out how you can make a meaningful contribution and play a part in shaping the future of TrueNAS.

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iXsystems Brings Flagship Data Platform to Market with Production Release of TrueNAS SCALE 24.04

Pee Jay Latombo — Wed, 24 Apr 2024 06:53:07 +0000

42% growth in the number of organizations using TrueNAS over the past 18 months

SAN JOSE, CA, April 24, 2024 – iXsystems^®, a global leader in open source solutions and the company behind TrueNAS, today announced the production release of TrueNAS SCALE 24.04 alongside its new series of hybrid storage appliances, the TrueNAS Enterprise H-Series. TrueNAS 24.04 is the fourth major version of the company’s Linux-based data platform software, furthering the mission to provide true data freedom by continually improving on the exceptional flexibility, interoperability, and storage efficiency that has already made TrueNAS the world’s most deployed storage software.

Codenamed “Dragonfish”, TrueNAS 24.04 is expected to be the best-ever version of TrueNAS, representing the next step in major advancements in security, performance and functionality of the platform over all previous releases of TrueNAS (CORE and SCALE). The 42% growth in the number of organizations using TrueNAS over the past 18 months corresponds to the two consecutive Customers’ Choice awards in Gartner’s annual Voice of the Customer Report for the Primary Storage category. During this same time, users of TrueNAS Enterprise also rated their experiences 4.9 out of 5 in the Distributed File Systems and Object Storage category.

TrueNAS 24.04 introduces SMB and Admin auditing, and the Enterprise support of Restricted Admins and Immutable Snapshots. Additionally, TrueNAS 24.04 has a simplified and improved Share Creation workflow, and open client sessions for both the SMB and NFS file sharing protocols can now be managed from the TrueNAS web UI for further simplicity and efficiency.

TrueNAS Enterprise H-Series

The TrueNAS Enterprise H-Series is the newest member of the iXsystems’ storage system portfolio. Available in dual-controller configurations and with options for hybrid or all-flash storage, the TrueNAS H-Series is designed to provide reliable storage for cost-optimized workloads at the Edge or data center that can scale up to 2 petabytes (PB) in capacity. The series introduces two models, the TrueNAS H10 and the forthcoming H20, both having a compact 2U form factor with these benefits:

Power-Efficiency: With a typical power consumption of 100-300 watts , the TrueNAS H-Series helps meet your corporate sustainability and environmental initiatives.
High-Availability (HA): Available dual-controller architecture provides continuous accessibility, providing over 99.999% uptime.
Expandability: With optional 24, 60, or 102-bay expansion shelves, the H-Series is ready to grow from 20TB all-flash to 2PB hybrid storage.

“The availability of the new TrueNAS Enterprise H-Series, powered by TrueNAS 24.04, exemplifies our commitment to advancing the world’s most widely deployed storage software,” stated Morgan Littlewood, Senior Vice President of Product Management at iXsystems. “The H-Series provides the smallest and lowest power footprint while the M-Series and F-Series deliver Hybrid scalability and All-flash performance.”

TrueNAS Open Storage Community

A testament to the draw of TrueNAS, the TrueNAS^® Open Storage Community has grown significantly over the past several years. Already the most used storage software on earth, TrueNAS saw 42% growth in the number of organizations and individuals using TrueNAS over the past 18 months, while the general market saw slower than expected commercial growth.

“We must always begin by thanking the TrueNAS Community, including those who are also our Enterprise customers, for their tremendous support that has elevated TrueNAS into a leading position in the storage marketplace, backed by social proof,” said Brett Davis, Executive Vice President for iXsystems. “ At a time when analysts predict as many as 3 in 10 companies will choose a new storage supplier in 2024, we are looking forward to helping those organizations discover why so many others are choosing TrueNAS as the top alternative for conquering their data growth challenges.”

Availability

Both TrueNAS H-Series appliances and TrueNAS Enterprise 24.04 software are now available. The community edition, TrueNAS SCALE 24.04, is also free to download or upgrade to. For more information on TrueNAS H-Series or other TrueNAS Enterprise storage products, please contact iX.

Resources

For more information on TrueNAS 24.04, please visit this blog
For more information on TrueNAS Enterprise H-Series, please visit the product page
To contact iXsystems about TrueNAS Enterprise storage appliances, go to https://www.truenas.com/get-quote/
To participate in the TrueNAS Open Storage Community, please visit https://forums.truenas.com

About iXsystems and TrueNAS

iX is an Open Source pioneer and the company behind TrueNAS, the world’s most deployed storage software. Relied upon by millions in all 195 countries, TrueNAS is an award-winning universal data platform used by a majority of Fortune 500^TM companies. The platform harnesses the power of the legendary ZFS file system to provide scale-up or scale-out unified storage with the reliability and performance demanded by virtualization, backup, and many other data-heavy workloads. As an alternative to legacy storage systems that are proprietary, restrictive, and often overpriced, TrueNAS helps organizations modernize how they store and protect data by leveraging open storage to simplify operations and drastically reduce cost.

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TrueNAS Enterprise Portfolio Adds Versatility with New H-Series Appliances

Pee Jay Latombo — Wed, 24 Apr 2024 06:52:42 +0000

In November of 2023, iXsystems launched the TrueNAS Enterprise F-Series, our fastest ZFS storage system yet, built on an all-NVMe platform for ultimate performance. Today, the TrueNAS Enterprise portfolio introduces the super versatile TrueNAS Enterprise H-Series. These new hybrid storage appliances offer the full suite of TrueNAS features, including high-availability for workloads where downtime is not an option. The TrueNAS Enterprise H10 is available today, and the H20 model will be available for orders in May 2024.

With the new TrueNAS H-Series systems, you get the complete TrueNAS feature set, including built-in support for file, block, and object protocols, all from the same array. Leveraging the legendary OpenZFS filesystem, the TrueNAS H-Series provides power-efficient performance, proven reliability, and guaranteed data safety. System functionality can be extended by deploying Apps such as MinIO, NextCloud, or Syncthing that can be run on the system as containers.

Ready for deployment for workloads at the Edge or in the core of the data center, the 2U TrueNAS H-Series comes in two models:

Model	Threads/RAM (x2)	Networking (x2)	Capacity	Typ. Power
H10	8T, 64-128 GB	4 x 1 Gbase-T 4 x 10/25GbE	1.5 PB	200W
H20	20T, 128-256 GB	4 x 1 Gbase-T 2 x 10/25GbE + 2 x 40/100GbE	2.5 PB	300W

The TrueNAS H-Series can be deployed on-site in any organization, from small offices to large data centers. Customers requiring higher capacity can look to the highly scalable TrueNAS M-Series. For deployments needing 10GB/s or more, the all-flash TrueNAS F-Series solves the most demanding performance problems.

Both TrueNAS H-Series models offer a compact, 2U form factor tuned for power efficiency with twelve 3.5” drive bays. Dual hot-swap controllers allow seamless upgrades and deliver 99.999% availability at an affordable price point. See the datasheet for more details.

The TrueNAS H-Series ships with the latest TrueNAS Enterprise 24.04 software, the fourth major version of the TrueNAS data platform software on Linux. Building on the quality and award winning experience of prior versions, 24.04 delivers increased file and metadata performance, advanced SMB features, and optional TrueSECURE security features (FIPS 140, NIST) for government/defense customers.

TrueNAS H-Series Storage Highlights:

Versatile: With options for both hybrid and all-flash solutions, the H-Series scales to meet both performance and budgetary requirements for use cases such as virtualization, file sharing, and backup.
Power-Efficient: With a typical power consumption of 200W (H10) or 300W (H20) the TrueNAS H-Series helps meet your company or data center’s green initiatives while delivering the performance to meet your workloads.
All the Features, One Low Cost: With no piecemeal licensing, the H-Series delivers a full suite of data service, protection, and replication features at an affordable cost of entry. Extend functionality even further with container-based Apps.
High Availability: Available dual-controller architecture provides continuous accessibility, preventing downtime.
Expandable: With optional 24, 60, or 102-bay (H20 only) expansion shelves, the H-Series is ready to grow with your use-case needs from 20TB all-flash to 2PB hybrid storage.

The TrueNAS H-Series replaces and builds upon the success of the popular X-Series, which is no longer available for ordering. The H-Series adds improved remote management, over 3x the performance, and 4x the memory for adding Apps while remaining in the same compact 2U form factor.

The New TrueNAS Enterprise Portfolio

TrueNAS Enterprise appliances are rated 4.9 stars or higher in verified reviews on Gartner’s customer review site, and specifically 4.9 out of 5 stars among users of systems running TrueNAS SCALE like the new H-Series. We aim to continue to improve the customer experience among users of TrueNAS 24.04.

The TrueNAS M-Series remains the highest-capacity system for hybrid flash and HDD requirements in the iXsystems storage portfolio. For customers demanding the ultimate in ZFS storage, the all-NVMe TrueNAS F-Series delivers unparalleled performance. All TrueNAS systems can be monitored and managed as a fleet using TrueCommand.

TrueNAS Enterprise H-Series systems start at under $10,000 with dual controllers and 1 year Bronze Support. The TrueNAS H10 is available for order immediately, with the H20 available in May 2024. For more information, please contact iXsystems to discuss the right solution for your storage needs.

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Enter the Dragonfish: TrueNAS Brings Performance Gains and Tightens Security

Pee Jay Latombo — Tue, 23 Apr 2024 21:52:14 +0000

After a successful BETA release and the fastest adoption of Release Candidate software in TrueNAS history, TrueNAS SCALE 24.04 “Dragonfish” roars onto the scene in its official RELEASE today!

As the fourth major version of TrueNAS SCALE, 24.04 brings forward major performance improvements, new features, and expanded hardware support. Dragonfish is expected to be the best-ever TrueNAS version with significant improvements in the following areas:

Quality has been improved and demonstrated with a tremendously successful RC.1 release. Verified users of prior versions (Bluefin & Cobia) rate their experiences 4.9 out of 5.0 stars. Based upon the record number of early adopters and simultaneously low number of reported issues, we expect it to be one of the most adopted and stable releases of TrueNAS ever.

Security continues to be enhanced through the additions of logging authorization and configuration events. SMB client auditing improves share security. NIST 800-209 security and Immutable snapshots can be enabled using Restricted Admins in the Enterprise version.

Performance has been improved through ZFS ARC changes which allow full memory utilization, identical to CORE, and improvements in ZFS read-ahead caching. These improvements allow better parallelism in the primary NFS and SMB protocols, cutting your response time down and pushing your peak bandwidth up. Metadata handling has also improved, allowing for more than 10x speedups in directory listings.

Functionality and ease-of-use continue to grow with the inclusion of SMB/NFS share wizards, reintegration of Netdata monitoring, support for SMB share importing via Syncthing, and many other features. There’s even a new community-supported feature for Linux Sandboxes, a new jail-like capability. Explore the TrueNAS Dragonfish Documentation or the software for the other features.

With the previous Cobia release, 40% of the TrueNAS Community has adopted SCALE. Dragonfish is expected to take this to well over 50%. We’re looking forward to the Community’s feedback as we continue through release and maintenance updates.

Added Features

The Dragonfish BETA announcement listed most of the additional features in Dragonfish. A later RC1 blog highlighted the many SMB file sharing improvements. This included the introduction of wizards to improve the Share Creation workflow. Users can now add shares during dataset creation or datasets during share creation – both methods are supported.

SMB Client Auditing has been added to the TrueNAS web UI. This audit trail provides TrueNAS administrators the ability to monitor client activity graphically through Web-Driven queries, as well as exporting of reports for offline auditing compliance. Live client sessions for both the SMB and NFS file-sharing protocols can also be viewed and managed from the TrueNAS web UI, allowing you to identify which files are open and in use by connected users. Use the new Sessions icon on the Sharing screen to explore this new functionality.

Finally, because we’d like to hear the community’s thoughts on these new features and changes, a new rating and feedback system has been introduced. Using the Send Feedback button available in the top navigation bar, you can rate any TrueNAS web UI page, report a bug, and suggest a new feature or improvement for inclusion into TrueNAS, all from the comfort of your TrueNAS web UI. Integrated screenshot functionality and collection of debug files are also available.

New Hardware Support

TrueNAS SCALE 24.04 includes support for the newest member of the TrueNAS Enterprise family, the versatile H-Series. With dual controllers for high-availability, the H-Series brings five-nines uptime to the Edge segment, letting small and medium enterprises benefit from the same time-tested OpenZFS filesystem and familiar TrueNAS management interface. TrueNAS SCALE 24.04 is available for all hardware offered by iXsystems, from compact and affordable Mini systems up to the all-NVMe TrueNAS F-Series.

Join the Growing SCALE Community

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TrueNAS 24.04 to Achieve a New Level of Quality

Pee Jay Latombo — Thu, 18 Apr 2024 18:19:21 +0000

It’s a bold statement, but one we are very comfortable making. We have the data!

Achieving RELEASE Status

Our primary objective is to advance each version of TrueNAS to RELEASE status, optimized with the maximum number of useful features and the minimum number of bugs possible. RELEASE status means that the software has passed rigorous testing and is deemed stable for general use. To reach this milestone, we initiate a Release Candidate (RC) process for each version, during which the software is deemed functionally complete and subjected to intensive testing. We gauge the quality of our RC versions by two key metrics: the growing number of RC users and the declining number of bug reports.

TrueNAS 24.04: A Marked Increase in Early Adoption

The BETA phase for Dragonfish (SCALE 24.04) began in early February. Four weeks ago, we released Dragonfish-RC.1, which has already outperformed all previous CORE and SCALE versions. As seen in the chart below, it has attracted nearly ten times the number of early users compared to TrueNAS 13.0, our most popular version to date.

TrueNAS 24.04 had 10X Early Users of TrueNAS 13.0

Dragonfish (SCALE 24.04) started its BETA in early February. The latest Dragonfish-RC.1 version has been available for 4 weeks and has far surpassed all other CORE and SCALE versions, growing almost 10x in early users over TrueNAS 13.0, the most widely used version today.

Driven by Quality Assurance

While new features are always exciting, they can introduce bugs. Our significant quality improvements are a direct result of four strategic enhancements:

With record level usage, we have only seen a small fraction of the bug reports. The official RELEASE, SCALE 24.04.0, will be available next week. We are eager to receive and share the early adopter feedback.

Quality Assurance (QA) infrastructure: From tiny 1 TB VMs to Minis, R-Series, and F-Series, all the way to a large 1200-drive M60, our QA infrastructure has grown by tenfold with the build-out of the TrueNAS Innovation Center (TIC) in Tennessee.

Automated testing: The QA team has greatly increased the number of automated tests for each release. The automation includes functional testing, UI testing, performance testing, and failure testing for our HA systems. In each two-week sprint, we perform over 10,000+ tests.

Better user feedback: Built into the Dragonfish WebUI are bug-reporting capabilities that can capture debugs and screenshots for more straightforward diagnosis.

More early users: With 10x the number of early users, we get quality feedback almost 10x faster. This gives us more time to fix issues and more confidence in the quality at an earlier stage of development. We deeply appreciate our TrueNAS community for their invaluable contributions through testing and feedback.

In addition, we are delighted to report that the major components that make up TrueNAS, such as OpenZFS, SAMBA, and Linux, have all proven to be of the highest quality for this release. We are happy to continue contributing to the Open Source ecosystem with bug fixes and improvements alike!

The other evidence of the quality improvements has been the impressively positive verified customer reviews for TrueNAS in the distributed file system and object storage category, where Bluefin and Cobia users rate their experience 5 stars (out of 5). While those ratings also encompass their experiences with our Sales and Support teams, they surely would not be possible without excellent software quality. Currently, we have no service-impacting software issues in our 5,000+ Enterprise accounts.

We at iX wish to thank our phenomenal Engineering / QA teams and TrueNAS community testers for all the significant efforts going into Dragonfish. And we are still just getting started.

We are immensely grateful to our TrueNAS community for their dedication to testing and providing feedback.

Continuous Improvement with TrueNAS 13.3

Following the release of Dragonfish (24.04), TrueNAS CORE 13.3 will undergo the same rigorous QA process, offering an easy update path for users of TrueNAS 13.0. This update benefits from proven components already used in Dragonfish, including the latest updates to OpenZFS and Samba. Despite the complexity of updating from FreeBSD 13.0 to 13.3, we are committed to ensuring a reliable process for our CORE users with a full BETA release scheduled to start in May. Nightly versions are already available for developers, and we are eager to see the engagement levels during the BETA and RC.1 phases.

Your Data, Your Way

With each new release, our focus remains unchanged: to empower you to access and manage your data exactly how you want. As TrueNAS evolves, it offers a cleaner user interface and new features such as apps and catalogs tailored to meet your needs. TrueNAS facilitates the seamless migration of storage services and VMs from CORE to SCALE, and allows for the replacement of plugins and jails with apps and sandboxes, enhancing your storage experience.

The post TrueNAS 24.04 to Achieve a New Level of Quality appeared first on TrueNAS - Welcome to the Open Storage Era.

The Future of the TrueNAS Community: Shaping Our Destiny Together

Pee Jay Latombo — Thu, 18 Apr 2024 18:00:45 +0000

The TrueNAS community is a vibrant ecosystem of passionate individuals, united by a love for Open Source. As our community grows and evolves, so too does our need for a platform that fosters the open exchange of ideas, collaboration, and mutual support. In this spirit, we are excited to discuss a transformative new chapter in our community journey: adopting Discourse as our forum platform.

Our move represents more than just a technological upgrade; it’s a commitment to building an even more inclusive, welcoming, and collaborative space for everyone who uses TrueNAS.

So Why the Change?

Our previous forum platform (XenForo) served us well but had limitations that became increasingly apparent. We needed a platform that would be able to scale with our growing community, one that encourages deeper engagement and fosters a more connected and organized experience.

Welcome to the New Home of the TrueNAS Community

Discourse offers a wealth of features and functionalities that will empower our community:

Modern interface: Intuitive and user-friendly, making it easier for newcomers to navigate and find the information they need.
Advanced search: Quickly find relevant discussions and topics, saving valuable time.
Upvoting and flagging: Democratize content discovery and promote helpful and informative contributions.
Badges and reputation system: Recognize and reward active community members, fostering a sense of belonging and contribution.
Integrations: Seamlessly connect with other platforms and tools, enhancing the collaborative experience.
New system sharing tool (coming soon): We’re preparing a tool that can help you automatically generate your system specifications and configuration, whether it’s to show off your completed TrueNAS build or help with troubleshooting!

But the power of Discourse lies not just in its technology, but in its philosophy. It’s designed to promote healthy interactions, discourage trolling and negativity, automatically filter out unwanted spam, and create a welcoming environment for all voices.

Be sure to join the new TrueNAS Community today and reserve your name! Once you’ve registered, don’t forget to update your signature at https://forums.truenas.com/u/YOURUSERNAMEHERE/preferences/profile with your specs so that you can show off that data storage!

Community Means Shared Responsibility

To ensure the success of our transition and shape the future of the community, we’re forming a Community Council. This council will be composed of both iXians and dedicated community members. Together, the committee will:

Assist in QA and development of the TrueNAS Community.
Help establish clear guidelines and best practices for the community.
Organize events and initiatives to promote engagement and collaboration.
Work with iX on future development plans for the forums and products, ensuring they align with community needs.

The TrueNAS Community: Everyone is Welcome.

We want to emphasize that the TrueNAS community is everyone who uses TrueNAS. This includes:

Experienced TrueNAS users sharing their expertise.
Beginners looking for help and guidance.
Developers contributing to the project.
Enthusiasts sharing their passion and creative use cases.
Current or future professionals who want to evaluate TrueNAS for their business.

Regardless of your background, experience, or technical knowledge, you have a valuable contribution to make. We invite you to join us on this journey.

The Road Ahead: A Long Journey with a Shared Destination

Transitioning to our platform is not a simple overnight task. Throughout the process, we’re aiming to provide clear communication, updates, and opportunities for feedback.

The future of the TrueNAS community is not solely up to iX or the Community Council; it’s also up to you, the community. By coming together, embracing open communication, and sharing our perspectives, we can continue to build a truly exceptional community. Together we can make TrueNAS even better, one post, collaboration, and innovation at a time.

Join us on this exciting journey as we work together to shape the future of the TrueNAS community. Let’s make it a space where everyone feels welcome, empowered, and inspired to contribute their unique voice.

Welcome to the future. Welcome to the TrueNAS community!

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How to Set Up and Install TrueNAS CORE

iX Team — Fri, 05 Apr 2024 08:00:55 +0000

*Updated March 2024

We’re going to walk you through the basic requirements to run the TrueNAS CORE storage operating system, creating the installation media, and installing it onto your system.

Minimum Requirements

Here are the basics of what you’ll need to run TrueNAS:

64-bit system: Used solely for TrueNAS CORE. TrueNAS is NOT dual-boot friendly, so make sure you’re only using the system for TrueNAS.
Minimum 8 GB of RAM: Use more if you’re installing virtual machines or plugins.
Boot device (SSD or HDD): Also known as the boot drive. At least 16 GB of storage capacity is required to serve as the boot device for TrueNAS. An SSD is an ideal choice for longevity; keep in mind that the entire disk will be used for the TrueNAS operating system. USB sticks are no longer recommended, due to the high amount of write tasks on TrueNAS.
Storage drives (SSDs or HDDs): At least one hard drive for storage of files, but multiple drives of the same capacity can be easily bundled together to provide redundancy if a drive fails. Western Digital drives are a great choice for data storage, but as with any vendor, make sure to avoid drives using SMR (Shingled Magnetic Recording) technology in ZFS applications.
Ethernet cord: To connect your system to the network, through a router or modem. There is no wireless support in TrueNAS.
Blank DVD or USB stick: Required to create the TrueNAS installation media. The TrueNAS ISO image exceeds 700 MB so CDs will not work. Your USB stick should be at least 1 GB. Please note that the installation media is not the same as the boot device.
To access the latest TrueNAS image: https://www.truenas.com/download-truenas-core/
Monitor & keyboard: After the setup is complete and you’ve written down your TrueNAS system’s IP address, the monitor can be disconnected.
Computer or laptop & internet browser: To access the GUI and administer your TrueNAS system.

Creating the Installation Media and Operating System Device for TrueNAS

It’s important to understand that TrueNAS needs two devices during the installation process, the install media and the operating system device (boot device). The install media is used to install TrueNAS to the operating system device on a computer.

A USB stick or DVD can be used as the install media. In this tutorial, we will be using an 8 GB USB stick as our install media. The minimum size required is 1 GB.

The TrueNAS CORE operating system device can be an SSD or hard drive. The operating system device must have at least 16 GB of space, but we recommend 32 GB or more for operating system device storage capacity to provide room for logging, operating system environments, and future upgrades. An SSD is recommended to improve overall responsiveness as well as the speed of installing further upgrades.

Note that the entire operating system device will be used for the TrueNAS operating system. The drive cannot be used for sharing data through TrueNAS.

TrueNAS reads and writes to the operating system device, so reliability counts. Using a small SSD or hard drive will provide the best longevity. Due to the high write tasks in TrueNAS CORE, USB sticks are not very reliable over the long term. With TrueNAS CORE scheduled to receive continued updates for stability and security, choosing a quality, reliable boot device is the first step towards a well-built TrueNAS system.

For this example, we will be using a tool called balenaEtcher also known as Etcher. Scroll down the web page and click on the Download button for Etcher. Download, install, and run Etcher.

Now insert your USB stick into your machine. Verify the drive letter by going to “This PC”.

For this example, we will be using a tool called balenaEtcher also known as Etcher. Scroll down the web page and click on the Download button for Etcher. Download, install, and run Etcher.

Now insert your USB stick into your machine. Verify the drive letter by going to “This PC”.

In the Etcher application, click “Flash from file” and browse to the TrueNAS .iso file that you downloaded earlier. If your USB stick is not already selected, click “Select Target” and choose the drive to use as the install media. Remember, this is the install media, not the operating system device. Now, click “Flash!” It takes a few minutes to write the image to the disk. A “Flash Complete!” message is shown when done.

After the installer file has been written to the install media, you’re ready to install TrueNAS.

Installing TrueNAS

Now that we’ve gone through the basics of what you need to get started, let’s begin the installation of TrueNAS.

Make sure that both the boot device and the TrueNAS installation media are inserted in the machine that you chose to run TrueNAS.

Boot into the BIOS of the system and double-check that your system is set to boot from the device that contains the TrueNAS installation media that you created earlier. After confirming, reboot the system.

The TrueNAS install menu will be displayed. Choose option 1 on the menu to begin the TrueNAS installation. This will load the Console Setup menu. Hit enter to choose the “Install/Upgrade” option.

The next menu asks which drive should be used for TrueNAS. Make sure to select the boot device and not the storage disk. This menu will show the size of the disks to make it easier to determine the boot device, which is generally a smaller size than the storage disks (which will be larger). The one you want will likely be the smallest on the list. Note that the names of your drives will be different.
Press the arrow keys to select a drive, and press the spacebar to designate it as the drive you wish to use.

The boot device cannot be used for anything other than the operating system itself. Press OK, then YES, to proceed.

Next, type in and confirm the password that will be used to login to TrueNAS.

TrueNAS can be booted in either BIOS or UEFI mode. For the purposes of this video, I’ll be choosing BIOS. BIOS works for almost all motherboards and is typically the option to choose for older hardware. Choosing UEFI will require that your motherboard is more modern and UEFI capable.

Once chosen, your installation will begin. Wait for a bit, all those commands popping up on the screen are perfectly normal. It should take a few minutes.

A message will appear saying to reboot and remove the installation media. Choose OK to reboot. Remove the installation media from your system. As the system reboots, double-check the BIOS to make sure the boot order now defaults to the boot device.

Fire up TrueNAS

When the system boots from the boot device, messages will appear as the TrueNAS operating system loads. When it is done loading you will see the “Console setup” menu. At the bottom of this screen, an IP address will be listed.

From a separate computer that is connected to the same network, open a web browser and type in that address. If it instead shows “0.0.0.0”, check if the network cable is plugged in, and that the network has a DHCP server.

The TrueNAS login menu will appear once the bootup is complete. Type in root for the username and the password you created during the installation.
Once you are logged in, you will have access to the TrueNAS web interface which is used to manage your storage disks, configure access to the stored data, and view the status of the system.

Congratulations! You have just installed TrueNAS. Be sure to check out our other tutorials and videos to learn more about configuring and using TrueNAS.
For comprehensive information on configuring TrueNAS, visit docs.truenas.com.

The post How to Set Up and Install TrueNAS CORE appeared first on TrueNAS - Welcome to the Open Storage Era.

TrueNAS CORE 13.3 Plans

Pee Jay Latombo — Wed, 20 Mar 2024 21:23:38 +0000

Where Open Storage Began

TrueNAS has come a long way and has delivered incalculable value to millions of users around the world. After nearly 20 years of evolution since its inception in 2005 as FreeNAS, TrueNAS CORE has proven to be the most reliable and highest-quality platform for traditional primary storage use cases. Users and customers looking for incremental fixes and changes to their stable storage platform enjoy the sustained value and maturity of TrueNAS CORE. Today, we are announcing our plans to release TrueNAS CORE 13.3 in the next few months. (No, you didn’t miss a release; we simply re-numbered the 13.1 release to 13.3 to align with its updated FreeBSD 13.3 operating system!)

At iXsystems, we have worked hard for many years to be the best possible corporate sponsors for open-source projects. Unlike proprietary vendors, our processes and planning are done in the open, and both community members and customers alike play an important role in how TrueNAS continues to evolve.

Both FreeNAS and TrueNAS CORE were originally developed using FreeBSD as their underlying OS. Roughly five years ago, iXsystems began its Linux journey with the introduction of TrueNAS SCALE. This expanded its potential community, broadened and simplified support for the latest hardware, and opened the door to new possibilities for the software.

TrueNAS = CORE + SCALE

It’s only natural that some community members have expressed concerns about the future when there are two versions of their favorite storage platform. However, as TrueNAS continues to grow, we believe that its future is not a zero-sum game. Both TrueNAS CORE and TrueNAS SCALE will exist to address the needs of different users.

TrueNAS SCALE is the software edition where new features and updated components are actively developed and tested. This is natural because the bulk of the open source innovation we rely on is created and supported on Linux first. Therefore, developing a version of TrueNAS on Linux enables us to more rapidly deliver a more feature-rich, stable, and easier-to-use storage product for users and customers alike. This includes the ability for TrueNAS to run on a much wider variety of hardware and configurations. Of course, high-priority security and bug fixes are all good candidates to be backported to TrueNAS CORE, and TrueNAS CORE users will always have the ability to “sidegrade” to SCALE if and when they’re ready.

For TrueNAS Enterprise customers, you will always be fully supported for the duration of your support contract regardless of the software version you’re using. TrueNAS 23.10 already ships by default on some Enterprise products, like the TrueNAS F-Series. If your organization is considering a sidegrade to the SCALE-based software now or in the future, as many customers already have, please contact iXsystems Support so that we can assist you in the decision-making and upgrade process.

TrueNAS CORE 13.3 is Coming Soon

The release candidate for the next version of TrueNAS CORE (13.3) is planned for May, followed by its formal release in June 2024. TrueNAS CORE 13.3 will include the following updates:

FreeBSD 13.3
OpenZFS 2.2.3
Samba v4.19
Updates to SMART, Network UPS Tools (NUT), and other services
Various security and bug fixes

TrueNAS CORE 13.3 will continue to receive bug fixes related to stability and security. These updates will ensure that 13.3 is a reliable platform for both homelab and enterprise customers as well as a staging version for those users who wish to migrate to SCALE at a later date.

TrueNAS and FreeBSD Continue

With our 25+ year history in open-source software, we share an uncommon affinity for FreeBSD among all of those in the community who love TrueNAS. After all, FreeBSD is a major part of our company’s heritage, iXsystems having spawned from BSDi in the 90’s.

The TrueNAS development and engineering team continues to provide contributions upstream to FreeBSD and remains committed to the bootstrapped, open-source development philosophy on which it was founded.

Kris Moore, SVP of Engineering at iXsystems, shares his thoughts with other die-hard fans in this Community Forums post:

“TrueNAS CORE hasn’t been deprecated, and [13.3] is planned to start making a showing in Q2. It will be based upon FreeBSD 13.3 and will provide a way to keep running jails and upstream packages for some time to come. It is still a rock-solid NAS and we’re expecting to support it for a long while for that use-case.”

Our love for FreeBSD is only eclipsed by our commitment to keep pace with the demands of our customers and users to continue innovating in ways that help them find success with TrueNAS. TrueNAS CORE will provide a rock-solid foundation for users that need fast, reliable, and scalable storage. TrueNAS SCALE provides the same rock-solid foundation, but also supports those users that want to extend their storage into a converged solution with Apps and VMs. CORE users that do not need Apps and VMs may find that SCALE offers better performance and stability, more flexible hardware support, and a more intuitive UI with a wider breadth of storage-focused features.

When Should I Migrate?

TrueNAS 13.0 users looking for the new capabilities outlined above can sidegrade to TrueNAS SCALE at any time, preserving data and essential NAS functionality such as SMB, NFS, iSCSI, and VMs – with the primary exception being Jails.

The upcoming SCALE 24.04 “Dragonfish” will, however, include early support for Sandboxes, which provide jail-like capabilities using systemd nspawn containers. Manual migration of workloads will still be required, but the Sandbox functionality effectively provides the same functionality that Jails provided for CORE users. We can’t wait for Jails users to test and provide feedback on this new feature.

Community Activity

All TrueNAS processes and planning are done in the open, and TrueNAS CORE 13.3 is no exception. In addition to your input, there are also many ways TrueNAS users can give back and enrich the experience of others in the Community. Check out how you can make a meaningful contribution and play a part in shaping the future of TrueNAS.

Every contribution, big or small, plays a part in moving TrueNAS forward. Whether you share your use case, refer a friend, create tutorials or “How-To” content, or even provide code directly to the TrueNAS GitHub repository, your contribution makes a difference. And, as always, thank you for being a part of the TrueNAS community!

The post TrueNAS CORE 13.3 Plans appeared first on TrueNAS - Welcome to the Open Storage Era.

TrueNAS SCALE Dragonfish improves SMB Services and Performance

Ladislav Sirový — Wed, 20 Mar 2024 21:22:15 +0000

The Dragonfish chapter of TrueNAS SCALE moves to the second stage with the release of TrueNAS SCALE 24.04-RC1. After a successful BETA release with thousands of users, it’s time for some serious testing of the Release Candidate that is now available.

TrueNAS SCALE Dragonfish (24.04), the fourth major version of SCALE, builds on the high availability, scale-up storage, and easy deployment of containerized applications included in Cobia (23.10). The new features of Dragonfish were previously described in the BETA announcement and demonstrated by prolific community member Tom Lawrence. These included over 1,000 improvements addressing security, auditing, cloud backup, reporting, and log management. We’re very excited that the Release version is on track for April 2024.

Major SMB Services Improvements

TrueNAS 23.10.2 has been well received by those using it, particularly those running SMB. It is our recommended version today, and provides Enterprise quality with fast failover (HA systems only), SMB file sync, and optional FIPS-grade encryption.

While Dragonfish can provide all of the standard file, block, object, and App services of Cobia, this section will focus on the improvements for SMB users of TrueNAS specifically. Whether you are running Windows, MacOS, or Linux clients, SMB has become the most commonly used file sharing protocol. Here are the primary changes coming with Dragonfish compared to Cobia and TrueNAS CORE:

Major SMB Performance Accelerations

10x faster server-side file copies with OpenZFS 2.2.2
2x increase of default ZFS ARC size to match TrueNAS CORE ZFS usage
Better metadata management for up to 10x faster directory listings
Improved speeds allow over 1 million files per Directory (10x increase)
General Samba 4.19 speed improvements
Over 3GB/s second single-client speed without SMB Multichannel

Significant SMB Server Security Improvements

Auditing of TrueNAS UI/API events
Audit logging of all TrueNAS system and SMB login attempts
Vastly Improved Log management UI
Restricted admins (system, storage, monitoring) using Directory Services (Enterprise only)
Immutable ZFS snapshots (relies on restricted admins)
Samba 4.19 security vulnerability fixes
NIST 800-209 Storage Security Compliance for government/defense customers
First-ever Security Technical Implementation Guide (STIG) for TrueNAS

Advanced File Sharing Features

Simpler SMB and NFS share creation with a wizard
SMB auditing of client and file events (e.g., open, read, write, modify)
FreeIPA support (open-source alternative to Active Directory)
Syncthing importing of SMB shares from other systems with full ACLs/permissions
Verified support for shares with mixed NFSv4 and SMB access

Automated Backup and Management

Improved backup and setup of Cloud Sync Tasks
Visibility into backup status on main dashboards
Replication management via TrueCommand 3.0
SMB session management
Netdata reporting integrated within WebUI

The much-desired return of Netdata reporting is only possible because of its full support of Linux. Unfortunately, Netdata’s support of FreeBSD was tepid at best.

The RC1 version includes over 200 fixes to the BETA. If you’re interested in seeing the full list of improvements and fixes, check out the SCALE 24.04-RC1 Release Notes on the TrueNAS Docs site.

As with any RC1 release, we recommend that only testers and early adopters use this version until there has been more feedback from the Community. The TrueNAS Software Status Page tracks the quality and user type and usage recommendation of the release. TrueNAS SCALE 23.10.2 is recommended for nearly anyone from early-adopters to conservative users.

TrueNAS CORE 13.3 is Planned for Q2

TrueNAS SCALE is the software edition where forward-looking development takes place. Once new features and components are tested and validated there, some are eligible for backporting to TrueNAS CORE. The focus of TrueNAS CORE continues to be sustaining storage reliability and security for existing users.

The next version of TrueNAS CORE (renamed as 13.3 to align with its FreeBSD base version) is planned for Q2 of 2024. This will include updates to ZFS as well as an upgrade of Samba to version 4.19 to maintain parity with Dragonfish. It also smoothes transitions for users from CORE to SCALE, especially for HA systems.

TrueNAS 13.0 users can easily “sidegrade” to TrueNAS SCALE Dragonfish with the primary exception being Jail users. Dragonfish includes early support for Sandboxes, offering jail-like capabilities in Linux.

TrueNAS SCALE 23.10.2 is the Current Version

TrueNAS SCALE has inherited the storage functionality and automated testing from CORE. SCALE has matured rapidly and offers a more robust app environment based on Linux Containers & KVM. TrueNAS SCALE has become the recommended version for new TrueNAS users.

The latest Cobia release, TrueNAS SCALE 23.10.2, has reached Enterprise quality and is now used by many of our largest and most conservative customers. More than 105,000 users are currently using TrueNAS SCALE and it is available for download here.

TrueNAS provides these choices and the ability to automatically migrate storage services and VMs from CORE to SCALE. Plugins and jails can be manually replaced with apps and sandboxes. We encourage anyone looking for further advice or answers to questions to visit our Community Forums or Discord Channel.

Freedom to Store What’s Valuable to You

We look forward to working with the TrueNAS Community to rapidly progress Dragonfish through RC1 and Release. If you have a test system, please download the Dragonfish RC1 and report any bugs you find. Our engineering team would also like to hear positive experiences from any of the new features.

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iXsystems TrueNAS Named a Customers’ Choice in the North American Region for Second Consecutive Year of the 2024 Gartner® Peer Insights™ “Voice of the Customer” Report

Ladislav Sirový — Tue, 12 Mar 2024 08:40:26 +0000

Company Recognized as a “Strong Performer” in Primary Storage with 100% of Customers Willing to Recommend in User Review-Based Analysis

SAN JOSE, CA, March 12, 2024 – iXsystems®, the company behind TrueNAS Open Storage, today announced they were named a Strong Performer in the 2024 Gartner Peer Insights ‘Voice of the Customer’ for Primary Storage. iXsystems TrueNAS Enterprise was also named a Customers’ Choice in Primary Storage for the region of North America. This is the second consecutive report which has recognized iXsystems, categorizing vendors into four quadrants based on User Interest and Adoption (X-axis) and Overall Experience (Y-axis). Vendors from any of the four quadrants may be the best fit depending on your business needs.

The report can be accessed at https://www.gartner.com/document/5222864 (Gartner Subscription Required).

The “Voice of the Customer” is a document that synthesizes Gartner Peer Insights’ reviews into insights for IT decision makers. This aggregated peer perspective, along with the individual detailed reviews, is complementary to Gartner expert research and can play a key role in your buying process, as it focuses on direct peer experiences of implementing and operating a solution.

Among 79 Gartner Peer Insights reviews for TrueNAS Enterprise over 12 months, 85% received five stars and the remaining 15% received four out of five stars. This aggregate rating for TrueNAS Enterprise remained 4.9 of 5.0 stars in the latest report, also rating 4.9 for Product Capabilities, 4.9 for Deployment Experience, 4.9 for Support Experience, and 4.8 for Sales Experience.

TrueNAS Enterprise appliances from iXsystems are designed for demanding storage environments that require performance, scalability, and reliability. Where most products in the Primary Storage category only provide block services, the TrueNAS universal data platform provides block, file, and object storage interfaces, in addition to the ability to run applications and VMs. Its powerful and versatile primary storage software is built on OpenZFS, offering advanced management capabilities for provisioning, monitoring, and optimizing storage resources. Other notable data optimization and protection features include data compression, encryption, deduplication, and replication, making it ideal for storing and protecting business-critical data.

According to one customer review, “The switch to TrueNAS was unbelievably easy and overall, wished it happened sooner. Simple and straightforward experience. We were able to go in with requirements and know quickly if the solution offered was going to be able to meet our requirements. A lot of options are available out of the box that comparable products charge for.”

Another customer review noted TrueNAS Enterprise to be “Simple, Fast, And Productive. Communications were clear and concise. Getting the correct solution was simple and did not involve upsells to unneeded product. The responsiveness of the interfaces make it a breeze to make changes or review system configurations. Most configurations are easy to perform.”

“Customer voices matter most, and we believe this recognition of TrueNAS Enterprise as a Customers’ Choice for the North American region and a ‘Strong Performer’ two years in a row underscores the business value customers of our enterprise storage appliances and users of open source software rave about,” said Brett Davis, Executive Vice President for iXsystems. “The success of our customers and users is our top priority as they modernize how they store and protect data by leveraging open storage to simplify operations and reduce cost.”

Gartner, Voice of the Customer for Primary Storage, Peer Contributors, 23, February 2024. GARTNER is a registered trademark and service mark of Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the U.S. and internationally, and PEER INSIGHTS is a registered trademark of Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates and are used herein with permission. All rights reserved. Gartner Peer Insights content consists of the opinions of individual end users based on their own experiences, and should not be construed as statements of fact, nor do they represent the views of Gartner or its affiliates. Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in this content nor makes any warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this content, about its accuracy or completeness, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.

Resources

For more information about this report, please visit: https://www.gartner.com/document/5222864
To contact iXsystems about TrueNAS Enterprise storage appliances, go to: https://www.truenas.com/get-quote/

About iXsystems and TrueNAS

iX is an Open Source pioneer and the company behind TrueNAS, the world’s most deployed storage software. Relied upon by millions in all 195 countries, TrueNAS is an award-winning universal data platform used by a majority of Fortune 500TM companies. The platform harnesses the power of the legendary ZFS file system to provide scale-up or scale-out unified storage with the reliability and performance demanded by virtualization, backup, and many other data-heavy workloads. As an alternative to legacy storage systems that are proprietary, restrictive, and often overpriced, TrueNAS helps organizations modernize how they store and protect data by leveraging open storage to simplify operations and drastically reduce cost.

The post iXsystems TrueNAS Named a Customers’ Choice in the North American Region for Second Consecutive Year of the 2024 Gartner® Peer Insights™ “Voice of the Customer” Report appeared first on TrueNAS - Welcome to the Open Storage Era.

TrueNAS SCALE 23.10.2 delivers Enterprise Quality

Pee Jay Latombo — Wed, 06 Mar 2024 22:10:25 +0000

TrueNAS SCALE 23.10 “Cobia ” was released in October 2023 and has been deployed over 60,000 times since then, setting a new record for TrueNAS adoption rate. To date, TrueNAS SCALE is running on over 105,000 systems with over 2,000 petabytes of storage managed. On February 22nd, we released TrueNAS SCALE 23.10.2 for download.

TrueNAS SCALE 23.10.2 is the second maintenance update to 23.10 with over 60 improvements and bug fixes. In less than two weeks, over 20,000 users have updated with very few issues reported. We are already recommending that users update their Cobia systems to this latest release. Visit the TrueNAS Software Status Page for our most up-to-date recommendations.

The software quality of TrueNAS SCALE is now approaching the high level of TrueNAS CORE 13.0. Some of our largest Enterprise users have already sidegraded to 23.10.2 with good experience and performance results. The most significant advantages of 23.10 are:

TrueSecure features: FIPS-grade encryption and rootless administration are required for many Federally compliant use-cases.

Mixed NFSv4/SMB workloads: Consistent ACLs and file locks simplify this use-case where Linux/Unix servers and Windows clients need to use both NFS and SMB to access files on the same dataset.

Faster HA Failover: The failover process has been streamlined with VRRP to reduce times by typically 50%. Under 30 second failovers are now normal and have little impact on VMs and applications.

File Sync: The Syncthing App can be used to sync or migrate SMB or NFS files between TrueNAS systems in real-time.

F-Series: The all-new, all-NVMe TrueNAS F-series appliances with HA are built on TrueNAS 23.10. This high bandwidth beast is built for video-editing, AI, extreme virtualization performance, and other demanding applications. It is the industry’s fastest HA ZFS machine.

Enterprise users looking to make this transition should discuss with their iX support representatives and create a plan.

Cobia Update Improves Reporting, Privacy, and Compatibility

The Cobia 23.10.2 update is primarily focused on bug fixes and updates. Some of the highlights include:

Linux Kernel 6.1.74
OpenZFS 2.2.3 early patch set (fully compatible with ZFS 2.2.2)
More accurate disk temperature and network performance reports
Improved privacy for debug files submitted with support tickets
Allows for larger application catalogs
Over 60 additional bug fixes

There are still some corner-case issues with third-party Apps, GPUs and Kubernetes. These are under active investigation, and support from the Community to debug these issues is greatly appreciated. There are a wide variety of hardware and App deployment scenarios.

Most new features are now being added to Dragonfish which is well into its BETA phase. The 24.04 BETA version has over 1,000 users providing feedback and refinements that will be candidates for inclusion in the RC.1 version planned for March 2024.

More information can be found in the TrueNAS SCALE release notes. To join the over 100,000 users already using TrueNAS SCALE, download the installer here or use the System Update feature from within your existing TrueNAS install.

What TrueNAS SCALE Will Become

With the collaborative nature of open source software development as a cornerstone of iXsystems, TrueNAS SCALE will become the solution that the community wants it to be. All iXians (what we refer to ourselves at iX) are part of the community, and we rely on feature requests and feedback to provide valuable insight into the way that you, the user base, makes use of the functionality of TrueNAS to best serve your needs for True Data Freedom.

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TrueNAS Enterprise Again Named a Gartner Peer Insights™ Customers’ Choice for Primary Storage in 2024

Pee Jay Latombo — Tue, 05 Mar 2024 20:02:25 +0000

Thank You iX Customers! We are honored to share that for the second consecutive year, iXsystems and our product TrueNAS Enterprise have been named a North America Customers’ Choice in the Gartner Peer Insights™ Voice of the Customer Report for Primary Storage.

This repeated recognition was made possible by TrueNAS Enterprise customers investing their time to share their experiences on Gartner Peer Insights™. Our focus is to make our users and customers successful. Not only are we encouraged to see TrueNAS Enterprise improve already high ratings, we’re also grateful for our Enterprise community whose shared experiences led to this recognition.

Among the 79 Gartner Peer Insights reviews for TrueNAS Enterprise in 2023, 85% of them received a full five stars while the remaining 15% received four out of five stars. This puts TrueNAS Enterprise’s overall rating at 4.9 out of 5.0 stars! And when it comes to specific aspects, like Product Capabilities, Deployment Experience, Support Experience, and Sales Experience, we’ve maintained impressive ratings of 4.9 and 4.8 stars. The full report can be accessed at https://www.gartner.com/en/documents/4304999 (Gartner Subscription Required).

As a universal data platform, TrueNAS Enterprise earns top-ratings for multiple storage categories. We look forward to competing in the Primary Storage category for years to come, aiming to secure a GPI Customers’ Choice three-peat in 2025. We also look forward to making a strong debut in the forthcoming Voice of the Customer Report for “Distributed File Systems and Object Storage” later in 2024.

For Primary Storage, TrueNAS Enterprise once again received higher scores than Dell EMC, HPE, and NetApp offerings. Unlike in 2023, Pure Storage did not receive a Customers’ Choice award in any category for 2024. While some of the comparable products in the Primary Storage category offer only block storage, TrueNAS is a universal data platform that gives customers choice of block, file, and object storage interfaces as well as applications.

According to one customer review, “The switch to TrueNAS was unbelievably easy and overall, I wished it happened sooner. Simple and straightforward experience. We were able to go in with requirements and know quickly if the solution offered was going to be able to meet our requirements. A lot of options are available out of the box that comparable products charge for.”

Another customer review noted TrueNAS Enterprise to be “Simple, Fast, And Productive. Communications were clear and concise. Getting the correct solution was simple and did not involve upsells to unneeded products. The responsiveness of the interfaces make it a breeze to make changes or review system configurations. Most configurations are easy to perform.”

Thank you again to all the customers who made this recognition possible. We invite all to read more about this Gartner award here and see what other customers are saying about their TrueNAS Enterprise experiences on Gartner Peer Insights.

Gartner, Voice of the Customer for Primary Storage, Peer Contributors, 23, February 2024. Gartner and Peer Insights are trademarks of Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Gartner Peer Insights content consists of the opinions of individual end users based on their own experiences, and should not be construed as statements of fact, nor do they represent the views of Gartner or its affiliates. Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in this content nor makes any warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this content, about its accuracy or completeness, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.

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New Survey Ranks Top Hypervisor Options as Users Seek VMware Alternatives

Ladislav Sirový — Tue, 27 Feb 2024 20:07:53 +0000

Feedback from Over 700 Respondents Highlights Leading vSphere
Replacements within the TrueNAS Open Storage Community

San Jose, CA – February 28, 2024. iXsystems®, the company behind TrueNAS Open Storage, recently conducted a community survey with 741 respondents that revealed which hypervisors VMware customers are considering most as they seek alternative options to maintain business operations. Considering TrueNAS is designed to provide storage for any hypervisor of choice, the survey aimed to capture insights on user preferences for non-VMware hypervisors in this next era.

With the move by many organizations away from Broadcom as the company shifts its strategy for VMware post-acquisition, users have begun seeking alternatives in an effort to avoid steep price increases and the end of VMware’s free ESXi hypervisor. In addition to cost advantages, Open Source software infrastructure is easy to evaluate with community engagement and documentation available, and without need for special hardware or specific software licenses.

For those who can afford it, some will continue with VMware. For the majority who cannot, or have the flexibility to opt out of an uncertain future in the ecosystem, there are a range of options including Microsoft Hyper-V and several solutions based on either KVM or Xen, which are Open Source. Many are considering Open Source alternatives with permissive licenses and collaborative business models that provide organizations with the confidence that they will not be locked into or out of the technology in the future.

All major commercial and open source choices were presented in the survey. According to the results, 17.8% of respondents are considering sticking with VMware despite its higher cost. The top alternatives identified by the survey were based on KVM, or the “Kernel-based Virtual Machine”, which is a free and open-source module for the Linux kernel that allows the Linux kernel to act as a hypervisor. Based on Linux, KVM is the integrated hypervisor for TrueNAS. 58.8% of respondents are considering KVM-based alternatives, contrasting with deployments of other hypervisors such as Hyper-V (11.9%) and Xen-based hypervisors, including XCP-ng (11.5%).

“Open-source Linux has become the dominant operating system by far, just about everywhere. It includes KVM (hypervisor), Kubernetes, containers, and more.” states Marc Staimer, President, Dragon Slayer Consulting. “Alternative open source hypervisors have proven to be strong viable alternatives, most of which are based on Linux KVM, just as open-source storage alternatives such as TrueNAS have become very viable options to VMware vSAN. Again, most of those alternatives are Linux based.”

The survey’s findings underscore the growing role of Open Source infrastructure as a viable alternative to proprietary technology when vendors choose to focus more on profitability and less on the success of those who have standardized on their offerings. In addition to becoming prevalent in nearly all areas of infrastructure, Open Source alternatives have the advantage of interoperability, making them easy to test and evaluate with no need for special hardware or specific software licenses. The added advantages of having community engagement and documentation make Open Source infrastructure faster and easier to integrate and manage in existing environments.

Resources

For more information on the survey, read our latest blog Top Alternatives for VMware
To join the discussion and access community resources, visit the TrueNAS Community Forums

About iXsystems and TrueNAS

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Beyond VMware: Exploring Virtualization Alternatives

Ladislav Sirový — Fri, 23 Feb 2024 09:48:21 +0000

There is a growing demand among individuals, businesses, and organizations for alternative virtualization solutions, especially given the drastic shift in strategy and resulting price increases for VMware following its acquisition by Broadcom. We surveyed the VMware users among our community about which non-VMware hypervisor options they are considering. The aim of the survey was to capture insights on user preferences for non-VMware hypervisors while highlighting the versatility and freedom of our very own TrueNAS Open Storage in any virtualized environment.

The results from 741 respondents, across the TrueNAS forums, subreddit, and various social media revealed that 58.8% of participants were considering KVM-based hypervisors as their top choice. Following behind were Microsoft’s Hyper-V with 11.9% and Xen-based hypervisors with 11.5%. Additionally, 17.8% of respondents were considering staying with VMware at its higher cost. Notably, these responses show a gravitation towards open-source alternatives driven by a desire to safeguard against potential future lock-outs.

Microsoft Hyper-V

Microsoft Hyper-V is a native commercial hypervisor most commonly used for creating virtual machines on x86-64 systems running Windows. As Microsoft’s hypervisor-based virtualization platform, Hyper-V offers a solution tailored to the unique demands of Windows environments. This integration facilitates management and interoperability with various Microsoft technologies, including native support for Windows Server features such as Active Directory, PowerShell, and System Center.

In addition to its strong ties with Windows Server, Hyper-V also extends its support to Linux virtual machines, making it a choice for heterogeneous environments.
Learn more about using Hyper-V with TrueNAS

KVM-Based

KVM, or “Kernel-based Virtual Machine”, is a free and open-source module for the Linux kernel that allows the Linux kernel to act as a hypervisor. Initially released in 2007, KVM has been leveraged by multiple virtualization products, including as the integrated hypervisor within TrueNAS SCALE. Open hypervisor choices include OpenShift, oVirt, and Proxmox. KVM is also used as the basis for some commercial hypervisors, such as the Nutanix Acropolis HyperVisor (AHV). In the community survey, Proxmox was the most common KVM-based choice.

KVM can be deployed as part of an integrated hypervisor such as Proxmox, or used as an underlying component of a more customized solution. While KVM itself is free and open source, some solutions that integrate it may offer professional paid support plans, and different suites of tools for creating, configuring, and managing virtual machines.
Learn more about using KVM-based hypervisors with TrueNAS

Xen-Based

Like KVM, Xen is a free and open-source hypervisor, originally developed by the University of Cambridge Computer Laboratory. Xen is used as the basis for both fully open source products such as XCP-ng, as well as in commercial products like Oracle’s VM Server and Citrix’s XenServer. In the survey, XCP-ng was the most common Xen-based choice.

Similarly to KVM, some Xen-based hypervisors are available as purely free open source software, with the option of paid support plans such as XCP-ng. Xen also has additional management planes beyond the built-in web UI, including Xen Orchestra, to aid in the administration of clustered systems.
Learn more about using Xen-based hypervisors with TrueNAS

TrueNAS: Compatible with Any Hypervisor

With features such as ZFS, replication, and snapshotting, TrueNAS ensures data integrity, availability, and protection for virtualized environments. Supporting block and file, TrueNAS is flexible enough to fit seamlessly into your existing virtualization infrastructure and can be tuned to meet even your most demanding performance needs.

This means whether you’re using VMware, Hyper-V, KVM, or any other hypervisor, TrueNAS offers compatibility and freedom of choice, so you can have the flexibility you need without the barriers commonly associated with proprietary locked-in solutions.

To find a virtualization solution that is perfect for your environment, start by checking out the Community’s recommendations on our newly-created community section “TrueNAS as VM Storage”, complete with use case and licensing information for each solution.

New to TrueNAS? The TrueNAS SCALE Evaluation Guide offers a step-by-step breakdown, from the initial boot to replication, enabling you to navigate TrueNAS with confidence. Once up and running, you can explore deeper with virtualization tutorials available in TrueNAS documentation. With TrueNAS Community insights and practical guidance at your fingertips, you’ll be better equipped to make informed decisions for virtualization and your data.

Join the Conversation

Let us know what you think! Hypervisor discussions are currently unfolding on the TrueNAS forums. Participate in the general discussion or jump into the thread to discuss the hypervisor you are considering. There is a thriving community rallying around Open-Source platforms powered by TrueNAS, sharing invaluable support and insights. Join the conversation today to offer your perspectives, experiences, or questions about VMware alternatives.

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iXsystems and Klara Celebrate Valentine’s Day with a Heartfelt Donation of Fast Dedup to OpenZFS and TrueNAS

Václav Navrátil — Tue, 13 Feb 2024 20:01:12 +0000

Donated Technology to Deliver Unprecedented Storage efficiency and Speed to Open Source Storage Users

San Jose, CA, February 14, 2024 – iXsystems®, the company behind TrueNAS, and Klara, a leading open source software developer, today reasserted their joint commitment to open source with the contribution of the Fast Dedup feature to the OpenZFS and TrueNAS communities. In a move sponsored and supported by engineers from iXsystems and the development efforts of Klara, the contribution of Fast Dedup significantly enhances sustained deduplication performance for ZFS and TrueNAS storage systems, marking a new milestone in storage efficiency and performance.

Deduplication performance has been limited in ZFS and OpenZFS since the inception of the file system due to its metadata handling. Fast Dedup ameliorates this with the introduction of a re-engineered metadata structure dynamically sized to operate in RAM or on dedicated flash devices for expedited processing. These advancements collectively enable up to 20 times faster performance and 5 times more usable capacity for certain workloads while greatly improving reliability for systems with deduplication enabled. The technology outperforms legacy dedup by employing algorithms and strategies that scan, identify, and eliminate duplicates, while keeping metadata in RAM and SSDs.

“The OpenZFS Community is very excited to receive this major contribution of Fast Dedup software,” said Matt Ahrens, co-creator of ZFS and the OpenZFS Project. “Fast Dedup has been a major user desire for many years and we are pleased to see that Klara and iXsystems have developed the feature in-line with our general requirements. We look forward to testing and integrating the new software.”

Key Fast Dedup Advancements Include:

Metadata size is now dynamically sized to fit on either RAM or dedicated flash devices to avoid hitting the performance penalty wall.
Metadata structure completely re-engineered to enable efficient updates using a log append process, greatly improving performance for large updates such as deletions.
Dedup table now favors dedup-able data and prune blocks that show no dedup potential.
Metadata improvements combined with properly configured storage, including dedicated metadata flash devices designed to improve sustained dedup performance by an order of magnitude or greater for larger systems.

“Klara is very proud of the speed and functional quality of the Fast Dedup development,” said Allan Jude, FreeBSD Engineering Manager at Klara “We look forward to completing the integration and testing work needed for this to be a standard OpenZFS capability, with no extra cost.”

“Fast Dedup has been a longstanding desired feature of ZFS and TrueNAS, and can deliver 5X the usable capacity and 20X the performance.” said Kris Moore, SVP of iXsystems Engineering. “These attributes will significantly improve the economics of OpenZFS storage relative to Cloud storage and proprietary storage, and our team could not be more ecstatic to see this come to fruition.”

The donation of Fast Dedup technology is a testament to the shared vision and collaboration between iXsystems and Klara, underscoring their dedication to the advancement of open-source storage solutions. Expected in Q2 for TrueNAS SCALE, Fast Dedup will be available as test software, not to be used for production. This will allow validation of functionality and performance prior to a standard product release later in 2024.

For more information on iXsystems, TrueNAS, or its hardware/software products, please contact iX.

About iXsystems and TrueNAS

iX is an Open Source pioneer and the company behind TrueNAS, the world’s most deployed storage software. Relied upon by millions in all 195 countries, TrueNAS is an award-winning universal data platform used by a majority of Fortune 500TM companies. The platform harnesses the power of the legendary ZFS file system to provide scale-up or scale-out unified storage with the reliability and performance demanded by virtualization, backup, and many other data-heavy workloads. As an alternative to legacy storage systems that are proprietary, restrictive, and often overpriced, TrueNAS helps organizations modernize how they store and protect data by leveraging open storage to simplify operations and drastically reduce cost.

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Fast Dedup is a Valentines Gift to the OpenZFS and TrueNAS Communities

Pee Jay Latombo — Tue, 13 Feb 2024 19:30:31 +0000

With much love for the communities, iXsystems and Klara have developed and donated the Fast Dedup capability for OpenZFS. The Open Source software has been made available to the OpenZFS community for review, further testing and integration into a future release of OpenZFS. The Fast Dedup capability will also be available in future releases of TrueNAS with it landing in the nightly images of TrueNAS SCALE in March 2024.

Fast Dedup is a major overhaul of the original OpenZFS deduplication capability. One of the primary issues with traditional deduplication with ZFS has been the need to keep the deduplication hash tables in memory at all times to avoid massive performance penalties. This existing functionality led to performance challenges when scaling up capacity and usability issues during operation.

With the introduction of Fast Dedup, there have been several major innovations including:

The size of metadata is now dynamically sized to fit in either RAM or dedicated flash devices to avoid hitting the performance penalty wall.
The metadata structure has been completely re-engineered to enable efficient updates using a log append process, greatly improving performance for large updates such as deletions.
The dedup table will favor dedup-able data and prune blocks that show no dedup potential.
Combining metadata improvements with properly configured storage, including dedicated metadata flash devices, will improve the sustained dedup performance by over an order of magnitude for larger systems.

Kudos to the Development Team

Led by Allan Jude of Klara, the development team included engineers from Klara and iXsystems. The development was completed in less than a year thanks to the strong OpenZFS expertise of the team. The project was primarily sponsored by iXsystems for use in TrueNAS, the industry’s most used storage platform.

“Klara is very proud of the speed and functional quality of the Fast Dedup development.” said Allan Jude. “We look forward to completing the integration and testing work needed for this to be a standard OpenZFS capability, with no extra cost.”

By contributing the software now, Klara and iXsystems are working to ensure it will have the quality needed to be included in OpenZFS 2.3. The contributed software has gone through preliminary validation and we look forward to wider community testing. Making it available to the OpenZFS community will allow enhanced review and testing with a broader range of use cases and capacities.

“The OpenZFS Community is very excited to receive this major contribution of Fast Dedup software,” said Matt Ahrens. “Fast Dedup has been a major user desire for many years and we are pleased to see that Klara and iXsystems have developed the feature in-line with our general requirements. We look forward to testing and integrating the new software.”

OpenZFS 2.3 is expected to take most of the next nine months to mature and reach release quality and status. These Fast Dedup features will be integrated with TrueNAS SCALE “Electric Eel” along with other expected OpenZFS improvements.

TrueNAS with Fast Dedup

Test software, not to be used for production, is expected in Q2 for TrueNAS SCALE. This will allow validation of functionality and performance prior to a production release.

A formal TrueNAS release with Fast Dedup included is planned for the second half of 2024. This will be in both TrueNAS SCALE Community Edition and TrueNAS Enterprise appliances, including the TrueNAS F-Series, M-Series, and R-Series.

“Fast Dedup has been a longstanding desired feature of ZFS and TrueNAS, and can deliver 5X the usable capacity and 20X the performance.” said Kris Moore, SVP of Engineering. “These attributes will significantly improve the economics of OpenZFS storage relative to Cloud storage and proprietary storage, and our team could not be more ecstatic to see this come to fruition.”

Contact the Developers

For more information or to volunteer for the ongoing testing and validation processes, please contact one of the primary developers.

iXsystems is the company behind TrueNAS. You can make an impact in the community by getting to know TrueNAS SCALE now, developing on nightly builds in March, and testing closer to RELEASE later this year. If we can also help your company with TrueNAS Enterprise appliances, book a time to chat with a product specialist.

Klara is a leading developer of OpenZFS and FreeBSD software. Interested in Klara developing software for your OpenZFS project? Contact Klara to learn more about their offerings.

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TrueNAS SCALE Dragonfish Reaches BETA

Ladislav Sirový — Tue, 06 Feb 2024 20:25:13 +0000

The Dragonfish chapter of TrueNAS SCALE has begun. Building on its foundation of high availability, scale-up storage, and easy deployment of containerized applications, TrueNAS SCALE is now poised to expand its capabilities even further. Today, we announce the availability of TrueNAS SCALE Dragonfish BETA 24.04, another major leap forward for TrueNAS. Dragonfish is the alphabetical and chronological successor to SCALE 23.10, which has successfully grown the TrueNAS SCALE user base beyond 100,000 systems in less than 24 months. Dragonfish adds over 1,000 improvements with the most notable being related to security, auditing, cloud backup, reporting, and log management. Dragonfish has been through multiple internal QA testing stages with nightly access by the development community. With this BETA release, Dragonfish has reached the point where community testers can begin to explore the new features and functionality. We expect to release Dragonfish for production in Q2 2024, as the SCALE 24.04 name (yy.mm of target release date) indicates. TrueNAS Enterprise and associated appliances are currently based on TrueNAS 13.0 or SCALE 23.10. Dragonfish will be added as an option after its formal release in Q2 this year.

What’s New In Dragonfish?

Just another thousand improvements and fixes, of course! Rather than go through every enhancement in detail, we’ll provide a quick overview and share the specifics of key Dragonfish features in future blogs. Some of the highlights include: Infrastructure

Latest OpenZFS 2.2.2
Increase of default ZFS ARC size, to match TrueNAS CORE ZFS usage
Linux Kernel 6.6 and improved Hardware Support
Update to NVIDIA Driver 545.23.08
Improved Log management UI
Apps can be restricted to read-only or write-only permissions
Preliminary Power-User capabilities for TrueNAS Sandboxes (systemd-nspawn “jails”)

File Sharing

Samba 4.19.3 update and speed improvements
Simpler SMB and NFS share creation with a wizard
SMB auditing of client and file events
FreeIPA support (alternative to Active Directory)
Syncthing Importing of SMB shares from other systems with full ACLs/Permissions

Cloud Backup

Improved backup and setup of Cloud Sync Tasks
Visibility into Backup Status on main dashboards
iX-Storj Backup of datasets (Web UI) and zvols (CLI-only)
- Snapshots and Deduplication of all backup data

Security

Auditing of all UI/API events
Audit logging of all login attempts
Tech-Preview of Restricted admins (System, Storage) using Directory Services (Enterprise-only)
Immutable ZFS snapshots (relies on restricted admins)

If you’re interested in seeing the full list of improvements and fixes, check out the SCALE 24.04-BETA Release Notes on the TrueNAS Docs site. As with any BETA release, we recommend that only testers and developers use this version until there has been more feedback from the Community. The TrueNAS Software Status Page tracks the quality and user-type and usage recommendation of the release.

Dragonfish Increases SCALE ARC Sizing

After extensive testing, TrueNAS SCALE Dragonfish resolves the previous limitations around the ZFS Adaptive Replacement Cache (ARC) bringing SCALE in line with the TrueNAS CORE platform, offering significant improvements in performance and memory management. While this adjustment can be manually made in TrueNAS SCALE 23.10, Dragonfish makes it the default, allowing for greater performance of your most frequently and recently used data.

Dragonfish Uses Linux Kernel 6.6 with LTS

Each new version of TrueNAS uses the latest stable and well-supported version of the underlying OS. The decision on which version is finalized well before the 1st ALPHA software version. Linux Kernel 6.6 has its own set of improvements, plus support for new hardware. In addition, we added the later NVIDIA 545.23.08 driver, which includes improved support for a wider range of GPUs. There will be descriptions of other features in future blogs over the next few months.

TrueNAS CORE 13.1 is Planned for Q2

TrueNAS SCALE is the software edition where new features and updated components are developed and tested. Once those are tested and validated, some are eligible for backporting to TrueNAS CORE. The focus of TrueNAS CORE continues to be ensuring storage reliability and security for existing users. The next version of TrueNAS CORE (13.1) is planned for Q2 of 2024. This will include updates to ZFS as well as an upgrade of Samba to version 4.19, to maintain parity with Dragonfish. It also smoothes transitions for users from CORE to SCALE, especially for HA systems. TrueNAS 13.0 users can sidegrade to TrueNAS SCALE 23.10 with the primary exception being Jail users. Dragonfish will include early support for “sandboxes”, which are jail-like capabilities using systemd nspawn containers. Thanks to the community user jip-hop for creating the jailmaker scripts.

TrueNAS SCALE 23.10.1.3 is the Current Version

TrueNAS SCALE has inherited the storage functionality and automated testing from CORE. SCALE has matured rapidly and offers a more robust apps environment based on Linux Containers & KVM. TrueNAS SCALE is generally recommended for new users that need embedded apps, and will gradually become the recommended version for all new TrueNAS users. The latest stable release, TrueNAS SCALE 23.10.1.3, has significantly improved quality and reliability and is now used by many of our largest customers. More than 100,000 users are currently using TrueNAS SCALE and it is available for download here. There will be a TrueNAS SCALE 23.10.2 version released later in February. TrueNAS provides these choices and the ability to automatically migrate storage services and VMs from CORE to SCALE. Plugins and jails can be manually replaced with apps. We encourage anyone looking for further advice or answers to questions to visit our Community Forums or Discord Channel.

Freedom to Store What’s Valuable to You

For each new release, our focus stays the same—to provide you with the freedom to access and manipulate your data your way. As TrueNAS has evolved, it has brought a cleaner user interface with added features like apps and catalogs to serve your requirements. We look forward to working with the TrueNAS Community to rapidly progress Dragonfish through BETA to RC1 and Release. If you have a test system, please and report any bugs you find. Our engineering team would also like to hear positive experiences from any of the new features.

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Why Traditional Enterprise Storage is So Expensive

Pee Jay Latombo — Thu, 01 Feb 2024 22:43:44 +0000

Traditional storage vendors are large public corporations whose foremost obligation is to deliver shareholder value. Through a proprietary, closed-source approach born decades ago, they promote a mindset of scarcity and create environments that lock customers into ecosystems that are difficult and costly to change.

By keeping it closed, vendors can ensnare customers into a more resource-intensive and expensive model while promising that solutions will be forthcoming. Their goal is to grow fast, improve margins, and extract the maximum customer revenues by preventing alternatives from getting a foothold.

This has been the storage model for decades. Where there had only been proprietary solutions before, Open Infrastructure has become the dominant model for operating systems (Linux), containers (Kubernetes), databases (NoSQL) and many more layers of the stack. So, why has the model for storage remained unchanged when the rest of IT infrastructure has evolved beyond it?

The Open Source Choice

By contrast, Open Storage is built around a mindset of abundance, where the best products and user experience win in the marketplace. The combination of an open-source community, customers, and vendor support yields a confluence of innovation that no lone source could provide.

At iXsystems, we seek to give our customers more choice in how they can store, access, and manipulate their data. We call this Data Freedom, which we define as: what all organizations ultimately want and expect from storage: flexibility and choice. In other words, the freedom to go faster, lower infrastructure costs, and reduce operational effort. In our model, the only “lock-in” we strive for is a user and customer experience so gratifying that customers don’t ever need or want to leave.

Rising Costs

Odds are you’ve seen articles and discussions of increasing hardware prices. Here are two recent examples highlighting expectations that storage will be more expensive in 2024 than it was in 2023:

There is no more serious business than protecting data thus storage is naturally the last place where anyone would want to skimp. Vendors prey on this emotion, persuading customers that the value they claim is worth paying more for, and the only way you can be successful. But, the reality is, the “big” brands charge more because they must. Their business model relies on meeting Wall Street and investor expectations, where growth and profit are the only measures.

Alternatives are bad for the status quo, especially when an alternative is rated equally or more highly. One way for an alternative to rate more highly is to be focused on delivering what the customer wants/needs as opposed to the vendors’ business model.

What Can I Control?

If you are part of the selection process for infrastructure vendors, what’s most under your control is your “short list”. Alternative brands often cost less as they are in a “challenger” position against the leading brand. Any organization has the option to consider “challenger” brands and non-commercial tools. What might have been the best or only choice in the past, might not be the best one today.

While broadening the list of choices, new requirements can also be added in the spirit of “skating to where the puck is going”. Don’t plan based upon the past, rather envision what your future will bring. You have the power to ensure your investments today will align with the future of both the market and your data center infrastructure.

Where Is The Puck Going?

The best choice today is storage that is compatible with, and optimized, for where the market is going. The good news is that the marketplace trajectory is becoming more flexible in its deployment options, more capable by including functionality , more open in its development model, all while delivering better value overall to those deploying it.

According to research, analysts recommend that organizations explore the emergence of the “edge storage platform” (ESP). The ESP is where data manipulation and transformation at the edge will create value most quickly. As part of the larger “universal storage platform” (USP) architecture that unites edge, cloud, and core data centers, ESPs are best optimized for certain workloads, use cases, and data service management methods.

These requirements are different from traditional and legacy data center models and must include:

Flexibility to scale up and down cost-effectively
Software-defined storage with self-healing technology
Support for Block, File, Object, and App storage with Kubernetes
Centralized data management
Data transfer/transformation optimization

It will be interesting to see how the definition of “storage” evolves over time. One thing is for sure, traditional storage vendors face a significant challenge in meeting these new requirements.

The Elephant in the Room

If I am not paying for it, how can I trust it will not fail? This is a very human reaction. No one has ever lost their job for choosing a top-branded, premium-positioned solution when it inevitably suffers a fault. After all, your data is priceless and the best solutions are always costly, so your storage should be expensive, right?

Mathematically, how can you calculate the currency-equivalent value for reliable storage solution operations if its software is open source and freely distributed at no cost? Your high school math teacher stated that anything divided by zero is undefined; that sounds risky. Perhaps it might be best to take a different perspective when considering value creation for storage.

Same Outcome, Lower Cost

Generic medicines are considered by most (including regulators) to be “as effective” as Big Pharma offerings with the same active ingredients. Packaging, marketing, sales, etc. are very different for a leading brand as they have market position to protect and stakeholders to appease. None of this impacts the efficacy of the medication, but it does affect the sales price.

Just as being free is not a disqualifier for having value, lower-cost open products should not be presumed to be of lower quality by design. Challengers streamline or reduce much of the cost structure to deliver an equivalent product at a lower price point. We are champions of open infrastructure. Read more about how iXsystems passes these savings on to our customers.

Experience it for Yourself

The Open Source model has many advantages in reducing software development costs. It can even bring features to fruition more rapidly as community members assist in the development effort. This is a fundamentally different approach that delivers greater value at lower expense while providing what customers want in their storage solution.

Sounds too good to be true? We encourage you to experience TrueNAS for yourself today (download TrueNAS here), listen to what our customers are saying on Gartner’s Website, or if you’re storing critical data, feel free to schedule a call with one of our helpful Solution Advisors.

Still curious about why we do what we do? Check out this video with some of the faces behind TrueNAS, sharing their perspectives on what it is like for iXians to come to work every day and deliver TrueNAS to the world.

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How TrueNAS Delivers Unbeatable Value

Pee Jay Latombo — Thu, 25 Jan 2024 06:19:32 +0000

What We Do

At iXsystems, we do not answer to the same Wall Street or Venture Capital stakeholders that other vendors do. This allows us to focus exclusively on making our customers successful, powered by our core value to always “think people before profit”.

The benefits of our Open Source business model are no secret. They are simply unique to iXsystems in the Enterprise Storage market. We leverage open source development, non-traditional tactics, and the energy and engagement of the massive TrueNAS Community to help deliver products rated higher on Gartner than our competition. Collectively, this gives iXsystems an unfair and sustainable advantage in delighting customers while charging less to deliver positive outcomes.

Simply put—our model requires far fewer resources, and we pass those savings on to our customers. We charge less.

How It Works

Compared to iXsystems, traditional data storage vendors are forced to maintain outsized corporate overheads — both in terms of expense and effort — just to keep their technology closed, patented, and to capture 100% of the value they create.

We carry none of that burden, which enables us to be more nimble and efficient. Here’s how that works and how it benefits our customers:

Community – Community is the special ingredient. We are grateful to be stewards of the TrueNAS Open Source project. Consider the unique combination of TrueNAS community and users; iXsystems and partners; customers; and non-paying users. The whole is greater than the sum of its parts, and contributions from the Community bring enormous value. With iXsystems’ contributions and the incredible Community, this enables agility, investment, and innovation to TrueNAS that no proprietary company could emulate.

Software Development – Plain and simple, making software that is proprietary and closed-source requires more effort, resources, and money than open-source development. Most storage vendors also have multiple code bases, further compounding this disadvantage, while iXsystems has one open-source code base to maintain and grow. This common code base includes many other open-source elements (e.g., OpenZFS), which expands the community of talented Engineers directly contributing to TrueNAS, further reducing costs.

Product Management – Unlike other enterprise storage vendors, iXsystems does not invest in efforts to lock in customers; we do the very opposite by making TrueNAS as open, compatible, interoperable, and easy to leave as possible. However, we believe that once you experience TrueNAS, you won’t want to leave. We don’t have complex software licensing, and our appliances can run the latest software for years, long after the hardware is depreciated — a sustainability practice we fully encourage! At iXsystems, there are zero development cycles spent on planned obsolescence.

Security – TrueNAS is Open Source and therefore transparent by default, with broader user coverage and more eyeballs on the code, thereby leveraging massive user communities to help uncover, alert, and respond to security vulnerabilities. This enables code fixes much faster than proprietary vendors who can only rely on internal resources or respond only after the vulnerability has impacted their customers. Additional security enhancements (e.g. FIPS 140) are available with TrueNAS Enterprise appliances.

Quality – This is another area where the Community makes a huge difference. At a fraction of the investment, Quality Assurance for TrueNAS software takes less time, money, and resources, all while providing more complete test coverage. When a version is declared ready for general use, it has benefitted from extensive community testing. TrueNAS sees faster bug reporting/testing and a more rapid access to new features and fixes than other vendors (who often use their first customer shipments as QA) because of the feedback from the community.

Interoperability – Being open also makes iX a very easy company for other software vendors to partner with, as they need no demo units or non-disclosure agreements to test that their technology works well with TrueNAS.

Documentation – Like Quality, many hands make for light work. By the time a release is recommended for general use, documentation has been reviewed by thousands, accelerating the process of ensuring accuracy.

Intellectual Property – Effort is required to protect technology for maximum profit. iXsystems spends no energy on patents, choosing instead to focus resources on value creation rather than blocking innovation.

Sales – TrueNAS Community Edition software is free to try and use, and has been shown to run on almost any x86 hardware, or can be spun up easily in a VM. As such, we encourage audiences to try it for themselves without any involvement from a sales team. Our experts at iX then help customers identify the optimal configuration of TrueNAS Enterprise appliance(s) for important storage applications.

Marketing – Where our competition spends money on marketing, we instead spend on developing free software that delights our users. Word of mouth is the original marketing tactic and the goodwill we invest in the TrueNAS community results in outsized awareness. With more than 15 million downloads and more than a half million active community members, appreciative users write blogs and how-to content, influencers create videos, and hundreds of thousands of community members tell others about their positive experiences with TrueNAS.

Sustainability – Most storage vendors rely on forced obsolescence to maintain growth. At the end of its supported life, most IT infrastructure is scrapped and not recycled, let alone reused. With TrueNAS software, organizations can repurpose infrastructure beyond its normal life and extract more value from it. After 3-7 years of mission-critical duty, appliances from iXsystems can remain updated with the latest software and transition to a less critical storage role for many years while positively impacting sustainability and financial efficiency.

How This Benefits YOU

“Value” means receiving the most for your dollar. However, most traditional vendors use the word “value” in the context of justifying why it’s worthwhile to pay more for their product. At iX, we don’t have to contort the definition of the word into something it’s not. Our goal in creating TrueNAS was to allow our customers to receive more from our products while also paying less — the true meaning of value as far as we’re concerned.

Experience it for Yourself

We encourage you to experience True Data Freedom for yourself today (download TrueNAS here), see what our customers are saying on Gartner’s Website, or if you’re storing critical data, feel free to schedule a call with one of our helpful Product Experts.

The post How TrueNAS Delivers Unbeatable Value appeared first on TrueNAS - Welcome to the Open Storage Era.

TrueNAS Year in Review: Top Stories of 2023

Annie Zhang — Fri, 05 Jan 2024 22:23:21 +0000

As we enter the leap year of 2024, we are looking forward to a big year for TrueNAS. 2023 has been a year of growth and innovation at iX and we couldn’t have done it without your support. Join us for a recap of the top community stories from 2023.

TrueNAS Named Gartner Peer Insights Customer Choice

TrueNAS Enterprise now stands with a 4.9/5 star rating on Gartner Peer Insights. Based on verified customer reviews, this award recognizes TrueNAS Enterprise for its reliability and customer satisfaction with a 4.8 out of 5-star customer rating, outscoring Dell EMC, HP, and NetApp.

Latest Editions of TrueNAS 13.0

TrueNAS CORE 13.0-U6.1 was released at the end of 2023, serving as the anticipated final release in the 13.0 series before the major 13.1 update. This release provides fixes to bugs dealing with Apps and Pool building and is the recommended release for both CORE and Enterprise users.

TrueNAS SCALE 23.10 “Cobia” has Arrived!

TrueNAS SCALE 23.10 “Cobia” arrived on October 24th. This release marks a major milestone with significant improvements in SMB features, file copying, security, and more. Other highlights include infrastructure enhancements, Linux Kernel 6.1, improved hardware support, NVIDIA driver updates, and the ability to scale up to 1200 drives and 25 PB+ on a single system!

Honorable Mentions

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TrueCommand 3.0 Manages ZFS Replication

Ladislav Sirový — Thu, 21 Dec 2023 10:37:19 +0000

TrueCommand simplifies the operation and fleet management of any environment with more than one TrueNAS Enterprise or Community Edition (CORE, SCALE) system. The release of TrueCommand 3.0 makes it possible to manage ZFS replication between TrueNAS systems and also brings support for systems running TrueNAS SCALE 23.10. Together, TrueNAS and TrueCommand manage and protect your valuable data.

TrueCommand 3.0 is available as a Docker container or as a cloud service, with all communications secured by an SSH tunnel. TrueCommand can be run as an App on TrueNAS SCALE, but it is recommended to run the TrueCommand App from a system it is not directly managing.

Via a single pane of glass, TrueCommand collects usage and performance data, as well as alerts and activity logs. It performs predictive analytics and understands ZFS concepts, including pools and VDEVs. Inventory, support contacts, and software licensing information are managed centrally. Even in single-system environments, TrueCommand provides monitoring and fault diagnosis capabilities that can simplify operations and reduce problem resolution time.

TrueCommand 3.0 is another major step for TrueCommand and includes nearly 100 improvements, features, and bug fixes. The most notable new capabilities are:

Replication Manager: When performing replication between systems, there is a need to coordinate the sending and receiving of ZFS snapshots. Rather than administering each system independently, TrueCommand can manage the replication setup and ongoing monitoring.

Use the New Replication Task wizard to easily create a new replication job for any system being managed by TrueCommand

Monitor replication status between multiple systems at a glance from the new Replication Manager dashboard

TrueNAS SCALE 23.10 support: TrueNAS SCALE 23.10.1 includes a new data collection engine and improved APIs which TrueCommand 3.0 can now understand and use. TrueCommand can still manage both the newer and older TrueNAS systems from the same pane of glass.
Fleet Dashboard: The TrueCommand UI has been improved with a new Fleet Dashboard that tracks the status of many systems and their datasets. Identify problems and manage alerts more quickly and easily.

Get an at-a-glance check at your system health, disk usage, and other crucial information from the Fleet Dashboard

TrueCommand 3.0 has also been thoroughly tested with TrueNAS SCALE Bluefin (22.12) and TrueNAS 13.0. It also supports TrueNAS 12.0 and TrueNAS SCALE Angelfish (22.02) – if you’re running an earlier version of TrueNAS, please upgrade to one of the supported versions above before upgrading your TrueCommand instance.

Obtaining TrueCommand

The Docker version of TrueCommand is available as a free download. TrueCommand itself remains free for systems with 50 or fewer drives. Software and support licenses are available for larger deployments via the iX portal or by contacting iXsystems.

TrueCommand Cloud, a SaaS version, is also available. Existing TrueCommand Cloud accounts will be gradually updated as we ensure quality. TrueCommand Cloud itself is running on TrueNAS SCALE systems in an iXsystems data center.

Thanks to all those who tested and provided feedback to get to this stage. As always, we appreciate feedback and bug reports for this TrueCommand 3.0 release.

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TrueNAS SCALE 23.10 has the Fastest Growth Ever

Ladislav Sirový — Wed, 20 Dec 2023 21:34:59 +0000

TrueNAS SCALE 23.10 “Cobia” was released in October and already has over 30,000 deployments, setting a new record for TrueNAS adoption rate. The third major release of TrueNAS SCALE has delivered improvements in quality, functionality, security, and performance. Along the way, TrueNAS SCALE has reached the multiple exabyte milestone, with over 100,000 systems and 2,000 petabytes of storage managed. Today, we are releasing the first major update to Cobia, TrueNAS SCALE 23.10.1.

TrueNAS SCALE 23.10.1 includes almost 200 bug fixes and improvements, including a fix for the 15-year-old ZFS bug that was recently discovered. There are several improvements to GPU isolation handling, and the ‘statistics export’ API to Graphite has been reactivated. SCALE users can now make use of Apps such as Grafana and Prometheus for additional real-time monitoring and reporting of their TrueNAS statistics.

Please read the release notes before updating. This update is recommended for early adopters until there has been more testing and feedback from the Community. Visit the TrueNAS Software Status Page for our most up-to-date recommendations.

TrueNAS Enterprise appliances with 23.10.1 begin shipping in early 2024. These include the following TrueNAS appliances:

F-Series: New high-performance, all-NVMe HA systems
M-Series: Scalable systems with HA supporting up to 25PB
X-Series: 2U energy-efficient HA systems
R-Series: Single controller systems with the lowest price per TB
Mini Series: Ultra-quiet systems for home and SMB / SME

Major Features in TrueNAS SCALE 23.10 Release

Highlights of the all-new features in SCALE 23.10 include:

SMB

SMB and NFSv4 Compatibility
SMB Share import
SMB File Sync
Fast File Copy
SMB Performance and Scalability
Samba security updates

Infrastructure

Linux Kernel 6.1 and improved hardware support
NVIDIA 535.54.03 driver updates
Netdata backend stats collection
Scale up to 1200 drives and 25 PB+ on a single system

Web Interface

Improved Apps UI
Improved Storage Pool UI
Simplified feedback and bug reporting

ZFS & Performance Improvements

OpenZFS 2.2.2 with many iXsystems contributions
ZFS Block Cloning (type of deduplication) for faster SMB & NFS file copies
ZFS dRAID Pool Layouts
Pause / Unpause ZFS Scrub Controls
Reduction of HA failover times by up to 70%

NVMe Platforms

All-new F-Series NVMe HA platforms
iSCSI improvements including ALUA support
Sub 20 Second HA failover times
General improvements in NVMe performance and management

TrueNAS SCALE “Cobia” 23.10 completed a very successful BETA, RC.1 cycle, and Release cycle. We wish to recognize and thank the more than 30,000 community members who have provided invaluable feedback. Many users have found the new bug reporting and webUI feedback built into Cobia to be very user friendly.

In addition, TrueCommand 3.0 has been released and includes full support for TrueNAS SCALE 23.10. It is available as a self-hosted container or hosted subscription service. To learn more about TrueCommand’s ability to manage your TrueNAS system fleet, visit https://www.truenas.com/truecommand/ and get started with your first 50 drives for free.

TrueNAS 13.1 Will Inherit Some Cobia Improvements

In addition, TrueNAS 13.1 is planned to follow with a release in early 2024. This update will include the many SMB and ZFS improvements that have been implemented and tested in TrueNAS SCALE Cobia. Nightly versions are available for testers and those who wish to help contribute to TrueNAS development. The link to the nightly versions can be found on the TrueNAS Software Status Page.

TrueNAS 13.1 includes additional features to simplify “sidegrading” from TrueNAS 13.1 to TrueNAS SCALE 23.10, especially for Enterprise HA systems. Additional information will be available for TrueNAS 13.1 when it reaches BETA status.

TrueNAS SCALE 23.10 is now the Default for SCALE

TrueNAS SCALE inherited storage functionality and automated testing from CORE. Based on Linux, KVM, and Kubernetes, SCALE offers a more robust environment for apps. To join the >100,000 users already using TrueNAS SCALE, download the installer here or use the System Update feature from within your existing TrueNAS install.

Work has already begun on the next TrueNAS SCALE release, codenamed “Dragonfish”. There will be updates on this plan in February 2024.

TrueNAS provides these choices and the ability to automatically migrate storage services and VMs from CORE to SCALE. Plugins and jails in CORE can be manually replaced with Apps in SCALE. We encourage anyone looking for further advice or answers to questions to visit our Community Forums or Discord Channel.

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TrueNAS 13.0-U6.1 is the Final Update of our Highest-Quality Release

Václav Navrátil — Tue, 12 Dec 2023 17:53:24 +0000

An often-stated adage in file system development is that “it takes 10 years for a file system to even reach beta.” This underscores not only the complexity in developing file systems but also their significance. As the file system is a cornerstone of any operating system, it’s critical to ensure that data can be kept accurate and available. Therefore, truly trusting a file system’s ability to perform its primary duty takes many years of battle testing.

From “A” for APFS to “Z” for ZFS, this is true for both open source and proprietary file systems. As ZFS surpasses its 18th year, iXsystems is proud to help contribute to the process of improvement of OpenZFS far beyond the “ten-year beta” period to ensure the continued integrity and performance.

With the latest updates to OpenZFS being among the many improvements available in TrueNAS 13.0-U6.1, this release is expected to be the last version of TrueNAS 13.0, which has been the highest-quality TrueNAS release ever. The next version of TrueNAS CORE will be TrueNAS 13.1 in Q1 2024.

Virtually Everything That Can Be Fixed in TrueNAS 13.0 is Now Fixed in 13.0-U6.1

We are very proud of the quality delivered and thankful to the community for all the bug reports to help us get here.

The previous version, TrueNAS 13.0-U5.3, proved to be the highest quality and most widely deployed release in TrueNAS history with over 65,000 active systems. Building on the Enterprise quality of prior versions, TrueNAS 13.0-U6.1 is available and is expected to be the final update of TrueNAS 13.0 for both the CORE and Enterprise appliances. This U6.1 update includes roughly 20 new bug fixes and security improvements, including OpenZFS 2.1.14 to correct a rarely-occurring upstream ZFS bug.

TrueNAS 13.0 included significant new components and delivered improved performance, scalability, and reliability when compared to the previous major version, TrueNAS 12.0. To date, over 85% of TrueNAS 12.0 users have updated to TrueNAS 13.0, including most of our larger enterprise customers. In particular, the increased speed and robustness of HA failover is extremely valuable for Enterprise use cases.

13.0 is Recommended for All 11.3 and 12.0 Users

We recommend that all TrueNAS 12.0 and TrueNAS 11.3 users update their systems to TrueNAS 13.0-U6.1 before attempting to resolve any software or performance issues. This update is also recommended to prepare for future updates to TrueNAS 13.1 in 2024.

Current TrueNAS 13.0 users can update to U6.1 directly from the TrueNAS web UI by navigating to the System -> Update page. New TrueNAS users can get started by downloading the TrueNAS CORE installation media from our site at https://www.truenas.com/download-truenas-core/.

Earlier this year, there was news on the process for maintaining and updating TrueNAS CORE Plugins. Users of plugins are recommended to review this new information.

TrueNAS CORE in 2024

TrueNAS 13.1 is planned for release in early 2024 and will maintain the same storage-focused features with updates to FreeBSD, OpenZFS, Samba, and other key components. The 13.0-U6.1 update also includes some warnings and guidance to help smooth any issues for a future transition to TrueNAS 13.1, such as handling the deprecation of the embedded S3 service, or simply migrating to TrueNAS SCALE.

When Should you Update your TrueNAS system?

Our recommendations are maintained and updated regularly on our Software Status page, which currently recommends TrueNAS 13.0-U5.3 for all users and customers for stability and security reasons. As TrueNAS 13.0-U6.1 receives further testing in more customer environments, it will become the recommended release for all TrueNAS CORE and Enterprise users within two months.

TrueNAS Enterprise appliances are used by organizations that prefer a turnkey experience, optimized hardware, professional support, and Enterprise features such as High Availability (HA), Fibre Channel, Proactive Support, and Key Management (KMIP).

TrueNAS Enterprise users will have the option to sidegrade to TrueNAS (SCALE) Enterprise 23.10 and other SCALE-based releases. These sidegrades are encouraged for use cases that specifically require the unique functionality of TrueNAS SCALE. The sidegrade process will continue to be simplified and made more robust.

TrueNAS Enterprise customers are encouraged to contact iXsystems Technical Support for a complimentary technical review and assistance before updating from 12.0 or earlier versions. If you need additional information on how TrueNAS can streamline, accelerate, and unify data management for your business, please contact us and we’ll gladly assist you.

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Black Friday Special Offers! Get 5% Off Your TrueNAS Mini R or 10% Off Your Build!

Pee Jay Latombo — Fri, 17 Nov 2023 08:01:42 +0000

This Black Friday, the power of True Data Freedom is more accessible with an exclusive offer on TrueNAS.com. For those in the US and Canada, when you order 4 or more drives using our Mini Configurator Tool, you can enjoy an exclusive 10% discount on your build.

And for those that would like a diskless deal, take advantage of an offer on our TrueNAS Mini R on Amazon.com! Elevate your storage experience with our compact and affordable TrueNAS Mini R. Get 5% off from November 20th through November 27th when you place an order through our Amazon store.

Hurry! These offers are valid between November 20th and November 27th. Don’t miss this opportunity to enhance your storage solution with the trusted TrueNAS quality.

Visit Amazon Store

The Mini R is unique as the first rack-mountable TrueNAS Mini system, making it ideal for small and home offices and can also serve in enterprise deployments for remote sites, backup, labs, and departmental applications. Customers with TrueNAS Enterprise systems can include the Mini R in their support contracts to enjoy end to end support. Learn more about the TrueNAS Mini R here.

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The New Performance Flagship: TrueNAS F-Series

Ladislav Sirový — Tue, 14 Nov 2023 08:01:58 +0000

Meet the newest members of the TrueNAS Enterprise portfolio: F60 and F100, two models from the all-new TrueNAS F-Series high-performance line of all-NVMe systems. This new series is designed for maximum performance, reliability, and density to support organizations with ultra-demanding workloads. Organizations now have a new choice for their performance-centric workloads alongside other models in the portfolio that are optimized for capacity.

Like other TrueNAS Enterprise appliances, the TrueNAS F-Series supports file, block, and object protocols and provides all the rich OpenZFS data management capabilities. All appliances can be provided with iXsystems’ award-winning enterprise support.

The TrueNAS F-Series has two models to choose from:

F100 – Up to 24 NVMe Gen4 SSDs per 2U system for 720TB, up to 30GB/s bandwidth per node with 6x 40/100 GbE optical NICs, 800W typical power draw
F60 – Up to 24 NVMe Gen4 SSDs per 2U system for 720TB, up to 20GB/s bandwidth per node with 4x 40/100 GbE optical NICs, 800W typical power draw

The new F-Series models are ideal for data-intensive use cases, including AI/ML, containerization, content creation, database servers, gaming, virtualization, and more. The new series has been eagerly awaited by TrueNAS Enterprise customers in government, healthcare, service providers, media creation, higher education, and other organizations in need of high-performance storage for their critical data.

TrueNAS F-Series appliances ship with the latest version of TrueNAS software, TrueNAS Enterprise 23.10. These all-NVMe models were designed for maximum performance, reliability, and density to serve the most demanding workloads. Compared to prior models from iX, the F-Series offers significant reductions in all-flash power, space, and Total Cost of Ownership (TCO).

The next-generation hardware design supports up to 24 dual-ported Gen 4 NVMe SSDs. With 30TB NVMe drives, a single 2U system can support up to 720TB of highly available storage. A companion NVMe expansion shelf support arrives later in 2024 which will enable the F-Series to scale beyond 3.5PB.

TrueNAS F-Series Storage Highlights:

High-Performance: NVMe-powered storage for low latency and bandwidths up to 30GB/s reads.
High Availability: Dual-controller architecture provides continuous accessibility, preventing data downtime.
Superior Scalability: The F-Series easily scales from tens of terabytes to 720TB in 2U, meeting a wide range of user requirements.
Maximum Data Mobility: The TrueNAS F-Series provides a vast array of replication and data mobility options to maximize flexibility in data workflows.
Future-Ready Design: Built for modern business applications and related performance challenges.

The New TrueNAS Enterprise Portfolio

TrueNAS appliances deliver unified storage and apps in a pre-configured system with technical support services from iX that have earned among the highest net-promoter scores in the industry, as scored by iX customers. These appliances offer additional software capabilities such as High Availability (HA), enclosure management, advanced security, and proactive support. TrueNAS Enterprise appliances have earned 4.9 / 5.0 stars and recognition as a 2023 Customer Choice for Primary Storage in North America from businesses of all sizes on Gartner Peer Insights.

The TrueNAS M-Series remains the versatile and high-capacity system for hybrid flash and HDD requirements in the portfolio. The M-Series and F-Series systems both run the same TrueNAS Enterprise 23.10 software with compatible features and a common WebUI. All TrueNAS systems can be monitored and managed as a fleet using TrueCommand. TrueNAS Enterprise F-Series appliances start at $60,000 with dual controllers and 1 year Bronze Support. All models are available immediately. For more information, please contact iX.

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iXsystems Introduces TrueNAS Enterprise F-Series All-NVMe Appliances and TrueNAS SCALE 23.10

Pee Jay Latombo — Tue, 14 Nov 2023 08:01:00 +0000

Third Major Version of TrueNAS Software on Linux and New High Availability
All-Flash Appliances Now Available for High-Throughput, Low-Latency Storage Workloads

San Jose, CA, November 14, 2023 – iXsystems^®, the company behind TrueNAS, today announced the general availability of its new performance flagship series of storage appliances, the TrueNAS Enterprise F-Series, along with the latest release of TrueNAS SCALE (23.10) software. These all-NVMe models were designed for maximum performance, reliability, and density to serve the most demanding workloads, while offering significant reductions in power, space, and Total Cost of Ownership (TCO). With 30TB NVMe drives, a single 2U system supports 720TB of highly-available storage.

TrueNAS F-Series appliances ship with TrueNAS Enterprise 23.10. With the latest generation hardware and software, IT organizations have a new choice to address demanding performance requirements while enjoying the benefits of Open Source economics. The new solution from iXsystems supports data-intensive use cases including AI/ML, containerization , virtualization, content creation/editing, database servers, gaming, and more. This new series has been eagerly awaited by the company’s thousands of global customers in enterprise, government, healthcare, service provider, media creation, education, research and any organization in need of high-performance storage for their critical data.

TrueNAS F-Series Storage Highlights:

Two models to choose from: F100 with 30GB/s bandwidth per node and F60 with 20GB/s bandwidth per node
High-performance: NVMe-powered storage for low latency and bandwidths greater than 20GB/s
Next-Generation Hardware: Designed to provide unrivaled resilience and drive density
Superior Scalability: The F-Series easily scales from a few terabytes to 720TB in only 2U, meeting a wide range of user requirements. Both scale-up and scale-out technologies can be used to increase capacity
High Availability: Dual-controller architecture provides continuous accessibility, preventing data downtime
Maximum data mobility: The TrueNAS F-Series provides vast connectivity options to maximize interoperability
Future-Ready Design: Built for modern business applications and the challenges they present

The TrueNAS M-Series remains the versatile and high-capacity system for hybrid, flash, and HDD requirements in the portfolio. The M-Series and F-Series systems both run the same TrueNAS Enterprise 23.10 software with compatible features and a common WebUI.

“Support for demanding workloads is the top reason organizations are looking for NVMe storage, and part of choosing NVMe is to future-proof their environment,” said Dave Raffo, Senior Analyst at The Futurum Group. “With high-performance appliances at a fraction of the
price of many NVMe systems, TrueNAS Enterprise is an increasingly interesting choice for
organizations to consider.”

TrueNAS Enterprise 23.10 is available across the iXsystems appliance portfolio, offering storage, compute, and container solutions for a flexible feature-rich storage environment. The Linux-based platform uniquely offers KVM virtualization, native container support, Kubernetes integration, and the ability to scale up to 1,200 drives and 25PB+ in a single system. The highly-evolved TrueNAS data platform emphasizes scalability and high-availability, boasting a scale-up or scale-out architecture built on the robust OpenZFS 2.2 filesystem. This ensures top-notch data integrity and advanced storage features to meet the most data-intensive business needs.

Highlights of TrueNAS Enterprise 23.10 include:

Upgraded to OpenZFS 2.2 with multiple iXsystems contributions
Upgraded to Linux Kernel 6.1 with improved hardware support
Improved application UI
Enhanced storage pool UI
ZFS Block Cloning (Deduplication) for SMB and NFS file copies
ZFS dRAID Pool Layouts

“The unveiling of TrueNAS Enterprise 23.10 and the TrueNAS F-Series Storage line emphasizes our relentless drive to offer leading-edge, open-source storage solutions,” said Morgan Littlewood, Senior Vice President of Product Management for iXsystems. “We are excited about the value these solutions will bring to users as they support the industry’s most demanding Media and Entertainment (M&E) and IT workloads.”

Availability

Both TrueNAS Enterprise F-series appliances and TrueNAS SCALE 23.10 are now available for users and enterprises to explore. TrueNAS SCALE 23.10 is free to download and TrueNAS F-Series pricing varies based on the configuration of each system.

For more information on TrueNAS F-Series or our other products, please contact iX.

About iXsystems and TrueNAS

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TrueNAS SCALE 23.10 is RELEASED with additional SMB Features

Pee Jay Latombo — Tue, 24 Oct 2023 07:03:52 +0000

Today is the day many of us have been waiting for. TrueNAS SCALE 23.10 “Cobia” is here! Now available for download, it is the third major release of TrueNAS SCALE. Each major release of TrueNAS SCALE has delivered improvements in quality, functionality, security, and performance. Along the way, TrueNAS SCALE has grown from 4,000 to more than 80,000 Linux-based systems in less than two years, an astronomical 400% annual growth rate.

TrueNAS SCALE “Cobia” 23.10 completed a very successful BETA and RC.1 cycle. We wish to recognize and thank the more than 3,000 community testers that reported bugs and provided invaluable feedback. The pre-release program for Cobia had five times the adoption of previous TrueNAS CORE or SCALE releases. Even with many more testers than ever, relatively few major issues surfaced and those were then quickly resolved.

SMB Features in TrueNAS SCALE 23.10 Release

Server Message Block (SMB) has become the most common file sharing protocol with strong support on Windows, MacOS, iPhone, Android, and Linux clients. SMB features continue to improve with each TrueNAS release and update. In this release version, we’d like to highlight the all-new features in SCALE 23.10:

SMB and NFSv4 Compatibility:
Sharing the same datasets via SMB and NFS requires the two protocols to have compatible ACLs, permissions, and locks. These capabilities have gradually been added to SCALE, and with this version, the final piece of a common locking mechanism with NFSv4 has been added. This is a selectable profile within SMB sharing and can be enabled if desired.

SMB Share import:
Many users install TrueNAS to migrate from any other product that supports the SMB sharing protocol, including Windows, Netapp, and a myriad of other products. TrueNAS can now mount the SMB shares from these systems and pull that data into TrueNAS for sharing again.

SMB File Sync:
We’ve previously described how Syncthing can be used to sync SMB and NFS shares between TrueNAS systems. It also works well for long-distance collaboration, metro-clusters or data migration. With SCALE 23.10, there is also an option to sync with a 3rd party SMB server or storage system.

Fast File Copy:
With the new ZFS Block Cloning capability, copies of SMB and NFS files and directories can be accelerated by 10x or more. When a directory is copied from one data share to another, only the metadata is copied and the data is treated like a snapshot and remains in place. This accelerates necessary file copies and allows the admin to rearrange their data without having to wait hours for copies to complete.

SMB Performance and Scalability:
There have been several changes to the protocol stack to improve performance and scalability. This includes increasing the I/Os per second, the number of users, and the number of files per directory. Both OpenZFS and Samba changes were made to enable these improvements. The improvements are also aligned with work on NVMe performance (more information to follow).

Updated Summary of TrueNAS SCALE 23.10

The TrueNAS SCALE 23.10.0 RELEASE version includes another 200 bug fixes and is feature-complete. The highlights of 23.10 “Cobia” include:

Infrastructure

Linux Kernel 6.1 and improved Hardware Support
NVIDIA 535.54.03 Driver Updates
Netdata backend stats collection
Scale up to 1200 drives and 25 PB+ on a single system

Web Interface

Improved Apps UI
Improved Storage Pool UI
Simplified feedback and bug reporting

ZFS & Performance Improvements

OpenZFS 2.2 with many iXsystems contributions
ZFS Block Cloning (type of deduplication) for faster SMB & NFS file copies
ZFS dRAID Pool Layouts
Pause / Unpause ZFS Scrub Controls
Reduction of HA failover times by up to 70%

Protocols and Services

Samba security updates and speed improvements
Simplified SMB cluster expansion via TrueCommand 3.0 (Coming Soon!)
Importing SMB shares from other systems
File sync between NFS/SMB systems
iSCSI improvements including ALUA support
SMB and NFSv4 Compatibility for common shares

This release version is recommended for early adopters to start until there has been more testing and feedback from the Community. The TrueNAS Software Status Page keeps track of the quality and user-type recommendations.

TrueNAS Enterprise and associated appliances are based on either TrueNAS 13.0 or Bluefin (22.12). Cobia (23.10) has been added and with improvements in quality, flexibility, and security, it will soon replace Bluefin on appliances.

The upcoming TrueCommand 3.0 has full support for Cobia (23.10) and there are limitations using TrueCommand 2.3. If TrueCommand functionality is an operational requirement, it is recommended that the system update should be delayed until TrueCommand 3.0 is available, which is expected by December.

TrueNAS 13.1 Will Inherit Some Cobia Improvements

Now that TrueNAS SCALE Cobia is released, there will be a similar TrueNAS CORE & Enterprise update to TrueNAS 13.1. This update will include the many SMB and ZFS improvements that have been implemented and tested in TrueNAS SCALE Cobia. TrueNAS 13.1 is planned for release in early 2024. Nightly versions have been made available for testers and those who wish to help contribute to TrueNAS development. The link to the nightly versions can be found on the TrueNAS Software Status Page.

TrueNAS 13.1 includes additional features to simplify “sidegrading” from TrueNAS 13.1 to TrueNAS SCALE 23.10, especially for Enterprise HA systems. The ZFS and SMB stack will be well-aligned and the Cobia iSCSI stack includes ALUA. There will be additional information available for TrueNAS 13.1 when it reaches BETA status.

TrueNAS SCALE 22.12.4.2 is the Final Version of Bluefin

TrueNAS SCALE inherited storage functionality and automated testing from CORE. SCALE offers a more robust Apps environment based on Linux, KVM, and Kubernetes. To join the more than 80,000 users already using TrueNAS SCALE, download the installer here or use the System Update feature from within your existing TrueNAS install.

TrueNAS SCALE 22.12.4.2 was released previously on October 13th, 2023. Going forward, TrueNAS SCALE 23.10 Cobia will gradually become the recommended version. No further versions of Bluefin are planned. The first update for Cobia is expected in December 2023, and work has already begun on the next release, codenamed “Dragonfish”.

TrueNAS provides these choices and the ability to automatically migrate storage services and VMs from CORE to SCALE. Plugins and jails can be manually replaced with Apps. We encourage anyone looking for further advice or answers to questions to visit our Community Forums or Discord Channel.

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iXsystems Invests in Leadership as Enterprise Adoption of TrueNAS Open Storage Accelerates

Ladislav Sirový — Tue, 24 Oct 2023 07:03:52 +0000

Company Recognized for Industry Leading Customer Experience

SAN JOSE, CA, October 24, 2023 – iXsystems^®, the company behind TrueNAS Open Storage, today announced new growth milestones in 2023 as the company has expanded its leadership team and received recognition for its industry leading customer experience. Adoption of TrueNAS Enterprise appliances and Open Storage software is evidence that more enterprises are choosing the benefits of Data Freedom in response to the unrelenting growth of business-critical data.

With an improved 4.9 out of 5 star rating on Gartner Peer Insights, TrueNAS Enterprise is tied for the 2nd highest ranking among vendors in both the Primary Storage and Distributed File Systems & Object Storage categories, earning a Customer’s Choice award in Gartner’s 2023 “Voice of the Customer Report”. Over the past 4 quarters, TrueNAS Enterprise customers also rated their experiences with a Net Promoter Score (NPS) of 77.5, and an 80.8 in CYQ3. The average score for the technology industry is 60 and a score above 50 is normally considered to be excellent. With the continued maturation of TrueNAS software, ratings on other major review sites also grew. On renowned review site TrustRadius, TrueNAS earned the “Top Rated” award for the Network Attached Storage category, with a ratings increase to 9.7 / 10.

Significant Milestones Achieved over the Past 12 months Include:

People
- iXsystems awarded Top Workplaces recognition for 2023
- New SVP of Human Resources, SVP of Finance, and VP of Engineering added to the executive team
- New Directors of Sales in EMEA and AsiaPAC added to better serve those markets
Business
- 2023 Customer Choice Award for Primary Storage on Gartner Peer Insights
- 2023 Top Rated Award for Network Attached Storage on TrustRadius, 9.7 / 10
- Industry leading Net Promoter Score of 77.5 over the past 4 quarters, 80.8 in Q3
Solutions
- TrueNAS SCALE reached its third major release and >80,000 downloads
- New multi-site file synchronization for TrueNAS SCALE with Syncthing
- Expanded distribution in EMEA and expanded parts depots in EMEA and AsiaPAC

“TrueNAS Enterprise has provided us superior price-performance, which when combined with an overall better user experience, makes it stand above alternative solutions,” said Scott Call, IT Director, Viz Media LLC. “It’s been nice to take the TrueNAS software we knew and were proficient with, and add-in support for both hardware and software; it has made sure we don’t have anything to complain about.”

“We began deploying applications in containers with TrueNAS last year, and TrueNAS Enterprise systems have proven to serve our customers very well, from virtual machine storage to video and media storage,” said Trevor Carlson, Vice President of Engineering, THUMBWAR. “Our customers need excellent performance and reliability, and with TrueNAS Enterprise they don’t need to sacrifice these requirements in order to lower their acquisition and operational costs.”

“We set out on a different path than other companies in the storage marketplace, and we continue to concentrate on user success and long-term sustainable growth of the TrueNAS Community and our TrueNAS Enterprise business,” said Michael Lauth, President and CEO of iXsystems. “Our success is intrinsically tied to that of our users, partners, and customers, and our recent additions to leadership position iX to serve our audiences even better to earn further recognition in the storage marketplace.”

About iXsystems and TrueNAS

iX is an Open Source pioneer and the company behind TrueNAS, the world’s most deployed storage software. Relied upon by millions in over 200 countries, TrueNAS is an award-winning universal data platform used by a majority of Fortune 500^TM companies. The platform harnesses the power of the legendary ZFS file system to provide scale-up or scale-out unified storage with the reliability and performance demanded by virtualization, backup, and many other data-heavy workloads. As an alternative to legacy storage systems that are proprietary, restrictive, and often overpriced, TrueNAS helps organizations modernize how they store and protect data by leveraging open storage to simplify operations and drastically reduce cost.

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OpenZFS Summit highlights Fast Dedup and RAIDZ Expansion

Pee Jay Latombo — Mon, 16 Oct 2023 19:52:46 +0000

TrueNAS uses OpenZFS as the foundation for its data management layer, and TrueNAS is the deployment vehicle for the majority of OpenZFS storage systems used today. We love OpenZFS and it continues to get better!

The 11th annual OpenZFS Developer Summit for 2023 started today Monday, October 16th in San Francisco. Among the very exciting projects being developed, two of these projects have significant contributions and investments from iXsystems.

Fast Dedup is on the Horizon

One of the primary issues with traditional dedup with ZFS has been the need to keep the dedup tables in memory at all times to avoid massive performance penalties. This existing functionality was not very performant and led to usability issues during operation. With the update for Fast Dedup, the size of metadata is now constrained to fit in either RAM or flash to avoid hitting the performance penalty wall. The metadata structure for Fast Dedup has been completely re-engineered to enable efficient updates as well as the ability to evict non-dedup blocks. Combining metadata improvements with properly configured storage will improve dedup performance by an order of magnitude for larger systems.

Allan Jude will be presenting on the new Fast Dedup project for which iX has been the major sponsor. Together with engineers from iX, we’ve designed a completely new model for dedup which focuses on performance.

This Fast Dedup project started earlier this year and has been making tremendously rapid progress. We are working to ensure it will have the quality needed to be included in OpenZFS 2.3.

RAIDZ Expansion is Entering its Final QA cycle

RAIDZ expansion allows a small pool with as few as two drives to be gradually expanded with one drive at a time. Existing data is preserved with its original parity and the administrative process for small systems has been simplified. New data is written with the new parity. The same technology works for Z1, Z2 or Z3.

Don Brady and Matt Ahrens will be presenting the latest on RAIDZ expansion. Matt developed the initial software and Don, representing iX, has been completing this herculean task. This project has taken a few years but is now entering the final stretch and will be included in OpenZFS 2.3.

OpenZFS 2.2 is in TrueNAS SCALE 23.10

OpenZFS 2.2 is the current release and has been integrated into TrueNAS SCALE 23.10 (“Cobia”). The Cobia RC.1 version (which includes dRAID) has been successfully provided to the community with over 3,000 testers and the formal release planned in the coming weeks.

In early 2024, TrueNAS CORE 13.1 will be released with OpenZFS 2.2. TrueNAS Enterprise appliances will also use OpenZFS 2.2 in its respective software versions.

OpenZFS 2.3 (or potentially 3.0) will take most of the next 12 months to mature and reach release quality and status. These RAIDZ expansion and Fast Dedup features will be integrated with TrueNAS then. Early availability via Nightlies and BETA software is expected in mid-2024 for TrueNAS SCALE.

Want to learn more about TrueNAS solutions in your business? Contact us to speak to a product specialist.

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TrueNAS SCALE Cobia Has a New WebUI

Pee Jay Latombo — Fri, 29 Sep 2023 18:34:32 +0000

TrueNAS SCALE continues its journey and is getting a new and improved WebUI in the Cobia (23.10) release. On September 19th, the first Release Candidate for Cobia was launched, with over 2,000 systems running Cobia today. The official release of 23.10 is on track for October. The technical highlights of TrueNAS SCALE Cobia were previously provided in the Cobia BETA blog and the Cobia RC.1 blog, including major leaps forward like the new dRAID “Distributed RAID” pool type, improved Apps UI, and the integrated bug-reporting process.

The New Cobia WebUI

The SCALE webUI was rearchitected from the CORE webUI to provide a simpler interface, and designed to present only the required information on each page. The “new” WebUI in Cobia is an improvement on the original SCALE webUI. Advanced features are hidden by default, and additional page forms appear as needed. Initial reviews of this modernized and streamlined UI have been very positive.

Within Cobia, there have been several major WebUI improvements that should improve user success and simplify operations:

Improved Apps Screens
Reimagined ZFS Storage Dashboard
New and Improved Pool Creation Wizard
Built-in Feedback and Bug Reporting

For more detailed information, please visit the new and improved TrueNAS Docs website which includes options for specifying the specific release documentation.

The Improved Apps Screens

With TrueNAS SCALE, each App is effectively a Kubernetes Helm Chart that points to container images and provides configuration information to integrate multiple containers into an application. The Apps are collected together and then made available via Catalogs. The new Apps screens have been significantly improved with better-structured access to all Apps based on category.

The new Discovery screens help with App discovery based on Category, Catalog, Name or even date of last update. After you have found an App, the Information screen provides details of the App and its sources.

Apps can then be installed and monitored. Bulk operations for updating Apps are available. The installed Apps status screen is also new.

Below is an animation of the various functions provided by the Apps Screens.

The reimagined ZFS Storage Dashboard

Every TrueNAS system manages drives (physical and/or virtual) and one or more ZFS pools. As systems get larger, the configuration options expand, and UI needs increase. Cobia was designed to support systems with more than a thousand drives, and the updated Storage Dashboard reflects that capability.

First, there is a new Pool Creation Wizard which greatly simplifies creating pools based on available resources. A pool is constructed by one or more vdevs (drive groups) of different types. The new Pool Creation Wizard includes the ability to automatically select drives for vdevs of a pool based on their size.

If a pool is very large with many data vdevs, the wizard will automatically select the drives for each vdev. Pool creation times have also been improved by up to 90%.

In TrueNAS Enterprise, the algorithm for selection of drives can be configured to group drives together or disperse them across multiple enclosures. With drives spread across multiple enclosures, an entire expansion shelf can fail or be replaced without impacting the pool or system uptime.

After a pool is created, the status of that pool is displayed as a simple dashboard. If there are unassigned disks, they are made available to create a new pool or expand one of the existing pools.

Built-in Feedback and Bug Reporting

Introduced with TrueNAS SCALE Cobia RC.1, the new Feedback and Bug Reporting system introduces major conveniences for providing feedback to iXsystems. At the top of the UI is a “smiley face” icon that can be clicked on:

After clicking on the icon, you can give feedback on the design of the page, add any important details for your use case, and optionally capture a screenshot of the current page. If you encounter a bug you’d like to report, you can click the File Ticket link inside this rating window to instead submit a bug report. In the bug report, please provide a brief summary of the issue, and optionally check the box to Attach Debug, which will collect hardware and software diagnostic files about your system. In response, you will get a TrueNAS ticket link for your bug where you can monitor its status and resolution.

TrueNAS SCALE 22.12.3 is the Current Version

While we encourage testers, early adopters, and enthusiast users to try out the TrueNAS SCALE Cobia early releases and provide feedback, TrueNAS SCALE 22.12.3.3 should be used for any use cases where reliability and primary data retention are required. More than 75,000 users are currently using TrueNAS SCALE and it is available for download here.

TrueNAS SCALE 22.12.4 is planned to be released in early October, and will represent the last major update for the 22.12 release branch. After that, TrueNAS SCALE Cobia will gradually become the recommended version in Q4 2023 and beyond. Bookmark the TrueNAS Software Status page and review when each release lines up with the needs of your workload.

TrueNAS provides these choices and the ability to automatically migrate storage services and VMs from CORE to SCALE. TrueNAS CORE Plugins and jails can be manually replaced with Apps. We encourage anyone looking for further advice or answers to questions to visit our Community Forums or Discord Channel as we democratize enterprise storage together!

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TrueNAS SCALE 23.10-RC.1 Introduces dRAID

Ladislav Sirový — Tue, 19 Sep 2023 15:18:00 +0000

TrueNAS SCALE “Cobia” 23.10 has reached the “Release Candidate” phase after a very successful BETA version. We wish to thank the 1500+ Beta testers that found bugs and provided invaluable feedback. This Beta program had five times the adoption of previous TrueNAS releases and surfaced relatively few major issues that were then quickly resolved.

Today, we are releasing TrueNAS SCALE 23.10-RC.1 and enabling “Distributed RAID” (dRAID) for the first time. OpenZFS dRAID Pool Layouts provides a mechanism for distributing vdev data and parity across every device in a large pool. The benefits include optimal load-balancing across all drives as well as much faster resilver times, which is particularly useful for large drives. This results in greater storage efficiency and reliability for high capacity systems. We are keen to get testing and feedback from the community for this new technology.

The 23.10-RC.1 version includes another 200 bug fixes and improvements and is nearly feature-complete. While it’s not yet a Release version (planned for late October), the evidence is pointing to the RC1 version approaching the quality we are aiming for. We’ll report back to the community as we get feedback on this RC1 version.

Built-in Feedback and Bug Reporting

TrueNAS SCALE Cobia RC1 also introduces major conveniences for providing feedback to iXsystems. At the top of the page is a “smiley face” icon to encourage feedback.

After clicking on the icon, you can give feedback on the design of the page and add any important details for your use case. If you have a bug to report, then click the File Ticket link and submit a bug report, which will include automatically collected information about your system. In response, you will get a TrueNAS ticket link for your bug where you can monitor its status and resolution

Summary of TrueNAS SCALE 23.10 Features

The highlights of 23.10 “Cobia” include:

OpenZFS 2.2 with many iXsystems contributions
Linux Kernel 6.1 and improved Hardware Support
NVIDIA 535.54.03 Driver Updates
Improved Apps UI
Improved Storage Pool UI
ZFS Block Cloning (Deduplication) for faster SMB & NFS file copies
ZFS dRAID Pool Layouts
Netdata backend stats collection
Samba update and speed improvements
Simplified SMB cluster expansion via TrueCommand 3.0 (Coming Soon!)
Importing SMB shares from other systems (Release version)
Scale up to 1200 drives and 25PB+ on a single system
iSCSI improvements including ALUA support
Simplified feedback and bug reporting
Pause / Unpause ZFS Scrub Controls
Reduction of HA failover times by up to 70%

For this RC1 release, we recommend that only testers and early adopters use this version until there has been more feedback from the Community. The TrueNAS Software Status Page will keep track of the quality and user-type recommendation of the release.

TrueNAS Enterprise and associated appliances are based on either TrueNAS 13.0 or Bluefin (22.12). Cobia (23.10) will be added as an option after its formal release in Q4 this year.

How Do TrueNAS 13.0 Users Benefit?

After TrueNAS SCALE Cobia is released, there will be a TrueNAS CORE & Enterprise update to TrueNAS 13.1. This will include many SMB and ZFS improvements that have been tested in Cobia. This TrueNAS 13.1 release is planned for early 2024. Nightly versions have been made available for testing.

TrueNAS 13.1 includes additional features to simplify “sidegrading” from TrueNAS 13.1 to Cobia, especially for Enterprise HA systems. The ZFS and SMB stack will be well aligned and the Cobia iSCSI stack will include ALUA. There will be additional information available on TrueNAS 13.1 when it reaches BETA status.

TrueNAS SCALE 22.12.3 is still the Current Version

TrueNAS SCALE has inherited the storage functionality and automated testing from CORE. SCALE offers a more robust Apps environment based on Linux, KVM, and Kubernetes. The latest release, TrueNAS SCALE 22.12.3.3, has significantly improved quality and reliability. More than 75,000 users are currently using TrueNAS SCALE and it is available for download here.

There will be a TrueNAS SCALE 22.12.4 version released in October. After that TrueNAS SCALE 23.10 will gradually become the recommended version.

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Coffee and Open Source: A Conversation with Kris Moore and Isaac Levin

Pee Jay Latombo — Wed, 13 Sep 2023 18:18:55 +0000

Welcome back to another episode of “Coffee and Open Source,” the insightful podcast where Issac Levin takes a deep dive into the world of tech, innovation, and Open Source. In this episode, Isaac spoke with Kris Moore, Senior Vice President of Engineering at iXsystems.

With a robust computer and software background, Kris has undoubtedly left a mark within the Open Source community. His proficiency in Shell scripting, C++, FreeBSD, and system administration reflects years of dedicated experience. Kris’s early interactions with Open Source date back to the 90s and paved the way for his career. From pioneering web services using fledgling versions of FreeBSD to his enduring preference for FreeBSD’s stability, Kris’s insights during the podcast offer a glimpse into his role in driving engineering and innovation here at iXsystems.

Isaac Levin, the host of “Coffee and Open Source,” steers the conversation and uncovers Kris’s technical abilities while offering a unique perspective. One notable topic is how Kris likes to pair interns with subject matter experts on the TrueNAS Development Team, fostering an environment where young talents learn directly from experienced professionals. This approach imparts invaluable knowledge and allows budding developers to discover their true passion for software development.

So, grab your favorite drink and join us for an episode of “Coffee and Open Source.” Immerse yourself in the chat between two tech gurus as they explore the nuances of innovation, Open Source, and the dynamic path Kris is shaping at iXsystems.

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Enterprise File Sync Improves Data Mobility and Furthers Data Freedom

Pee Jay Latombo — Wed, 16 Aug 2023 00:19:45 +0000

One aspect of freedom that applies to storing and managing data is relatively easy to understand and measure: Data Mobility. At one end of the spectrum, you are entirely free to move data between any storage systems without restrictions. On the other end, proprietary systems effectively imprison your data where it is stored. This blog is part of a series of blogs on Data Freedom, so subscribe to our RSS feed and check back weekly to read more in this series.

In the roughly 30 years since networked storage emerged, organizations have complained about — and surrendered to — the limits and complexities associated with moving data and how they slow down operations. Organizations want more agility, yet many continue to deploy networked storage in proprietary silos with restrictions. TrueNAS has always offered many choices for moving data, and now there is a new official app that allows Enterprise File Sync, known as Syncthing, in the Enterprise Train for TrueNAS SCALE.

File Sync Enables New Workflows

Organizations of all sizes need data mobility’s flexibility to keep data synced between geographically distributed systems. Whether you need off-site backups or the ability to migrate data between systems within data centers, TrueNAS has several choices among built-in tools for replicating data. While many have frequently used ZFS replication, rsync, and cloudsync to manage data transfers, these tools were not designed for multi-site file sync needs. That’s where Enterprise File Sync with syncthing comes in.

Many organizations have multiple buildings or remote sites that house content and software development, and users want to collaborate and share this critical data. But where should the data be located for the best user experience and productivity? TrueNAS Enterprise File Sync allows data to be present on systems at multiple sites worldwide while providing concurrent read and write access to each system. File updates to one system are automatically synced across all systems, with the only constraint being the bandwidth between the systems.

Media production companies require large assets to be quickly accessible to editors and related applications, and public clouds are too slow and not up to the task. With Enterprise file sync, media can be hosted on all-flash systems for fast editing and simultaneously synced to a hard drive-based archive for long-term storage. Where necessary, the same files can be quickly and directly accessed via local systems, greatly accelerating and simplifying these workflows.

A simple deployment example is a single pair of sites and systems that can constantly provide SMB or NFS read and write access. This enables backup, disaster recovery, and application acceleration in a simple configuration.

Enterprise File Sync, Syncthing, and Kastelo

Enterprise File Sync is the requirement, and the Syncthing App is the software that helps deliver these capabilities. Syncthing can be deployed as an Enterprise App on a TrueNAS system* and configured to perform file sync, migration, and replication tasks.

* Syncthing is more robust on TrueNAS SCALE than TrueNAS CORE because Linux provides a more reliable file change notification process.

Syncthing monitors the OpenZFS file system for file changes and provides several key features:

File changes are queued up after the files are closed
Replication is as fast as bandwidth allows (nearsync)
Only changes in files require replication
Deduplication of data across files reduces the data to be transferred
Multi-site replication is intelligently scheduled
Competing file changes are flagged and versioned
The status of the file sync process is monitored and displayed
Network and node outages are managed without intervention
Both SMB and NFS datasets can be synced with file metadata
Windows and MacOS hosts can also be synced

The developer of Syncthing is an Open Source-focused company called Kastelo, based in Sweden. Kastelo and iXsystems have collaborated to enhance Syncthing to include additional capabilities, such as the synchronization of TrueNAS file metadata (NFSv4 ACLs, permissions) and the files. There is more ability and data freedom to come, including TrueNAS SCALE Cobia, which also reached its BETA release this week and will include additional cross-vendor file sync capabilities.

The Syncthing App can be installed on your TrueNAS SCALE system from the Apps page by searching for it under Available Applications.

To ensure that you’re installing Syncthing for Enterprise File Sync, or if you only see the “Charts” version, you can use the Manage Catalogs tab to edit and enable the Enterprise application train.

Start Syncing Files

The Syncthing app for Enterprise File Sync on TrueNAS SCALE is available today, having undergone extensive testing on SCALE 22.12 internally and in thousands of external deployments. Once you try the Syncthing app, we bet that you will agree that Kastelo has developed a very cool and useful technology. If you use Syncthing, please join iX in donating to the open source project to show your appreciation.

You are invited to test our new Enterprise File Sync functionality with Syncthing, use its capabilities for less critical use cases, and stand up an additional system for replication or synchronization for free. We recommend starting with TrueNAS SCALE 22.12 and viewing the video guide and documentation for additional support.

If you have not yet configured a TrueNAS SCALE system, check out the SCALE Evaluation Guide. The written guide with accompanying videos was designed to get you up and running on your hardware in under an hour to experience the benefits of True Data Freedom.

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TrueNAS SCALE Cobia Has Reached BETA

Pee Jay Latombo — Tue, 15 Aug 2023 07:32:17 +0000

The next chapter of TrueNAS SCALE has begun. TrueNAS SCALE already has the ability to scale up(with HA) and scale out and provides the ability to run containerized Apps directly on the storage system. Apps have been steadily improving with each new release of SCALE. More improvements are scheduled for the next TrueNAS SCALE release — codenamed “Cobia” — in Q4 of this year. Today, we announce the availability of TrueNAS SCALE 23.10 BETA, aka Cobia BETA.

Bluefin (22.12) has been a very successful release and has grown the SCALE user base to about 70,000 systems in less than 18 months. The quality of Bluefin keeps increasing with community testing and has reached General Availability (GA) status, with iXsystems shipping nearly all platforms with Bluefin or TrueNAS 13.0. Our goal has been to give users the freedom to choose their path.

Cobia (23.10) is the alphabetic and chronological successor to Bluefin (22.12). It is also the first release designed to enable the sidegrade from TrueNAS 13.0 HA systems. Cobia has been through two Alpha stages with the development community and has reached the point where Community testers can begin to explore what is new. It will not be ready for production until Q4, as the 23.10 name (yy.mm of target release date) indicates.

TrueNAS Enterprise and associated appliances can be based on TrueNAS 13.0 or Bluefin (22.12). Cobia (23.10) will be added as an option after its formal release in Q4 this year.

What’s New In TrueNAS SCALE Cobia?

A heck of a lot! Rather than go through every enhancement in detail, we’ll provide a quick overview and share the specifics of key Cobia features in future blogs. Some of the highlights include:

OpenZFS 2.2 with many iXsystems contributions
Linux Kernel 6.1 and improved Hardware Support
NVIDIA 535.54.03 Driver Updates
Improved Apps UI
Improved Storage Pool UI
ZFS Block Cloning (Deduplication) for SMB & NFS file copies
ZFS dRAID Pool Layouts (Coming Soon!)
Netdata backend stats collection
Samba update and speed improvements
Simplified SMB cluster expansion via TrueCommand (Coming Soon!)
Importing of SMB shares from other systems (Coming Soon to Apps!)
Scale up to 1200 drives and 25PB+ on a single system
iSCSI improvements including ALUA support
Simplified feedback and bug reporting
Pause / Unpause ZFS Scrub Controls

In total, there are over 1,000 fixes and improvements from Bluefin to Cobia. That is a lot of change to manage, so we have had two ALPHA releases and have added more test cases to the automated QA process. For this initial BETA release, we recommend that only developers and testers use this version, until there has been more feedback from the Community. The TrueNAS Software Status Page will keep track of the quality and user-type recommendation of the release.

Cobia Uses Linux Kernel 6.1 with LTS

In addition, we added the later NVIDIA 535.54.03 driver, which includes improved support for late and early GPUs.

The New and Improved Apps UI

With TrueNAS SCALE, each App is effectively a Kubernetes Helm Chart that points to container images and provides configuration information to integrate multiple containers into an application. This makes Apps simple to deploy and run on TrueNAS SCALE. In Cobia, the safety belt of host path validation has been reduced to a warning when App data is shared via SMB or NFS.

The Apps are collected together and then made available via Catalogs. The new App UI has been significantly improved with better-structured access to all Apps based on category.

How Do TrueNAS 13.0 Users Benefit?

TrueNAS SCALE is the software edition where new features and updated components are developed and tested. Once those are tested and validated, many are eligible for backporting to TrueNAS CORE. The focus of TrueNAS CORE is maintaining storage reliability and security.

After TrueNAS SCALE Cobia is released, there will be an update to TrueNAS CORE 13.1. This will include many SMB and ZFS improvements that have been tested in Cobia. This TrueNAS 13.1 release should be expected in early 2024.

TrueNAS 13.1 includes additional features to simplify “sidegrading” from TrueNAS 13.1 to Cobia, especially for HA systems. The ZFS and SMB stack will be well aligned and the Cobia iSCSI stack will include ALUA. There will be additional information available on TrueNAS 13.1 when it reaches BETA status.

TrueNAS SCALE 22.12.3 is the Current Version

TrueNAS SCALE has inherited the storage functionality and automated testing from CORE. SCALE is maturing rapidly and also offers a more robust Apps environment based on Linux, KVM, and Kubernetes. SCALE is generally recommended for new users that need embedded Applications . The latest, TrueNAS SCALE 22.12.3.3, has significantly improved quality and reliability. It should be used for any use cases where reliability and primary data retention are required. More than 70,000 users are currently using TrueNAS SCALE and it is available for download here.

There will be a TrueNAS SCALE 22.12.4 version released in September. After that TrueNAS SCALE Cobia will gradually become the recommended version.

This is the first instance of “Applications” rather than “Apps”. Suggest either ‘applications’ in running text or ‘Apps’ as the UI equivalent

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TrueNAS is Secure Storage

Pee Jay Latombo — Wed, 21 Jun 2023 07:00:59 +0000

The first line of defense for any device or system on a network is the network itself. Following security best practices for endpoint and perimeter security is the foundation of data security. When properly configured on a secure network, TrueNAS further protects your data from security risks.

TrueNAS continues to receive new and enhanced security features and tools with each release. TrueNAS Enterprise, as well as the free open source TrueNAS editions, are becoming increasingly sophisticated in protecting data from a wide variety of threats. Also, more users are deploying TrueNAS to meet retention and reporting requirements for compliance. To build on this foundation, we are introducing TrueSecure^TM, an optional FIPS 140-validated crypto module for TrueNAS Enterprise appliances and launching the updated TrueNAS security site.

Secure by Design

Storage vendors at the lower end of the market, like QNAP and Synology, have made some design decisions that favored ease of use over security which have subjected their users to continual virus and ransomware attacks. By contrast, enterprise storage products like TrueNAS must be built with security as a primary design principle so that they can integrate into secure network environments and minimize attack vectors against data.

However, new threats come online with such frequency that new features and tools will always be needed to stay ahead of the curve. With TrueNAS SCALE 22.12.3, we introduced a FIPS 140-3 validated crypto module and the option to enable TrueSecure on Enterprise appliances.

New Security Page Provides Enhanced Protection

Infrastructure and data can be better protected with knowledge of all vulnerabilities. The updated TrueNAS Security site now includes a detailed Software Bill of Materials (SBOM) for TrueNAS and provides detailed documentation on all known security vulnerabilities and CVEs. This is done with regular and automated security auditing. Please explore the information which also provides links to the relevant Open Source repositories and planned fixes.

TrueNAS Security Features are Extensive

In a short blog, it is impossible to explain every feature under the umbrella of “security” and why each is important. With ransomware being top of mind in 2023, security features specific to ransomware protection are summarized in this recent blog. The chart below tries to capture the key categories of security-related features in TrueNAS. If you need more information, visit the TrueNAS Security site.

No amount of storage-level security will make up for not following network and general IT best practices. For example, we do not recommend directly attaching TrueNAS to the Internet without a robust firewall. Services like Active Directory and LDAP are also recommended for password administration. By following network security best practices, TrueNAS is more secure.

Backdoor access to storage is an attack vector that concerns users around the world. Whether left vulnerable by a public sector organization or a private business, backdoor access represents a target for both state-sponsored and private malicious actors. TrueNAS can be configured to strictly control access, and unlike proprietary storage vendors, all of the software that enforces those controls is open and reviewable.

TrueNAS SCALE Bluefin Enhances Security

With TrueNAS SCALE Bluefin’s release last year, there have been many security advancements:

Rootless administration allows changing away from using the commonly known “root” username and instead setting up your own unique administrator usernames and passwords.

OpenZFS snapshot retention tags can prevent snapshots from being deleted, remaining on the system permanently as a restore point. This provides additional protection against ransomware by allowing the administrator to make a decision on when it is safe and appropriate to remove the snapshot outside of normal retention policies.

API Keys with ACLs are laying the groundwork for future Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) enhancements in coming releases. This allows further fine-grained control over assigned API key privileges.

2-Factor Authentication (2FA) verifies the identities of administrators using Google Authenticator or any Time-based One-Time Password (TOTP) compliant authentication application. This feature also exists in TrueNAS 13.0.

iX-Storj Globally Distributed Storage is primarily cost-effective cloud storage, but it inherently protects data by encrypting it on the TrueNAS system before distributing the data via erasure coding over a global network. Thanks to the combination of zero-trust and zero-knowledge encryption in use, no storage provider or government entity has access to your private data stored on iX-Storj, so your data remains yours alone.

Introducing

Government agencies often require specific security and compliance measures in both software and hardware which are not normally required in other businesses. TrueSecure is an optional package available in TrueNAS Enterprise (SCALE 22.12) that delivers specific benefits to Government organizations. Our goal is to comply with the requirements of the NIST Cybersecurity Framework and make this additional security as cost-effective as possible. These capabilities are also the basis of international support for ISO 27001.

Many security capabilities will find their way into TrueNAS, but some of these will be specific to TrueSecure. TrueSecure provides the following capabilities:

FIPS 140-3 validated software encryption module provides highly secure Data-in-Transit capabilities. The validated encryption algorithms are more secure than the current open source algorithms and validated for use in critical Federal use-cases. For example, these algorithms will protect administration and data replication tasks.

With TrueSecure, iXsystems is actively working to maintain NIST 800-171 Compliance, which is the preferred approach for USA Government entities to manage their cybersecurity. It is a comprehensive and well structured approach that iXsystems is adopting, along with the TrueNAS product requirements. Any additional capabilities needed are being added to TrueSecure, if not in the general TrueNAS products. iXsystems is also developing Security Technical Information Guides (STIGs) for use with TrueSecure to help lockdown TrueNAS Enterprise systems and ensure secure operation.

TrueNAS Enterprise 22.12 is not only secure storage, it can be configured for government-grade security. With the Cobia release later in 2023, new features and tools will continue to enhance security. Areas being actively invested include file change auditing, virus scanning, and additional ransomware prevention. Stay tuned for more information which will be available as Cobia enters its BETA phase in Q3.

If you’d like to speak with iX about any TrueNAS system or security needs, please contact us.

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TrueNAS SCALE “Bluefin” adds SMB Multichannel and Quality with 3rd Update

Pee Jay Latombo — Tue, 13 Jun 2023 06:37:32 +0000

TrueNAS SCALE is open source storage that enables hyperconvergence and scale-out storage. Supporting file, block, objects, and applications, the latest TrueNAS SCALE Bluefin 22.12.3 is now available after over 60,000 deployments with over 1.2 Exabytes of data and is on track to surpass 100,000 deployments and two Exabytes of data in 2023.

UPDATE: After release, a minor update to TrueNAS SCALE 22.12.3.1 was provided. This update included a few bug fixes, including a PCI-pass-though virtualization bug.

TrueNAS SCALE 22.12.2 was a significant release with its new Enterprise feature pack and the option of Gold / Silver / Bronze Enterprise support, which are now both available for SCALE. The Enterprise feature pack includes HA (dual controllers), Proactive Monitoring, Enclosure Management, and many other features and tools that ensure a highly reliable deployment in production environments.

TrueNAS 22.12.3 adds official (WebUI) support for SMB Multichannel and increases maturity and quality. SMB multichannel is used where systems have multiple LAN interfaces and can take advantage of more bandwidth than a single LAN interface. A customer can aggregate 4 x 1GbE ports, 2 x 10GbE ports, or 2 x 25GbE ports on TrueNAS. The resulting multichannel connection uses the aggregate bandwidth and makes more efficient use of the client’s CPU by reducing the dependence on the performance of a single processor core.

After upgrading to TrueNAS SCALE 22.12.3, SMB Multichannel can be enabled from the (SMB Service Screen) menu by toggling the “Enable SMB Multichannel” option. For additional information on system configuration and requirements, visit the TrueNAS SCALE SMB Documentation page.

SCALE 22.12.3 Squashes Bugs

This third update (22.12.3) includes many significant improvements and bug fixes that are listed in the release notes. Highlights include:

App reliability: There have been numerous cases where Apps have not reliably restarted after reboots and upgrades. A kernel/kubernetes race condition has been found and fixed.
Samba update: Samba has been updated from 4.17.5 to 4.17.8. This includes about a dozen bug fixes and corrects several security CVEs.
NVDIMM: Earlier versions of NVDIMM firmware prematurely predicted End-of-life for the NVDIMM. The latest version reduces these alerts and simplifies the firmware update process.
100+ Bug Fixes (most are minor) with several having a significant impact on system usability

In addition to the bug fixes, there are several security CVEs that have been addressed. There is also an update to the TrueNAS security page to improve searchability and navigation. More information is also available in this recent blog post.

Recently, we’ve provided additional tools for creating and distributing a much larger collection of Apps. These tools (Catalogs and Trains on Github) are improving the general user experience with Apps and we’re looking forward to continuing this progress.

SCALE 22.12.3 Prepares for Cobia

The next version of TrueNAS SCALE will be called Cobia, another fish, and starting with “C”. Cobia is currently in its internal Alpha stage and will get to BETA in CY Q3 2023. It will be a very exciting release with more information forthcoming next quarter. Some early testers have been using TrueNAS SCALE nightly builds while the development team is busily preparing for BETA status.

TrueNAS SCALE Cobia is going to improve its security posture and reduce the number of attack vectors. Part of this is reducing the number of built-in services and choosing to have them deployed as Apps. Apps — run as Kubernetes pods — have much more constrained access to the host system, and can only access the specified datasets provided to them. This improves system security and, in the end, provides greater flexibility for TrueNAS deployments. Each App can represent a different tenant or use-case.

Where services are being deprecated in favor of Apps, TrueNAS SCALE Bluefin will now report warnings to users in these cases. Where possible, users should migrate their Bluefin systems to use the substitute Apps and disable the internal services. This will allow for simpler updates to Cobia.

Examples of the Services that will become Apps are:

Rsync Host App: The built-in rsync host capability in TrueNAS will be replaced by an official SCALE App. The built-in rsync task UI and the ability to rsync over SSH will be maintained.
OpenVPN App: Complex VPN needs are best addressed by external firewall products, though we understand that TrueNAS SCALE is often leveraged to provide an endpoint for some VPN solutions. Where needed, Apps will be available for several VPN software products, such as OpenVPN, Tailscale, Wireguard, Zerotier, and more.
Minio App: The Minio S3 target apps can be embedded or run as an App. We’ve been improving the App model and find it is more flexible for Enterprise deployments. Multiple copies of the Minio App can be run with different erasure coding groups and policies, allowing for additional flexibility in redundancy choices.
FTP, TFTP, DynDNS, and WebDav Apps: These services are not commonly used and are more securely provided by Apps.

Plans for 4th Bluefin Update

The quality of Bluefin is maturing rapidly at this stage of the software development lifecycle. It is now suitable for Enterprise users with less mission-critical applications. The iX team is already working on the fourth (and likely final) update to Bluefin with a target release in September. This will include primarily bug fixes and CVEs only. Beyond that, Cobia will be the focus for both quality and security improvements.

Joining the School of Bluefin

As always, CORE users can “sidegrade” to SCALE when the time is right for them. SCALE Bluefin is an easy upgrade from SCALE Angelfish and is recommended for all users at this time. For more conservative users, the software status of TrueNAS editions is tracked here. There is also a comprehensive list of Bluefin changes in the release notes.

We want to thank the TrueNAS Community for the tremendous support in improving TrueNAS SCALE quality. It has been an exciting ride, and there is much more to come, so please keep making suggestions and reporting bugs as we continue to improve the quality and functionality of TrueNAS SCALE together. We’re also very excited to see more developers contributing to SCALE and collaborating via our Discord channel. The more the merrier!

Want to learn more about TrueNAS SCALE solutions in your business? Contact us to speak to a Product Specialist.

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iXsystems Named a Gartner Peer Insights™ Customers’ Choice in the Primary Storage Category for TrueNAS

Pee Jay Latombo — Thu, 08 Jun 2023 20:09:01 +0000

Thank You iX Customers! We are honored to share that iXsystems and our product TrueNAS Enterprise have been named a North America Customers’ Choice in the Gartner Peer Insights™ Voice of the Customer Report for Primary Storage. This recognition was made possible by our customers who shared their experiences with TrueNAS.

What started with a handful of reviews in 2022 quickly grew to more than a hundred, ranking us above other well-known storage vendors and culminating in yet another award for TrueNAS Enterprise and iXsystems. Though, what makes this recognition even more special is that it was driven by our incredible customers.

This is the first such award for iXsystems from Gartner, and we look forward to competing in the Primary Storage category for years to come, while simultaneously expanding into the “Distributed File Systems and Object Storage” category with TrueNAS SCALE. The full report can be accessed at https://www.gartner.com/en/documents/4304999 (Gartner Subscription Required).

TrueNAS Enterprise from iX received higher scores than offerings from Dell EMC, HPE, and NetApp, while also coming in with identical scores to Pure Storage and Infinidat. We are also the only vendor with 100% of reviewers reporting they would recommend our solution to others. Unlike some of the comparable products in the Primary Storage category that offer only block storage, TrueNAS is a universal data platform that gives customers choice of block, file, and object storage interfaces as well as applications.

According to one customer review, “I’ve been a customer of iXsystems and TrueNAS products for over 8 years and two companies. Everything from their sales team to their implementation and support teams are top notch individuals. I highly recommend them to other colleagues as well when they are looking for a reliable, lower cost storage platform with all the major bells and whistles of the larger players.”

According to another customer review, “There is no other array we can find that delivers block-storage via iscsi and fibre-channel… file shares by SMB/CIFS/NFS… and S3-compatible buckets at this price point. The flexibility is unreal, and the management portals are thorough. Development of new features and squashing of bugs are continuous and frequent. Transparency on their forums is amazing.”

Gartner and Peer Insights are trademarks of Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates. The Gartner Peer Insights content

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Newsletter: Huge iX-Storj giveaway TrueNAS Core-13.0-u5-release and more

Pee Jay Latombo — Mon, 05 Jun 2023 18:56:21 +0000

iX-Storj Giveaway!

iX is teaming up with Storj to deliver the biggest giveaway the TrueNAS community has ever seen. 25 GB of cloud storage comes with a free iX-Storj account, but that’s not all. You’ll also be entered for a chance to win the all-new TrueNAS Mini R, populated with 12 x 6 TB drives (that’s 72 TB of raw capacity!). Other prizes include the TrueNAS Mini X (2 available) and an iX-Storj Starter Package (4 available). There are many ways to score points for the giveaway so don’t forget to subscribe to the iX-Storj Starter package for additional entries.

Enter the Giveaway Now!

TrueNAS 13.0-U5 Maximizes Quality and your Storage Experience

The new TrueNAS 13.0-U5 release builds on the Enterprise maturity of prior versions. The previous version, TrueNAS 13.0-U4, proved to be the highest quality release in TrueNAS history and has become the most widely-deployed version of TrueNAS. This new release includes roughly 60 new bug fixes including improvements to NFS, SMB, and replication. For Enterprise users, a specific fix corrects an incorrect alert in earlier generation NVDIMMs.

Read the Blog

Always Easy and Now More Affordable – iX-Storj cloud storage for $2.50 per TB per Month

iX believes that your data belongs to you and you alone, whether on-premises or in the cloud. This is why iX has partnered with the Storj Network to bring you a secure, high-performance solution for your cloud storage at a competitively low price.

With the iX-Storj Starter Package, you get 5 TB of capacity to use, and 5 TB of pre-paid transfer bandwidth for outbound traffic from the Storj network, giving you a $275 value for only $150! Check out our new TrueNAS blog for a detailed walkthrough on getting started with the iX-Storj Starter Package.

Read the Blog

Level Up your Ransomware Protection with TrueNAS!

TrueNAS offers multiple levels of protection against ransomware, including snapshots, native encryption, authentication, and containerization, just to name a few. And, of course, thanks to our community of users, the TrueNAS Open Source code can be easily validated and supported. Read all about how you can level-up your ransomware protection on TrueNAS.

Read the Blog

New Sections on Replication for the TrueNAS SCALE Evaluation Guide!

Expand your TrueNAS SCALE knowledge with our newest how-to videos on the TrueNAS SCALE Evaluation Guide, covering replication scenarios for Local, PUSH, and PULL! You can also view our text version to read along. Whether it’s your first time using SCALE or you’re looking to continue your Open Storage journey, this guide offers bite-sized advice for everyone. Click the link below to get started today!

Click the thumbnail to watch!

What Can a $60,000 Media Server Do? (Snazzy Labs)

Snazzy Labs ditched their old server to supercharge their workflow with the power of the TrueNAS M-Series. Snazzy shares what it’s like to unbox the M-Series, navigate the admin dashboard, experience the speed of the server for the first time, and more. Click the thumbnail to see more!

Click for Offer

Latest Releases

TrueNAS	13.0-U5	Release Notes
TrueCommand	2.3.1	Release Notes
TrueNAS SCALE	22.12.2	Release Notes

Tech Tip #124

Did you know that you can see how well ZFS compression is working on a per-file basis? By using the TrueNAS Shell or connecting over SSH, you can use the du command with the –apparent-size (SCALE) or -A (CORE) option to list the sizes of files in a directory before compression is considered. Compare this to the same command without the extra parameter, and see how effective the inline compression in TrueNAS can be!

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iXsystems Named a North America Customers’ Choice in Gartner Peer Insights™ Voice of the Customer Report for Primary Storage

Ladislav Sirový — Thu, 01 Jun 2023 07:00:28 +0000

iXsystems Named a North America Customers’ Choice in Gartner Peer Insights™ Voice of the Customer Report for Primary Storage

SAN JOSE, CA, June 1, 2023 – iXsystems^®, the company behind TrueNAS® Open Storage, today announced they were named a Strong Performer in the 2023 Gartner Peer Insights Voice of the Customer for Primary Storage, recommended by 100% of customers based on reviews submitted as of February 2023. iXsystems was also named a Customers’ Choice for Primary Storage in North America in the report. The report categorizes vendors based on overall customers’ experience, interest, and adoption. The report can be accessed at https://www.gartner.com/en/documents/4304999 (Gartner Subscription Required).

Voice of the Customer reports summarize Gartner Peer Insights’ reviews for IT decision-makers, helping them to make more informed decisions. The aggregated peer perspective, along with the individual detailed reviews from customers, plays a crucial role in the enterprise software buying process as it focuses on the direct peer experience of implementing and operating a new solution.

With 81% of all Gartner Peer Insights reviews for TrueNAS Enterprise receiving five stars and the remaining 19% receiving four out of five stars, the aggregate rating for iXsystems primary storage was 4.8 out of 5.0 based on reviews submitted as of February 2023. iXsystem has a current overall rating on Gartner Peer Insights of 4.8/5 based on 96 reviews submitted all time. TrueNAS Enterprise is rated 4.9 for Product Capabilities, 4.9 for Service and Support, 4.8 on Integration and Deployment, and 4.8 on Evaluation and Contracting.

TrueNAS Enterprise appliances from iXsystems are designed for demanding storage environments that require performance, scalability, and reliability. Where most products in the Primary Storage category only provide block services, the TrueNAS universal data platform provides file, block, and object storage interfaces, in addition to the ability to run applications and VMs. Its powerful and versatile primary storage software is built on OpenZFS, offering advanced management capabilities for provisioning, monitoring, and optimizing storage resources. Other notable data optimization and protection features include data compression, encryption, deduplication, and replication, making it ideal for protecting business-critical data.

According to one customer review of TrueNAS Enterprise, “I’ve been a customer of iXsystems and TrueNAS products for over 8 years and two companies. Everything from their sales team to their implementation and support teams are top notch individuals. I highly recommend them to other colleagues as well when they are looking for a reliable, lower cost storage platform with all the major bells and whistles of the larger players.”

According to another customer review of TrueNAS Enterprise, “There is no other array we can find that delivers block-storage via iscsi and fibre-channel… file shares by SMB/CIFS/NFS… and S3-compatible buckets at this price point. The flexibility is unreal, and the management portals are thorough. Development of new features and squashing of bugs are continuous and frequent. Transparency on their forums is amazing.”

“TrueNAS was created to help organizations modernize the storage and protection of their data using a universal data platform that simplifies operations while providing the economic advantages and flexibility of open source,” said Brett Davis, Executive Vice President for iXsystems. “We are thrilled and honored that the experiences our customers have with TrueNAS Enterprise have received top ratings in the storage marketplace on Gartner Peer Insights, and we look forward to helping more organizations experience these same benefits.”

Gartner, Voice of the Customer for Primary Storage, Peer Contributors, 26 April 2023.
Gartner and Peer Insights are trademarks of Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Gartner Peer Insights content consists of the opinions of individual end users based on their own experiences, and should not be construed as statements of fact, nor do they represent the views of Gartner or its affiliates. Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in this content nor makes any warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this content, about its accuracy or completeness, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.

About iXsystems and TrueNAS
iX is an Open Source pioneer and the company behind TrueNAS, the world’s most deployed storage software. Relied upon by millions in over 200 countries, TrueNAS is an award-winning universal data platform used by a majority of Fortune 500 companies. The platform harnesses the power of the legendary ZFS file system to provide scale-up or scale-out unified storage with the reliability and performance demanded by virtualization, backup, and many other data-heavy workloads. As an alternative to legacy storage systems that are proprietary, restrictive, and often overpriced, TrueNAS helps organizations modernize how they store and protect data by leveraging open storage to simplify operations and drastically reduce cost.

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iX-Storj Cloud Storage Now Starts at Industry-leading $2.50 per TB/month

Pee Jay Latombo — Tue, 30 May 2023 23:28:39 +0000

Most everyone uses some aspect of cloud storage in their personal life every day, whether it’s your hosted Gmail account, an iCloud backup of your photos, or watching the latest movies from a streaming video service. We take for granted that this data will always be available and easily accessible from anywhere in the world.

Thanks to a collaboration between iX and the Storj network, a secure, high-performance solution now exists for cloud storage with the unbeatable economics TrueNAS users enjoy today.

iX-Storj is a globally distributed storage solution, with over 11 nines of durability, at a cost significantly lower than competing cloud-based archive solutions. Data is securely encrypted before being distributed to a worldwide network with tens of thousands of storage nodes. With support for the Amazon S3 API, you can access your data on Storj using a number of compatible software solutions.

Getting started with iX-Storj from your TrueNAS system couldn’t be simpler. All versions of TrueNAS have iX-Storj built in, with native support for synchronizing your files through the Cloud Sync Tasks panel. You can use iX-Storj in your home or business to provide secure, off-site backup at a fraction of the cost of comparable cloud hyper-scaling services.

The World is Your Data Archive

Unlike other cloud services, you don’t have to worry about different costs for storage or network traffic based on where in the world you’re storing the data. Storj offers one single data region across the entire world while still offering downloads from nodes close to you to ensure that you’ll get the fastest transfer speeds possible.

With the iX-Storj Starter Package, you get 5 TB of capacity to use and 5 TB of pre-paid annual transfer bandwidth for outbound traffic from the Storj network, giving you a $275 value for only $150. When comparing this cost to major cloud storage providers for comparable “instant access” data tiers, Storj offers over a 10x cost reduction.

5 TB of Cloud Storage / 1 Year

Even when compared to value-based services, Storj’s globally distributed storage network offers a lower cost-per-TB, and when combined with the value in the iX-Storj Starter Package, you can protect your data for less than half the cost. Other providers like Wasabi only use a single data center for a bucket which limits reliability. The Web3 technology of iX-Storj is significantly lower in cost and more reliable.

5 TB of Cloud Storage / 1 Year

Because iX-Storj is built into TrueNAS, all that’s needed once you’re signed up is to add your credentials, enable the Storj functionality, and select the data to synchronize. With no expensive licensing fees and no lock-in to the ecosystem, TrueNAS storage appliances provide twice the value at half the cost of other popular vendors as reported by ESG.

Get Started Today

To get started, simply navigate to the registration portal at ix.storj.io. You can also find this same link in the TrueNAS UI when adding cloud credentials. You’ll be directed to the Storj registration portal for your nearest region and asked to enter your name, email address, and a password. After verifying your email address, you’ll be prompted to select from one of three accounts. You can start with a 30 day free trial with 25GB of space and bandwidth, a Pro account, or the iX-Storj Starter Package.

With a Pro account, you “pay as you grow” only for what is used, at $4/TB/mo for storage. Downloading from the Storj network is priced at $7/TB, with uploads to the network free of charge. “Pay as you grow” with large-scale public clouds is five to ten times more expensive.

With the exclusive iX-Storj Starter Package, TrueNAS users get a special opportunity to save even more. Pay up front for one year of Storj, and store up to 5 TB of data with 5 TB of download bandwidth for only $150, a $125 discount over the Pro Account. Starter Package users that grow beyond 5 TB pay the same rates as Pro users for additional capacity or outbound network traffic.

Once you’ve got your iX-Storj account registered, this 7-minute video contains all of the steps needed to start using iX-Storj Globally Distributed Storage with TrueNAS. You can also view written instructions on the TrueNAS Community Forums. TrueNAS SCALE users can also monetize their spare capacity by joining as a Storj storage node within the global network.

If you’re already a Storj user, or are interested in learning more about Globally Distributed Storage, why not check out our iX-Storj Community Giveaway? Learn about the advantages of the Storj network and protect your data while entering for a chance to win fantastic prizes, including the latest member of the Mini family, the TrueNAS Mini R.

Cloud storage doesn’t have to be expensive, complicated, or closed. Thanks to the partnership between iX and Storj, you can keep enjoying the same True Data Freedom that TrueNAS provides, while adding in the resilience, durability, and availability of Storj’s Globally Distributed Storage.

The post iX-Storj Cloud Storage Now Starts at Industry-leading $2.50 per TB/month appeared first on TrueNAS - Welcome to the Open Storage Era.

TrueNAS 13.0-U5 Maximizes Quality and your Storage Experience

Pee Jay Latombo — Tue, 30 May 2023 18:45:54 +0000

Building on the Enterprise maturity of prior versions, TrueNAS 13.0-U5 is released. The previous version, TrueNAS 13.0-U4, proved to be the highest quality release in TrueNAS history and has become the most widely-deployed version of TrueNAS. This new release includes roughly 60 new bug fixes including improvements to NFS, SMB, and replication. For Enterprise users, a specific fix corrects an incorrect alert in earlier generation NVDIMMs.

TrueNAS 13.0 includes significant new components and delivers improved performance, scalability, and reliability when compared to the previous major version, TrueNAS 12.0. To date, over 75% of TrueNAS 12.0 users have updated to TrueNAS 13.0, including many of our larger enterprise customers. In particular, the increased speed and robustness of HA failover is extremely valuable for most Enterprise use-cases. Version 12.0 is no longer available for TrueNAS Enterprise, and is no longer recommended for deployment.

One strong quality indicator of TrueNAS 13.0 is that there are fewer than 10 bug fixes and improvements currently planned for 13.0-U6. We recommend that all TrueNAS 12.0 and TrueNAS 11.3 users update their systems to TrueNAS 13.0 before attempting to resolve any software or performance issues.

In the last month, there has been news on the process for maintaining and updating TrueNAS CORE Plugins. Users of Plugins are recommended to review this new information.

When Should you update your TrueNAS system?

Our recommendations are maintained and updated regularly on our Software Status page, which currently recommends TrueNAS 13.0-U4 for all users and customers for stability and security reasons. As TrueNAS 13.0-U5 receives further testing in more customer environments, it will become the recommended release for all TrueNAS CORE and Enterprise users within two months.

TrueNAS Enterprise is delivered as TrueNAS appliances to organizations who prefer a turnkey experience, optimized hardware, professional support, and Enterprise features such as High Availability (HA), Fibre Channel, Proactive Support, and Key Management (KMIP).

TrueNAS Enterprise users will have the option to sidegrade to TrueNAS (SCALE) Enterprise 22.12 and other SCALE-based releases. Currently, these sidegrades are only recommended for new use-cases that specifically require the unique functionality of TrueNAS SCALE. The sidegrade process will continue to be simplified and made more robust.

TrueNAS Enterprise customers are encouraged to contact iXsystems Technical Support for a complimentary technical review and assistance before updating from 12.0.

If you ever need additional information on how TrueNAS can streamline, accelerate, and unify data management for your business, please contact us and we’ll be glad to assist you.

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Level Up your Ransomware Protection with TrueNAS

Pee Jay Latombo — Tue, 30 May 2023 18:21:36 +0000

Ransomware remains top of mind for businesses as it continues to make headlines in 2023, with malicious actors targeting companies across the globe for infection and then extorting them for large sums of money. The seemingly random, indiscriminate attacks from criminal or state-sponsored ransomware groups means that preparing for an attack is one of the things keeping IT department managers up at night. Ransomware response policies are being written from the perspective of “not if, but when” due to the rapid pace of evolution and use of zero-day exploits as a means to drive profit into the pockets of criminals.

End-user training campaigns for phishing awareness can mitigate the risk of a perimeter breach, but persistent attempts from advanced or state-sponsored attackers can leverage remote exploits that don’t require user interaction. The first line of defense for any device or system on a network is the network itself. Following security best practices for endpoint and perimeter security is the foundation of ransomware protection. When properly configured on a secure network, TrueNAS further protects your data from ransomware.

TrueNAS offers multiple levels of protection against ransomware, including snapshots, native encryption, authentication,and containerization, just to name a few. And, of course, the code is open source which makes it easily auditable and continuously has eyes on it. With TrueNAS SCALE appliances from iXsystems and TrueCommand, additional layers of protection are available including FIPS 140-3 compliant cryptography modules, limited user permissions during replication, client-side role-based access controls (RBAC) and much more.

Below, we’ll identify some best practices for securing and hardening your TrueNAS SCALE installation against a malicious actor attempting to deploy ransomware.

Install the Latest TrueNAS Updates

As with any software, staying up-to-date with the latest version of TrueNAS will allow you to receive the latest feature enhancements, bug fixes, and security patches. Updates can be performed through the web UI under the System Settings and Update menu, or downloaded separately from the TrueNAS CORE or TrueNAS SCALE download pages and manually installed on your system.

TrueNAS Ransomware Configuration

Set up Recurring Snapshots for your Data

All versions of TrueNAS support copy-on-write OpenZFS snapshots, which prevent data in the snapshots from being encrypted in a ransomware attack. Use the Data Protection tab in TrueNAS SCALE to configure one or more Recurring Snapshot tasks. Because only changed data is saved, snapshots can be taken frequently, giving you a shorter Recovery Point Objective (RPO) for your continuity plans.

Set a Long Retention Time on your Snapshots

As TrueNAS data and snapshots are stored in a copy-on-write manner, the overhead of retaining multiple layers of snapshots is significantly reduced compared to traditional filesystems. With TrueNAS, daily or weekly snapshots can be held for months or years.

Replicate to a Second TrueNAS System

Replicating your data to a second TrueNAS system offers an important second layer of protection against ransomware. This not only involves a logical separation of permissions, as different physical disks are used to store the data, but without permission to write directly to this second system, ransomware cannot modify the contents. A second TrueNAS system also offers a number of other benefits including insurance against downtime from power outages or a natural disaster in your datacenter.

Set Separate Administrative Passwords

Having two identical copies of your data on different systems is good; having two identical administrative passwords on different systems a little less so. Using different passwords on different TrueNAS systems can prevent a single credential compromise from impacting multiple storage systems, and ensures that replicated copies of data remain secure.

Use Pull Replication

When configuring replication, the direction of replication implies the direction of authentication. When properly configured, pull replication means that your second TrueNAS server doesn’t automatically trust your primary server. Even if a malicious actor compromises an administrative user on the primary storage, there is no path for it to authenticate against the second server and remove the replicated snapshots there.

Increase your Snapshot Retention Times on the Destination System

When configuring the pull replication task, set the retention time to a Custom value. Increasing the retention time, based on the available capacity of your secondary system, will allow you to retain an even greater number of snapshots for more granular and longer-term recovery.

Configure Two-Factor Authentication (2FA) for Administrators

To help safeguard against accidental compromise of an administrative account, set up two-factor authentication on your source and destination systems. TrueNAS uses the Time-based One-Time Passwords (TOTP) standard for 2FA, so any mobile application capable of receiving the token can be used as the second factor.

Use a Separate Replication Network

Keeping your replication traffic separate from regular network traffic is a best practice which allows for better monitoring of traffic volume as well as increased performance by removing contention between network interfaces.

Isolate the Second System on your Network

Once configuration of the replication job is finished, configure a firewall or network device to prevent new inbound connections to your secondary system. With pull replication, the secondary system initiates the SSH connection, and only traffic on established sessions is permitted to return. When administrative access to the secondary system is required, a single system or network can be allowed temporary access through the firewall to the web interface.

Lock down the Local Console on Both Systems

Both logical and physical security should be considered for your TrueNAS systems. Securing your systems in a locked room with controlled access is important to prevent physical access. To further mitigate the risks by requiring an administrative login to access the physical console of your TrueNAS system, navigate to the System and Advanced menu in the UI, and ensure that “Show Text Console without a Password Prompt” is unchecked.

Additional Security Options Available with TrueNAS SCALE

FIPS 140 with TrueSecure^TM

TrueSecure is an optional package for TrueNAS Enterprise customers running 22.12. It delivers specific benefits to government and other organizations who require this additional compliance. This includes FIPS 140-2 validated drives (HDD, SAS SSD, NVMe SSD), which are similar to self-encrypting drives (SED) but include tamper-proof mechanisms for additional security. Also available is a module for FIPS 140-3 validated software encryption for highly secure Data-in-Transit.

Use a Non-Root Login for Administration

When installing TrueNAS SCALE, select the option to use a separate administrative account for web-based administration. If SCALE has already been configured for use with root installation, or the system was migrated from TrueNAS CORE, follow the instructions in the TrueNAS Docs under Using Rootless Login to disable the root account’s interactive login.

Configure a Limited User Account for Replication on your Source System

TrueNAS SCALE allows for a limited user account to be used when authenticating for replication purposes. By following the steps presented in section 8 of the TrueNAS SCALE Evaluation Guide, a user can be created for the sole purpose of replication. This user cannot authenticate to the TrueNAS SCALE webUI, connect to network shares, and may only login via a shared SSH key.

Hold and Lock your Most Important Snapshots

TrueNAS SCALE offers an additional layer of protection for your important snapshots with OpenZFS snapshot retention tags. Snapshots set up with one or more active retention tags cannot be deleted without releasing the retention holds, and will not be removed at the end of the normal retention period. Unless removed by an administrator, they will remain on the system permanently as a restore point.

For more information on TrueSecure and the security features of TrueNAS SCALE, check out our latest Secure Storage blog.

We are Here to Help

As long as ransomware continues to be a viable revenue stream for bad actors, attacks on companies are likely to continue. When properly configured, TrueNAS can help protect your data and your company from being held for ransom.

If you’re interested in learning more about how TrueNAS can help in the fight against ransomware, visit us at https://www.truenas.com/contact-us/ or give us a call at 1-855-473-7449.

The post Level Up your Ransomware Protection with TrueNAS appeared first on TrueNAS - Welcome to the Open Storage Era.

iXsystems and TrueNAS Recognized in 2023 CRN® Storage 100 List

Pee Jay Latombo — Wed, 24 May 2023 20:34:58 +0000

Open Storage Leader also Named among the Coolest Software-Defined Storage
Vendors of the Year for its TrueNAS Universal Data Platform Built on OpenZFS

SAN JOSE, CA, May 23, 2023 – iXsystems^®, the company behind TrueNAS Open Storage, today announced that CRN^®, a brand of The Channel Company, has named iXsystems in its annual Storage 100 list in the Software-Defined Storage category for the third year in a row. The Storage 100 recognizes industry-leading storage vendors that provide transformative, channel-friendly products, and services.

The Storage 100 list is a valuable resource for solution providers looking for vendors that can support them in a complex storage market with industry-leading portfolios in areas such as data protection, management and resilience, software-defined storage, and storage appliances. This year’s list represents the industry leaders in storage technology that can be used for on-premises or cloud deployments.

The companies selected for the Storage 100 have been chosen by CRN editors for their perseverance in pushing the boundaries of innovation through cutting-edge technology and strategic partnerships. iXsystems made the list for TrueNAS Open Storage, a compelling option for midsize companies because of its features, reliability, and cost-effectiveness. With advanced capabilities typically found in much more expensive solutions, TrueNAS is ideal for a wide range of applications to ensure critical data is always secure, yet accessible.

“CRN’s 2023 Storage 100 list recognizes the leading vendors that are delivering transformative advancements in storage technology and bringing modern solutions to customers and solution providers that are built for the future,” said Blaine Raddon, CEO of The Channel Company. “We are honored to recognize their contributions as the leading players in storage technology for 2023.”

“Data is growing faster than ever, and our channel partners are helping organizations struggling with the complexity and cost of managing their valuable data,” said Matt Finney, Vice President of Sales for iXsystems. “TrueNAS Enterprise enables channel partners to deliver an award winning data storage solution while also lowering costs, and we are pleased that CRN agrees with our unique approach.”

About iXsystems and TrueNAS
iX is an Open Source pioneer and the company behind TrueNAS, the world’s most deployed storage software. Relied upon by millions in over 200 countries, TrueNAS is an award-winning universal data platform used by a majority of Fortune 500^TM companies. The platform harnesses the power of the legendary ZFS file system to provide scale-up or scale-out unified storage with the reliability and performance demanded by virtualization, backup, and many other data-heavy workloads. As an alternative to legacy storage systems that are proprietary, restrictive, and often overpriced, TrueNAS helps organizations modernize how they store and protect data by leveraging open storage to simplify operations and drastically reduce cost.

About The Channel Company
The Channel Company enables breakthrough IT channel performance with our dominant media, engaging events, expert consulting and education, and innovative marketing services and platforms. As the channel catalyst, we connect and empower technology suppliers, solution providers, and end users. Backed by more than 40 years of unequaled channel experience, we draw from our deep knowledge to envision innovative new solutions for ever-evolving challenges in the technology marketplace. www.thechannelcompany.com

Follow The Channel Company: Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook.

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iXsystems Wins Top Rated Award for Network Attached Storage from TrustRadius

Pee Jay Latombo — Wed, 17 May 2023 23:05:12 +0000

TrueNAS Open Storage from iXsystems Recognized by Reviewers for Experience, Features, and Value

SAN JOSE, CA, May 18, 2023 – iXsystems®, the company behind TrueNAS Open Storage, today announced the company has received the Top Rated Award from TrustRadius for TrueNAS® Open Storage in the Network Attached Storage category. In this category, the company also received top honors for Best Feature Set, Best Relationship (with customers), and Best Value for Price. As one of the most trusted review sites for business technology, the TrustRadius awards are designed to help technology buyers make better decisions.

The TrustRadius Top Rated awards consist of three key criteria: recency of reviews (10+ new or updated reviews in the past 12 months), market relevancy (products must receive at least 1.5% of the traffic volume in that category), and rating (products must have at least 4 stars with a TrustRadius “trScore” of 7.5 or above). With a trScore of 9.5 out of 10, iXsystems has been recognized by the TrustRadius community as a top provider of Networked Attached Storage.

TrueNAS is a modern NAS platform powered by Open Source, and the world’s most deployed storage software with over 15 million downloads and users in 200 countries worldwide. TrueNAS is used to store and protect data in a variety of data-intensive applications by small and large enterprise organizations alike.TrueNAS has been consistently recognized with awards in recent years, and the majority of the Fortune 500 already use TrueNAS.

According to Robert Mizen, a Verified User and Reviewer, “If you need RAID storage, it’s a very obvious choice. Also, being Open Source and secure, it gives IT Admins a great say over security and control. Adding in SCALE and other features means that it can and will fit many environments. Linux environments work great on SCALE, but you can use it within mixed environments as we do now.”

“My organization uses TrueNAS SCALE to run file servers for local data storage and backup, and host Windows virtual machines. This solution is far superior to manually setting up a Linux server distro with all the packages and configurations for file shares and virtual machines,” added another Verified User and Reviewer. “While I’m accustomed to using the terminal, I welcome the in-browser graphical UI which anyone can use. Remote administration has never been easier for me and my colleagues, with even those unfamiliar with Linux being able to pick up on things very quickly due to the intuitive design.”

“We are thrilled and honored to receive the Top Rated and ‘Best of’ Awards from TrustRadius for TrueNAS, most especially as it comes from the positive experiences our users have with our universal data platform. ” said Brett Davis, Executive Vice President for iXsystems. “We will continue to push the boundaries of what’s possible in Open Storage and look forward to serving users with even greater value and dedication in the years ahead.”

To view TrueNAS Open Storage reviews on the TrustRadius site, please visit: https://www.trustradius.com/products/truenas/reviews

Resources:

About iXsystems and TrueNAS

The post iXsystems Wins Top Rated Award for Network Attached Storage from TrustRadius appeared first on TrueNAS - Welcome to the Open Storage Era.

Introducing The TrueNAS Storage Recommendation Tool

Pee Jay Latombo — Fri, 05 May 2023 10:45:42 +0000

Researching and choosing the right storage hardware is an intricate task. With so many choices to optimize for performance, density, and capacity, it’s not always easy to determine which one is best suited for your planned workflow on your own. At iX, we have skilled product specialists ready to help you select the best hardware for your project on an individual level. However, you might not be ready to talk to someone just yet, that’s why we’re excited to introduce our new TrueNAS Recommendation Too l, designed first to guide users to the series of appliances that best match the requirements users enter into the tool.

Let’s take a closer look at how the new Recommendation Tool works, its benefits, and how it can help you find the ideal TrueNAS System for your project.

How Does The Recommendation Tool Work?

TrueNAS Enterprise has four series of systems, each with multiple models designed for different types of workflows. Our Recommendation Tool is designed to suggest a TrueNAS Enterprise series based on your specific requirements. To get started, all you have to do is enter some basic information:

The expected capacity needed for the next 3 years
The storage use case (Backup, File Storage, Virtualization, Video Editing, etc)
Sizing details for the use case (How many VMs, Editors, etc)
High Availability requirements including hardware redundancy
Network connection type and speed
Sub-millisecond latency requirements
Price / Performance goals

Step 1

Step 2

Step 3

Once you’ve entered this information, the TrueNAS Recommendation Tool will analyze your requirements and suggest the series of TrueNAS Appliances that are best suited to meet your specific needs. This makes it easier than ever to research and compare different options—our tool does the hard work for you.

So why not give our Recommendation Tool a try today and discover the ideal TrueNAS System to support your operations?

Try Recommendation Tool

Ready for a system price to consider for a project? Our team of experts is always available to provide guidance and support. You can request a quote for a product online, and can also book a meeting with a product specialist.

Talk to a Product Specialist

The post Introducing The TrueNAS Storage Recommendation Tool appeared first on TrueNAS - Welcome to the Open Storage Era.

May Newsletter: Supercharge Your Storage with TrueNAS SCALE Apps

Pee Jay Latombo — Thu, 04 May 2023 19:09:50 +0000

Leveling Up TrueNAS SCALE Apps and Catalogs

Apps are always improving with each new release, and are available to run on SCALE using the TrueNAS catalog or any number of unsupported 3rd party catalogs. As a part of the latest TrueNAS SCALE Bluefin update, 22.12.2, a new set of apps have been made available in the TrueNAS Catalog. These new apps are also grouped into three “trains”: Enterprise, Official, and Community.

Community: The newest App Train. Considered “Community” supported, these Applications will receive periodic help from iX in reviewing changes submitted by users.
Official: The primary Train up until this point. Official Apps will be periodically tested and maintained by TrueNAS engineers.
Enterprise: Exclusive to TrueNAS Enterprise appliances. Enterprise Apps will be tested and fully maintained by TrueNAS engineers.

For full details, including the current list of Apps in the TrueNAS Catalog, check out our blog.

Read the Blog

All Aboard the App Train with TrueNAS SCALE!

Have a suggestion for an application you’d like to see added to the Community train of the TrueNAS Catalog? Check https://github.com/truenas/charts/issues to see if it’s already been requested. If it’s already there, give it a “Thumbs Up” using your GitHub account – if it’s not, use your account to create a new request!

Video: How Much Memory Does ZFS Need and Does It Have To Be ECC? (Lawrence Systems)

Tom Lawrence walks through the memory requirements to run ZFS at the minimum efficiency as well as requirements for high performance. He also explains TrueNAS SCALE’s memory usage.

Read the Blog

The Future of Plugins is Apps

TrueNAS CORE introduced one of the first generations of integrated applications and storage when “Plugins” were introduced back in 2007. They were subsequently revamped in 2013 and again in 2017. Plugins were then reimagined as “Apps” when TrueNAS SCALE launched in 2022, which TrueNAS CORE users can migrate to when the time is right for them.

By 2025, we expect SCALE will have as many, if not more, users than CORE. Until then, iX will provide support for the general Github infrastructure for managing TrueNAS CORE Plugins as well as the following Official Plugins: Asigra, Iconik, MinIO, Nextcloud, Syncthing, Tarsnap, and both the paid and free editions of Plex Media Server. Jails will continue to be supported. Check out the blog for all of the details.

Read the Blog

Q2 Featured Model: All-NVMe Starter Cluster

From now through the end of the quarter, we are featuring a special price on a 3-node starter cluster of high-performance all-NVMe TrueNAS R30 appliances. With 270 TB of storage capacity across three 1U R30 systems, these appliances are ready to expand as your data grows. This starter cluster of R30s is an excellent fit as a Kubernetes storage target, for media-production workloads, and much more.

Designed for TrueNAS SCALE clustering
Unified File, Block, Object, and Apps
3 x 1U rackmount systems, each with 16 Cores
2 x 100GbE optical and 1GbE Base-T ports each
18 x 15 TB NVMe drives
High-uptime with clustering
Room to expand with 10 drive slots in each
Scale-out by adding nodes to cluster

This offer is good through June 23, 2023. You can get 270 TB of raw all-NVMe Enterprise capacity at just $74,700. We are here to answer any questions and support your immediate projects with systems in stock.

Click for Offer

54% of Fortune 500 Companies Use TrueNAS

The iX Team did a research study and found that the majority of Fortune 500 companies run on TrueNAS! 54% of the Fortune 500 and over 40% of the G500 choose TrueNAS for their data storage.

Latest Releases

TrueNAS	13.0-U4	Release Notes
TrueCommand	2.3.2	Release Notes
TrueNAS SCALE	22.12.2	Release Notes

Tech Tip #123

Scheduling regular snapshots is an easy and effective way to safeguard your data on TrueNAS against accidental deletion, overwrites, or even a ransomware attack. Use the Data Protection menu under TrueNAS SCALE, or the Tasks menu under TrueNAS CORE to set up a Periodic Snapshot Task on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis, and set a retention period to let you wind the clock back in case of emergency.

Links of the Month

TrueNAS as a Storage Server for VMware/Hyper-V (TrueNAS Blog)
TrueNAS Overview (TrueNAS Open Storage)
Running a TrueNAS SCALE VM in Proxmox VE (i12bretro)
Do More with TrueNAS SCALE – Virtualize Everything! (Techworks)

The post May Newsletter: Supercharge Your Storage with TrueNAS SCALE Apps appeared first on TrueNAS - Welcome to the Open Storage Era.

The Future of TrueNAS Plugins is Apps

Pee Jay Latombo — Tue, 25 Apr 2023 07:05:35 +0000

Initially, “NAS” was coined to refer only to file-based “Network-Attached Storage” because…well…that’s all it could do at the time. However, as protocols and networking technologies evolved, more and more storage began to be accessed over networks. Suddenly, NAS provided block and object storage services, in addition to an expanding number of file protocols, stretching the original definition of “NAS” to include unified storage over an ethernet network.

Fast forward to 2023 and applications themselves are also commonly deployed on storage. Like apps on a smart phone, a “smart” NAS can also run Apps that extend the value beyond its unified storage into what’s known as a “Universal Data Platform”. TrueNAS storage has become a prime example of a Universal Data Platform that offers an abundant choice of Apps in addition to its powerful storage capabilities.

A Brief History of TrueNAS Plugins & Apps

TrueNAS CORE (originally known as FreeNAS) provided one of the first generations of integrated applications and storage when “Plugins” were introduced back in 2007. They were then revamped in 2013 and again in 2017.

Plugins were then reimagined as “Apps” when TrueNAS SCALE launched in 2022. TrueNAS SCALE Apps with Kubernetes are a more modern approach that leverages the benefits of containerization and are suitable for deployments in enterprises.

TrueNAS CORE Plugins are Dynamically Created

TrueNAS Plugins use the FreeBSD native jails capability as well as some middleware (iocage) to integrate with FreeBSD’s package and Ports systems. The diagrams below show how plugins for Plex and Nextcloud are dynamically managed and deployed.

Believe it or not, Plex is the simpler case with only a single binary being fetched and installed. This process is reliable as the Plex image rarely changes and is tested before the image is changed.

Other plugins, like Nextcloud, are more complex. The Nextcloud plugin includes not only the Nextcloud package but also many auxiliary packages. Each package is, in turn, dependent on many libraries. When one or more libraries are updated to fix a bug or vulnerability, many packages may be impacted and recompiled. The plugin script will then fetch all new packages even if there has been no human testing of the combined changes to the software. This process is very dynamic and enables rapid updates.

Unfortunately, bugs introduced in frequently changing libraries and related packages with complex dependencies can cause issues for the resulting plugin. Without the necessary strict version control, the process is not as reliable as most users would like and is not enterprise. Apart from specifically engineered plugins, iX has not sold or supported these to enterprises.

TrueNAS SCALE Apps have Version Control

TrueNAS SCALE was designed as a smart NAS with better support for Apps. Linux, Kubernetes, and containers provide the key technologies for enabling an abundance of Apps that leverage the Unified Data Platform. With the release of TrueNAS SCALE Bluefin, the support for TrueNAS Apps has become even better.

Deploying an App is much simpler due to the inherent advantages of Linux containers and their encapsulated software dependencies. This simplifies updates and upgrades and is a major improvement over TrueNAS CORE plugins. This has also resulted in many more Apps being available with support from iX.

The App configuration manifest (Helm Chart) can specify the container image version or just ask for “:latest” or other pre-defined tags. The software developer retains full control over the base, libraries, and packages used and can perform additional testing before the final image is tagged as an app. The end-user deployment system then can fetch and run this image as a container, which mirrors exactly the environment the developer intended the app to run within.

In the diagram below, Nextcloud is deployed using a small number of predefined images. Each image is pre-tested and version-controlled.

The addition of version control is already proving more reliable than plugins. For this reason, iX recommends new TrueNAS users use SCALE if applications are a significant part of their deployment plan.

TrueNAS Apps are managed as Catalogs. An Enterprise Catalog is maintained by iXsystems. A Community Catalog is cooperatively maintained on Github.

Ongoing Support for Plugins

Today, the majority of TrueNAS users are running TrueNAS CORE. Those users have a choice of staying with CORE or migrating to SCALE. Given the reliability issues of CORE plugins described above, iX intends to only support these plugins until early 2025. For TrueNAS Enterprise 13.0 customers, official plugins will be supported for appliances covered by a support contract.

In the next two years, we expect CORE users to either:

Migrate their plugins to personally managed jails and remain on CORE
Migrate from CORE to SCALE and rebuild their applications using the simpler Apps or VMs

We are sharing these recommendations so users have ample time to plan. We expect TrueNAS SCALE to significantly improve in both functionality and quality during that time. Notably, the migration process from CORE to SCALE is a major focus for polish and documentation, intending to drastically simplify migration before the end of plugin support in 2025.

Overall, Apps in TrueNAS SCALE Bluefin already represent a major step forward relative to both Angelfish and TrueNAS CORE 13.0. Further improvements are planned for TrueNAS SCALE Cobia (late 2023) and beyond.

Given the current rate of SCALE growth relative to CORE, and the positive community feedback surrounding the significantly improved experience with Apps, we expect that the TrueNAS SCALE user base will continue to grow. By 2025, we expect SCALE will have as many, if not more users than CORE, as users choose to expand their TrueNAS systems beyond storing data.

iX and Community Support of Plugins

For the support of Plugins until 2025, we would like more Community engagement in the Plugin management and troubleshooting process. iX will provide support for the general Github infrastructure for managing plugins as well as the following Official Plugins: Asigra, Iconik, MinIO, Nextcloud, Syncthing, Tarsnap, and both the paid and free editions of Plex Media Server. These plugins are marked as such above the version number and install button in the GUI.

The remaining plugins are Community plugins which will require community assistance to update and maintain. Plugins that are not maintained may need to be retired earlier. If you can volunteer to help maintain Community Plugins, please join the discussion on the Github Repository and indicate where you can help.

We would obviously prefer that all of our software can be supported forever, but we have to make these decisions to focus efforts on improving the overall user experience and the long term health of the general TrueNAS community. Resources freed from one project can be used to deliver improvements in others. The TrueNAS community has been very helpful in providing input on this decision and making sure it was communicated clearly.

Choose Your NAS Definition

TrueNAS provides a choice between the CORE and SCALE editions, each with its own benefits. In short, users can think of CORE as the traditional and modern definition of NAS, with file, block, and object support. Users can think of SCALE as a universal data platform — or “smart” NAS — with catalogs of Apps.

Users with traditional storage-specific NAS requirements (NFS, SMB, iSCSI, and S3) are still advised to choose TrueNAS CORE 13.0. These choices have five times more data under management and many more years of operation and stability. Currently, TrueNAS 13.0-U4 (CORE & Enterprise) is the most robust scale-up storage platform for general use. Jails are supported and if necessary, Plugins are available until 2025.

TrueNAS SCALE has inherited the storage functionality and automated testing from CORE. SCALE is maturing rapidly, and also offers a more robust Apps environment based on Linux, KVM, and Kubernetes. For that reason, SCALE is generally recommended for new users that need embedded applications. The latest TrueNAS SCALE 22.12.2 release has made significant strides in quality and reliability.

TrueNAS provides these choices and the ability to automatically migrate storage services and VMs from CORE to SCALE. Plugins and jails can be manually replaced with Apps. We encourage anyone seeking further advice or answers to questions to visit our Community Forums or Discord Channel.

The post The Future of TrueNAS Plugins is Apps appeared first on TrueNAS - Welcome to the Open Storage Era.

TrueNAS as a Storage Server for VMware/Hyper-V

Pee Jay Latombo — Tue, 25 Apr 2023 07:02:25 +0000

TrueNAS: The Ideal Component for your Virtualization Solution

For nearly a decade, TrueNAS has provided rapid, reliable storage for customers using virtualization technology. From small startups to the majority of Fortune 500 companies, organizations everywhere have experienced the benefits of True Data Freedom, and each TrueNAS release continues to refine, polish, and deliver high-quality user experiences. With over 15 million downloads across the CORE and SCALE products, TrueNAS offers storage for virtualization solutions that will keep your machines running smoothly.

TrueNAS as a Storage Server for VMware/Hyper-V

As a unified storage provider, TrueNAS offers file, block, and object protocols, making it an ideal component of your VMware ESXi, Microsoft Hyper-V, XenServer, or KVM-based virtualization solution. TrueNAS CORE and SCALE offer hypervisor storage over the NFS and iSCSI protocols, and TrueNAS Enterprise extends this feature set by adding support for up to 32 Gbps Fibre Channel and dual-controller High-Availability, bringing your storage uptime into the 99.999% of availability. With TrueNAS, you can experience the benefits of virtualization in its most efficient state.

TrueNAS offers advanced read caching using the OpenZFS Adaptive Replacement Cache to serve up your most important and in-demand data at the fastest speed possible from system memory. Data writes are accelerated by the use of high-performance, solid-state devices or non-volatile memory, providing sub-millisecond latency even under heavy workloads.

High-performance storage is critical to a successful virtualization infrastructure, and TrueNAS delivers just that with the OpenZFS file system. With TrueNAS, your virtualization benefits from best-in-class data integrity guaranteed, with self-healing behavior to automatically detect and repair silent data corruption. OpenZFS was specifically designed to ensure the integrity of data. It uses features like end-to-end checksumming and copy-on-write to protect data against the silent data corruption caused by everything from bit rot to current spikes, driver and disk errors, accidental overwrites, and more.

TrueNAS also helps to protect your data against the new generation of hypervisor-based ransomware through immutable OpenZFS snapshots, creating stable local or remote restore points. With its dynamic caching and storage optimization technology, TrueNAS eliminates the need to rely on multiple hard drives to get the IOPS needed for a VM deployment. No other file system, volume manager, or hardware RAID solution provides sufficient protection against such problems.

The Open Source economics of TrueNAS lets you choose the solution that best fits your company. TrueNAS Enterprise hardware scales from 10TB up to 20PB of capacity and is offered with economical hybrid performance or powerful all-flash NVMe.

TrueNAS can be downloaded and deployed for free in your environment. TrueNAS is VMware Ready certified and offers unified and scalable storage solutions to protect data, simplify its management, reduce operational costs, and optimize the performance of a virtualized environment. There is no need for proprietary hardware or software to see how your virtual environment can benefit from True Data Freedom.

For more information on TrueNAS for VMware, check out the TrueNAS for VMware Whitepaper.

Keep your virtualization solutions running smoothly. Download TrueNAS SCALE

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Leveling Up TrueNAS SCALE Apps and Catalogs

Pee Jay Latombo — Mon, 17 Apr 2023 21:40:58 +0000

TrueNAS SCALE provides the ability to run Apps directly on the storage system, further expanding the capabilities of the traditional TrueNAS System. Apps have been steadily improving with each new release, with more improvements already underway for the upcoming TrueNAS SCALE Cobia release this Fall.

With TrueNAS SCALE, each App is effectively a Kubernetes Helm Chart that points to container images and provides configuration information to integrate multiple containers into an application. This makes Apps simple to deploy and run on TrueNAS SCALE. The Apps are collected together and then made available via Catalogs.

There is a default TrueNAS Catalog as well as the ability to load any number of unsupported 3rd party Catalogs and install Apps from their collections. Within each Catalog, there can be multiple groupings or “Trains” of Applications. Apps from different Catalogs can run on the same TrueNAS system.

More recently with the update of TrueNAS SCALE Bluefin, 22.12.2, we are pleased to roll out a new set of Apps to our existing TrueNAS Catalog. After updating to 22.12.2, users will see new Apps trains available in the UI, defined by their label names:

Community is our new Train of Apps that are either iX or Community-contributed. These Apps are generally considered “Community” supported, and iX will help to review and moderate changes being submitted by community users, but not directly provide support. This is a great place for aspiring App developers to collaborate on bringing new software packages to SCALE, either by the original developers of 3rd party software, or the supporting fan community.

Official has been the primary Train for Apps up until this point. Going forward, these Apps will be the ones that are periodically tested and maintained by TrueNAS engineers, and major issues will be investigated as they arise. Applications that begin life in the Community Train may over time migrate into the Official Train if they are high-quality and very actively used by TrueNAS users.

Enterprise is an exclusive Train for TrueNAS Enterprise appliances made up of Applications which are tested, maintained, documented, and generally have more enterprise functionality for mission-critical use cases on TrueNAS. Software vendors of Enterprise Applications may wish to contact iXsystems to discuss the inclusion of their App(s) in this Enterprise Train.

With the upcoming 22.12.3 release, we will further improve the naming in the UI and change the “Official” Catalog label to “TrueNAS” Catalog label. This will help to better differentiate between which Catalog of Apps are being used, and which Train an App belongs to within the Catalog.

With these changes now live in 22.12.2, we are now open to collaboration with other App developers on our TrueNAS Apps Catalog hosted on GitHub. Users are encouraged to follow along with incoming changes staged as pull requests, as well as suggestions for new Applications. Aspiring developers can also read through our documentation on App creation and help review pull requests in-flight to ensure the latest and greatest Applications are always available on TrueNAS SCALE for all to run and enjoy.

Here is the current list of Apps in the TrueNAS Catalog:

TrueNAS SCALE 22.12.2 is Now Available

TrueNAS SCALE has inherited the storage functionality and automated testing from CORE. SCALE is maturing rapidly, and also offers a more robust Apps environment based on Linux, KVM, and Kubernetes. For that reason, SCALE is generally recommended for new users that need embedded Applications. The latest TrueNAS SCALE 22.12.2 has made significant strides in quality and reliability. Over 5,000 users successfully updated within 48 hours of its release and it is available for download here.

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TrueNAS SCALE gets Enterprise Features

Pee Jay Latombo — Tue, 11 Apr 2023 20:08:40 +0000

TrueNAS SCALE is open source storage that enables hyperconvergence and scale-out storage. Supporting file, block, objects, and applications, TrueNAS SCALE Bluefin 22.12.2 is now available after over 50,000 deployments with an Exabyte of data. We expect Bluefin to surpass 100,000 deployments and two Exabytes of data in 2023.

Along with many significant improvements and bug fixes, TrueNAS SCALE 22.12.2 is significant because an Enterprise feature pack and the option of Gold/Silver/Bronze Enterprise support are now both available for SCALE. The Enterprise feature pack includes HA (dual controllers), Proactive Monitoring, Enclosure Management, and many other features and tools that ensure a highly reliable deployment in production environments.

The same Enterprise feature pack is available for TrueNAS CORE 13.0, and an additional Security license pack license can be added to TrueNAS Enterprise. The Enterprise Feature Pack is packaged with TrueNAS M-Series and X-Series appliances. When the Enterprise feature pack is added to TrueNAS CORE 13.0, it will be referred to as TrueNAS Enterprise 13.0. When added to TrueNAS SCALE 22.12.2, it will be referred to as TrueNAS Enterprise 22.12.2. TrueNAS Enterprise is now both Scale-up (with HA) and Scale-out!

This does NOT imply that TrueNAS Enterprise 13.0 users should immediately migrate to 22.12. It does signal that new deployments with specific SCALE requirements can use TrueNAS Enterprise 22.12 and receive the same Enterprise support. TrueNAS Enterprise customers can contact iXsystems Technical Support for a complimentary technical review and assistance before any migration and should contact iX when considering migrating to 22.12.

If SCALE features are not required, we recommend TrueNAS 13.0. Our recommendations are maintained and updated regularly on our Software Status page. You can expect that as TrueNAS SCALE 22.12.2 receives further testing from community use, it will become the recommended version for SCALE users.

Bluefin Update Fixes Bugs and Adds Enterprise Features

TrueNAS SCALE Bluefin inherits all the functional capabilities of Angelfish (22.02) and adds many new features. The first update (22.12.1) added some more features including SMB Share Proxy and Kubernetes API pass-through. This second update (22.12.2) includes many significant improvements and bug fixes that are listed in the release notes. Highlights include:

Enterprise hardware support includes tools for managing NVDIMMs (M-Series) and enclosure management (ES60 and X-Series)
High Availability (HA) has been hardened and tested. This will allow storage services, VMs, and Apps to all benefit from automated failover with TrueNAS appliances
Replication fixes have been provided for several use cases, including between encrypted and unencrypted datasets
Enclosure management improvements include better handling of drive insertions and fix issues with Mini X+/XL+
TrueNAS R30 is a new 1U 16 bay TrueNAS NVMe platform with added enclosure management UI
90 Bug Fixes (most are minor) with several having a significant impact on system usability

After a couple of weeks of community testing, we expect to recommend SCALE users to update their Angelfish and Bluefin systems to this latest release.

Plans for 3rd Bluefin Update

The quality of Bluefin is maturing rapidly at this stage of the software development lifecycle. It is now suitable for Enterprise users with less mission-critical applications. The iX team is already working on the third update to Bluefin with a target release in May. This update will add more polish to Enterprise use-cases for mission-critical workloads that need perpetual uptime.

Host path validation is currently performed on all Apps and prevents accidental App access to a share with critical data. To allow this configuration, Host Path validation can be disabled in Kubernetes settings. A forum post indicates that in the next update, this check will become a simpler user acceptance when each App is installed. This change, along with better documentation on the security issues, will help improve the overall user experience.

Over the next couple of months, we’ll be providing additional tools for creating and distributing a much larger collection of Apps. We’re very enthusiastic about the ability of SCALE to provide a broader range of reliable Apps and will be outlining our future plans.

Joining the School of Bluefin

Bluefin is an easy upgrade from SCALE Angelfish and is recommended for all users. For more conservative users, the software status of TrueNAS editions is tracked here. There is also a comprehensive list of Bluefin changes in the release notes.

TrueNAS SCALE Cobia is the next major release after Bluefin. Some early testers have been using the nightlies while the development team is busily preparing for ALPHA status. Later, we’ll share a series of blogs about what is included in this Cobia release planned for late 2023.

Want to learn more about TrueNAS SCALE solutions in your business? Contact us to speak to a Product Specialist.

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Yes, You Can (Still) Virtualize TrueNAS

iX Team — Mon, 03 Apr 2023 15:00:56 +0000

The ability of TrueNAS to run on a wide variety of hardware has led it to become the world’s most popular open source storage software, with over 15 million downloads to date. One question that has persisted over the years is whether or not virtual hardware is included in the list of platforms that are recommended for running TrueNAS. The answer for TrueNAS holds the same as it did for FreeNAS years ago – You absolutely can virtualize TrueNAS!

Fig. 1 – Non-Production and Production TrueNAS VMs

Virtual machines (VMs) provide opportunities to easily stand up instances of TrueNAS for a number of different purposes. End-users might use these to evaluate the functionality of TrueNAS in their environment, check out the differences between CORE and SCALE, or walk through the process of upgrading a legacy FreeNAS system to a recent release of TrueNAS. Developers at iXsystems make extensive use of virtualization when troubleshooting, documenting, and building new versions of TrueNAS; and yes – some TrueNAS users even deploy a fully-virtualized TrueNAS solution for their production environments.

Of course, TrueNAS SCALE also includes its own KVM hypervisor and can run its own VMs; however, that’s not the subject of this particular blog.

Before we continue, let’s open with a little disclaimer banner:

Warning

If the best practices and recommendations for running TrueNAS as a virtual machine are followed, a TrueNAS VM can be a safe and reliable way to store data. Failure to adhere to these same recommendations can result in permanent corruption and/or loss of your data without warning, even if the system appears initially functional. Please read through them all carefully!

Apologies for the Scary Red Text, but this needed to be made abundantly clear. Let’s get started!

1. Consider Your Use Case

While “test-drive” and “development” use cases can play a little bit more fast and loose with the recommendations for virtual hardware, a production use-case is where certain caveats and precautions need to be taken into account.

Testing, Exploring, or Development (“Non-Production Use”)

If you’re looking to gain familiarity with the TrueNAS UI, do some development work on the TrueNAS code, perform a dry-run of upgrading between versions, or set up any other situation where data that you care about isn’t at stake, you can likely go ahead with very few guardrails on your virtualization solution. Use your hypervisor of choice to create a VM with at least 8GB of RAM, two or more vCPUs, a 16GB install disk, and data disks of whatever size are appropriate for your testing (see later in the document for some important notes if using multiple virtual disks!) – mount a TrueNAS ISO of your choice, and enjoy.

This process can be completed in less than five minutes – or if you’d prefer, you can download and deploy a pre-built TrueNAS SCALE VM image in Open Virtualization Format.

Storing Important Data (“Production Use”)

As soon as you’re storing data that you care about keeping safe, or readily available, then you should consider your TrueNAS use as a “production environment”. – this includes if it’s at home protecting your personal photos, or in an office safeguarding important documents.

For TrueNAS and OpenZFS to offer absolute protection for your data, they should have direct access to a storage controller and the drives attached. Without direct access, there is a possibility of the hypervisor interfering with settings, reordering or reconfiguring drives, and introducing avenues for data corruption. Virtual data disks are not as reliable, and are particularly prone to operator mistakes such as accidental deletion or inadvertent use of hypervisor-based snapshot technology.

The key piece of the puzzle is a technology broadly referred to as PCI passthrough – this might be given a different name such as “VMDirectPath I/O” “Discrete Device Assignment” by the vendor, but the core functionality must remain the same – the virtual machine must be able to address the PCI hardware device directly, without going through an abstraction layer.

When creating a TrueNAS VM for production use, the storage controller must be assigned to the VM via PCI passthrough. This will prevent the hypervisor from claiming the controller with its driver, and allow TrueNAS to use its own.

Most desktop virtualization applications (eg: Oracle Virtualbox, VMware Workstation) do not support PCI passthrough. Instructions for enabling PCI passthrough on various bare-metal hypervisors are listed below.

When using PCI passthrough, TrueNAS will treat the storage controller just like it’s been installed on physical hardware. This direct access to the PCI device does prevent several advanced features of virtualization from functioning, including (but not limited to) the following:

Hot adding and removing of virtual devices
Suspend and resume of the VM
“Record and replay” functionality
Fault tolerance and high availability, including “live migration” features
VM snapshots (note – ZFS snapshots inside of TrueNAS do work)

In order to use PCI passthrough, you need to have an additional storage controller that is not being used by your hypervisor to boot or run other data. It is suggested to use a host bus adapter (HBA) supported by TrueNAS, such as an LSI/Broadcom/Avago controller from the SAS2308 or newer chipset family.

While the older SAS2008 chipset was historically recommended, recent updates to both the VMware ESXi vmkernel and the FreeBSD 13.x kernel have exposed edge-cases that may cause system instability and failure of the VM to properly claim the PCI device at boot time. TrueNAS SCALE may be less picky.

2. Choose Your Hypervisor Platform

The iXsystems development team runs TrueNAS as a VM on a daily basis. Our virtualization platform of choice remains VMware, and it’s the platform in which the TrueNAS developers have the most experience. Both TrueNAS CORE and SCALE include the VMware Guest tools as well, in order to respond gracefully to shutdown requests from the host OS, as well as pass some information back to the hypervisor. If deploying TrueNAS for a “non-production” use case, the desktop VMware Workstation application can be used – but for a “production” VM, the requirement for PCI passthrough means the standalone ESXi hypervisor should be used instead.

Our second choice for a virtualization platform is KVM (Kernel-based Virtual Machine) – which is also the hypervisor layer implemented into TrueNAS SCALE, Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization, and Proxmox VE. While TrueNAS has no built-in guest tools installed for this hypervisor, you can still have a solid virtualization experience regardless.

Other hypervisors such as FreeBSD’s bhyve, Citrix’s Xen, and Microsoft’s Hyper-V may also work, but the development team does not test with or use them on a daily basis.

Regardless of the hypervisor solution you choose, ensure that you follow the vendor’s guidance regarding hardware selection and configuration. Running the hypervisor on a physical hardware solution that is supported by the vendor’s Hardware Compatibility List or similar reference document is strongly encouraged, especially if running a “Production” TrueNAS VM is desired.

3. Virtualizing ZFS

The ZFS file system used by TrueNAS combines the roles of RAID controller, volume manager, and file system all into a single software component. ZFS expects direct access to your disks in order to work properly, in order to issue direct SCSI or SATA commands and receive an expected and predictable response. The closer you can get TrueNAS to your storage hardware, the happier it is, and the better it can do its job of keeping your data safe.

Hypervisor-backed virtual disks or hardware RAID controllers provide a “translation layer” to the disks, and therefore should be avoided for the data disks. TrueNAS boot devices are an exception, and can be stored on a hypervisor virtual disk safely – but it is suggested to create two identical volumes and use the TrueNAS installer to mirror these within the guest OS as well. Ensure that the underlying physical storage backing these hypervisor virtual disks is sufficiently redundant as well.

4. Configuring your Virtual Hardware

For a non-production TrueNAS VM, the minimum hardware requirements for TrueNAS will suffice, but when assigning resources to a production instance, some suggestions apply.

4.1 Select the proper Guest OS in the hypervisor

The virtual hardware presented to a VM is often dependent on the “Guest OS” selected. If possible, choose the matching OS based on the TrueNAS version:

TrueNAS CORE: FreeBSD 13.x (64-bit)
TrueNAS SCALE: Debian Linux 11 “Bullseye” (64-bit)

Do not select a “Linux” guest OS for TrueNAS CORE and do not select a “Windows” guest OS for either CORE or SCALE. “Other OS” can be selected for CORE if FreeBSD is not present, and “Other Linux” can be selected for SCALE.

TrueNAS contains the VMware Tools add-on, with support for the vmxnet3 drivers. These are suggested over the emulated E1000 Intel card.

4.2 Don’t over-assign CPU cores

For a light I/O workload, start with 2 vCPUs and provide CPU reservations or “guaranteed execution time” if you expect periods of high overall host usage in order to prevent your TrueNAS VM from becoming CPU-starved. If you expect to use iSCSI, have heavy random I/O workloads, or run compression stronger than the default LZ4 algorithm, assign 4 vCPUs. Monitor the statistics provided by your hypervisor for signs of virtual CPU exhaustion (add more cores) and co-scheduling stalls (remove CPU cores) and adjust gradually.

4.3 Assign sufficient RAM

The TrueNAS recommendations regarding sufficient RAM still apply to a VM. As a hypervisor host often contains a large amount of physical RAM, consider assigning a minimum of 16GB to the TrueNAS VM, with more added if you plan to deploy Apps or use a performance-intensive workload. Guest memory should be reserved and locked, preventing it from being shared or swapped at the hypervisor level – this is often a requirement for PCI passthrough enablement.

4.4 Enable unique ID for Virtual Disks

If deploying for non-production with multiple virtual disks, or production with virtual boot devices, TrueNAS may raise an alert that the serial numbers of the disk are not unique, often because they are missing. While an override exists in the UI to permit the use of non-unique S/N’s in a pool, this may result in unexpected behavior when attempting to import pools. It’s better to correct this at the VM level if possible. With VMware ESXi, you can set the advanced VM option disk.EnableUUID=true as described in the following knowledge base article:
https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/52815

Other hypervisors such as Xen, KVM, and Hyper-V may have different capabilities and methods of setting the serial number of virtual disks.

4.5 Avoid nested virtualization

TrueNAS SCALE and CORE both offer the ability to run VMs of their own, using the KVM or bhyve hypervisor respectively. While this functionality may work with TrueNAS itself as a VM, it can be challenging to enable, support, and troubleshoot – and is outside the scope of this guide.

Using TrueNAS SCALE with Apps or containers is expected to work on a TrueNAS VM for both testing and production cases.

4.6 In a multi-socket system, be mindful of NUMA limitations

Multi-socket systems arrange CPU sockets, memory slots, and PCIe lanes into groups known as Non-Uniform Memory Access (NUMA) nodes – communication within a node is significantly faster than communication between nodes. The benefits of spanning multiple NUMA nodes are often limited by this link.

Take the example of a system with 2x 8-core CPUs and 128GB of RAM, divided into two nodes of 8 cores + 64GB each. Assigning more than 8 cores or 64GB of RAM will cause the VM to span NUMA nodes, causing unpredictable performance if a thread is scheduled to run on a remote core or accesses a remotely-stored part of the RAM.

For similar reasons, configure your hypervisor to “pin” the VM to the NUMA node where the HBA is connected. Remote access across the node interlink for all HBA traffic can cause significant impact across the system, as periods of high I/O such as ZFS scrubs can cause congestion. Consult your vendor’s maintenance or service guide for an illustrated block diagram or PCIe slot-to-socket mapping table to identify the correct NUMA node.

Summary

If using a TrueNAS VM for “Production Data” – data that you want to keep safe and/or guarantee availability of – the only recommended approach is PCI passthrough of a TrueNAS-supported HBA. Various alternative configurations for RAID controllers (with or without “HBA Mode” or “JBOD-Like” behavior), paravirtualized disks, and local drive mapping have been proposed and often tested by community members, but the only configuration that has proven consistently reliable over the years has been full PCI passthrough.

For non-production use, research and development, or experimentation, use your hypervisor of choice, follow the simple guidance around the guest OS, and enjoy!

Feel welcome to join the TrueNAS Community Forums and share your feedback with running TrueNAS, both the technical process of running it as a virtual instance, as well as your overall impressions of the software. As an open source product, iXsystems believes in working with the community to help make TrueNAS the best it can be.

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TrueNAS CORE & Enterprise 13.0-U4 Delivers Additional Quality

Ladislav Sirový — Tue, 28 Feb 2023 19:42:35 +0000

Building on the Enterprise maturity of prior versions, TrueNAS 13.0-U4 was released today. The previous version, TrueNAS 13.0-U3, has proven to be the highest quality release in TrueNAS history and is already the most widely-deployed version of TrueNAS.

Compared to TrueNAS 12.0, TrueNAS 13.0 includes significant new components and delivers improved performance, scalability, and reliability. To date, nearly 50% of TrueNAS users have updated to TrueNAS 13.0, including many of our larger enterprise customers.

Today, TrueNAS 13.0 is the default software to ship on most TrueNAS Enterprise appliances, and it is recommended for all TrueNAS CORE and Enterprise users by virtue of its improved security and reliability characteristics, compared to TrueNAS 12.0 and previous versions. The TrueNAS 13.0-U4 version includes about 60 new bug fixes and updates to OpenZFS and SAMBA.

When Should you update your TrueNAS system?

Our recommendations are maintained and updated regularly on our Software Status page, which currently recommends TrueNAS 13.0-U3.1 for all users and customers. As TrueNAS 13.0-U4 receives further testing in more customer environments, it will become the recommended release for all TrueNAS CORE and Enterprise users within two months.

TrueNAS Enterprise customers are encouraged to contact iXsystems Technical Support for a complimentary technical review and assistance before updating.

If you ever need additional information on how TrueNAS can streamline, accelerate, and unify data management for your business, please contact us and we’ll be glad to assist you.

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Meet the Mini R

Pee Jay Latombo — Wed, 22 Feb 2023 12:10:58 +0000

The all-new TrueNAS Mini R is the first rack-mountable TrueNAS Mini from iXsystems. Like the other members of the professional-grade Mini product series, the new Mini R provides unified file, block, and object storage. It is fully supported by both TrueNAS CORE and our newest hyperconverged solution, TrueNAS SCALE.

The rack-mountable TrueNAS Mini R offers 12 lockable and hot-swappable 3.5” drive bays for more than 200TB of raw capacity when fully populated with 18TB drives. Optional adapters for 2.5” SATA SSDs are also available, for a total supported capacity of over 90TB of flash storage with 7.6TB drives. These maximum capacities will go up as higher-capacity drives reach improved $/TB.

The Mini R comes standard with dual 10GbE RJ45 interfaces, with an optional dual 10GbE SFP+ card available. An included IPMI out-of-band management interface allows for secure remote administrative access. We built the Mini R with a low noise profile in mind, so it’s just as comfortable being in an office on a desktop or shelf with rubber feet as it is mounted in a rack in a datacenter. The 2U Mini R comes with a short rail kit, and an optional long rail kit is also available.

The new Mini R is ideal for small and home offices and can also serve in parts of enterprise deployments for remote sites, backup, labs, and non-critical departmental applications. Customers with TrueNAS Enterprise systems can include the Mini R in their support contracts to ensure they are fully supported no matter what they need help with.

The TrueNAS Mini R appliance starts at under $2,000. It is now available to order from iXsystems and will be coming to Amazon in March. Appliances ordered via TrueNAS.com can be preconfigured with either TrueNAS SCALE or TrueNAS CORE.

Want more information on what the Mini R can do for business use cases? Contact us or reach out through real-time chat and we’ll put you in touch with a product specialist.

Key Specifications:

CPU: Octa-core Intel Processor (C3758)
32 or 64GB ECC RAM options
Networking: 2×1/10GbE RJ45
12 x 3.5” Hot-swappable Bays (can support 2.5” drives with optional adapters)
Lockable Bezel and Drive Bays
Dedicated IPMI (10/100/1000 MbE) with full KVM over HTML5
M.2 NVMe boot device (250GB)
Rear-mounted USB 3.0 port
Standard 19” Rackmount Width, 2U height, and a Depth of 21”
Short rails for compact racks (19” to 26.6”)
Adhesive rubber feet for desktop/shelf deployments
Office-quiet – 45dB Idle and 52dB Peak
Non-Redundant 100V-240V AC, 50/60Hz Single Phase Power Supply
Less than 170W fully populated under load
Comes with TrueNAS CORE or an optional sidegrade to TrueNAS SCALE

Several add-on options are available:

2.5” drive adapters
Dual 10GbE SFP+ NIC
Long rails for deeper racks (26.5” to 36.4”)

The New TrueNAS Mini Series

The TrueNAS Mini R extends the Mini Series with a rack-mountable chassis and more drive bays. The Mini X has five hot-swappable 3.5” bays and 2 SSD Bays. Drives and 3.5” trays from the other Minis can be removed and installed into the Mini R. The entire Mini Series is designed to be professional-grade and quiet and are ideal for office environments and audio/video work. Videos:

TrueNAS: https://youtu.be/NPsUXgfbqig
Lawrence Systems: https://youtu.be/CIdxfNSbHBQ
2GuysTek: https://youtu.be/8Kxy3sWBJz4

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TrueNAS SCALE Bluefin gets its First Update

Pee Jay Latombo — Wed, 22 Feb 2023 12:00:50 +0000

TrueNAS SCALE is open source storage that enables hyperconvergence and scale-out storage. Supporting file, block, objects, and applications, TrueNAS SCALE Bluefin 22.12.1 is now available after a well-deployed release in December. We would like to thank the 20,000+ early adopters that have provided their time, systems, and feedback. We expect Bluefin to pass 100,000 deployments and two exabytes of data in 2023.

TrueNAS SCALE 22.12.1 is the first maintenance update to 22.12.0, with over 300 improvements and bug fixes. Users still on the previous version (Angelfish) also have a simple update when using the same features and following the release notes. After a couple of weeks of community testing, we expect to recommend users to update their Angelfish and Bluefin systems to this latest release.

Bluefin Update Improves Stability and Reliability

TrueNAS SCALE Bluefin inherits all the functional capabilities of Angelfish and adds many new features. This first update (22.12.1) includes many significant improvements and bug fixes that are listed in the release notes. Highlights include:

Performance Improvements to further optimize various storage protocol workloads
SMB Share Proxy provides a redirect mechanism for making many TrueNAS SMB shares available in a common namespace presented by one TrueNAS system. This reduces the configuration needed for each SMB client.
Sudo fields are added to replication tasks to provide the correct privileges on remote targets.
Kubernetes Pass-through is provided with an Enterprise license and enables external orchestrators to control the Kubernetes API functionality within a node.
SSH Key Upload simplifies administration on TrueNAS via multiple users.
Rootless Login Bug Fixes & Improvements simplify administration by non-root users.
Validate Host Path in the SCALE UI is improved for the specific safety belt that warns of possible conflicts between Apps and sharing.
ZFS HotPlug Fixes and Other Improvements are provided through an update to OpenZFS 2.1.9.
250 Bug Fixes (most are minor) with several having a significant impact on system reliability. After more community testing, we expect to recommend SCALE users to upgrade.
TrueNAS Mini R is a new 12 bay TrueNAS Mini platform with added enclosure management UI.

Plans for 2nd Update

At this stage of the software development lifecycle, the quality of Bluefin is improving rapidly but is not yet recommended for Enterprise users with mission-critical applications. The iX team is already working on the second update to Bluefin with a target release at the end of March. This update is intended to address some of the needs for Enterprise use-cases.

There were some reports from the community of Kubernetes / applications being unreliable at deployment of 22.12.0. Some of these are addressed in this 1st update, and once deployed, any remaining issues will be diagnosed and addressed in the 2nd update. We appreciate the Community reporting bugs and helping iX replicate the issues, whether they are configuration or software related.

After the 2nd update, we plan to provide a more detailed view of the next major TrueNAS SCALE release train: Cobia. One major anticipated change is a capability in the Apps UI to sort and filter available applications when using large or multiple application catalogs.

Joining the School of Bluefin

Bluefin is an easy upgrade from SCALE Angelfish and is recommended for testers and early adopters. For more conservative users, the software status of TrueNAS editions is tracked here. There is also an enormous list of Bluefin changes available in the release notes, which includes over 1,300 improvements and fixes.

We want to thank the community for the tremendous support in improving TrueNAS SCALE quality. It has been an exciting ride and there is much more to come, so please keep making suggestions and reporting bugs as we continue to improve the quality of TrueNAS SCALE together.

Want to learn more about TrueNAS SCALE business solutions? Contact us to speak to a product specialist.

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iXsystems Introduces TrueNAS Mini R Appliance with Linux-based TrueNAS SCALE

Pee Jay Latombo — Wed, 22 Feb 2023 12:00:21 +0000

TrueNAS Open Storage Software also Recognized as a Digital Public Good by the DPGA

SAN JOSE, CA, February 22, 2023 – iXsystems® today announced TrueNAS SCALE “Bluefin” 22.12.1, the latest release of its Linux-based Open Storage platform, and the availability of the new TrueNAS Mini R storage appliance. Recognized as a Digital Public Good (DPG) by the Digital Public Goods Alliance (DPGA), TrueNAS open storage solves the limitations of traditional storage and offers the choice of greater data freedom to organizations of all types and sizes around the world.

TrueNAS SCALE
Powered by Linux, TrueNAS SCALE is an open, hyperconverged, unified scale-out storage platform ideal for demanding file, block, and object storage use cases. Linux, Kubernetes, and containers provide the key technologies for enabling embedded applications within TrueNAS SCALE, giving users the ability to consolidate platforms, reduce costs, simplify administration, and accelerate their application performance by eliminating protocol and networking layers. TrueNAS SCALE supports SMB and NFS File Sharing, iSCSI Block Storage, S3 Object storage, the iX-Storj service for Globally Distributed Storage, and Cloud Sync for interoperability with public cloud storage.

TrueNAS SCALE Bluefin has been tested by more than 20,000 TrueNAS Community adopters and provides important new capabilities, including cluster management APIs and a Kubernetes CSI Driver for using TrueNAS SCALE as the storage cluster. In addition to maturity from community testing ahead of broader adoption by Linux users, TrueNAS SCALE 22.12.1 includes performance improvements, the option for Kubernetes API passthrough for external orchestrators, and many general fixes and improvements.

TrueNAS Mini R
Also available with TrueNAS SCALE 22.12.1 is the latest TrueNAS storage system from iXsystems. The rack-mountable TrueNAS Mini R offers 12 lockable and hot-swappable 3.5” drive bays for more than 200TB of capacity when fully populated and the option of 2.5” SATA SSDs for more than 90TB of flash storage. The larger Mini R joins the Mini X, X+, and XL+ systems in the entry-level TrueNAS Mini series.

Designed with a low noise profile, the professional-grade Mini R can be racked in a remote site or located comfortably within an office environment. It is ideal for small and home offices and can also serve in parts of enterprise deployments for remote sites, backup, and non-critical departmental applications.

TrueNAS Named a Digital Public Good
The Digital Public Goods Alliance is a multi-stakeholder initiative facilitating the discovery, development, use of, and investment in Digital Public Goods (DPG). A DPG is defined as a resource or service that is freely accessible to all and provides benefits that are essential for individuals and society as a whole. Examples of digital public goods include Open Source software, online educational resources, and publicly available data, which must adhere to privacy and other applicable laws and best practices.

TrueNAS SCALE was recently recognized as a DPG, alongside other widely deployed Open Source infrastructure software including Fedora Linux. TrueNAS SCALE is freely available to all, including those who are otherwise unable to invest in traditional storage offerings to protect valuable data. DPGs, like TrueNAS SCALE, represent much more than code itself and are key to accelerating the attainment of sustainable development goals in emerging economic regions.

“Of the Digital Public Goods which are recognized by the DPGA, TrueNAS is among the most widely used Open Source software, helping lower the barriers to digital innovation in nearly every country on the planet,” said Brett Davis, Executive Vice President, iXsystems. “Our core purpose as a company is to spread the benefits of True Data Freedom to the world and earn the opportunity to provide organizations with TrueNAS Enterprise solutions as an alternative to traditional commercial storage systems that are proprietary, restrictive, and often overpriced.”

Pricing and Availability
TrueNAS SCALE 22.12.1 is available for free download at truenas.com/scale and pre-installed on TrueNAS Enterprise appliances with support, including TrueNAS Enterprise M-Series and R-Series appliances.

The TrueNAS Mini R appliance starts at under $2,000 and is now available to order from iXsystems.

Resources:

Videos:

TrueNAS: https://youtu.be/NPsUXgfbqig
Lawrence Systems: https://youtu.be/CIdxfNSbHBQ
2GuysTek: https://youtu.be/8Kxy3sWBJz4

About iXsystems and TrueNAS
iX is an Open Source pioneer and the company behind TrueNAS, the world’s most deployed storage software. Used by millions, TrueNAS lays the foundation for the Open Storage Era so that all organizations can access the benefits of True Data Freedom. TrueNAS enables users to harness the power of the legendary ZFS file system and provides unified and hyperconverged storage for private and cloud datacenters, with the reliability and performance demanded by virtualization, backup, and other data-intensive workloads. Thousands of organizations around the world have chosen TrueNAS Enterprise systems and support from iX to scale-up or scale-out their infrastructure while leveraging Open Source economics.

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TrueNAS Delivers Billions in Value as a Digital Public Good

Pee Jay Latombo — Wed, 22 Feb 2023 12:00:09 +0000

From humble beginnings in 2002, iX has grown to over 200 employees while exceeding $100M in bookings. From its founding and throughout the years, iX has continually invested significant portions of revenue to make Open Source technology even more valuable for business use, while keeping it free to organizations and individuals worldwide.

In 2009, iX became the sponsor and manager of the FreeNAS project, which today is known as TrueNAS. TrueNAS is Open Storage software that protects and manages Exabytes of data in over 200 countries. Due to the significant costs of commercial storage solutions, much of this data would otherwise go unprotected without a free Open Storage option. TrueNAS topples this economic barrier, and the millions of TrueNAS users have made it the world’s most deployed storage software, accessing billions in value each year at no cost to those users.

The critical role that software plays in addressing the world’s most pressing challenges is universally recognized. As a result, a movement has grown to consider certain software as a Digital Public Good (DPG). A DPG is defined as open-source software, open data, open AI models, open standards, and open content that adhere to privacy and other applicable laws and best practices, do no harm by design, and help attain the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). They are resources or services that are freely accessible to all and provide benefits that are essential for individuals and society as a whole.

The Digital Public Goods Alliance (DPGA) is a multi-stakeholder initiative facilitating the discovery, development, use of, and investment in digital public goods. In alignment with the DPGA’s mission, TrueNAS is freely available to all, including those who are otherwise unable to invest in traditional storage offerings to protect valuable data. DPGs like TrueNAS represent much more than code itself and are key to accelerating the attainment of sustainable development goals in emerging economic regions.

The only way customers can truly free their data from proprietary limitations and high cost is through Open Storage. Much like how Linux and other Open Source software are now standard in every corner of datacenter infrastructure, Open Storage now is a viable option for solving data growth and supporting innovation. TrueNAS delivers the benefits of software-defined storage with the added freedom and economics of Open Source, allowing organizations to spend less money and keep more valuable data.

TrueNAS is a software solution that is changing the way data is stored and managed. Its recognition as a digital public good highlights its significance in today’s digital world, where data protection, security, and privacy are top concerns for many. With its high level of data security and privacy, versatility, and augmented quality from community testing, TrueNAS is a reliable and secure option for data storage for individuals, businesses, and organizations of all sizes. The TrueNAS Community then adds to that software value with its expert advice and support.

In 2022, iX also introduced Linux-based TrueNAS SCALE to the TrueNAS family. Like the previous edition of TrueNAS, it is also freely-available, Open Source, and based on the highly-regarded OpenZFS file system. This new edition also adds Kubernetes, virtualization, and clustering. TrueNAS continues to grow in value as a DPG with hyperconvergence and scale-out capabilities.

Brett Davis, our fourth employee in 2004 and today, our Executive Vice President, shared this message on the DPGA recognition:

“Our core purpose as a company is to spread the benefits of True Data Freedom to the world and earn the opportunity to provide organizations with TrueNAS Enterprise solutions as an alternative to traditional commercial storage systems that are proprietary, restrictive, and often overpriced.”

As iXians, we gratefully accept the recognition of TrueNAS as a DPG from the DPGA, but we did not do it by ourselves. We are even more grateful for the contributions that members of the TrueNAS Community have made and continue to offer for the good of the project. We hope that the Community will share in the pride of this recognition and in our vision for Open Storage, helping lower the barriers to digital innovation in nearly every country on the planet.

Experience True Data Freedom for yourself by visiting https://www.truenas.com/compare/ and downloading TrueNAS today.

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Royal Mail Cyber Incident

Pee Jay Latombo — Wed, 22 Feb 2023 11:00:40 +0000

On January 11, 2023, Royal Mail, the official postal service of the UK, released a statement that a “cyber incident” had interrupted their systems. International exports were put on hold while the British postal service tried to put the pieces back together. Although Royal Mail continues to refer to the issue as a “cyber incident”, reports confirm that it was a ransomware attack. All of this following four smaller cyber incidents in the latter months of 2022.

While mail services going to and from the country resumed in full capacity after nearly six weeks, the impact of this attack is still being felt by the Royal Mail and beyond. Much of the UK’s business ecosystem dealt with delays connected to the attack over a month later. An attack on data puts lives and businesses on hold, losing significant amounts of time, money, and peace of mind.

With TrueNAS, you get the data-integrity features of the OpenZFS file system, with exabytes of data protected. All versions of TrueNAS, from the freely available CORE and SCALE to the Enterprise edition included on iXsystems hardware, allow for the creation of a nearly unlimited number of “copy on write” snapshots. The scheduling, creation, and management of snapshots are controlled by the TrueNAS appliance and OpenZFS file system – both legitimate users and malicious malware remotely accessing the shared folders have no way to damage them, either inadvertently or deliberately.

Ransomware may attempt to create encrypted versions of the new files and delete the old ones; however, with TrueNAS, the older, original files will always remain accessible through the OpenZFS snapshot technology. Once your company’s information security team has identified and removed the active malware, recovering from a ransomware attack can be as simple as rolling back the encrypted files or folders to the previous version.

A new generation of ransomware is rising, aimed at targeting hypervisors. With TrueNAS, you remain protected from the newest tactics thanks to an optional integration with VMware snapshot technology. This technology is designed for consistent point-in-time images of critical virtual workloads, ensuring that your data is safe.

TrueNAS offers even more protection against ransomware by using OpenZFS replication to create additional copies of the snapshots on separate systems. This includes “PULL” style replication, where the source machine has no authentication connection to the next level of backup – ensuring that even if an administrative user’s credentials are compromised, the remote system will remain unaffected.

Our world runs on data and it is now more important than ever to protect valuable information from malicious pirates. Ransomware attacks are hard to predict, but may be prevented with the right technology. TrueNAS provides a first and second line of defense against ransomware attacks, giving the TrueNAS community peace of mind.

To learn how to protect your data against ransomware attacks using TrueNAS, contact an iXsystems representative.

Read more on the use of TrueNAS in a Zero-trust Architecture here:
https://www.truenas.com/blog/using-truenas-in-a-zero-trust-architecture/

Read more about combating ransomware with TrueNAS here:
https://www.truenas.com/blog/combating-ransomware-with-truenas/

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iXsystems Surpasses $100M Milestone in 2022 as Enterprise Adoption of TrueNAS Open Storage Accelerates

Pee Jay Latombo — Wed, 08 Feb 2023 08:00:08 +0000

Adoption Propelled by Industry Leading Customer Experience with TrueNAS Storage

SAN JOSE, CA, February 8, 2023 – iXsystems®, the company behind TrueNAS, today announced new growth milestones over the past 12 months, as the company surpassed $100 million in bookings and saw a 51% increase in the Exabytes of TrueNAS storage deployed worldwide. The impressive growth in the adoption of TrueNAS Enterprise appliances and Open Storage software overall is evidence that more Enterprises are choosing the benefits of Open Source Economics to store and protect their valuable, business-critical data.

In 2022, iXsystems grew four times faster than the Enterprise storage market, which according to the International Data Corporation (IDC) is forecasted to grow by 6%. The TrueNAS family of Enterprise appliances comes with highly-rated support, offering an Enterprise storage experience plus the unique benefits of Open Source Economics. With a 4.8 out of 5 star rating, TrueNAS ranked 6th among primary storage vendors on Gartner Peer Insights, with the only “100% would recommend” score among the top 15 highest rated products due to its exceptional quality and reliability. Customers have consistently praised TrueNAS Enterprise for its robust feature set, easy-to-use interface, and excellent performance.

TrueNAS Open Storage software had milestone releases of TrueNAS CORE and TrueNAS SCALE with 660,000 downloads in 2022, eclipsing the 15 million download mark deployed in 200 countries and territories worldwide. In 2022, TrueNAS users also rated their experience with a record high Net Promoter Score that was 62% higher than the industry average for B2B software companies. TrueNAS SCALE, the first Linux-based NAS software from iX, quickly grew to over 40,000 users with nearly 1 Exabyte under management in only 10 months following its first release. The maturity of these releases earned several top ratings on major review sites, including the highest ranking and most reviews for All-Flash Arrays on G2, and the highest rating and most customer-verified reviews on the site for Network Attached Storage on TrustRadius.

Significant milestones achieved over the past 12 months include:

Business
- Achieved 2022 bookings target of $100 million
- Maintained over 50% CAGR for the last four years, with 25% revenue growth in 2022
- Ranked 6th in ratings among primary storage vendors on Gartner Peer Insights
- Opened the TrueNAS Innovation Center campus in Tennessee
- Grew company headcount by 35% to over 200 employees
Technical
- Launched TrueNAS SCALE with Linux, Kubernetes, KVM, and Docker containers
- Delivered first Petabyte-scale All-Flash appliances
- Launched All-NVMe TrueNAS R30 and high-capacity modular TrueNAS R50
- Delivered TrueNAS CORE 13.0, the most robust release in TrueNAS history
- Created cost-effective Globally Distributed Storage for backup with iX-Storj
Community
- 51% increase in the Exabytes of TrueNAS storage deployed worldwide
- More than 40,000 users of TrueNAS SCALE and 1 Exabyte under management
- 62% higher Net Promoter Score than the industry average for B2B software
- 32% increase in TrueNAS Community engagements, over 7.7 million total
- Surpassed 15 million TrueNAS software downloads

“In my conversations as a storage reseller with organizations who run TrueNAS open source software, more of them are choosing to invest in TrueNAS Enterprise for their business-critical applications,” said Jonathan Chubb, Managing Director, Esdebe. “TrueNAS appliances have proven to exceed the high expectations customers have for performance and reliability, helping customers better manage their storage costs and invest the savings elsewhere in their infrastructure.”

These milestones were further validated by accolades from technology research firm DCIG as one of the Top Five Block Storage Solutions. Ongoing industry recognitions include CRN MES Matters, CRN Channel Chief Awards, Best in Biz Awards, and the Storage, Datacenter, Cloud (SDC) Awards.

“We are very pleased with the business momentum and technology milestones we achieved from the hard work that iXsystems has put into making our users and customers successful,” said Michael Lauth, President and CEO of iXsystems. “While no longer a small enterprise, our commitment to customer focus as a profitable private company remains at the heart of our core purpose of spreading the benefits of True Data Freedom to the world.”

Tweet This: iXsystems Surpasses $100 Million Milestone in 2022 as Enterprise Adoption of TrueNAS Open Storage Accelerates – https://www.ixsystems.com/press-releases/

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TrueCommand 2.3 Improves Cluster Management

Ladislav Sirový — Wed, 25 Jan 2023 08:00:53 +0000

With over 12,000 deployments, TrueCommand simplifies the operation and fleet management of any environment with more than one TrueNAS CORE, Enterprise, or SCALE system. With the availability of TrueCommand 2.3, it can now manage TrueNAS SCALE clusters and makes use of additional TrueNAS SCALE 22.12 (Bluefin) APIs.

TrueCommand collects usage and performance data, as well as alerts. It performs predictive analytics and understands ZFS concepts, including pools and VDEVs. Inventory, support contacts, and software licensing information are managed centrally. Even in single-system environments, TrueCommand provides monitoring and fault diagnosis capabilities that can be very useful for TrueNAS Clusters. TrueCommand is the UI for setting up and monitoring clusters.

TrueCommand 2.3 is another step in improvements for TrueCommand and includes nearly 40 improvements, features, and bug fixes. The most notable updates are:

Cluster Administration: Using Bluefin APIs, TrueCommand can now simplify functions such as replacing nodes in the cluster.
2-Factor Authentication improvements: Support for Google authentication simplifies administration for many organizations.
Logging for improved Support: The core infrastructure of TrueCommand provides better logging for faster troubleshooting and problem resolutions.
UI Improvements: The TrueCommand UI has been made more robust and simpler to use, along with performance improvements. The cluster UI has also been overhauled, with more information and visibility into cluster-wide performance and run-time metrics.

TrueCommand 2.3 has been thoroughly tested with TrueNAS SCALE Bluefin and TrueNAS 13.0. It also supports TrueNAS 12.0 and TrueNAS SCALE Angelfish.

Obtaining TrueCommand

The Docker version of TrueCommand is available as a free download. TrueCommand itself remains free for systems with fewer than 50 drives. Software and support licenses are available for larger deployments via the iX portal or by contacting iXsystems.

The team is now beginning to work on TrueCommand 3.0. Key features anticipated in this next major version will be more advanced cluster controls, a wider range of fine-grained performance statistics, and support for the upcoming TrueNAS SCALE Cobia release.

Thanks to all those that tested and provided feedback to get to this stage. As always, we appreciate feedback and bug reports for this TrueCommand 2.3 release.

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What’s it Like Working at iX?

Pee Jay Latombo — Fri, 20 Jan 2023 21:36:40 +0000

Over a decade ago, I started my journey with iXsystems. As someone who has been here to experience our meteoric growth throughout the years, I’ve watched us double the number of people working here, as well as achieve over 100 million in sales. It’s a fun and exciting time to be at iX! Here are just a few of the reasons you should join us.

Strong Company Culture: Every employer claims to treat their people well, but at iXsystems, we don’t just talk the talk, we walk the walk. We believe in putting our people before profit and encourage open communication to foster a supportive, family-like atmosphere. Associates are encouraged to take part in company clubs, free drink Fridays, dinners, and additional events throughout the year.

Growth Opportunities: Opportunities abound at iXsystems, and we’re always looking for ways to help our employees grow and succeed through kaizen. Whether it’s through professional development programs or promotions, the company is committed to helping its employees reach their full potential.

Flexibility: iXsystems recognizes that its employees have different needs and offers flexible work arrangements to accommodate them. This includes the option to work remotely for many positions, which is particularly valuable in today’s world.

Community Involvement: We’re an ultra-collaborative company that cares about more than just the bottom line. iXsystems actively works to give back to the community through charitable events and initiatives. We also make sure to give back by upstreaming code to other Open Source projects and offering TrueNAS SCALE and CORE completely free and Open Source.

Exciting Projects: Working for iXsystems means getting the opportunity to work on cutting-edge projects that are making a difference in the world. Whether it’s developing new technologies or solving complex problems, there’s always something interesting and challenging to work on. Giving you the opportunity to solve challenges for today and tomorrow.

Competitive Benefits: If all of this wasn’t enough, we also offer a competitive employee benefits package, including medical, dental & vision coverage for employees that are covered by the company.

Ready to join us and experience a new and meaningful career? Visit our careers page to see all of the exciting career opportunities here at iXsystems.

Joshua Smith
Senior Marketing Manager

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TrueNAS SCALE Clustering Overview

Pee Jay Latombo — Mon, 16 Jan 2023 08:37:10 +0000

Updated 4/15/2024
NOTE: Due to RedHat’s decision to stop maintaining the upstream Gluster project, the TrueNAS SCALE gluster functionality has been deprecated. The gluster clustering feature is disabled in TrueCommand 3.0 and later. Further, TrueNAS SCALE 24.04 has removed the deprecated gluster backend. Systems installed with SCALE 24.04 (Dragonfish) or newer will be unable to use the deprecated gluster clustering feature. Other clustering features such as Minio and Syncthing are unimpacted.

TrueNAS SCALE was released on “Twosday” 2/22/22. Since this time, tens of thousands of users adopted it as a single node hyperconverged system with unified storage, containers, and VMs. In parallel, development and testing of scale-out capabilities has progressed well, and the Release of SCALE 22.12 (Bluefin) significantly improves the clustering and scale-out options.

In this blog we share a technical overview of how TrueNAS SCALE Bluefin uses clustering technologies and what the user benefits are.

What is clustering?

The feasible limit for scale-up storage based on today’s hardware technology is up to about 64 cores, 1 TB RAM and up to 1200 drives of 18 TB each. That is over 20 petabytes (PB) of raw storage! A two-node cluster of controllers can be used to deliver High Availability (HA). While 20 PB is a huge amount of data for individuals or small businesses, there are many large organizations that have to manage hundreds of PBs to even Exabytes of data.

Scale-out storage allows growth from 20 PB to an Exabyte by combining many systems (nodes) into a cluster. A cluster can have a hundred nodes across which an architect can deploy additional CPU cores, RAM, drive counts, network bandwidth, and storage capacity. From the user or the client perspective, the cluster appears as a single, larger, and more scalable system.

The scale-out cluster can also be more reliable than a single system. A node can be taken down or removed from the cluster without interrupting client storage operations. This increases service and application availability, which can be very important, allowing TrueNAS SCALE to enable extreme Availability as it matures.

Clusters are techniques for enabling massive capacity, bandwidth, and availability by aggregating systems or nodes. It should be noted that clusters do not decrease latency or individual client performance. They consume additional resources to coordinate data between the nodes, proving that there is no such thing as a free lunch.

What are the types of TrueNAS SCALE clustering?

There are several types of clustering. Each type of clustering has a mixture of different benefits and tradeoffs. The best deployment configuration will always depend on the specific requirements. TrueNAS SCALE is unique in that it offers choice among several types of clustering and also allows users to start using it as a single, discrete node. By contrast, most clustered storage solutions have limited clustering options. Based on erasure coding, a minimum of three nodes are required to get started.

Shared Storage Clusters

TrueNAS SCALE uses a shared storage model to support HA systems. Two nodes are used to manage a shared ZFS pool. If one node fails, the other node can take over the responsibilities. This improves the reliability of a system from 99.9% to 99.999%.

The primary benefit of shared storage is that data does not have to be replicated between nodes. The data is efficiently supported in a standard ZFS pool. This reduces the cost of reliable storage by as much as 50% while also providing the best single client latency and bandwidth for storage consumers. The capacity and reliability limit for this clustered layout for TrueNAS is a little over 20 PB.

Shared storage HA requires significant platform customization to make it reliable and is only available as TrueNAS Appliances. TrueNAS SCALE can be used on the TrueNAS M-Series platform and deliver HA for both storage services and for its VMs and container workloads.

Shared-nothing Clusters

Federated clusters use some form of common directory service to aggregate systems. Each system is responsible for its own data. Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) is used for NFS. iSNS is used for iSCSI. SMB storage can be coordinated with Active Directory (AD). Federation solves some administration problems, but does not scale-out smoothly with each dataset typically constrained to a single system. This would more commonly be used by downstream Applications with their own forms of redundancy and load balancing between the federated nodes.

Scale-out Clusters are typically based on Erasure Coding. Datasets can span many nodes, and clusters can grow linearly. Erasure-coded clusters take each piece of data and code it in N chunks. The coding is such that one or more chunks can be lost and the data can still be restored. Erasure-coding is very robust and efficient. Instead of replicating all data, only 20-50% additional data is usually required. This type of clustering will enable maximum storage capacity, availability and redundancy, but at the cost of individual client bandwidth and latency. TrueNAS SCALE supports erasure-coding with both glusterfs “dispersed-mode” and with Minio erasure coding for S3 compatible object storage.

TrueNAS SCALE supports many types of Clustering

As described above, TrueNAS SCALE supports many types of clustering approaches. The best clustering approach depends on the specific protocols and the use-case requirements.

The following table attempts to summarize the clustering modes available for the different protocols.

Clustering Efficiency and Performance

The following chart provides rough estimates on the efficiency of the nodes and their drives for different clustering models. HA systems are very efficient and should be used if the workload is not too large. Erasure-coded clusters grow capacity more quickly than performance. It’s very much like ZFS pools with RAID-Z vdevs.

Clustering Features

Online Growth is provided via the addition of groups of nodes. The size of the group is generally 2 for a mirror layout or the size of the erasure code (3-10). It is simpler to manage if nodes are similar in size and performance. TrueNAS SCALE has the fundamental APIs to enable this, and there is ongoing work to build simpler tools in TrueCommand.

Node replacement is provided via TrueCommand 2.3 and 22.12 Bluefin.. If a node is failing or otherwise needs to be replaced, a simple process can be followed to replace the faulted node. Data is then automatically healed as required until the cluster is back to normal operating state.

The Evolution of TrueNAS SCALE

TrueNAS SCALE Bluefin is the current version. It reached RELEASE on December 13, 2022. Bluefin includes improved clustering with simpler node replacements.

TrueNAS SCALE Cobia will be the next version. It will have many enhancements and is expected to be released later in 2023.

We welcome developers and testers to continue to participate in this process. Increasing the quality and reliability of each release is a primary goal. Please contact iX if you are looking for more information on how to develop, test, or use TrueNAS SCALE.

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TrueNAS SCALE Clustering Overview

Will Soteros — Mon, 16 Jan 2023 08:00:10 +0000

Updated 4/15/2024
NOTE: Due to RedHat’s decision to stop maintaining the upstream Gluster project, the TrueNAS SCALE gluster functionality has been deprecated. The gluster clustering feature is disabled in TrueCommand 3.0 and later. Further, TrueNAS SCALE 24.04 has removed the deprecated gluster backend. Systems installed with SCALE 24.04 (Dragonfish) or newer will be unable to use the deprecated gluster clustering feature. Other clustering features such as Minio and Syncthing are unimpacted.

What is clustering?

Every compute or storage system is based on processors, memory, and some amount of storage, typically in a single enclosure with its own power supplies and fans. It’s possible to scale-up these systems by using larger processors and more RAM. The storage capacity can also scale-up by adding drives and even expansion shelves (JBODs). However, there is a scalability limit that is eventually reached. Beyond that limit, scale-out technologies are used to break these barriers. The feasible limit for scale-up storage based on today’s hardware technology is up to about 64 cores, 1 TB RAM and up to 1200 drives of 18 TB each. That is over 20 petabytes (PB) of raw storage! A two-node cluster of controllers can be used to deliver High Availability (HA). While 20 PB is a huge amount of data for individuals or small businesses, there are many large organizations that have to manage hundreds of PBs to even Exabytes of data. Scale-out storage allows growth from 20 PB to an Exabyte by combining many systems (nodes) into a cluster. A cluster can have a hundred nodes across which an architect can deploy additional CPU cores, RAM, drive counts, network bandwidth, and storage capacity. From the user or the client perspective, the cluster appears as a single, larger, and more scalable system. The scale-out cluster can also be more reliable than a single system. A node can be taken down or removed from the cluster without interrupting client storage operations. This increases service and application availability, which can be very important, allowing TrueNAS SCALE to enable extreme Availability as it matures. Clusters are techniques for enabling massive capacity, bandwidth, and availability by aggregating systems or nodes. It should be noted that clusters do not decrease latency or individual client performance. They consume additional resources to coordinate data between the nodes, proving that there is no such thing as a free lunch.

What are the types of TrueNAS SCALE clustering?

Shared Storage Clusters

One type of clustering known as shared storage clusters are built such that all nodes have access to the same storage pool. If one node fails, the other nodes have access to the storage and can carry on. These are well suited for modest size systems with more processing needs (e.g., databases) or high availability (HA) requirements. As compared to shared-nothing clusters, the capacity of the shared storage pool is smaller. TrueNAS SCALE uses a shared storage model to support HA systems. Two nodes are used to manage a shared ZFS pool. If one node fails, the other node can take over the responsibilities. This improves the reliability of a system from 99.9% to 99.999%. The primary benefit of shared storage is that data does not have to be replicated between nodes. The data is efficiently supported in a standard ZFS pool. This reduces the cost of reliable storage by as much as 50% while also providing the best single client latency and bandwidth for storage consumers. The capacity and reliability limit for this clustered layout for TrueNAS is a little over 20 PB. Shared storage HA requires significant platform customization to make it reliable and is only available as TrueNAS Appliances. TrueNAS SCALE can be used on the TrueNAS M-Series platform and deliver HA for both storage services and for its VMs and container workloads.

Shared-nothing Clusters

Shared-nothing Clusters is the term used for clusters where the storage is dedicated to each node. The advantage of this architecture is that it can scale-out to much larger systems. These are the techniques used by Google, Facebook, and Apple to handle their massive datasets. There are several types of scale-out or shared nothing clusters: Federated clusters use some form of common directory service to aggregate systems. Each system is responsible for its own data. Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) is used for NFS. iSNS is used for iSCSI. SMB storage can be coordinated with Active Directory (AD). Federation solves some administration problems, but does not scale-out smoothly with each dataset typically constrained to a single system. This would more commonly be used by downstream Applications with their own forms of redundancy and load balancing between the federated nodes. Scale-out Clusters are typically based on Erasure Coding. Datasets can span many nodes, and clusters can grow linearly. Erasure-coded clusters take each piece of data and code it in N chunks. The coding is such that one or more chunks can be lost and the data can still be restored. Erasure-coding is very robust and efficient. Instead of replicating all data, only 20-50% additional data is usually required. This type of clustering will enable maximum storage capacity, availability and redundancy, but at the cost of individual client bandwidth and latency. TrueNAS SCALE supports erasure-coding with both glusterfs “dispersed-mode” and with Minio erasure coding for S3 compatible object storage.

TrueNAS SCALE supports many types of Clustering

As described above, TrueNAS SCALE supports many types of clustering approaches. The best clustering approach depends on the specific protocols and the use-case requirements. The following table attempts to summarize the clustering modes available for the different protocols.

Clustering Efficiency and Performance

Calculating the impact of clustering on capacity and performance can become more complex than expected. As you add nodes and drives, capacity and performance increases, while at the same time, the efficiency of those nodes decreases. Clustering protocols require CPU and networking resources to manage the cluster. The following chart provides rough estimates on the efficiency of the nodes and their drives for different clustering models. HA systems are very efficient and should be used if the workload is not too large. Erasure-coded clusters grow capacity more quickly than performance. It’s very much like ZFS pools with RAID-Z vdevs.

Clustering Features

ZFS has many data optimization and protection features that are used on scale-up systems. TrueNAS SCALE supports all of those existing scale-up features. Some of those features are redone when scale-out clusters are used: Online Growth is provided via the addition of groups of nodes. The size of the group is generally 2 for a mirror layout or the size of the erasure code (3-10). It is simpler to manage if nodes are similar in size and performance. TrueNAS SCALE has the fundamental APIs to enable this, and there is ongoing work to build simpler tools in TrueCommand. Node replacement is provided via TrueCommand 2.3 and 22.12 Bluefin.. If a node is failing or otherwise needs to be replaced, a simple process can be followed to replace the faulted node. Data is then automatically healed as required until the cluster is back to normal operating state.

The Evolution of TrueNAS SCALE

TrueNAS SCALE Angelfish was the first version of TrueNAS SCALE, and as of the update of this blog in December 2022 over 30,000 TrueNAS Community users have participated and tested on their widely varying hardware platforms and VMs. This Angelfish version introduced gluster for scale-out ZFS file services and clustered Minio for scale-out S3 service. TrueNAS SCALE Bluefin is the current version. It reached RELEASE on December 13, 2022. Bluefin includes improved clustering with simpler node replacements. TrueNAS SCALE Cobia will be the next version. It will have many enhancements and is expected to be released later in 2023. We welcome developers and testers to continue to participate in this process. Increasing the quality and reliability of each release is a primary goal. Please contact iX if you are looking for more information on how to develop, test, or use TrueNAS SCALE.

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Using TrueNAS in a Zero-trust Architecture

Pee Jay Latombo — Fri, 30 Dec 2022 12:00:04 +0000

In today’s age of complex and sophisticated malware attacks, storage infrastructure where data resides is a high-value target for bad actors. To combat new and evolving threats, TrueNAS uses several layers of security and protection, including the ability to easily integrate into a zero-trust IT environment to mitigate risk.

A zero-trust architecture is a vital security model for businesses that assumes that all network traffic is untrusted and should be treated as such. In a zero-trust environment, access to resources is granted on a need-to-know basis, and all traffic is monitored and controlled through the use of advanced security measures. Blocking untrusted traffic makes it very difficult for attackers to gain access to sensitive data, as they must first pass through multiple security controls before they can reach their intended target.

TrueNAS is designed with data protection and zero-trust security in mind. By combining security features in TrueNAS with IT best practices, you can create a highly resilient and secure architecture for your organization. Here are the steps you can take to create a zero-trust IT architecture integrating TrueNAS to protect, store, and manage your data:

Identify Assets: First, identify all of the assets that you need to protect. This may include servers, storage systems, networks, and other critical infrastructure.

Define Your Perimeter: Once you have identified your assets, you need to define your security perimeter. This will determine which resources are considered “inside” the perimeter and which are “outside.”

Use Microsegmentation: Microsegmentation involves breaking your network into smaller segments and applying security controls to each segment. This can help prevent attackers from moving laterally within your network and limit the damage they can do if they manage to gain access.

Implement Access Controls: TrueNAS allows you to set up fine-grained access controls for different users and groups and integrates with Active Directory / LDAP, so you can specify exactly who has access to which resources. This helps prevent unauthorized access to sensitive data and limits the damage that an attacker can do if they manage to gain access to a user account on your system.

Two-Factor Authentication (2FA): Using two-factor authentication (2FA) in TrueNAS adds another layer of security. By requiring administrators to provide additional authentication with their password, you keep the many settings on your TrueNAS safe.

Encrypted Connections and Data: TrueNAS utilizes encrypted connections using Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) and Transport Layer Security (TLS), so you can protect your data as it is transmitted over the network. This is especially important if you are storing sensitive data on your TrueNAS system.

TrueNAS also natively supports encrypted drives and datasets, providing additional security at the hardware and software levels respectively.

Monitoring, Auditing, and Analytics: TrueNAS includes several built-in tools for monitoring and auditing activity on the system. You can use these tools to keep track of who is accessing which resources and when and to identify any suspicious activity that might indicate an attempted breach.

Using TrueCommand, the single-pane-of-glass management solution for TrueNAS, you can set up additional features like role-based access control (RBAC) and robust auditing across your fleet to record all storage administration actions in secure audit logs. This helps quickly identify what changed and who changed it when troubleshooting any issues.TrueCommand analytics can be run locally, even on air-gapped systems, which are a requirement for many TrueNAS Enterprise customers.

TrueCommand is free to use for up to 50 drives, and commercial licenses can be purchased for larger deployments. For more information on TrueCommand, contact us or reach out to us through live chat.

Proactive Support: iXsystems offers proactive support with TrueNAS, allowing administrators to optionally send encrypted metadata to our expert TrueNAS Support Team. This gives extra peace of mind knowing that our storage experts will proactively reach out to you when certain errors are discovered.

By following these steps, you can create a zero-trust architecture and have the confidence to know that TrueNAS will help store and manage your data securely. Contact us or reach out to us through live chat to learn more about integrating TrueNAS into your business environment.

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TrueNAS SCALE Bluefin delivers a very “Appy” Christmas

Ladislav Sirový — Fri, 23 Dec 2022 17:11:05 +0000

The definition of the term “NAS” is evolving. Initially, the term was coined to refer to file-based ‘network-attached storage’. As protocols and networking technologies evolved, more and more storage began to be accessed over networks, providing file, block, and object storage services, and broadening the definition of “NAS”. The next evolution of NAS provides even more value within the same acronym: Networks, Applications, and Storage.

TrueNAS SCALE was designed around this evolved definition with better support for apps, VMs, and networks. Linux, Kubernetes, and containers provide the key technologies for enabling next-generation NAS.

Embedded Applications within a NAS system give users the ability to consolidate platforms, reduce costs, simplify administration, and accelerate the application performance by eliminating protocol and networking layers. This is the basis for Hyperconvergence, whether it is a single node, HA pair, or a scale-out cluster.

With the pre-Christmas release of TrueNAS SCALE Bluefin on December 13th, the support for Apps for TrueNAS has become even better. TrueNAS users now can build even more sophisticated and powerful systems with traditional NAS functionality and embedded applications. These applications can be either task-oriented like Plex and Nextcloud, or storage-oriented like Syncthing. This blog discusses Apps for TrueNAS SCALE Bluefin and all the tools provided.

TrueNAS SCALE Apps are Powerful

With TrueNAS SCALE Angelfish (22.02.4), VMs and Kubernetes Apps can co-exist. Angelfish features include:

Helm Charts: Apps can be built as multi-container pods with user-configurable parameters.

Graphical App Web UI: Deployment and management of Apps are done with a powerful graphical UI that simplifies operations for users with a Mac or Windows background. The goal of SCALE is to make the otherwise complex functionality of embedded applications simple to operate.

Docker Container Integration: Applications from Docker Hub and other repositories can be downloaded and run with simplicity.

3rd Party App Catalogs: Third-party Catalogs enable the organization of Apps, and have pushed the number of available Applications for TrueNAS SCALE well over a thousand.

GPU Support: Apps like Plex can use integrated or add-on GPUs for transcoding and other GPU-driven tasks.

Reliable updates: An inherent advantage of Docker containers is the management of software dependencies. This simplifies updates and upgrades, and is a major improvement over TrueNAS CORE plugins.

TrueNAS SCALE Bluefin: Apps get Even Better

TrueNAS SCALE Bluefin (22.12) takes Apps on SCALE to the next level with a suite of new capabilities:

OverlayFS: OverlayFS support within OpenZFS enables greatly reduced overhead when running Container workloads.

Wireguard VPN access: A Wireguard App enables other Apps and storage services to be accessible remotely to users running Wireguard clients. This app is in process and is expected to be available in the coming weeks.

Increased GPU support: Alderlake CPU and Geforce-30XX GPUs have been added to the GPU compatibility list.

Bulk updates: All Apps can now be updated with the single click of a button. This feature is only possible because updating Linux containers is inherently reliable.

Docker Compose App: This App enables existing Docker Compose configs to be easily ported to TrueNAS. Additionally, Portainer can also be deployed and used to manage containers. An official version of this App is planned to be available by Q2 of 2023.

Kubernetes API exposure: For Enterprise users, Kubernetes APIs will eventually be exposed so that external K8s management systems can be used with TrueNAS SCALE.

Cluster CSI drivers: Enterprise users can also use a Democratic or Kadalu CSI driver to automatically provision TrueNAS SCALE scale-up or scale-out storage for Kubernetes clusters.

Overall, the Apps functionality of TrueNAS SCALE Bluefin represents a major step forward relative to both Angelfish and TrueNAS CORE 13.0.

TrueNAS Provides Choice

TrueNAS provides a choice between editions, CORE and SCALE, each with its own benefits.

Users with traditional storage-specific NAS requirements (NFS, SMB, iSCSI, and S3) are still advised to choose TrueNAS CORE and Enterprise. These choices have five times more data under management and many more years of operation and stability. Currently, TrueNAS 13.0-U3 (CORE & Enterprise) is the most robust scale-up storage platform for general use. Jails are supported and if necessary, Plugins are available.

TrueNAS provides these choices and an ability to automatically migrate storage services and VMs from CORE to SCALE. Plugins and jails can be manually replaced with Apps. We encourage anyone looking for further advice or answers to questions to visit our Community Forums or Discord Channel.

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iXsystems TrueNAS SCALE 22.12 Achieves Release Status

Ladislav Sirový — Mon, 19 Dec 2022 14:33:59 +0000

Open Source, Hyperconverged, Scale-out Storage Software and New all-NVMe
TrueNAS R30 Platform Now Available for Production Deployments

SAN JOSE, CA – December 15, 2022 — iXsystems®, an Open Source pioneer and the company behind TrueNAS, today announced the RELEASE of TrueNAS SCALE 22.12 “Bluefin,” the second major version of TrueNAS SCALE and the industry’s most powerful Open Source hyperconverged storage OS. Developed in true Open Source fashion alongside the hundreds of thousands of members in the TrueNAS Community, this storage software release furthers the mission of providing true data freedom by expanding on the exceptional flexibility, interoperability, and storage efficiency that has already made TrueNAS the world’s most deployed storage software.

With the release of TrueNAS SCALE 22.12, the open hyperconvergence and scale-out storage platform is ideal for supporting enterprise file, block, and object storage, while also supporting the deployment of applications and VMs. The freely downloadable software is now generally available after four months of testing two BETA versions and a Release Candidate. Software quality is assured following more than 2,000 users who tested the Release Candidate version of Bluefin.

Prior to the availability of TrueNAS SCALE Bluefin, the first release of TrueNAS SCALE 22.02 “Angelfish” in February 2022 successfully introduced a Linux OS foundation, OpenZFS file system, containers (Kubernetes and Docker), and clustering to TrueNAS storage environments, enabling over 40,000 deployed systems in only 10 months. Bluefin will build on this solid foundation and expand to many more use cases and environments. Based on current trends, the iXsystems team expects the software to pass 100,000 installations and 2 Exabytes of data under management in 2023. Bluefin is a simple update for Angelfish users, offering new features, higher quality, and many improvements.

TrueNAS SCALE Bluefin (22.12) provides a wide range of new capabilities that will go through the normal software lifecycle to maturity. Some significant feature updates in TrueNAS SCALE 22.12 include:

FIPS-140 Security – Provides restricted administration privileges to non-root users, Role Based Access Control, and verified crypto modules.
Kubernetes CSI Driver – Kubernetes clusters can use TrueNAS SCALE as the storage cluster. TrueNAS SCALE can support Kubernetes CSI, VMware ESXi, and OpenStack Cinder, as well as provide clustered file and object storage services.
Cluster Management – Includes some new APIs to reduce downtime and operational risks when replacing a Gluster node in a cluster.
Docker OverlayFS – OverlayFS support within OpenZFS enables greatly reduced overhead when running containerized workloads.
Virtualization Improvements – USB device pass-through and CPU pinning are enabled, in addition to the existing pass-through across PCIe devices, including GPUs.
Apps GPU Acceleration – A newer generation of GPUs (Intel Alderlake, NVIDIA GeForce-30xx) are now supported for sharing with application workloads.
iX-Storj service – Globally Distributed Storage with Web 3.0 technology is a game changer for cloud storage reliability, costs, and performance.
Enterprise Support – TrueNAS SCALE inherits all the HA and support tools of TrueNAS Enterprise as a separate license with up to 24×365 support.

“The maturing of High Availability (HA) support for TrueNAS SCALE 22.12.0 will increase Enterprise deployments,” said Morgan Littlewood, SVP, Product Management and Business Development for iXsystems. “And with significant FIPS-140 security enhancements, Bluefin can be used in high-security use cases.”

Built on Debian Linux, the Open Source TrueNAS SCALE supports SMB and NFS File Sharing, iSCSI Block Storage, S3 Object API integration, and Cloud Sync for interoperability with public cloud storage. It also offers unique flexibility as hyperconverged infrastructure that allows scaling of compute and storage independently. TrueNAS SCALE can be installed and run on a single node or across 100 clustered nodes, making the massively scalable infrastructure software ideal for a wide range of use cases and applications.

New TrueNAS R30 NVMe All-Flash

Also available with Bluefin is the latest TrueNAS storage system from iXsystems. The TrueNAS R30 offers 16 NVMe Gen4 SSDs per system and 2 dual-port 100GbE NICs in a 1U package, and each node is capable of over 30GB/s bandwidth. Typically configured with 32 Cores, 256GB of RAM, and up to 240TB of NVMe Flash. When configured in TrueNAS SCALE clusters, the R30 scales-out aggregate bandwidth to hundreds of Gb/s for clustered file and object workloads and is ideal for the most demanding analytics and video editing environments.

“We really want to thank the TrueNAS community for their tremendous support in improving TrueNAS SCALE over the past 12 months, which has taken it from a budding project to a fully operational OS,” said Brett Davis, SVP, Sales and Marketing for iXsystems. “It’s been an exciting ride and there’s still much more to come. Continued engagement from the community is welcomed as we continue to collectively take open storage to new heights of capability with each software release.”

Pricing and Availability

TrueNAS SCALE 22.12 is available for free download at truenas.com/scale and pre-installed on TrueNAS Enterprise appliances with support. The TrueNAS Enterprise R30 platform is now available to order from iXsystems.

Resources:

TrueNAS SCALE 22.12 Blog
TrueNAS R30 Blog

About iXsystems and TrueNAS

iX is an Open Source pioneer and the company behind TrueNAS, the world’s most deployed storage software. Used by millions, TrueNAS lays the foundation for the Open Storage Era so that all organizations can access the benefits of true Data Freedom. TrueNAS enables users to harness the power of the legendary ZFS file system and provides unified and hyperconverged storage for private and cloud datacenters, with the reliability and performance demanded by virtualization, backup, and other data-intensive workloads. Thousands of organizations around the world have chosen TrueNAS Enterprise systems and support from iX to scale-up or scale-out their infrastructure while leveraging Open Source economics.

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TrueNAS SCALE Bluefin is RELEASED into the Wild

Pee Jay Latombo — Wed, 14 Dec 2022 14:30:27 +0000

TrueNAS SCALE is an Open Source storage platform that enables Open Hyperconvergence and Scale-out storage. Supporting file, block, objects, and applications, TrueNAS SCALE Bluefin (22.12.0) is now available as a RELEASE. Bluefin has had 4 months of testing with two BETA versions and a Release Candidate. We’d like to thank the 3,000+ testers that have provided their time, systems, and feedback.

TrueNAS SCALE Angelfish (22.02.4) successfully introduced a Linux base, Containers, and Clustering to TrueNAS, enabling over 40,000 systems in less than 1 year. Bluefin will build on this solid foundation and expand to many more use cases and deployments. We expect Bluefin will pass 100,000 deployments and 2 Exabytes of data in 2023.

Bluefin is a simple update to Angelfish, with more polish and numerous bug fixes. Angelfish users will have a simple update when using the same features. Bluefin will then also provide a wide range of new capabilities that will go through the normal software lifecycle to maturity.

Bluefin Features Expand the Opportunities

Bluefin inherits all the functional capabilities of Angelfish and also includes many new features, including the top four that were not in the RC1 version:

All-NVME Platform support includes enhanced manageability and performance. This improves the TrueNAS R30, a new 1U all-NVMe platform with 30GB/s bandwidth and 240TB. Bluefin

Gluster Node replacement is enabled via APIs which reduce downtime and risk when replacing a node in a cluster.

HA system acceleration is provided via improved NVDIMM (SLOG) handling on the TrueNAS M-Series.

Root-less Security provides restricted administration privileges to non-root users. This is important to FIPS-140 security and adds to the array of ransomware prevention techniques.

SMB Share Proxy provides a redirect mechanism for making many TrueNAS SMB Shares available in a common namespace presented by one TrueNAS system. (Available in 22.12.1)

Storage WebUI delivers some massive improvements in pool, device, and dataset management, and provides more comprehensive information on single web pages.

Kubernetes CSI Driver for Clusters – External Kubernetes clusters can use TrueNAS SCALE as the storage cluster. TrueNAS SCALE can support Kubernetes CSI, VMware ESXi, and OpenStack Cinder, as well as provide file and object storage services.

Docker OverlayFS – OverlayFS support within OpenZFS enables greatly reduced overhead when running Container workloads.

Virtualization Improvements – USB device pass-through and CPU pinning are enabled, in addition to the existing pass-through of any PCIe devices, including GPUs.

Apps GPU Acceleration – A newer generation of GPUs are now supported for sharing with Application workloads. This includes Alderlake integrated GPUs and up through GeForce-30XX Nvidia GPUs.

Wireguard VPN Access – Wireguard App will enable straightforward remote access to a system and its Apps. Play or work from home or office.

iX-Storj service – Globally Distributed Storage with Web3.0 technology is a game-changer for cloud storage reliability, costs, and performance.

Storage performance improvements – TrueNAS SCALE has now had 6 months of performance testing and bug fixes. Improvements in encryption, NFS, and iSCSI performance are most notable.

Enterprise Support – Maturing of HA support will enable Enterprise deployments of SCALE. In particular, Bluefin will also allow IPv6-only deployments. Additionally, major work has been included which allows a TrueNAS SCALE system to support more than several hundred physical disks connected to a single system.

Security Enhancements – API keys can enable fine-grained, Role-Based Access Control (RBAC), and restrict root privileges. CLI-Driven “Root-less” restricted administration accounts can be enabled and used to further improve Ransomware protection. FIPS 140-3 compliant crypto modules (Enterprise Only) will allow use in high-security use cases.

Joining the School of Bluefin

Bluefin is an easy upgrade from SCALE Angelfish and is recommended for testers and early adopters. For more conservative users, the software status of TrueNAS editions is tracked here. There is an enormous list of Bluefin changes available in the release notes, which includes over 1,000 improvements and fixes.

We want to thank the community for the tremendous support in improving TrueNAS SCALE quality. It’s been an exciting ride and there’s much more to come, so please keep making suggestions and reporting bugs as we continue to improve the quality of TrueNAS SCALE together. Want to learn more about TrueNAS SCALE business solutions? Contact us to speak to a product specialist.

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iX adds TrueNAS R30 and AX-1212

Pee Jay Latombo — Wed, 14 Dec 2022 02:03:20 +0000

Compelling new NVMe and virtualization platforms now available

TrueNAS appliances deliver unified storage and Apps in a pre-configured system with technical support services from iX. These appliances offer additional software capabilities such as high availability (HA), enclosure management, advanced security, and automated support. TrueNAS appliances have earned exceptional ratings among customers from businesses of all sizes, and are an ideal choice for anyone needing a well-supported and trouble-free environment.

The TrueNAS M-Series is the flagship HA system. It scales from 100TB to over 20PB in a single system and rack. The TrueNAS X-Series provides HA storage and is a small, quiet, and low power 2U system. The TrueNAS R-Series and Minis are non-HA systems for a wide range of use cases. Today iX has announced the addition of two new platforms to the TrueNAS appliance family.

TrueNAS R30 Delivers 30GB/s in 1U with NVMe Storage

TrueNAS R30 is designed for extreme performance density with 16 NVME drives in a compact 1U chassis. Typically configured with 32 Cores, 256GB of RAM, and up to 240TB of NVMe Flash, this system is ideal for the most demanding analytics and video editing workloads.

With 16 NVMe Gen4 SSDs per system and 2 dual-port 100GbE NICs, each node is capable of over 30GB/s bandwidth in a 1U 800W envelope. When configured in clusters, the R30 will provide extreme rack-level bandwidths for cluster file and object workloads.

The TrueNAS R30 is enabled by TrueNAS SCALE “Bluefin” which is now generally available. TrueNAS SCALE Bluefin provides improved clustering, better App support, and a well-proven ZFS implementation that delivers performance and reliability.

AX-1212 Virtualization Server simplifies VMware TrueNAS Deployments

AX-1212-64C is a 64 Core 1U server designed for virtualization and is certified for VMware. Typically configured with 512GB of RAM and 8 x 25 GbE ports, these servers deliver lower cost per vCPU and high bandwidth per VM.

These AMD Milan servers can be bundled with TrueNAS M-Series storage to support a turnkey virtualization environment with high density and power efficiency. These virtualization bundles are supported by iX and deliver significant savings with much simpler operations, including VAAI support and a vCenter plugin.

Small virtualization solutions with 4 servers and M-Series storage are available at less than $100K and support up to 500 VMs.

Announced earlier in October, the TrueNAS R50 (Gen 3) is a 4U system with 48 HDD bays and 4 NVMe drives. It has a modular controller that can be swapped and upgraded without taking the full system out of the rack. It is ideally suited to high-capacity clusters where each node can be easily serviced and upgraded without moving data. A single R50 can now support up to 1PB of capacity and 2 x 100 GbE ports.

All of these products are available immediately. For more information on these new TrueNAS appliances or our other products, please contact iX.

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10% Off 32GB TrueNAS Mini XL+ for One Week Only

Pee Jay Latombo — Fri, 18 Nov 2022 18:40:05 +0000

It may be little, but don’t count the TrueNAS Mini out when it comes to managing your data. This Black Friday, we are giving you the power of data freedom at our best price of the year! The 32GB TrueNAS Mini XL+ will be 10% off from November 21st through November 28th. Even better, by purchasing through our configurator, you can get an additional 30% off an upgrade to WD Red 14TB NAS Drives.

TrueNAS Minis are especially suited for home and small office workloads and excel at file-sharing, backup, multimedia processing and distribution, video surveillance, edge/remote office, development, personal cloud, and other small/home office & SMB applications to name a few things. Its powerful performance paired with a whisper-quiet fan makes the Mini-Series the perfect pick for your at-home data storage needs.

You can get your Mini XL+ discount by configuring a custom-designed system with 32GB of system memory through our Configurator Tool and using promo code XL10. If you choose 14TB drives for your XL+, their price in the configurator is automatically 30% lower during the promotion for even more savings! For the fastest turnaround time, the 32GBTrueNAS Mini XL+ are priced 10% lower on Amazon during the promotion.

Inventory is limited, so make sure to purchase your Mini today and give yourself the gift of storage freedom this holiday season.

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TrueNAS SCALE Bluefin has a Release Candidate

Pee Jay Latombo — Tue, 15 Nov 2022 08:00:34 +0000

TrueNAS SCALE Bluefin (22.12) is the natural successor to Angelfish (22.02). After 3 months of testing and two BETA versions, RC1 quality has been achieved with the RELEASE still planned for December. We’d like to thank the 1,000 BETA testers that have provided their time and systems.

Angelfish (22.02.4) is feature-complete and the next update is Bluefin which includes bug fixes, improvements, and new features. Testers and Early Adopters can try out (and roll back) Bluefin if looking for the next level of TrueNAS. Release Candidate implies that BETA testing and lab testing have gone well with no major issues and there is little risk to user data. However, early adopters should expect and report bugs that can be resolved in later versions. We always welcome testing and feedback.

What’s New in Bluefin?

Diving deeper, Bluefin inherits all the functional capabilities of Angelfish and also includes hundreds of bug fixes and new features, including the following:

Storage WebUI delivers some massive improvements in pool, device, and dataset management, and provides more comprehensive information on single web pages.

Kubernetes CSI Driver for Clusters – External Kubernetes clusters can use TrueNAS SCALE as the storage cluster. TrueNAS SCALE can support Kubernetes CSI, VMware ESXi, and OpenStack Cinder, as well as provide file and object storage services.
Docker OverlayFS – OverlayFS support within OpenZFS enables greatly reduced overhead when running Container workloads.
Virtualization Improvements – The range of GPUs that can be passed through now includes Alderlake integrated GPUs and GeForce-30 Nvidia GPUs for VMs and Containers. USB device pass-through and CPU pinning are enabled.
Wireguard VPN Access – Wireguard App will enable straightforward remote access to a system and its Apps. Play or work from home or office.
iX-Storj service – Globally Distributed Storage with Web3.0 techniques is a game-changer for cloud storage reliability, costs, and performance.
Storage performance improvements – TrueNAS SCALE has now had 6 months of performance testing and bug fixes. Improvements in encryption, NFS, and iSCSI performance are most notable.
Enterprise Support – Maturing of HA support will enable Enterprise deployments of SCALE. In particular, Bluefin will also allow IPv6-only deployments. Additionally, major work has been included which allows a TrueNAS SCALE system to support more than several hundred physical disks connected to a single system.
Cluster Feature Improvements – Additional functionality for cluster lifecycle management includes better visibility into clusters as well as UI driven tools for repairing faulted clusters or replacing individual nodes. A later version of Bluefin will also include Gluster snapshots – executed via ZFS snapshots. These capabilities will be made visible in a future version of TrueCommand.
Security Enhancements – API keys can enable fine-grained, Role-Based Access Control (RBAC), and restrict root privileges. CLI-Driven “Root-less” restricted administration accounts can be enabled and be used to further improve Ransomware protection. FIPS 140-3 compliant crypto modules will allow use in high security use-cases.

Joining the School of Bluefin

Bluefin will be an easy upgrade from SCALE Angelfish when it is released. The Bluefin RC1 release is now available and recommended for testers and early adopters. The software status of TrueNAS editions is tracked here.

We appreciate all the feature requests, development contributions, and testing that has already gone into Bluefin. There is an enormous list of Bluefin changes available in the release notes, which includes over 1,000 improvements and fixes.

We want to thank the community for the tremendous support in improving TrueNAS SCALE quality! It’s been an exciting ride and there’s much more to come, so please keep making suggestions and reporting bugs as we continue to improve the quality of TrueNAS SCALE together.

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iX Collaborates to add native OverlayFS Support to OpenZFS for Docker & Kubernetes

Pee Jay Latombo — Wed, 09 Nov 2022 08:00:56 +0000

TrueNAS SCALE Bluefin is adding the capability to natively support the Docker Overlay filesystem and its drivers. This significantly improves the handling and scalability of systems running many Container instances.

Docker (and Kubernetes) uses an Overlay file system to manage the layers of pre-built container distribution images. Overlay file systems allow for creating a union mapping of two or more directories: a list of lower directories and an upper directory. The lower directories of the filesystem are read only, whereas the upper directory can be used for both reads and writes.

Until now, OpenZFS has not natively supported these Overlay filesystem primitives, and the result has been some major inefficiencies in how Linux Containers have scaled up. Last year, it became a high priority for iX to solve this limitation for future releases of SCALE. Recently, the new OverlayFS capability has passed its initial battery of testing and has landed in the RC1 release of SCALE 22.12 (Bluefin).

With this OverlayFS addition, OpenZFS becomes a superior file system for managing container storage. Not only is OverlayFS supported, but all the significant advantages of OpenZFS over other Linux file systems are inherited. The benefits inherited by TrueNAS SCALE include:

Copy-on-Write snapshots and clones
Integrated volume management with multiple RAID levels
In-line compression, encryption, and deduplication
Efficient, encrypted replication
Effective Read and Write Caching
On-line expansion and self-healing

TrueNAS SCALE Bluefin (22.12-RC.1) includes these major improvements to OpenZFS and is scheduled for November 15th. TrueNAS SCALE’s Application Infrastructure will automatically switch to using the OverlayFS container drivers and users should see an immediate improvement to CPU utilization and a minimization of on-disk dataset & snapshot utilization. Developers and testers can test using the latest nightly. TrueNAS SCALE users can expect to see a Bluefin RELEASE version at the end of 2022.

TrueNAS SCALE users will see much simpler operation of Docker Containers and Apps (Helm Charts). Both the built-in Apps and other community-run App Catalogs will benefit. System admins will see both improved performance and much less clutter when administering snapshots.

The OpenZFS software for this improvement has been contributed back to the OpenZFS community with the expectation it may become a standard capability of future OpenZFS releases as well as TrueNAS SCALE. The GitHub link for the OpenZFS-OverlayFS feature is here.

For more discussion on containers, check out our Community Forums and Discord Channel where you can post and collaborate. We also welcome any questions on TrueNAS appliances on our contact form or live chat on our websites.

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TrueNAS 13.0-U3 Increases Maturity and Includes iX-Storj Service

Will Soteros — Tue, 01 Nov 2022 14:00:08 +0000

Building on the Enterprise quality of prior versions, the third update of TrueNAS 13 was released today. In addition to greater maturity and test coverage, Globally Distributed Storage provided by iX-Storj is also now included in this release.

Compared to TrueNAS 12, TrueNAS 13 includes significant new components and has improved performance, scalability, and reliability in subsequent releases. In the two months since TrueNAS 13.0-U2 was released, it has already become the 2nd most deployed version of TrueNAS. TrueNAS 13.0-U3 builds on the maturity of the prior version with 30 bug fixes and security updates. It also includes enclosure management updates for the TrueNAS R50 Gen3, which was announced two weeks ago.

To date, more than 25% of TrueNAS users have updated to TrueNAS 13, including many of our largest enterprise customers. Today TrueNAS 13.0-U2 is the default software used for all TrueNAS appliances, and it is recommended for all TrueNAS CORE and Enterprise users by virtue of its improved security and reliability characteristics compared to TrueNAS 12.0-U8 and previous versions.

Globally Distributed Storage with TrueNAS 13

First announced in September 2022, TrueNAS CORE and Enterprise systems can now use the iX-Storj service with TrueNAS 13.0-U3. Key benefits of iX-Storj over AWS S3 include:

80% LowerCost – The iX-Storj service is $4 per TB per month* compared with single-region AWS S3 at $25 per TB per month. For the same price, store 5X the data with iX-Storj with the added value of multi-region durability.

Double the Bandwidth – The iX-Storj service leverages the aggregated bandwidth capabilities of globally distributed storage. Read and Write bandwidth of GigaBytes per second is possible from a well-connected data center. Performance is typically more than double that of AWS S3.
11 Nines of Durability – This is extremely high durability and suitable for both backup and long-term archive applications, much like AWS S3. If the data is also stored on a TrueNAS system, the durability is orders of magnitude higher than single-region AWS S3.

The first 150GB of storage is free and can be used for testing, as well as backup for key documents and files. Please note that only iX-Storj accounts can use the TrueNAS service and not regular Storj accounts.

Users eager to test and evaluate the iX-Storj service can download TrueNAS 13.0-U3, and follow the remaining steps outlined in this blog. For more information, check out the discussion on our Community Forums.

What About Apps and Plugins?

While TrueNAS 13.0 is performing very well for storage use cases and jails, the benefits of using TrueNAS SCALE for Apps and Clustering is becoming more and more apparent. Kubernetes / Docker Apps are better supported by the broader community and therefore provide a better user experience than Plugins, with a much broader selection of 3rd Party Applications to choose from.

Over the next few months, iX will begin encouraging new users to adopt SCALE for most use cases where 3rd party software will be deployed and run directly on the TrueNAS system.

When Should you update your TrueNAS system?

Ultimately “it depends”, and we base our recommendations on how and where the software is being used.

Our recommendations are maintained and updated regularly on our Software Status page, which currently recommends TrueNAS 13.0-U2 for all users and customers. You can expect that as TrueNAS 13.0-U3 receives further testing in more complex environments, it will become the recommended release for all CORE and Enterprise users before the end of 2022.

TrueNAS Enterprise is delivered as TrueNAS appliances to organizations that want a turnkey experience, optimized hardware, professional support, and Enterprise features such as High Availability (HA), Fibre Channel, Proactive Support, and Key Management (KMIP). Results show TrueNAS 13.0 delivers a significant reduction (>95% in some cases) in failover times.

TrueNAS Enterprise customers should contact iXsystems Technical Support for a complimentary technical review and assistance before updating.

If you ever need additional information on how TrueNAS can streamline, accelerate, and unify data management for your business, please contact us and we’ll be glad to assist you.

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How to Migrate From TrueNAS CORE to TrueNAS SCALE On the TrueNAS Mini

Pee Jay Latombo — Thu, 27 Oct 2022 18:00:05 +0000

Migrating from TrueNAS CORE to TrueNAS SCALE on a TrueNAS Mini

There are two main methods of Migration to TrueNAS SCALE:

The ISO File Method can be performed by burning the TrueNAS SCALE ISO file to a USB drive using your favorite tool such as Rufus or other tools to create a bootable USB Drive. We made a video guide for TrueNAS CORE that can be applied to creating the installation media for TrueNAS SCALE too! Insert the USB Drive with the installation media that you just created into the system that you are sidegrading, then reboot the system. Another method of Sidegrading to TrueNAS SCALE is to select the latest Release Train for TrueNAS SCALE on the TrueNAS WebGUI while on the latest version of TrueNAS CORE.

Once the system reboots, use the hotkey that is defined by your motherboard manufacturer to select the USB device with the TrueNAS Image. In this case, we will select the USB drive with the SCALE ISO loaded on it.

Follow the SCALE console setup screen and select Install/Upgrade.

Next, select the drive you are using as your boot disk. It should be ZFS labeled as ‘boot-pool’ or ‘freenas-boot’.

The installer will ask if you would like to preserve your existing configuration or begin with a fresh install. We recommend that you select Upgrade Install when attempting to migrate to preserve your configuration data. Next, select install in new boot environment.

Warning: Although TrueNAS attempts to keep most of your CORE configuration data when upgrading to SCALE, some CORE-specific items do not transfer. GELI encrypted pools, NIS data, jails, tunables, and boot environments do not migrate from CORE to SCALE. VM storage and its basic configuration are transferred over during migration. You need to double-check the VM configuration and the network interface settings specifically before starting the VM. AFP shares are migrated automatically. Init/shutdown scripts transfer, but can break. Review them before use. The CORE netcli utility is also swapped for a new CLI utility to use for the Console Setup Menu and other commands issued in a CLI.

Migrating GELI-encrypted Pools to SCALE

TrueNAS SCALE is Linux based, so it does not support FreeBSD GELI encryption. If you have GELI-encrypted pools on your system that you plan to import into SCALE, you must migrate your data from the GELI pool to a non-GELI encrypted pool before migrating to SCALE.

After choosing the option to Install in new boot environment, the installer will warn you that SCALE installs into the boot pool that was previously used for TrueNAS CORE. Select Yes for this step.

After the installation completes, reboot your TrueNAS system and remove the USB Drive with the SCALE ISO File. When TrueNAS SCALE boots for the first time, you may need to use the shell to configure your network interfaces.

If you want to learn how to manually upgrade to TrueNAS SCALE, head on over to our Official Documentation for more info.

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The Modular TrueNAS R50 Stores a Petabyte

Will Soteros — Wed, 19 Oct 2022 11:00:51 +0000

The TrueNAS R50 Gen3 is a 4U workhorse with 48+4 drive bays, 100GbE capability, and the option of TrueNAS CORE, Enterprise, or SCALE. The 3rd generation of the TrueNAS R50 platform is now available with some major enhancements.

Modular architecture with easy-to-replace controller
Over 1PB HDD capacity in 4U
Up to 60TB of NVMe flash and 12GB/s
Super-flexible, high-speed networking
TrueNAS SCALE clustering and enclosure management
Fits in an industry standard one meter rack

Let’s dive into the details of the Gen3 TrueNAS R50 and why we are excited about it.

Modular Architecture: The new R50 chassis has been custom designed with a modular controller for easier servicing. The drive drawer at the front can accept 48 top-loaded disk drives with an internal cable management arm that makes it easy to pull out and swap drives. The storage controller at the rear is removable so that it can be serviced without unracking such a large system. Unlike the numerous other high-density storage servers (e.g. 45Drives), you can upgrade or replace the controller with ease. This significantly extends the life of the system.

Petabyte Capacity: With 22TB disk drives, the new R50 can provide over 1PB of raw storage. This capacity can scale up to 5PB with two 102-bay expansion shelves. This storage is then managed with ZFS configured with single, dual, or triple parity. Lower-capacity drives starting at 4TB are also supported for workloads with more IOPS and less capacity. These 22TB drives use the latest OptiNAND technology from Western Digital for increased performance.

Extreme NVMe Acceleration: The new R50 is extended to support four full NVMe drives, each of which can range up to 15TB. These drives can be used for caching or storage and are hot-swappable. L2ARC, SLOG, and special VDEVs can be configured or used for a dedicated all-flash pool. Database applications and deduplication tables can benefit from this incredibly fast storage.

Flexible Networking: Many user environments are going through the transition from 10GbE to 25GbE and then 100GbE. The new R50 makes it easier to upgrade the controllers from 10GBase-T all the way to 25/40/100GbE optical through the easy-to-upgrade modular controller.

Scale-out Clustering: With TrueNAS SCALE on the R50, there is now an option to cluster these units for SMB file or S3 object services. A rack of eight R50 systems can support 8PB of HDD capacity and 480TB of NVMe flash over 1.6 Terabits/s of switched infrastructure. This is ideal for high-performing video editing and storage, or extreme analytics. If you need more capacity, you can add more racks of R50s to scale out.

With all the improvements made in Gen3, the price of the TrueNAS R50 remains the same. All new orders of the TrueNAS R50 will automatically be upgraded to the Gen3 modular version. For use-cases that need more capacity or flexibility, the Gen3 version offers more configuration choices. The new TrueNAS R50 has already begun shipping.

The TrueNAS R-Series datasheet includes the updated R50 specs. The system fits in a 1-meter-deep industry-standard rack and does not require an external cable management arm. The typical power draw is under 800W for 1PB.

The TrueNAS R50 is just one of the many TrueNAS Enterprise platform choices. Shown below in the middle of the back row, R50 Gen3 is ideal for mid-size deployments and clustering. For High Availability (HA) and larger systems, the TrueNAS M-Series is recommended and scales to over 25PB per system. For small deployments, the 2U TrueNAS R20 is recommended.

For more information on this or other TrueNAS appliances or our software, please contact iX.

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New Innovation Center in East Tennessee + New TrueNAS Enterprise R50 Gen3

Will Soteros — Wed, 19 Oct 2022 10:30:32 +0000

New TrueNAS Enterprise R50 Gen3

iXsystems has launched the next generation of its TrueNAS R50 Unified Storage Appliances. The R50 Gen3 has been improved with a modular architecture enabling controller upgrade or replacement. Ideal for the most data-intensive IT environments, TrueNAS R50 systems can now grow to over 1 petabyte of hard drive capacity or up to 60TB of NVMe flash. With the choice of hard drive, hybrid, and all-flash storage, the R50 systems offer outstanding density and price performance with 10GbE and 100GbE high-speed networking.

Read the R50 Gen3 Blog

Milton Security Selects TrueNAS to Safeguard Customer Data

” The experience transitioning to a licensed model with TrueNAS was nice. Pretty flat, straightforward, and transparent. ”

“ Being in the business of risk mitigation, the TrueNAS platform definitely supports our mission. ”

-Ethan Coulter, Milton Security CTO

Watch the Milton Security Case Study Video

Video: iX-Storj Q&A Livestream

iX leaders Mario Blandini and Kris Moore were live with the CEO of Storj, Ben Golub, to discuss the brand new service that’s bringing Globally Distributed Storage to TrueNAS users, iX-Storj. Watch the video to learn more.

Video: TrueNAS SCALE 22.02.4 Updates & Changes

Join Tom from Lawrence Systems as he covers the latest changes and updates to TrueNAS SCALE in his recent video.

iX is offering a special promotion on two All-Flash R-Series models, the industry’s lowest-priced All-Flash NAS with 100Gbe. Both models are great for analytics, video editing & rendering, or any high-performance workloads. Both are also excellent for future clustering with TrueNAS SCALE Bluefin.

Exclusive Offer for TrueNAS Users & Customers: All-Flash R10 & R40

22TB R10 All-Flash = $9,900 and 120TB R40 All-Flash = $33,000

Perfect for the end-of-year procurement, this exclusive offer is good through December 22, 2022, for TrueNAS customers and users.

TrueNAS User Experiences

Check out community reviews, video testimonials, and more on our updated TrueNAS reviews page.

Read TrueNAS Reviews

Grand Opening of the TrueNAS Innovation Center in East Tennessee

iX celebrated its 20th anniversary with the opening of its TrueNAS Innovation Center. Our new office is in the largest commercial building in downtown Maryville, Tennessee, and will host elements of all business functions. It features a state-of-the-art data center to advance research, development, testing, certification, and support of TrueNAS software and TrueNAS Enterprise storage systems.

Software Releases

TrueNAS can be used in many ways. Choosing what version is best for you is often a matter of quality preferences for given use cases.

Want personalized recommendations? Click below.

Visit Software Status Page

Links of the Month

Resources for Using NextCloud on TrueNAS SCALE (TrueNAS)
iXsystems Adds Globally Distributed Storage and Second Major Version of TrueNAS SCALE (StorageReview)
Video: Setting Up NextCloud and Collabora on TrueNAS SCALE (TrueNAS)
Video: Playing with ZFS Pools & TrueNAS SCALE (Lawrence Systems)
Video: How to Expand a ZFS Pool Using TrueNAS (Lawrence Systems)

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iXsystems Opens New Technology Campus as Demand for TrueNAS Storage Accelerates

Will Soteros — Tue, 18 Oct 2022 21:54:40 +0000

Maryville, Tennessee Facility to Serve as Home for TrueNAS Research and Development, Support, and Other Functions

MARYVILLE, TN – October 19, 2022 — iXsystems®, an Open Source pioneer and the company behind TrueNAS, today announced the company’s 20th anniversary with the opening of its TrueNAS Innovation Center located at 333 E. Broadway Ave in downtown Maryville, Tennessee. Celebrating with an official ribbon-cutting at the facility at 11:30 am Eastern time, company executives will be joined by several regional dignitaries, including Drew Miles, City of Maryville Councilman, and Bryan Daniels, President, and CEO of Blount Partnership.

The TrueNAS Innovation Center is the largest commercial office building in downtown Maryville and will host elements of all business functions. It features a state-of-the-art data center to advance research, development, testing, certification, and support of TrueNAS software and TrueNAS Enterprise storage systems. iXsystems grew TrueNAS revenues 70% year-over-year in 2021 and has continued to grow revenue and invest in new employees in 2022.

“Beginning with 3 employees in Silicon Valley 20 years ago, and 3 employees in our first Maryville office in 2016, iXsystems has now grown beyond 200 passionate employees around the world to serve TrueNAS users and customers,” said Michael Lauth, CEO, iXsystems. “We chose eastern Tennessee to invest in continued growth, and look forward to our larger role as an employer of choice in the region.”

The promise of True Data Freedom made possible by TrueNAS Open Source software has driven more organizations to choose TrueNAS for their demanding storage needs.

New TrueNAS R50 Platform delivers High Capacity and Enhanced Serviceability

iXsystems has also launched the next generation of its TrueNAS R50 Unified Storage Appliances. The R50 Gen3 has been improved with a modular architecture enabling easy system controller upgrades or replacements. The new TrueNAS R50 strengthens the R-Series product line and complements the M-Series with its built-in High Availability.

Ideal for the most data-intensive IT environments, TrueNAS R50 systems can now grow to over 1 Petabyte of hard drive capacity and up to 60TB of NVMe flash in only 4U of rack space. With expansion shelves, a system can expand to up to 5 Petabytes of hybrid storage capacity with 100GbE networking. TrueNAS SCALE clustering and enclosure management are available for scale-out customers, and migration from scale-up is also available.

“Interest in Open Source Storage continues to accelerate, and our new R50 model improves our TrueNAS appliance portfolio that already spans from small offices to the largest data centers under one unified software experience,” said Brett Davis, EVP, iXsystems. “The iX team is energized by our latest investments which will fuel the delivery of new products and grow our support functions to continue to build on the already excellent experiences our customers report.”

Learn more about iXsystems

Learn more about TrueNAS Enterprise R50

About iXsystems and TrueNAS

iX is an Open Source pioneer and the company behind TrueNAS, the world’s most deployed storage software. Used by millions, TrueNAS has laid the foundation for the Open Storage Era so that all organizations can access the benefits of true Data Freedom. TrueNAS enables users to harness the power of the legendary ZFS file system and provides unified and hyperconverged storage for private and cloud datacenters, with the reliability and performance demanded by virtualization, backup, and other data-intensive workloads. Thousands of organizations around the world have chosen TrueNAS Enterprise systems and support from iX to scale-up or scale-out their infrastructure while leveraging Open Source economics.

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Community Reviews Make TrueNAS the Highest Rated Storage and Support a Great Cause

Will Soteros — Thu, 06 Oct 2022 17:25:17 +0000

As TrueNAS continues to grow and evolve, new users are finding and trying TrueNAS for the first time. These users often seek independent user reviews as their primary source for information. The better and more comprehensive the reviews, the more confidence these users have in trying TrueNAS, which is the first step in joining the TrueNAS Community and the Open Storage Era.

In July, we asked the TrueNAS Community to share their experiences in online reviews, offering awesome prizes to make it fun. Western Digital pitched in with five 14 TB Western Digital WD Red Plus NAS Drives for the TrueNAS Mini X grand prize. Congratulations to TrueNAS Community member Marino L. from New Jersey USA as the grand prize winner! In all: 299 new reviews were posted between July and September on G2, Capterra, TrustRadius, and Distrowatch.

As part of the campaign, we partnered with G2 Gives with the goal of raising $500 for World Central Kitchen, an organization that provides meals during humanitarian, climate, and community crises. For each review on G2, they donated $10. The TrueNAS community exceeded this goal, raising $1,210 for World Central Kitchen with G2 by contributing 121 reviews. In recognition of the time invested by our community members, iX is also matching the donation amount and sending a total of $2,420 to World Central Kitchen.

The G2 Gives part of the campaign is still available. For any community members that have not left a review, you can leave one using this link and unlock a $10 donation to World Central Kitchen.

TrueNAS has the highest rating and most reviews on the site for All-Flash Arrays (AFA), passing Pure Storage Flash Arrays, IBM FlashSystem, Dell EMC All-Flash Arrays, NetApp AFF A-Series, and HPE 3PAR.

With no primary storage category on the site, TrueNAS is rated alongside iX friends Backblaze, Resilio, Rubrik, Storj, and Veeam in the backup software category, with more reviews than storage from Qumulo and VMware VSAN.

Shown here on a scale of 5, TrueNAS has the highest rating and most customer-verified reviews on the site for Network Attached Storage, passing IBM Storwize (now part of FlashSystems), NetApp FAS series, HPE 3PAR StoreServ Storage, and Dell EMC PowerScale (EMC Isilon).

Want to see what others are saying about their TrueNAS experiences? Check out our updated reviews page, and consider sharing your experiences on any of the review sites to keep the momentum growing for the Open Storage Era!

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TrueNAS Enterprise outscores Dell, HPE, and NetApp on Gartner Peer Insights

Will Soteros — Thu, 06 Oct 2022 17:24:34 +0000

TrueNAS debuted on the Gartner Peer Insights Enterprise business-to-business product review site in June 2021 in the Primary Storage Category, amongst more than 80 other products. In the short time since, TrueNAS has already moved into the top 20 in number of reviews (currently #18) and has sustained an exceptional rating of 4.8 out of 5 stars, among the category’s elite.

We’re just getting started, but a tremendous thanks goes out to our incredible customer base for taking the time to share their TrueNAS experience with Gartner and the world.

As the list’s only open source solution offering True Data Freedom, we also could not be happier to be the only vendor with 100% of reviewers stating they would recommend iX and TrueNAS. What’s more, reviewers reported they considered the “who’s who” of classic storage vendors in the market before selecting TrueNAS Enterprise. Nearly 4 in 5 considered Dell, and more than half considered HPE and NetApp, and were clearly very satisfied with their choices.

Products from these companies make up half of the top 20 list in the Primary Storage category. According to the reviews, iX outscores Dell, HPE, and NetApp, with these cited advantages:

Better at service and support
- Enterprise support from US-based engineers
Easier to integrate and deploy
- One common software, UX, and learning curve that can cover all storage tiers vs. different solutions for each tier or application (i.e. – Dell: PowerStore, Unity, VMAX, Isilon, and the list goes on and on)
Better evaluation and contracting
- Fast and free to evaluate, fundamentally lower in cost

While iX is not yet as large of a company as these vendors, many of our customers are. 34% of customer reviews came from large or very large organizations, and 35% from medium-sized ones. Organizations of all sizes are choosing TrueNAS Enterprise for their data storage needs, evidence that Open Source Economics are important in smaller deployments and even more valuable in larger ones.

From a recent piece of research from Gartner published last month, Open Source software [OSS] is used within mission-critical IT workloads by more than 95% of IT organizations worldwide, whether they are aware of it or not. Among the key findings, IT organizations leverage OSS to gain cost savings, flexibility and innovation benefits over homegrown or third-party commercial alternatives.

We invite you to check out all Gartner Peer Insights reviews, as well as other user experiences on our updated TrueNAS reviews page. For customers who invested their time in sharing their experiences, we thank you! Thank you in advance to customers who consider sharing your experiences on any review site, to keep the momentum growing for the Open Storage Era!

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Resources for Using Nextcloud on TrueNAS SCALE

Will Soteros — Fri, 30 Sep 2022 14:33:57 +0000

Using Nextcloud on SCALE Resources

NextCloud is a drop-in replacement for many popular cloud services, including file-sharing, calendar, groupware, and more. In addition to this, it is commonly used in the home environment as a media backup, organizing and sharing service. NextCloud can be deployed as an App on TrueNAS SCALE or as a plugin on TrueNAS CORE.

We’ve been hard at work with the Nextcloud team producing resources to help guide you through the setup and configuration process, including how to use Nextcloud with TrueNAS SCALE. Below, you’ll find useful links to all of the TrueNAS Community and iXsystems resources currently available regarding TrueNAS and Nextcloud.

Most recently, we created a how-to guide for adding media previews to a NextCloud App on TrueNAS SCALE. Media previews make it much easier to navigate and search content within Nextcloud folders. Below is a screenshot with those previews activated.

Documentation:

Forum:

Forum Tag: Nextcloud

Blog:

There is also an App for Collabora which is installed separately from NextCloud. After installing both of these Apps, they can be logically connected giving users the ability to jointly edit documents, much like Google Docs. This functionality has been confirmed to work but needs Community testing to find any bugs or rough edges. We look forward to your feedback.

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TrueNAS SCALE Angelfish enables iX-Storj Service

Will Soteros — Tue, 27 Sep 2022 17:17:29 +0000

TrueNAS SCALE 22.02.4 was released today and is expected to be the last of the Angelfish releases. The Globally Distributed Storage provided by iX-Storj is also included in this release. TrueNAS SCALE now includes industry-leading ZFS storage (with HA option), Scale-out file and object storage, Hyperconvergence, and Globally Distributed Storage. This flexibility is unique in the industry and is delivered with all the benefits of Open Source.

Software quality continues to increase with this 5th release of TrueNAS SCALE 22.02 Angelfish. The success of Angelfish has led to 5X growth so far in 2022 and a major increase in Linux users of TrueNAS. TrueNAS SCALE 22.02.3 was deemed to be of suitable quality for General use (see TrueNAS Software Status page) and will be surpassed by SCALE 22.02.4 with its many improvements.

Bluefin is the next major version of TrueNAS SCALE. TrueNAS SCALE Bluefin BETA is also now available to those interested in helping test and contribute to the development process. It includes all the Angelfish capabilities plus many new features. It is a simple upgrade but is only recommended for developers and testers at this stage. December is the target for RELEASE candidate status. All new features and bug fixes for Angelfish will go into Bluefin from here forward.

The Changes in TrueNAS SCALE 22.02.4

The details of TrueNAS SCALE 22.02.4 can be found in the release notes. There are over 130 new bug fixes and improvements that will provide another significant quality jump from the previous version. Notable inclusions consist of:

iX-Storj Globally Distributed Storage
M-Series HA with NVDIMM support
SMB Clustering improvements
Better error handling with service starts after slow pool import

We want to thank the community for the tremendous support in improving TrueNAS SCALE Angelfish quality! It’s been an exciting first version, and there’s so much more to come with TrueNAS SCALE Bluefin. For those with a test system, please try out Bluefin, report bugs, and make suggestions as we improve TrueNAS SCALE together.

The feature set for TrueNAS SCALE 22.02 is described in the TrueNAS SCALE datasheet, and the TrueNAS SCALE documentation provides a starting point to build and run your first systems. If you need to dig deeper or need advice, the TrueNAS Community forums provide a great source of information and community collaboration.

Who Should Use TrueNAS SCALE?

TrueNAS SCALE is particularly well suited for users with requirements for Linux Apps/containers and/or running Linux VMs, in addition to standard storage needs. At this U4 stage of its Software Development Lifecycle, TrueNAS SCALE is suitable for general deployments and tech labs. Users with scale-out storage requirements can test and deploy for their specific use-cases or interests.

“Bluefin” is the next major release after SCALE 22.02. It will include some major enhancements such as support for enhanced Cluster Operations, optional FIPS 140-3 crypto library support, and security improvements including rootless administration.

Enterprise Production Use

For commercial users with scale-out needs, iXsystems supports the testing of specific TrueNAS SCALE deployments and applications before they enter the production phase. Please contact your iXsystems Account Representative or email us at info@iXsystems.com if you are interested in using TrueNAS SCALE for production.

Conservative users with standard storage-specific NAS requirements (NFS, SMB, iSCSI, S3) are still advised to use TrueNAS CORE and Enterprise, which have eight times more data under management and over ten years of operation and stability. TrueNAS SCALE has inherited some of that maturity and automated testing, but is not yet as mature. Currently, TrueNAS 13.0-U2 (CORE & Enterprise) is the most robust scale-up storage platform for general use. We expect it to be recommended for mission critical use on TrueNAS Enterprise appliances in the coming weeks, in place of TrueNAS 12.0-U8.1.

If you have any additional questions or need advice on a new project, please contact us. We are standing by to help.

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Threat Hunter Selects TrueNAS Enterprise Storage to Safeguard Data with Complete Redundancy

Will Soteros — Tue, 27 Sep 2022 14:05:28 +0000

SAN JOSE, CA – September 27, 2022 — iXsystems®, an Open Source pioneer and the company behind TrueNAS, today announced that Managed Detection and Response (MDR) security service provider Threat Hunter has selected the TrueNAS M50 Enterprise storage platform to serve as the foundation for the company’s managed detection and response infrastructure, defending sensitive customer data from corruption or loss with complete redundancies and military-grade AES-256 encryption.

Threat Hunter made the shift in 2015 to Threat Hunting-as-a-Service as the risk of cyberattacks became a more serious concern for North American businesses. Utilizing TrueNAS as the platform for their soon-to-be-announced ThreatHunter.AI systems, data sets, and data lake, Threat Hunter relies on iX to grow, expand, and change the game in the cybersecurity industry. Threat Hunter’s plans include the deployment of a robust unified data storage solution that can be expanded over time while fitting into a predetermined footprint, making data protection, storage scalability, and density key requirements.

Threat Hunter evaluated a range of enterprise solutions. As an experienced user of TrueNAS, the company also looked at the TrueNAS M50 Enterprise storage platform, which had the ability to store massive amounts of data and scale within a small footprint. The platform’s TrueNAS Enterprise software also included redundancy advantages to inherently protect data, thanks to the OpenZFS file system.

Adding to this, Threat Hunter realized that TrueNAS also removed the complexity of cloud-based subscription or usage-based pricing models. As many storage vendors have shifted to cloud-based subscription or utility-based pricing options, this has resulted in more complex pricing. TrueNAS Enterprise offers very straightforward and transparent pricing which allows for more accurate cost modeling. The process of starting with the Open Source offering to prove out the concept and then transitioning to the supported TrueNAS solution has been simple, efficient, and cost-effective for the IT solution provider.

“Being in the business of risk mitigation, the TrueNAS platform definitely supports our mission,” said Ethan Coulter, CTO for Threat Hunter. “The TrueNAS M50 Enterprise platform has proven to be a perfect fit, providing inherent protections only available with this Open Source platform, offering all of the scalability, flexibility, and redundancy needed to secure sensitive customer data.”

“TrueNAS Enterprise appliances are optimized for performance and reliability, and along with support, they offer an enterprise choice for many demanding workloads,” said Mario Blandini, Vice President of Marketing, iXsystems. “We are proud to have been selected by Threat Hunter and look forward to helping them scale their business while leveraging Open Source economics.”

Learn more about iXsystems at ixsystems.com.

Additional Resources:

About iXsystems and TrueNAS

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iX and Storj Deliver Globally Distributed Storage to TrueNAS

Will Soteros — Mon, 19 Sep 2022 14:27:16 +0000

Globally Distributed Storage (GDS) is a Web3 decentralized storage capability where each piece of data is stored redundantly across many globally distributed storage nodes. In the event of a failure, whether an individual node or even an entire geographic region, no underlying data is lost, and access to that data is not interrupted. The durability of data stored in GDS is also higher than single-region AWS S3 and other cloud solutions that store data redundantly across data centers, while also providing faster access to data and completely secure, trustless ownership.

Founded in 2014, Storj is a pioneer and innovator in Web3 storage. They are the leading provider of enterprise globally distributed cloud object storage, and iX has selected them as the TrueNAS partner for GDS. The service, known as iX-Storj, is now available and integrated into TrueNAS SCALE. The first release of TrueNAS with iX-Storj is TrueNAS SCALE Bluefin BETA. iX-Storj will be available in forthcoming releases for TrueNAS SCALE Angelfish 22.02.4, as well as TrueNAS 13.0-U3 for CORE and Enterprise users.

OpenZFS + GDS for Redundancy, Backup, and Disaster Recovery

OpenZFS (ZFS) is the technology used by TrueNAS to provide highly reliable data storage across pools of drives within a single storage system. ZFS has legendary resilience and even portability for single systems. However, any one facility or region is vulnerable to risks of fire, flood, earthquakes, or major operator errors. Data must be backed up to another site to be reliably stored. Data professionals also recommend a third site for added durability.

GDS provides another option for 2nd or 3rd locations for data, particularly for organizations that do not operate multiple sites. Fundamentally, this GDS solution has the multi-region capability and reliability to be the 2nd and 3rd copies of data. It is the ideal complement to a ZFS-based storage system that provides high-performance and reliable storage within a data center, office, or home.

Like ZFS, the iX-Storj service is inherently secure with CloudSync 256-bit encryption for both data-at-rest and data-in-flight. Most importantly, the keys are controlled by the TrueNAS administrator. Unlike many cloud storage services, neither iX nor Storj can access user data without those security keys.

GDS adds compelling Capabilities to TrueNAS

TrueNAS systems can now act as either the client that uses the iX-Storj service or “Storj Nodes” that provide storage to GDS. The same TrueNAS storage system can even do both, storing data for other systems while also protecting its own data with the iX-Storj service.

Users can quickly and easily sign-up for the iX-Storj service with a free account via their browser, submit their payment info, get their license key, and add it to TrueNAS where it can then be enabled via Cloud Sync. With a Pro account, the first 150 GB of storage and bandwidth are free, and only $4/TB for storage and $7/TB for bandwidth thereafter*. GDS with iX-Storj is a simple Storage-as-a-Service.

Additionally, TrueNAS users can even recuperate some of the costs of using the service by configuring their TrueNAS systems as “Storj Nodes” and allocating unused storage capacity to participate as a provider to the Storj network.

There are many use cases for the iX-Storj service. One example would be syncing a dataset on a local TrueNAS automatically iX-Storj in the background. This will provide 11 nines durability and a high-performance S3 recovery option, while also providing disaster recovery to another site.

Key benefits of iX-Storj over AWS S3

A Fraction of the Cost – The iX-Storj service is identical to the standard Storj service at $4 per TB per month*. This compares with single-region AWS S3 at $25 per TB per month. Bandwidth (egress) prices for iX-Storj are $7/TB* compared with AWS at $90/TB. 80% lower in price, or for the same price, store 5X the data with iX-Storj with the added value of multi-region durability.

Double the Bandwidth – The iX-Storj services leverages the aggregated bandwidth capabilities of globally distributed storage. Read and Write bandwidth of GigaBytes per second is possible from a well-connected data center. Performance is typically more than double that of AWS S3, which enables much faster restoration of data.

11 Nines of Durability – This level of data protection equates to the probability of data being retained for a year at 99.999999999%. To put it in context, if storing a Petabyte of data, one object might be lost every 1,000 years. This is extremely high in durability and suitable for both backup and long-term archive applications, much like AWS S3. If the data is also stored on a TrueNAS system, the durability is orders of magnitude higher than single-region AWS S3.

TrueNAS users are are encouraged to evaluate the iX-Storj service, following these easy steps:

Download TrueNAS (CORE 13.0-U3 or later / SCALE 22.02.4 or later)
Install and Configure your NAS
Create an iX-Storj account (https://ix.storj.io)
Create a bucket and keys
Upload Keys to TrueNAS Credentials Page
Create a Cloud Sync task using the new iX_Storj credentials

The first 150 GB of storage is free and can be used for testing, as well as backup for key documents and files. Users can consider storing more data for an affordable monthly cost.

What’s Next?

This is the first step in the iX-Storj partnership. We look forward to updating TrueNAS users and customers once GDS is ready to be evaluated on additional TrueNAS Editions.

There are many more exciting opportunities to partner and collaborate, to simplify major data management tasks. For example, TrueNAS snapshot tasks could be automatically enabled on NFS, SMB, iSCSI, or S3 datasets with replication to the iX-Storj service.

We hope you are as excited about the possibilities as we are. For more information on TrueNAS or the iX-Storj Globally Distributed Storage, please contact iX.

* – Pro Accounts: Additional per-segment fee of $0.0000088 applies. A segment is a file or a 64 MB segment of a larger file. This “metadata” fee equates to 14c per TB for larger files

We also recently took part in a Q&A Livestream with Storj where our communities asked us questions about what is to come from the partnership. There is a Thread in the Storj Sub-Forum where you can ask more questions that you may have!

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TrueNAS SCALE Bluefin Reaches BETA

Will Soteros — Tue, 13 Sep 2022 16:24:43 +0000

TrueNAS SCALE Bluefin (22.12) is the natural successor to TrueNAS SCALE Angelfish (22.02), which had its third update released in August. Angelfish is mostly feature-complete and the next updates will focus on quality, reliability, and performance tuning.

Bluefin is the new release train for major TrueNAS SCALE feature improvements. It is expected to reach the RELEASE stage at the end of 2022.

Angelfish delivered the primary benefits of SCALE to the large open source community. In addition, it provided a powerful new Application Charting System using Helm and K3s, which has enabled many third-party App providers to offer large collections of ready-made applications for deployment. Angelfish also included the tools to migrate smoothly from TrueNAS CORE.

Bluefin inherits all the functional capabilities of Angelfish and will also include WebUI updates to simplify operations of TrueNAS SCALE systems. In particular, there will be some massive improvements in pool, device, and dataset management that will provide more comprehensive information on single web pages. Examples and feedback can be provided via Github.

Bluefin adds many new capabilities

It is truly thrilling to see all the Open Source options available to enhance TrueNAS SCALE with its Linux base. We expect the innovation within TrueNAS SCALE and its associated software to accelerate in the coming years. For Bluefin, there is a limit to what we can promise at this stage, but rest assured, there is more on the way!

The primary additions to Bluefin are described below:

Scale-Up Performance Improvements – Bluefin has gone through additional tuning and optimization to ensure that performance can meet the needs of the most demanding applications. Additionally, major work has been completed to allow a TrueNAS SCALE system to support > 1K physical disks connected to a single system.
Cluster Feature Improvements – The clustering features of TrueNAS SCALE have been improved to include additional functionality for cluster lifecycle management. This includes better visibility into clusters as well as UI driven tools for repairing faulted clusters or replacing individual nodes.
Active-Active reliability for storage – Preliminary clustering via gluster (file) and Minio (S3 object) will be hardened with more focus on non-disruptive cluster expansion and software updates. This will simplify the DevOps task of building a reliable storage infrastructure.
Linux-based Security Enhancements – While TrueNAS has an extremely long list of security capabilities, there are always more to be provided. With Bluefin, API keys can enable fine-grained, Role-Based Access Control (RBAC), and restrict root privileges. Options to enable CLI-Driven “Root-less” restricted administration accounts are also scheduled for subsequent beta and RC releases. FIPS 140-3 compliant crypto modules simplifies use in high-security use-cases.
Enterprise Support – TrueNAS SCALE is already available for deployment on TrueNAS appliances with enterprise support. Enterprise support for software-only deployments will enable supported operation on existing server farms with qualified hardware. This 2023 initiative will also be the foundational step needed to help organizations build Hybrid cloud solutions.

And, what a coincidence, these new capabilities spell “SCALE” again! (Ok, maybe not entirely a coincidence 😉)

Another major capability being enabled for TrueNAS is “Globally Distributed Storage”, where TrueNAS can act as both a client of Web3 decentralized storage and participate as a storage node. We think this direction will enable us to deliver much faster, more cost-effective, and easier backup or archive options for TrueNAS.

Bluefin also includes much broader GPU support with updates to drivers for Alderlake iGPUs (Intel) and more recent Nvidia GeForce 30-series GPUs. These GPUs can be used in “passthrough” mode by Apps for offload processing, and by VMs for processing or high-resolution displays.

Bluefin will be an easy upgrade from SCALE Angelfish when it is released. The Bluefin BETA release is now available and recommended for developers and testers. The software status of TrueNAS editions is tracked here.

Contributing to Development and Testing

More features can still be added and we give priority to customers, active community users, and contributors. If you need something specific for your use case, please search for an existing ticket, vote for it, or make a new suggestion and explain the benefits you expect from the feature.

There will always be features that won’t make the cut that may go into the next release, which will be called “Cobia”. That work is expected to start during Q4 2022 with delivery in 2023.

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iXsystems Introduces Globally Distributed Storage and Second Major Version of TrueNAS SCALE

Will Soteros — Tue, 13 Sep 2022 04:51:59 +0000

iXsystems Introduces Globally Distributed Storage and Second Major Version of TrueNAS SCALE

Web3 storage service for TrueNAS with Storj offers offsite S3-compatible storage at a fraction of the cost of AWS

SAN JOSE, CA – September 13, 2022 — iXsystems®, an Open Source pioneer and the company behind TrueNAS, today announced a new Globally Distributed Storage (GDS) service in partnership with Storj, an innovator in Web3 storage. The GDS service, called iX-Storj, is available on TrueNAS SCALE Bluefin BETA, which was also released today. The iX-Storj service will be available on all TrueNAS editions in Q4 2022. When compared to Amazon S3 and similar cloud storage choices, iX-Storj will be faster, more resilient, more secure, and significantly lower in cost.

GDS stores data redundantly across a globally distributed network and provides a compelling option to TrueNAS users for a second or third geographic location for data. It is the ideal complement to a TrueNAS ZFS-based storage system that already provides high-performance and reliable storage within a data center, office, or home. Additionally, TrueNAS systems can now act as either the client that uses GDS, a node that participates as a provider to the GDS, or a combination of both.

“Many organizations in 2022 still struggle with the cost and complexity of reliably storing valuable data across sites and regions,” said Marc Staimer, Chief Analyst, DragonSlayer Consulting. “TrueNAS Globally Distributed Storage is consumed like traditional cloud object storage services at a surprisingly affordable cost, offering a choice that can solve major problems for many IT organizations.”

Like ZFS, iX-Storj is inherently secure with 256-bit encryption for both data-at-rest and data-in-flight. Unlike many cloud storage services, neither iX nor Storj can access user data without those security keys for any reason. Compared to traditional cloud storage services, iX-Storj offers double the bandwidth at only $4 per TB/month for storage, equating to more than 80% savings.

“Storj is bridging Open Source software and decentralized platforms so that developers and IT can confidently build on Web3 infrastructure,” said Ben Golub, Storj CEO. “Together with iX, we are powering better choices for enterprise storage that is more performant, sustainable, and cost-effective. We are excited to help unlock new value-added services for Open Source businesses.”

“Bluefin” is the second major version of TrueNAS SCALE and succeeds “Angelfish” by expanding the capabilities of the scale-out storage and open hyperconvergence software. Within the larger TrueNAS Open Source community, more than 25,000 users of SCALE have contributed to its development process. The powerful new Application catalog using Kubernetes also makes TrueNAS SCALE a platform for third-party Apps that are ready-made to deploy and operate.

In addition to GDS, TrueNAS SCALE Bluefin brings several major enhancements that enable Enterprise adoption:

Scale-Up Performance Improvements – High Availability (HA) with over 1,000 drives per node
Active-Active Reliability – Hardened clustering with simplified operations and Kubernetes CSI.
Linux-based Security Enhancements – FIPS 140-3 encryption compliance and improved Role-Based Access Control.

As with TrueNAS SCALE Angelfish, Bluefin includes tools to migrate smoothly from TrueNAS CORE and also supports HA and migration from TrueNAS Enterprise.

“As the company behind TrueNAS, iX is excited to offer new storage services and ever more capable software to our customers and community,” said Morgan Littlewood, SVP of Product Management, iXsystems. “Globally Distributed Storage with Storj will offer secure control over highly-durable data for all TrueNAS editions, and we look forward to working with our community to ensure a high-quality release of TrueNAS SCALE Bluefin.”

Pricing and Availability

150 GB is available for free and is 80% lower in price compared to AWS
TrueNAS SCALE Bluefin is available as BETA software at no cost

Additional Resources

About iXsystems and TrueNAS

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TrueNAS 13.0-U2 Release Delivers Enterprise Quality

Will Soteros — Tue, 30 Aug 2022 19:17:44 +0000

TrueNAS 13.0 retains all the unified storage services and middleware of TrueNAS 12.0 while significantly improving security, availability, quality, and performance. After the testing performed by over 25,000 users over the last four months, the second update (TrueNAS 13.0-U2) is now ready for larger and more critical enterprise use-cases.

TrueNAS 13.0-U2 includes over 60 bug fixes and improvements, including:

TrueNAS 13.0-U1.1 SMB fixes
ZFS 2.1.5 updates
SAMBA 4.15.9 updates
SMB1 Security vulnerability resolution
NextCloud plugin installation fixes
Intel E810 NIC performance improvement
Collected memory leak fix
AWS S3 Secret Keys for Cloud Sync fix

The significant new components of TrueNAS 13.0 were described in the Release Blog:

FreeBSD 13.0 performance security and efficiency improvements
OpenZFS 2.1 performance and reliability improvements
Samba 4.15 security vulnerability resolution
iSCSI target bandwidth increases
NFS server: Improved NFS 4.x support

TrueNAS 13.0-U1 and TrueNAS 13.0-U1.1 (minor update for SMB fixes) have been widely and successfully deployed, and the Community has also reported that compatibility of plugins and jails with FreeBSD 13.0 has helped with many application updates.

TrueNAS 13.0-U1.1 has already become the 2nd most popular version of TrueNAS, only 12.0-U8.1 is higher. TrueNAS users at Linus Tech Tips recently released a video detailing their 270 drive configuration build-out using TrueNAS 13.0-U1.1.

TrueNAS 13.0 is a single, unified image that supports either TrueNAS CORE or TrueNAS Enterprise capabilities. TrueNAS Enterprise is delivered as TrueNAS appliances to organizations that want a turnkey experience, optimized hardware, and professional support. It also includes Enterprise features such as High Availability (HA), Fibre Channel, Proactive Support, and Key Management (KMIP). TrueNAS 13.0 delivers a significant reduction (>95% in some cases) in failover times, which most users greatly appreciate.

TrueNAS 13.0-U2 is intended for mission-critical deployments

TrueNAS 13.0 has matured much more rapidly than previous TrueNAS releases. There is a TrueNAS 13.0 sub-forum on the Community forums for this accelerated process and Community feedback. Tens of thousands of users have already reported a smooth software update experience from TrueNAS 12.0. For mission-critical workloads, TrueNAS Enterprise appliances with HA and support are recommended.

Please check out the TrueNAS 13.0 documentation even if you don’t upgrade today. Users can now comment on any documentation article. Please use this if you think the documentation is missing advice or needs more clarity.

When should you update your TrueNAS system?

This is the perennial question with the same reliable answer: “it depends”.

To address this with additional clarity, we have added a TrueNAS Software Status page that outlines the iX recommendations based on the type of user and how critical the workload is. Beta testers, early adopters, and mission critical users all have different needs and tolerances.

For example, TrueNAS 13.0-U2 is intended for mission critical deployments. However, our recommendation is that users choose to wait a few weeks for early user feedback before updating their software to 13.0-U2.

SMB users with security concerns should update from TrueNAS 12.0 to TrueNAS 13.0. TrueNAS makes it easy to update and roll back if there are any issues. Users are also encouraged to check the TrueNAS forums to see the experiences of other users.

Future updates to TrueNAS 13.0 will happen less frequently and will resolve issues seen in real deployments. The focus will be on increasing quality to the next level beyond TrueNAS 12.0. Users with storage-centric use cases (file, block, object) that are generally satisfied with TrueNAS 12.0 will find that upgrading to TrueNAS 13.0 will provide significant advantages without any major changes to features, data layout, tools, or user interface.

TrueNAS SCALE: The Path to Scale-out and Linux Support

Users of TrueNAS 12.0 and TrueNAS 13.0 also have an option to migrate to TrueNAS SCALE, which is based on Linux (Debian Bullseye). Users looking for scale-out storage capabilities and/or Linux-friendly hyperconvergence with Kubernetes and KVM should look at SCALE. The latest update, TrueNAS SCALE 22.02.3, was released in August and the next update will be available in October.

TrueNAS CORE: Still the Best Free NAS

For those with systems installed with TrueNAS 12.0, you can upgrade to TrueNAS 13.0 very easily. For new systems, download TrueNAS 13.0 and get started. TrueNAS Enterprise customers should contact iXsystems Technical Support for a complimentary technical review and assistance before updating.

TrueNAS 13.0 security, quality, and performance improvements should positively impact your system(s). If you have any questions or comments, we’d love to hear them on our community forums, the TrueNAS subreddit, or in response to this blog. If you ever need additional information on how TrueNAS can streamline, accelerate, and unify data management for your business, please contact us and we’ll be glad to assist you.

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Linus Tech Tips Uses TrueNAS Again!

Will Soteros — Wed, 10 Aug 2022 21:54:07 +0000

Last year, Linus Tech Tips (LTT) chose TrueNAS for their high-performance video editing system that serves as the daily content creation machine for their enormously popular YouTube channels. After countless frustrations with Microsoft Windows Server (Storage Spaces), TrueNAS cured their storage headache, while also enabling them to increase both performance and reliability significantly. Over 3 Million people watched the video.

Last week, LTT announced they’d called on TrueNAS yet again, this time to rebuild a major 3.6 petabyte (that’s 3,600 TB) Archive server. Everything went well and the project has been very successful. As of this posting, over 1.3 Million people have already watched the most recent video, and it’s as entertaining as all LTT videos, so we suggest you check it out.

Please do not use their rack installation techniques at home or at work. They are professional IT stunt men who need a server lift.

OpenZFS simplified Data Migration

LTT began migrating their previous ZFS pool from 2015 into the new NAS system. The old pool (on tens of HDDs) and all its contents migrated seamlessly. The ZFS pool import capability is one of the compelling advantages of OpenZFS in TrueNAS. ZFS pool import allows pools to be migrated to a totally different NAS platform with the drives shuffled and installed in a different order, but the data is still protected, imported, and migrated.

TrueNAS CORE 13.0 was used for this project due to the scale-up architecture that was selected.

The TrueNAS M60 is a Great Archive Option

LTT operates on an extremely tight budget and built a custom solution for their archival server. TrueNAS software is provided free to anyone interested in DIY projects like this who doesn’t mind supporting and maintaining a system themselves. In this case, LTT used free drives and enclosures from other vendors to build a single controller NAS with 270 drives, and we don’t blame them!

For anyone who would be looking for a similar system with enterprise support, we would recommend a TrueNAS M60. This high-capacity model is available with either a single or dual controller and can scale up to 20 PB. The single controller TrueNAS M60 has about the same RAM, NVMe, and performance as the LTT build, but also has NVDIMMs for highest possible performance write caching.

The dual controller version of the M60 provides High Availability. Large systems like this one built by LTT, with hundreds of drives and multiple expansion shelves (JBODs), can be more susceptible to failures on account of the number of components and its complex connectivity. By contrast, the M60-HA significantly reduces the risk of service outages due to hardware failure and greatly reduces downtime when doing software updates. The M60 comes with TrueNAS Enterprise pre-installed and ready to take on high-performance workloads.

The TrueNAS M60 has been tested in configurations up to 1200 drives, about five times the size of the LinuxTech media deployment. Plus, iX provides professional deployment assistance and up to 24/7 support. Graphical enclosure management is available on all TrueNAS appliances and greatly simplifies operations.

Media Use Cases

LTT demonstrates the common use cases of Editing and Archival for Media and Entertainment workloads for which many customers and users also leverage TrueNAS. The next step is to link those systems and automate workflows. By using ZFS and TrueNAS, the ZFS replication tools can be configured to automatically protect the data and video footage in the Editing system and ensure the Archive system has a recent copy.

Now that LTT has multiple TrueNAS systems protecting their precious footage, they are planning to use TrueCommand to help further simplify the management and monitoring of their growing storage fleet by providing unified management for all systems.

If you have any additional questions or need advice on a new media project, please contact us. We are standing by to help.

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TrueNAS SCALE gets Quality Improvements with 3rd Major Update

Will Soteros — Tue, 09 Aug 2022 17:25:02 +0000

TrueNAS SCALE 22.02.3 (“Angelfish”) was released today after the previous versions were tested and deployed on over 25,000 active systems, ranging from a wide variety of use-cases. This release has been tested with the SMB clustering functionality present in TrueCommand 2.2 and has improvements for running on larger system configurations.

TrueNAS SCALE has quadrupled its system count since the start of 2022. With over 100 bug fixes, the quality of TrueNAS SCALE 22.02.3 has improved significantly. It is now considered stable for the majority of single node TrueNAS deployments, and suitable for early adopters in clustered and HA configurations. As SCALE 22.02.3 is proven in the field, it will be recommended on the new TrueNAS Software Status page.

The Changes in TrueNAS SCALE 22.02.3

The feature set for TrueNAS SCALE 22.02 is described in the TrueNAS SCALE datasheet, and the TrueNAS SCALE documentation provides most of what you need to know to build and run your first systems. If you are missing some information or need advice, the TrueNAS Community forums provide a great source of information and community.

The details of TrueNAS SCALE 22.02.3 can be found in the release notes. There are over 100 new bug fixes and improvements that will provide another significant quality jump from the previous version. Notable inclusions consist of:

Drive scalability improvements
Numerous SMB Improvements including:
- Improved SMB Dataset Configuration Validations
- Bugfix for SMB Shadow copies working on Child Datasets
Security updates for Linux Kernel and Libraries
Drive resizing and overprovisioning tool
OpenZFS Linux ARC improvements
WebUI bug fixes

We want to thank the community for the tremendous support in improving TrueNAS SCALE quality! It’s been an exciting ride and there’s so much more to come, so please keep reporting bugs and making suggestions as we continue to improve the quality of TrueNAS SCALE together.

Who Should Use TrueNAS SCALE?

TrueNAS SCALE is particularly well suited for users with requirements for Linux Apps/containers and/or running Linux VMs, in addition to standard storage needs. At this U3 stage of its Software Development Lifecycle, TrueNAS SCALE is suitable for more general deployments and tech labs. Users with scale-out storage requirements can test for their specific use-cases or interests.

“Bluefin” is the next major release after SCALE 22.02. It will include some major enhancements such as support for enhanced Cluster Operations, optional FIPS 140-2 crypto support, and security improvements including rootless operation. For more information, see this community post. Look out for a major announcement next month!

Enterprise Production Use

Conservative users with standard NAS (NFS, SMB, iSCSI, S3) requirements are still advised to use TrueNAS CORE and Enterprise, which have ten times more data under management and over ten years of operation and stability. TrueNAS SCALE has inherited some of that maturity and automated testing but is not yet as mature.

Currently, TrueNAS 13.0-U1 (CORE & Enterprise) is the most robust scale-up storage platform. TrueNAS 13.0-U2 is expected in the upcoming weeks and will be recommended to mission-critical users.

If you have any additional questions or need advice on a new project, please contact us. We are standing by to help.

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TrueCommand 2.2 Makes its Debut, Enabling Clustering

Will Soteros — Tue, 02 Aug 2022 21:47:11 +0000

TrueCommand has been the multi-system manager for TrueNAS for nearly three years. As planned, it is evolving to also manage TrueNAS SCALE clusters, and now makes use of additional TrueNAS SCALE 22.02.2 APIs for Gluster and Clustered SMB with the availability of TrueCommand 2.2.

With over 8,000 deployments, TrueCommand simplifies the operation and management of numerous TrueNAS CORE, Enterprise, or SCALE systems. It collects usage and performance data, as well as alerts. It uses predictive analytics and understands ZFS concepts, including VDEVs and horizontal scaling. Even in single system scenarios, TrueCommand provides monitoring and fault diagnosis capabilities that can be quite useful.

TrueCommand 2.2 is another major step in improvements for TrueCommand. There are over 180 bug fixes, improvements, and features. The most notable changes are:

Reworked Stats engine: Moving from influx to rrd files makes TrueCommand more robust and able to run with a much smaller memory footprint. The reliability of TrueCommand Cloud for larger deployments has also increased. TrueCommand 2.2 will auto-migrate the configuration and stats database when it first boots up.
Improved Middleware: Better error handling and testing frameworks can ensure increased quality in the future.
Improved Certificate handling: Several certificate issues have been identified and resolved. These fixes should simplify deployments.

Clustered Improvements and SMB support: The TrueCommand UI now allows the creation of multiple clustered volumes, as well as exposing a clustered volume via SMB sharing protocol. These can be used with TrueNAS SCALE 22.02.2 (or later). A screenshot/video of a TrueNAS SCALE SMB cluster is provided below.

Click image for video Demo of TrueCommand 2.2

TrueCommand has been thoroughly tested with TrueNAS 13.0. TrueNAS 13.0-U1 has scalability improvements that ensure larger systems can be safely deployed with TrueCommand, as demonstrated on a 20 PB test system with 1,200 18TB drives in the iX lab.

IPv6 support on TrueCommand 2.2 is now being tested. Consider this a BETA feature and please provide any feedback.

The Docker version of TrueCommand 2.2 is available for free download. TrueCommand remains free for systems with less than 50 drives. Software and support licenses are available for larger deployments via the iX portal or by contacting iXsystems.

TrueCommand Cloud, a SaaS version, is also available. Existing TrueCommand Cloud accounts will be gradually updated as we ensure quality. Let us know if you want to be updated early in the process. TrueCommand Cloud itself will be running on a TrueNAS SCALE cluster in our data center.

The team is now beginning to work on TrueCommand 2.3. Anticipated Key features will be more advanced cluster controls, including node replacement and repair, improved performance monitoring, and support for the upcoming TrueNAS SCALE Bluefin release.

Thanks to all those that tested and provided feedback to get to this stage. As always, we appreciate feedback and bug reports for this TrueCommand 2.2 release.

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TrueNAS 13.0-U1 Delivers Improved Performance, Scalability, and Reliability

Will Soteros — Tue, 05 Jul 2022 16:02:19 +0000

TrueNAS 13.0 retains all the TrueNAS 12.0 services and middleware while providing significant improvements in security, availability, quality, and performance. After testing by over 20,000 users over the last 2 months, the first update (TrueNAS 13.0-U1) is now ready for larger and more critical use cases.

The significant new components of TrueNAS 13.0 were described in the Release Blog. These included:

FreeBSD 13.0 performance security, and efficiency improvements
OpenZFS 2.1 performance and reliability improvements
Samba 4.15 security vulnerability resolution
iSCSI target bandwidth increases
NFS server: Improved NFS 4.x support

TrueNAS 13.0-U1 includes over 100 bug fixes and improvements, including the major items below:

Proactive alerts for Capacity Monitoring
Improvements to ZFS replication reliability
Further Drive Scaling improvements for 1200+ Drives on a single system
Support for Azure backup custom endpoints – Allowing usage of government clouds
Fixed an issue with UI-driven disk replacements
Corrected several memory leaks edge cases
Enabled out-of-box support for Realtek RTL8125 network devices

Like TrueNAS 12.0, TrueNAS 13.0 is a single unified image that supports either TrueNAS CORE or TrueNAS Enterprise capabilities. TrueNAS Enterprise is delivered as TrueNAS appliances to organizations that want a turnkey experience. It also includes Enterprise features such as High Availability (HA), Fibre Channel, Pro-active Support, and Key Management (KMIP).

Thanks to a major contribution of hard drives to the TrueNAS test lab from Western Digital, TrueNAS 13.0 passed comprehensive large-scale testing on a TrueNAS M60-HA with over 1,200 drives in use by a single controller. With TrueNAS 13.0-U1, the drive scalability validation has extended to TrueCommand 2.2, allowing it to be used on massive scale NAS systems with little performance impact. It was great to see the TrueNAS 13.0-U1 system with 1200 drives failover in less than 1 minute when under high load. This was a greater than 95% reduction from previous releases and would significantly improve system availability.

TrueNAS 13.0 is the highest performing TrueNAS version for single node and HA deployments. Performance improvements of 30% are expected for some CPU-bound workloads. Below are the comparisons with TrueNAS 12.0 for some NFS and iSCSI workloads on an all-flash system.

TrueNAS 13.0-U1 is another Major Milestone
TrueNAS 13.0 has progressed quickly to the UPDATE stages. Because the TrueNAS 13.0 changes are less complex, it has matured much more rapidly than previous TrueNAS releases.. There is a TrueNAS 13.0 sub-forum on the Community forums for this accelerated process and Community feedback. Thousands of users have already reported a smooth software update experience from TrueNAS 12.0.

The new TrueNAS 13.0 documentation is based on the TrueNAS 12.0 docs, which were more modular and expandable. The Community is invited to edit, contribute, or simply provide feedback. Please check out the documentation even if you don’t upgrade today. The documentation now has the ability to comment on any page. Please use this if you think the documentation advice is missing or needs more clarity.

SMB users with security concerns should look at updating. TrueNAS makes it easy to update and rollback if there are any issues. Users are also encouraged to check the TrueNAS forums to see the experiences of other users.

TrueNAS SCALE: The Path to Scale-out and Linux Support

TrueNAS 12.0 and TrueNAS 13.0 users also have an option to migrate to TrueNAS SCALE, which also supports Samba 4.15, NFS nconnect, and OpenZFS 2.1 (in addition to other features), but is based on Debian Bullseye and not FreeBSD. Users looking for scale-out storage capabilities and/or Linux-friendly hyperconvergence with Kubernetes and KVM should also look at SCALE. TrueNAS SCALE 22.02.2 was made available earlier in June.

Users with storage-centric use cases (file, block, object) that are generally satisfied with TrueNAS 12.0 will find that upgrading to TrueNAS 13.0 will result in significant advantages without any major changes to features, data layout, and tools, or user interface.

TrueNAS CORE: Still the Best Free NAS

For those with TrueNAS 12.0 installed on your system, you can upgrade to TrueNAS 13.0 easily. For new systems, download TrueNAS 13.0 and get started. TrueNAS Enterprise customers should contact iXsystems Technical Support for a complimentary technical review and assistance before updating.

TrueNAS 13.0 security, quality, and performance improvements should have a positive impact on your systems. If you have any questions or comments, we’d love to hear them on our community forums, the TrueNAS subreddit, or in response to this blog. If you need additional information on how TrueNAS can streamline, accelerate, and unify data management for your business, contact us.

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iXsystems Introduces Second Major Update of TrueNAS SCALE with SMB Clustering

Ladislav Sirový — Wed, 22 Jun 2022 11:04:46 +0000

SAN JOSE, CA – June 22, 2022 — iXsystems®, an Open Source pioneer and the company behind TrueNAS, today announced the availability of the second release of TrueNAS SCALE for scale-out storage and open hyperconvergence. This release is complemented by new functionality in TrueCommand which provides wizards for creating SMB clusters. Built on Linux, TrueNAS SCALE supports Docker Containers, Kubernetes, KVM, and Scale-out OpenZFS with Open Source economics.

The second major update to TrueNAS SCALE “Angelfish” has been tested by more than 20,000 users in the four months since its release.

TrueNAS SCALE offers SMB, Gluster, and NFS File Sharing, iSCSI Block Storage, S3 Object API integration, and Cloud Sync for interoperability with public cloud storage. With the addition of SMB clustering, clients can connect to the cluster via any SMB node across the cluster for access to hundreds of petabytes of capacity and terabits of bandwidth per second.
TrueNAS SCALE can be installed to run on a single node and then scale out to multiple clustered nodes, as needs change. Additional details on choices among clustering options can be found in the recent blog on TrueNAS SCALE clustering.

TrueCommand 2.2 is also now available for testing ahead of its planned release in mid-July 2022 to begin managing clusters. TrueCommand is software that can be deployed on-premises or in a globally accessible cloud for managing fleets of TrueNAS Open Source and Enterprise systems. TrueCommand 2.2 has been enhanced to make use of the additional TrueNAS SCALE APIs and clustered SMB with wizards for creating SMB clusters. Additional improvements include a reworked statistics engine for added performance, improved certificate handling for added simplicity, and improved middleware for better error handling and testing frameworks.

“We have experienced TrueNAS to be a flexible and reliable software-defined storage platform that has helped our team meet customer requirements including; virtual machine storage, video and media storage, and deploying applications in containers with TrueNAS SCALE,” said Trevor Carlson, Vice President of Engineering, THUMBWAR. “We really dig the Open Source culture at iX, allowing us to quickly test and experiment with new ideas on easy-to-install production-ready software.”

Pricing and Availability

TrueNAS is available as Open Storage software that is downloadable at no cost or as TrueNAS appliances for a turnkey experience with enterprise features and support. Despite industry-wide global supply chain issues, iX has the inventory to deliver complete TrueNAS appliances to customers within weeks.

“We have seen widespread adoption by Linux admins and have received great feedback as TrueNAS SCALE matures,” said Kris Moore, SVP of Engineering, iXsystems. “With the addition of capabilities that are interesting to both personal and IT use cases, we look forward to seeing momentum build further among Open Source users and Enterprise customers.”

Additional Resources:

TrueNAS SCALE 22.02 Update 2 Blog
TrueNAS SCALE Clustering Blog
TrueNAS SCALE 22.02 Update 2 is available for free download at truenas.com/scale
TrueCommand 2.2 is available for testing at truenas.com/truecommand
TrueNAS storage systems can be found at truenas.com/systems-overview
Additional information can also be found within the TrueNAS Community Forum

About iXsystems and TrueNAS

iX is an Open Source pioneer and the company behind TrueNAS, the world’s most deployed storage software. Used by millions, TrueNAS has laid the foundation for the Open Storage Era so that all organizations can access the benefits of true Data Freedom. TrueNAS enables users to harness the power of the legendary ZFS file system and provides unified and hyperconverged storage for private and cloud data centers, with the reliability and performance demanded by virtualization, backup, and other data-intensive workloads. Thousands of organizations around the world have chosen TrueNAS Enterprise systems and support from iX to scale-up or scale-out their infrastructure while leveraging Open Source economics.

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iXsystems Acknowledged by Customers on Gartner® Peer Insights™ Ratings and Reviews Platform with 4.8 of 5 Stars for TrueNAS Enterprise

Ladislav Sirový — Tue, 21 Jun 2022 08:37:13 +0000

For the most recent Gartner Peer Insights press release, click here.

100% of Reviews Recommend TrueNAS Enterprise Storage

SAN JOSE, CA – June 21, 2022 — iXsystems®, an Open Source pioneer and the company behind TrueNAS, today announced that the company’s TrueNAS Enterprise unified storage systems have been recommended by 100% of customers, and rated 4.8 out of 5 stars on Gartner® Peer Insights™ in the Primary Storage category as of June 17, 2022, based on 12 reviews. iXsystems received its rating for overall customer experience which includes evaluation and contracting, integration and deployment, service and support, and product capabilities. Additional review details are available on the Peer Insights review site.

Gartner Peer Insights is an online IT software and services reviews and ratings platform. The reviews are written and read by IT professionals and technology decision-makers. It helps IT leaders make more insightful purchase decisions and technology providers improve their products by receiving objective, unbiased feedback from their customers. On Gartner Peer Insights, enterprise users have provided feedback that we believe underscores the value they experienced with iX and TrueNAS Enterprise.

In one review, a healthcare industry CIO user stated, “We have used TrueNAS arrays for around five years. We started with one array five years ago to run one very specific workload. It has operated in that area for five years with very minimal issues and has performed as sold the whole time. Due to a planned hardware refresh currently underway when we got to selecting storage for the entire project it was a very easy decision for us. We choose TrueNAS to run as primary storage for all workloads in both datacenters. We have already gotten a few of the new arrays as well as have more coming. The new units excel even past our expectations by way of build quality and performance.”

In another review, an infrastructure and operations professional for a midsize media and entertainment company said, “We started using TrueNAS Core as a way to repurpose older storage into backup systems. As time went by, we realized TrueNAS and iXsystems had a great offering not only because TrueNAS was open-source and free, it was because they had elevated their Enterprise offerings as well. Features, Support and Reliability are all together a hallmark of iXsystems.”

Finally, an enterprise architecture and technology innovation executive at an enterprise-class communications services provider noted, “We acquired our TrueNAS storage to replace another solution that was running out of storage space and performance declining. TrueNAS has been in production for about 9 months now. All in all, our engineering group has been very pleased with the performance of this TrueNAS solution. Our build cycle has decreased from 5 hours to 1.5 hours on the TrueNAS. iXsystems has also been a good partner all through the purchase and deployment. They gave us a turnkey solution, and we had the system up and running within two days. We have more storage requirements coming up and iXsystems / TrueNAS is definitely the leading player going forward.”

TrueNAS® Enterprise appliances from iX are architected and optimized for high availability, running TrueNAS, the world’s most deployed storage software. The appliances come with Enterprise features and professional support, with choice among appliance models that scale-up from small to very large capacities. Customers also choose the best model based on their performance and capacity requirements, and the ideal mix of Hybrid and All-Flash media for their workloads. Centralized management of TrueNAS Enterprise appliances and other TrueNAS systems running open source software is available with TrueCommand.

“iX is proud of the investments we have made in the TrueNAS experience for Open Source users, and more especially proud to have earned such positive reviews of our product and support from TrueNAS Enterprise customers,” said Morgan Littlewood, SVP, Product Management for iXsystems. “TrueNAS Enterprise customers can continue to scale-up their storage with open source economics while retaining the freedom to migrate systems to scale-out with hyperconvergence as they advance their storage environments”.

Visit Gartner Peer Insights to see all ratings and reviews for TrueNAS.

Gartner® and Peer Insights™ are trademarks of Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Gartner Peer Insights content consists of the opinions of individual end users based on their own experiences, and should not be construed as statements of fact, nor do they represent the views of Gartner or its affiliates. Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in this content nor makes any warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this content, about its accuracy or completeness, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.

About iXsystems and TrueNAS

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TrueNAS SCALE adds SMB Clustering in 2nd Major Update

Will Soteros — Fri, 17 Jun 2022 19:31:20 +0000

TrueNAS SCALE 22.02.2 (“Angelfish”) was released today after the previous versions were deployed on over 20,000 active systems. TrueNAS SCALE 22.02.2 includes the completion of SMB clustering on TrueNAS M-Series systems. This release is complemented by the new functionality in TrueCommand that provides wizards for creating SMB clusters.

TrueNAS SCALE continues with system count growth at over 100% per quarter since the start of the BETA process in mid-2021. There is widespread adoption by Linux admins and great feedback as TrueNAS SCALE matures.

TrueNAS SCALE is approaching half an ExaByte of data under management with very good data reliability since the software reached RELEASE status in February of this year. Each software update takes quality and reliability another step forward, as described in the software quality lifecycle:

SMB clustering has been a major focus for this particular release. Scale-out capabilities have previously been introduced by marrying gluster with OpenZFS. Currently, Samba 4.15 is used to build clusters of nodes that then share the scale-out clustered volumes. The effect is that an SMB client can access the cluster via any SMB node in the cluster. This allows for vastly increased bandwidth and capacity clusters that can grow to hundreds of petabytes and terabits per second. The TrueCommand 2.2 multi-system manager includes a wizard to simplify deployment of these clusters, which can start from as few as 3 nodes.

Enclosure Management simplifies Operations

TrueNAS platforms from iXsystems also include a graphical enclosure management system to greatly simplify hardware operations and provide visual hints for servicing systems more reliability. This is included with TrueNAS Minis, R-Series, M-Series, and X-Series.

This tool often relied on drivers available in FreeBSD and not Linux. These drivers have now been ported across, and TrueNAS SCALE 22.02.2 adds support for TrueNAS appliances. The addition of this feature was needed before we could encourage our Enterprise users to consider TrueNAS SCALE for production.

The graphical UI for a TrueNAS M-Series is shown below.

The changes in TrueNAS SCALE 22.02.2

The feature set for TrueNAS SCALE 22.02.2 is described in the TrueNAS SCALE datasheet, and the TrueNAS SCALE documentation provides most of what you need to know to build and run your first systems. If you are missing some information or need advice, the TrueNAS Community forums provide a great source of information and community.

The details of TrueNAS SCALE 22.02.2 are in the release notes. There are over 160 new bug fixes and improvements that will provide another significant quality jump from the RELEASE version. Notable inclusions are:

Increased Dedup performance with SHA-512 checksum default
Improved pool importing in corner case situations
Allow multiple containers to use same shared Intel GPU
Cloudsync Azure Custom Endpoints enable the use of Government Clouds
UPS Monitoring and Reporting fixes
Clustered SMB APIs. TrueCommand uses these APIs to simplify cluster deployment.
Middleware Performance Improvements with increased drive counts

Who Should Use TrueNAS SCALE?

At this U2 stage of its Software Development Lifecycle, TrueNAS SCALE is primarily for simpler deployments and tech labs. It is particularly well suited for users with Linux Apps and Virtualization requirements, in addition to standard storage needs. Users with scale-out storage requirements can start verifying for their specific use-cases or interests.

For Linux developers, there are many opportunities to contribute to the Open Source TrueNAS SCALE project, and we have a vibrant Discord Community for contributors. It is a well-coordinated and managed environment to collaborate in developing the best open hyperconverged infrastructure as a collective. In particular, contribution and testing of the next SCALE release is strongly encouraged.

“Bluefin” is the next major release after SCALE 22.02. It will include some major enhancements including support for ZFS backed cluster snapshots, optional FIPS 140-2 crypto support, and security improvements including rootless operation. For more information, see this community post.

Enterprise Production Use

For larger commercial users with scale-out needs, iXsystems has an Early Access Support Program to support specific deployments and applications before they complete testing and enter the production phase. Please contact your iXsystems Account Representative or email us at info@iXsystems.com if you are interested in trialing TrueNAS SCALE for production.

Production users with standard NAS (NFS, SMB, iSCSI, S3) requirements are still advised to use TrueNAS CORE and Enterprise, which have a hundred times more data under management and over ten years of operation and stability. TrueNAS SCALE has inherited some of that maturity and the automated testing but has not yet completed its enterprise software quality lifecycle.

In parallel, TrueNAS 13.0 (CORE & Enterprise) has also been released and will be the most robust scale-up storage platform. Update 1 to TrueNAS 13.0 is expected in the upcoming weeks and will be a very solid release.

If you have any additional questions or need advice on a new project, please contact us. We are standing by to help.

The post TrueNAS SCALE adds SMB Clustering in 2nd Major Update appeared first on TrueNAS - Welcome to the Open Storage Era.

Understanding ZFS Capacity in TrueNAS: How ZFS Turns Disks into Usable Storage Space

Will Soteros — Fri, 03 Jun 2022 01:53:28 +0000

Author: Jason Rose

ZFS RAID is not like traditional RAID. Its on-disk structure is far more sophisticated than that of a legacy RAID implementation and includes a wide array of data protection features. Because its on-disk structure is more robust, predicting how much usable capacity you’ll get from a set of hard disks with a given vdev (short for virtual device) layout is more complex. There are layers of data protection overhead that need to be understood and accounted for to get an accurate estimate. I’ve found that the best way to wrap one’s head around ZFS allocation overhead is to step through an example.

Let’s start by picking a less-than-ideal RAIDZ vdev layout so we can see the impact of all the various forms of ZFS overhead. Once we understand RAIDZ, understanding mirrored and striped vdevs will be simple. We’ll use 14 x 18TB drives in two 7-wide RAIDZ2 (7wZ2) vdevs. It will generally be easier for us to work in bytes so we don’t have to worry about conversion between TB and TiB.

Starting with the capacity of the individual drives, we’ll subtract the size of the swap partition. The swap partition acts as an extension of the system’s physical memory pool. If a running process needs more memory than is currently available, the system can unload some of its in-memory data onto the swap space. By default, TrueNAS creates a 2GiB swap partition on every disk in the data pool. Other products that use ZFS may create a larger or smaller swap partition, or it might not create one at all.

18 * 1000^4 – 2 * 1024^3 = 17997852516352 bytes

Next, we want to account for reserved sectors at the start of the disk. The layout and size of these reserved sectors will depend on your operating system and partition scheme, but we’ll use FreeBSD and GPT for this example because that is what TrueNAS CORE and Enterprise use. We can check sector alignment by running gpart list on one of the disks in the pool:

root@truenas[~]# gpart list da1

Geom name: da1

modified: false

state: OK

fwheads: 255

fwsectors: 63

last: 35156249959

first: 40

entries: 128

scheme: GPT

Providers:

1. 1. Name: da1p1

Mediasize: 2147483648 (2.0G)

Sectorsize: 512

Stripesize: 0

Stripeoffset: 65536

Mode: r0w0e0

efimedia: HD(1,GPT,b1c0188e-b098-11ec-89c7-0800275344ce,0x80,0x400000)

rawuuid: b1c0188e-b098-11ec-89c7-0800275344ce

rawtype: 516e7cb5-6ecf-11d6-8ff8-00022d09712b

label: (null)

length: 2147483648

offset: 65536

type: freebsd-swap

index: 1

end: 4194431

start: 128

1. 1. Name: da1p2

Mediasize: 17997852430336 (16T)

Sectorsize: 512

Stripesize: 0

Stripeoffset: 2147549184

Mode: r1w1e2

efimedia: HD(2,GPT,b215c5ef-b098-11ec-89c7-0800275344ce,0x400080,0x82f39cce8)

rawuuid: b215c5ef-b098-11ec-89c7-0800275344ce

rawtype: 516e7cba-6ecf-11d6-8ff8-00022d09712b

label: (null)

length: 17997852430336

offset: 2147549184

type: freebsd-zfs

index: 2

end: 35156249959

start: 4194432

Consumers:

1. 1. Name: da1

Mediasize: 18000000000000 (16T)

Sectorsize: 512

Mode: r1w1e3

First, note that the sector size used on this drive is 512 bytes. The first logical block on this disk is actually sector 40; that means 40 * 512 = 20480 bytes are subtracted.

The 1. Name: da1p1 section describes the swap partition on this drive. We can see it is 2GiB in size (as expected) and it starts at logical block address 128 (i.e., an offset of 512 * 128 = 65536 bytes). If we subtract this space from the expected partition size calculated above, we see it lines up with the actual on-disk partition size:

17997852516352 – 20480 – 65536 = 17997852430336 bytes

Before ZFS does anything with this partition, it rounds its size down to align with a 256KiB block. This rounded-down size is referred to as the osize or physical volume size of the disk in the ZFS code.

floor(17997852430336 / (256 * 1024)) * 256 * 1024 = 17997852311552 bytes

Inside the physical ZFS volume, we need to account for the special labels added to each disk. ZFS creates 4 copies of a 256KiB vdev label on each disk (2 at the start of the ZFS partition and 2 at the end) plus a 3.5MiB embedded boot loader region. Details on the function of the vdev labels can be found here and details on how the labels are sized and arranged can be found here and in the sections just below this (lines 541 and 548). We subtract this 4.5MiB (4 * 256KiB + 3.5MiB) of space from the ZFS partition to get its “usable” size:

17997852311552 – 4 * 262144 – 3670016 = 17997847592960 bytes

Next, we need to calculate the allocation size or “asize” of the whole vdev. We simply multiply the usable ZFS partition size by the vdev width here. We’re not accounting for parity space just yet:

17997847592960 * 7 = 125984933150720 bytes

That’s about 114.58 TiB. ZFS takes this chunk of storage represented by the allocation size and breaks it into smaller, uniformly-sized buckets called “metaslabs”. ZFS creates these metaslabs because they’re much more manageable than the full vdev size when tracking used and available space via spacemaps. The size of the metaslabs are primarily controlled by the metaslab shift or ms_shift variable with the target size being 2^ms_shift bytes. You can read more about metaslab sizing here.

ZFS sets ms_shift so that the quantity of metaslabs is under 200. ms_shift starts at 29 and grows as high as 34. Once ms_shift is 34, it doesn’t grow any larger but instead the metaslab count grows beyond 200. With an ms_shift value of 34, ZFS will create as many 16GiB metaslabs as it can fit in the vdev allocation size. 2^17 or 131,072 is the cap on the metaslab count (or ms_count); after that cap is hit, ZFS allows metaslabs to grow larger than 16GiB. This cap won’t be hit until your vdev allocation size is at least 2^17 * 16 GiB = 2 PiB. Again, that’s the size of an individual vdev, not the whole pool; you aren’t going to run into this unless you put more than 125 18TB disks in a single Z2 vdev.

On the other hand, the “cutoff” for going from ms_shift = 34 down to ms_shift = 33 is really pretty small, 1,600GiB or 1.5625TiB. In other words, unless your vdevs are smaller than 1.5625TiB, your pool’s ms_shift value will be 34. For our example, asize is well over 1.5625TiB so we have ms_shift = 34.

Once we have the value of ms_shift we can easily calculate the metaslab size by doing 2^ms_shift.

2 ^ 34 = 17179869184 bytes

With ms_shift = 34, the metaslab size will be 16GiB. We can note that if ms_shift was 33, the metaslab size would be 8GiB; the metaslab size gets cut in half each time ms_shift decreases by 1. We now need to figure out how many full 16GiB metaslabs will fit in each vdev, so we calculate asize / metaslab_size and round down using the floor() function (the 16GiB metaslab size is represented in bytes below):

floor(125984933150720 / 17179869184) = 7333

This gives us 7,333 metaslabs per vdevs. We can check our progress so far on an actual ZFS system by using the zdb command provided by ZFS. We can check vdev size and the metaslab shift value by running zdb -C $pool_name and we can check metaslab count by running zdb -m $pool_name. Note on TrueNAS, you’ll need to add the -U /data/zfs/zpool.cache option (i.e., zdb -U /data/zfs/zpool.cache -C $pool_name and zdb -U /data/zfs/zpool.cache -m $pool_name).

root@truenas[~]# zdb -U /data/zfs/zpool.cache -C tank

MOS Configuration:

version: 5000

name: 'tank'

state: 0

txg: 11

pool_guid: 7584042259335681111

errata: 0

hostid: 3601001416

hostname: ''

com.delphix:has_per_vdev_zaps

vdev_children: 2

vdev_tree:

type: 'root'

id: 0

guid: 7584042259335681111

create_txg: 4

children[0]:

type: 'raidz'

id: 0

guid: 2993118147866813004

nparity: 2

metaslab_array: 268

metaslab_shift: 34

ashift: 12

asize: 125984933150720

is_log: 0

create_txg: 4

com.delphix:vdev_zap_top: 129

children[0]:

type: 'disk'

... (output truncated) ...

root@truenas[~]# zdb -U /data/zfs/zpool.cache -m tank

Metaslabs:

vdev 0 ms_unflushed_phys object 270

metaslabs 7333 offset spacemap free

--------------- ------------------- --------------- ------------

metaslab 0 offset 0 spacemap 274 free 16.0G

space map object 274:

smp_length = 0x18

smp_alloc = 0x12000

Flush data:

unflushed txg=5

metaslab 1 offset 400000000 spacemap 273 free 16.0G

space map object 273:

smp_length = 0x18

smp_alloc = 0x21000

Flush data:

unflushed txg=6

... (output truncated) ...

ZFS reserves one metaslab per “normal class” vdev (meaning not from cache vdevs, etc) for an “embedded SLOG”, but this is not factored into capacity calculations. More info on that here.

To calculate useful space in our vdev, we multiply the metaslab size by the metaslab count. This means that space within the ZFS partition but not covered by one of the metaslabs isn’t useful to us and is effectively lost. In theory, by using a smaller ms_shift value, we could recover a bit of this space, but we would end up using a lot more system memory so it’s not really worth it. With 7,333 metaslabs at 16GiB per metaslab, we have:

17179869184 * 7333 = 125979980726272 bytes

That’s about 114.58 TiB of useful space per vdev. If we multiply that by the quantity of vdevs, we get the ZFS pool size:

125979980726272 * 2 = 251959961452544 bytes

We can confirm this by running zpool list:

root@truenas[~]# zpool list -p -o name,size,alloc,free tank

NAME SIZE ALLOC FREE

tank 251959961452544 1437696 251959960014848

The -p flag shows exact (parsable) byte values and the -o flag determines what properties will be displayed (without the flag, it outputs a bunch of stuff that’s not relevant for this and the table text wraps and becomes almost unreadable).

Note that the zpool SIZE value matches what we calculated above. We’re going to set this number aside for now and calculate RAIDZ parity and padding. Before we proceed, it will be helpful to review a few ZFS basics including ashift, minimum block size, how partial-stripe writes work, and the ZFS recordsize value.

Hard disks and SSDs divide their space into tiny logical storage buckets called “sectors”. A sector is usually 4KiB but could be 512 bytes on older hard drives or 8KiB on some SSDs. A sector represents the smallest read or write a disk can do in a single operation. ZFS tracks disks’ sector size as the ashift where 2^ashift = sector size (so ashift = 9 for 512 byte sectors, 12 for 4KiB sectors, 13 for 8KiB sectors).

In RAIDZ, the smallest useful write we can make is p+1 sectors wide where p is the parity level (1 for RAIDZ1, 2 for Z2, 3 for Z3). This gives us a single sector of user data and the required number of parity sectors to protect that user data. With this in mind, ZFS allocates space on RAIDZ vdevs in even multiples of this p+1 value to maximize capacity and prevent unusable-small gaps on the disk. For example, imagine we made a 5-sector write to a RAIDZ2 vdev (3 user data sectors and 2 parity sectors). We later delete that data and are left with a 5-sector gap on the disk. We now make a 3-sector write to the Z2 vdev, it lands in that 5-sector gap and we have a 2-sector gap that we can’t do anything with. That space can’t be recovered without totally rewriting every other sector on the disk after it.

To avoid this, ZFS will pad out all writes to RAIDZ vdevs so they’re an even multiple of this p+1 value. By “pad out” we mean it just logically includes these extra few sectors in the block to be written but doesn’t actually write anything to them. The ZFS source code refers to them as “skip” sectors.

Unlike traditional RAID5 and RAID6 implementations, ZFS supports partial-stripe writes. This has a number of important advantages but also presents some implications for space calculation that we’ll need to consider. Supporting partial stripe writes means that in our 7wZ2 vdev example, we can support a write of 12 total sectors even though 12 is not an even multiple of our stripe width (7). 12 is evenly divisible by p+1 (which is 3 in this case because we’re using RAIDZ2), so we don’t even need any padding. We would have a single full stripe of 7 sectors (2 parity sectors plus 5 data sectors) followed by a partial stripe with 2 parity sectors and 3 data sectors. This will be important because even though we can support partial stripe writes, every stripe (including those partial stripes) need a full set of p parity sectors.

The last ZFS concept we need to understand here is the recordsize value. The ZFS recordsize value is used to determine the largest block of data ZFS can write out. It can be set per-dataset and can be any even power of 2 from 512 bytes up to 1MiB. The default recordsize value is 128KiB. For capacity estimation purposes, ZFS always assumes a 128KiB record. It’s important to note that this recordsize value only considers user data, not parity or padding. It’s also worth mentioning that block sizes in ZFS will vary based on how much data needs to be written out and the recordsize value enforces the upper limit of that block size, but again, ZFS assumes all 128KiB records for space calculation purposes, so we will use that value going forward.

You can read more about ZFS’ handling of partial stripe writes and block padding in this article by Matt Ahrens.

Getting back to our capacity example, we have the minimum sector count already calculated above at p+1 = 3. Next, we need to figure out how many sectors will get filled up by a recordsize write (128KiB here).

128 * 1024 / 4096 = 32 sectors

Our stripe width is 7 disks, so we can figure out how many stripes this 128KiB write will take. Remember, we need 2 parity sectors per stripe, so we divide the 32 sectors by 5 because that’s the number of data sectors per stripe:

32 / (7-2) = 6.4 stripes

We can visualize how this might look on the disks (P represents a parity sectors, D represents a data sectors):

As mentioned above, that partial 0.4 stripe also gets 2 parity sectors, so we have 7 stripes of parity data at 2 parity sectors per stripe, or 14 total parity sectors. We now have 32 data sectors, 14 parity sectors, adding those, we get 46 total sectors for this data block. 46 is not an even multiple of our minimum sector count (3), so we need to add 2 padding sectors. This brings our total sector count to 48: 32 data sectors, 14 parity sectors, and 2 padding sectors.

With the padding sectors included, this is what the full 128KiB block might look like on disk. I’ve drawn two blocks so you can see how alignment of the second block gets shifted a bit to accommodate the partial stripe we’ve written. The X’s represent the padding sectors.

This probably looks strange because we have one parity sector at the start of the second block just hanging out by itself. Even though it’s not on the same exact row as the data it’s protecting, it’s still providing that protection. ZFS knows where that parity data is written so it doesn’t really matter what LBA it gets written to, as long as it’s on the correct disk.

We can calculate a data storage efficiency ratio by dividing our 32 data sectors by the 48 total sectors it takes to store them on disk with this particular vdev layout.

32 / 48 = 0.66667

ZFS uses something similar to this ratio when allocating space but in order to simplify calculations and avoid multiplication overflows and other weird stuff it tracks this ratio as a fraction of 512. In other words, to more accurately represent how ZFS “sees” the on-disk space, we need to convert the 32/48 fraction to the nearest fraction of 512. We’ll need to round down to get a whole number in the numerator (the top part of the fraction). To do this, we calculate:

floor(0.66667 * 512) / 512 = 0.666015625 = 341/512

This 341/512 fraction is called the vdev_deflate_ratio and it’s what we’ll multiply the pool size calculated above by in order to get usable space per vdev after parity and padding. You can read a bit more on the vdev_deflat_ratio here.

251959961452544 * 0.666015625 = 167809271201792 bytes

The last thing we need to account for is SPA slop space. ZFS reserves the last little bit of pool capacity “to ensure the pool doesn’t run completely out of space due to unaccounted changes (e.g. to the MOS)”. Normally this is 1/32 of the usable pool capacity with a minimum value of 128MiB. OpenZFS 2.0.7 also introduced a maximum limit to slop space of 128GiB (this is good; slop space used to be HUGE on large pools). You can read about SPA slop space reservation here.

For our example pool, slop space would be…

167809271201792 * 1/32 = 5244039725056 bytes

That’s 4.77 TiB reserved for SPA slop and an incredible investment in data protection and durability. If we’re running OpenZFS 2.0.7 or later, we’ll use 128 GiB instead:

167809271201792 - 128 * 1024^3 = 167671832248320 bytes

= 156156.5625 GiB

= 152.4966 TiB

And there we have it! This is the total usable capacity of a pool of 14x 18TB disks configured in 2x 7wZ2. We can confirm the calculations using zfs list:

root@truenas[~]# zfs list -p tank

NAME USED AVAIL REFER MOUNTPOINT

tank 1080288 167671831168032 196416 /mnt/tank

As with the zpool list command, the -p flag shows exact byte values.

167671831168032 + 1080288 = 167671832248320 bytes

= 156156.5625 GiB

= 152.4966 TiB

By adding the USED and AVAIL values, we can confirm that our calculation is accurate.

Mirrored vdevs work in a similar way but the vdev asize is just a single drive’s capacity (minus zfs labels and whatnot) and then the vdev_deflate_ratio is just 512/512 or 1.0. We skip all the parity and padding sector stuff but we do still need to account for metaslab allocation and SPA slop space.

This example used VirtualBox with virtual 18TB disks that hold exactly 18,000,000,000,000 bytes. Real disks won’t have such an exact physical capacity; the 8TB disks in my TrueNAS system hold 8,001,563,222,016 bytes. If you run through these calculations on a real system with physical disks, I recommend checking the exact disk and partition capacity using gpart or something similar.

It’s worth noting that none of these calculations factor in any data compression. The effect of compression on storage capacity is almost impossible to predict without running your data through the compression algorithm you intend to use. At iX, we typically see between 1.2:1 and 1.6:1 reduction assuming the data is compressible in the first place.

We’re also ignoring the effect that variable block sizes will have on functional pool capacity. We used a 128 KiB block because that’s the ZFS default and what it uses for available capacity calculations, but (as discussed above) ZFS may use a different block size for different data. A different block size will change the ratio of data sectors to parity+padding sectors so overall storage efficiency might change. The calculator above includes the ability to set a recordsize value and calculate capacity based on a pool full of blocks that size. You can experiment with different recordsize values to see its effects on efficiency. Changing a dataset’s recordsize value will have effects on performance as well, so read up on it before tinkering. You can find a good high-level discussion of recordsize tuning here, a more detailed technical discussion here, and a great generalized workload tuning guide here on the OpenZFS docs page.

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iXsystems Receives Excellent Ratings and Great NPS scores from Large User and Customer Experience Surveys

Will Soteros — Mon, 23 May 2022 20:51:02 +0000

More than 9 out of 10 users are highly satisfied with their TrueNAS experience

SAN JOSE, CA – May 23, 2022 — iXsystems®, an Open Source pioneer and the company behind TrueNAS, today announced very positive ratings from its users and customers across several key areas, including products, resources, and customer support. The 2022 TrueNAS User Satisfaction Survey is the largest audit of its kind undertaken by the company, involving more than 8,400 TrueNAS users and their experience with community support and resources. The 2022 TrueNAS Enterprise Customer Experience Survey involved hundreds of companies that have chosen systems and support from iX.

As the company behind TrueNAS, iX relies on collaboration and feedback from the TrueNAS Open Source community of >250K users. This input builds the backlog from which issues are resolved and software feature requests are prioritized. One of the company’s core values is “pursue kaizen” or continuous improvement, which the company strives to apply to both TrueNAS products and the people at iX that create and support them.

A large number of respondents completing the survey had very positive sentiments when discussing TrueNAS, such as:

“We have used FreeNAS / TrueNAS for 6 years in our company. We have found it to be efficient, reliable, and economical. I am glad I discovered it and have been able to incorporate it into the IT structures in our business.”
“TrueNAS saved my life. In August 2021, my client was on fire. Two months before, I made a disaster recovery plan with TrueNAS. All the data was saved – thanks to FreeBSD, ZFS, rsync, and TrueNAS!!!!”
“TrueNAS as a whole is amazing for a large number of use cases. Moved from ESXi and a self-configured NAS to just using TrueNAS SCALE for both service hosting, VM hosting, and as a NAS. And it’s awesome how it holds up to everything.”

“Thinking people before profit, we build and package TrueNAS in ways our users prefer to consume and deploy the technology,” said Mario Blandini, Vice President of Marketing for iX. “With improvements recently released in TrueNAS 13.0 and TrueNAS SCALE (22.02.1), we encourage all organizations to freely experience TrueNAS for themselves, to see which of their workloads work well atop Open Source unified storage.”

Findings of the surveys revealed the following:

93% of respondents indicated a good to excellent overall experience with TrueNAS
88% of respondents reported good to excellent experience using TrueNAS Enterprise systems
85% of those surveyed said that their overall experience working with the iX sales team was good to excellent
84% reported a good to excellent experience when working with the iX technical support team
80% of respondents said they were likely to recommend TrueNAS to a friend or colleague

Among any neutral to negative experiences provided by users, issues with hardware compatibility were most commonly reported as an opportunity for continued improvement. This challenge is common to all software-defined storage solutions whether open or proprietary. In collaboration with the TrueNAS Community, iX maintains comprehensive TrueNAS hardware guidelines to assist community users in selecting suitable hardware that also matches the compatibility lists of the upstream operating systems. The company exclusively offers support on its TrueNAS Enterprise appliances that are designed by iX for optimal reliability, high availability, price / performance, and of course, zero concerns with hardware compatibility.

The Open Source development model of TrueNAS results in ultimate transparency for code, software roadmap, and documentation as part of the company’s promise of true Data Freedom. As the world’s most deployed storage software, the quality, performance, and security of TrueNAS has been tested and proven in Enterprise IT environments across a great diversity of systems worldwide. With a “great” Net Promoter Score (NPS) of 64.8 that is approaching a coveted “excellent” range, anyone evaluating IT infrastructure can expect a positive experience with TrueNAS, even if they have never previously used an Open Source product.

“While our competition focuses on the concerns of Wall Street or their VC and PE investors, we obsess over the thoughts and needs of our user and customer community,” said Brett Davis, Executive Vice President for iX. “We earn business by helping users discover true Data Freedom with TrueNAS Open Storage, and our incredible growth over these past several years has proven that strategy to be altogether valid, unique, and desirable. These surveys will ensure we keep evolving a product that not only protects their data, but does it in a way that customers love to use and continue to promote to their friends and colleagues.”

About iXsystems and TrueNAS

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iXsystems Builds on Global Leadership in Open Storage with New TrueNAS Releases

Ladislav Sirový — Tue, 10 May 2022 12:39:59 +0000

Significant Improvements to TrueNAS CORE and SCALE Offer Expanded Choice and Strengthen the Foundation for Open Storage

SAN JOSE, CA – May 10, 2022 — iXsystems®, an Open Source pioneer and the company behind TrueNAS, today announced the availability of two major updates to TrueNAS Open Storage software editions. The launch of TrueNAS 13.0 brings significant performance improvements to the world’s most deployed scale-up storage software. The availability of the latest version of TrueNAS SCALE (22.02.1) marks the first major update to the newly-released scale-out and hyperconverged edition. Both versions of TrueNAS are designed and tested for their respective data-intensive workloads and made available so all organizations can benefit from true Data Freedom and open source economics.

TrueNAS 13.0, available as CORE (free, community edition) and Enterprise editions, is the latest evolution of unified, scale-up Open Storage with several significant enhancements over the 12.0 version. The update of the underlying operating system to FreeBSD 13.0 improves performance by up to 20%, while the update of the file system to OpenZFS 2.1 reduces system restart and failover times by more than 80% for multi-PetaByte systems. Additional details can be found in the TrueNAS 13.0 RELEASE blog.

TrueNAS SCALE 22.02.1 is the first major update to TrueNAS SCALE “Angelfish” after testing involving over 16,000 users. This update improves quality and enables the deployment of more complex scale-out and hyperconverged infrastructure. TrueNAS SCALE is based on Linux and can be installed and run on a single node and then scale-out to multiple clustered nodes. It is also possible for TrueNAS 12.0 and TrueNAS 13.0 users to easily migrate to TrueNAS SCALE as the needs of their applications change. Additional details can be found in the TrueNAS SCALE 22.02.1 blog.

“Innovation is coming from a number of areas in the storage industry, with significant advancements coming from the industry’s leading open-source storage providers,” said Scott Sinclair, Practice Director, ESG. “For organizations that have not yet considered an open option, the performance and availability of the latest TrueNAS updates offer a powerful, affordable storage choice that organizations should consider.”

In addition to these software advancements, iX is investing in its community resources to improve collaboration and responsiveness. TrueNAS documentation now enables commenting from the community, allowing any user to more easily contribute. Issue reporting and feature requests will also be improved with the transition to Jira Cloud, accelerating the experience for contributors and TrueNAS software developers.

Pricing and Availability

TrueNAS is available as Open Storage software that is downloadable at no cost, or as TrueNAS appliances for a turnkey experience with enterprise features and support. Despite industry-wide supply chain issues, iX has materials in stock and can deliver complete TrueNAS appliances to customers within weeks to meet deployment requirements.

“We are excited to deliver two major Open Storage software releases within 3 months,” said Morgan Littlewood, SVP, Product Management for iXsystems. “TrueNAS 13.0 provides proven and reliable scale-up storage, while TrueNAS SCALE is the path to scale-out and hyperconvergence. Both TrueNAS versions run on any server or TrueNAS system, and data can be seamlessly migrated between them.“

TrueNAS 13.0 RELEASE is available for free download at truenas.com/truenas-core. TrueNAS SCALE 22.02.1 is available for free download at truenas.com/scale.

TrueNAS storage systems can be found at truenas.com/systems-overview/.

Additional information can also be found within the TrueNAS community forum.

About iX and TrueNAS

iX is an Open Source pioneer and the company behind TrueNAS, the world’s most deployed storage software. Used by millions, TrueNAS has laid the foundation for the Open Storage Era so that all organizations can benefit from true Data Freedom. TrueNAS enables users to harness the power of the legendary ZFS file system and provides unified and hyperconverged storage for private and cloud datacenters, with the reliability and performance demanded by virtualization, backup, and other data-intensive workloads. Thousands of organizations around the world have chosen TrueNAS Enterprise systems and support from iX to scale-up or scale-out their infrastructure while leveraging Open Source economics.

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TrueNAS 13.0 Succeeds TrueNAS 12.0

Will Soteros — Tue, 10 May 2022 09:00:37 +0000

TrueNAS 13.0 reached its RELEASE milestone today and is the natural successor to TrueNAS 12.0-U8, which has been the most widely deployed and highest quality TrueNAS version ever. TrueNAS 13.0 retains all the TrueNAS 12.0 services and middleware while providing significant improvements in security, availability, quality, and performance.

The significant new components of TrueNAS 13.0 are:

FreeBSD 13.1: FreeBSD 13.1 includes thousands of improvements and numerous iXsystems contributions. There are major improvements to cryptography, networking, drivers, and NUMA scheduling. The Plugins and jails can now run with version 13.0 compatibility and the significant performance improvements increase IOPS and bandwidth for larger NAS systems by up to 20%.

OpenZFS 2.1: OpenZFS 2.0 was a huge quality success in TrueNAS 12.0. OpenZFS 2.1 extends the improvements in reliability and performance even further. One iX contribution reduces the ZFS pool import times by making the process more parallel. System restart and failover times are reduced by more than 80% for larger systems, which reduces downtime and increases system availability.

Samba 4.15: The Samba 4.15 release has important security improvements and virtual file system improvements that ensure SMB support is secure and robust.

iSCSI target: TrueNAS 13.0 includes support for larger native I/O sizes and general performance improvements. These will translate into more bandwidth on backup and archive systems. Larger scale performance testing results will be released in the coming months.

NFS server: TrueNAS 13.0 includes NFS support for nconnect. This allows multiple TCP connections from a Linux client to operate in parallel and provides higher and more robust performance. This can increase single-client performance on high-speed networks by as much as 400%.

Note: With the release of TrueNAS 13.0, the expectation was that we would inherit the FReeBSD NFS server improvements. One of those was NFS nconnect. Refer to the forum post for more info. The bug-ID is here: NAS-116262

TrueNAS 13.0 is the highest performing TrueNAS version for single node and HA deployments. All the jails and plugin capabilities are maintained along with the storage services built into TrueNAS 12.0. The update from TrueNAS 12.0-U8 will be straightforward and driven entirely from the webUI. Thanks to a major contribution from WD, TrueNAS 13.0 passed comprehensive large-scale testing on a TrueNAS M60-HA with over 1,200 drives as shown in the iX lab below.

TrueNAS 13.0 RELEASE is a Major Milestone

TrueNAS 13.0 has progressed quickly to the RELEASE and UPDATE stages. Because the TrueNAS 13.0 changes are less complex, it is maturing faster than TrueNAS 12.0 or TrueNAS SCALE. There is a TrueNAS 13.0 sub-forum on the Community forums for this accelerated process and Community feedback. Hundreds of users have already reported a very normal software update experience from TrueNAS 12.0.

SMB users with security concerns should look at updating in the next few months. TrueNAS makes it easy to update and rollback if there are any issues. Users are also encouraged to check on the TrueNAS forums to see the experiences of other users.

TrueNAS SCALE: The Path to Scale-out and Linux Support

TrueNAS CORE: Still the Best Free NAS

For those with TrueNAS 12.0 installed on your system, you can upgrade to TrueNAS 13.0 RELEASE easily. For new systems, download TrueNAS 13.0 and get started. TrueNAS Enterprise customers should contact iXsystems Technical Support for a complimentary technical review and assistance before updating.

TrueNAS 13.0 security, quality, and performance improvements should have a positive impact on your systems. If you have any questions or comments, we’d love to hear them on our community forums, TrueNAS subreddit, or in response to this blog. If you need additional information on how TrueNAS can streamline, accelerate, and unify data management for your business, contact us.

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Robbie From NAS Compares Reviews The Best Free NAS OS (TrueNAS)

Will Soteros — Fri, 06 May 2022 18:14:59 +0000

Robbie Andrews from NAS Compares has just wrapped up his time exploring TrueNAS where he published one of the most comprehensive sets of reviews we have ever seen! Robbie now holds the record for the most content created on TrueNAS in the shortest amount of time. He has long been fascinated with all things NAS so we knew we had to get a TrueNAS Mini in his hands.

Overall, Robbie was very impressed with the maturity and wide range of features. This will come as no surprise to our community. Robbie is seeing what users have known for years about TrueNAS—Enterprise, datacenter-proven, open storage software that is free for everyone, AND it works great at home!

As part of his series, Robbie was the emcee of a live Q&A about TrueNAS posing questions from his audience to iX’s SVP of Product Management, Morgan Littlewood. A wide variety of questions were answered that ranged from the basics of TrueNAS and ZFS to questions that may even stump power users. The full list of questions and their respective answers can be found here.

Overall, Robbie has created an immense wealth of content that TrueNAS users of any level can learn something new. He was pleasantly surprised by the outstanding amount of features that TrueNAS offers thanks to the power of ZFS 2.0 and Open Source technology. Plus, thanks to all the hard work from the TrueNAS team and our amazing community of over 250,000 members, Robbie had crowned TrueNAS with the title of being “in a class of its own”.

Give TrueNAS a shot and download TrueNAS CORE for free HERE.

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TrueNAS SCALE 22.02.1

Will Soteros — Wed, 04 May 2022 15:40:38 +0000

TrueNAS SCALE gets its First Major Update!

TrueNAS SCALE 22.02.0 (“Angelfish”) was released on “Twosday”, 2/22/22 and now gets its first major update after being deployed on over 16,000 active systems. TrueNAS SCALE 22.02.1 includes over 270 bug fixes and improvements and is a major step on the path to quality and reliability.

The growth of TrueNAS SCALE is extraordinary with over 100% system count growth per quarter since the start of the BETA process. We are excited to see widespread adoption by experienced Linux admins and look forward to working with more Linux admins and users.

The amount of storage under management by TrueNAS SCALE is also growing rapidly and is on track to pass an ExaByte this year. The enormity of the data stored requires extremely high software quality and excellent data management. Each software update takes this reliability another step forward as described in the quality lifecycle.

TrueNAS SCALE is still TrueNAS…with differences

TrueNAS SCALE is the culmination of an almost three-year collaborative effort from the iXsystems engineering team and the TrueNAS Community. The journey started with iXsystems contributions in promoting the combination of both Linux and FreeBSD as the primary operating systems for OpenZFS 2.0. This allowed the TrueNAS middleware to be ported between both OSes, with the goal of eventually supporting existing TrueNAS features atop a Linux base to unlock several Linux-specific capabilities.

The major additions to TrueNAS SCALE are:

Kubernetes Apps enable Linux/Docker Containers
- Vast library of dockerized applications and Apps Catalogs
- Supports Helm charts and now Docker Compose apps
TrueNAS CLI provides robust interface via REST API to middleware
KVM provides robust and feature-rich hypervisor with good Windows guest support
Updated WebUI provides a greatly improved NAS management experience
Scale-out ZFS enabled via Glusterfs
- Allows scale-out capacity and bandwidth via native client or SMB
- Supports mirroring and dispersed (erasure code) volumes
Scale-out SMB clustering
- Leverages Glusterfs and provides increased capacity/bandwidth
High Availability also applies to Apps and VMs
Scale-out S3 is supported via the Minio App
- Migration via CloudSync or Minio replication.

Migrating from TrueNAS CORE is possible

TrueNAS CORE 12.0-U8 is a very mature software release with all the benefits of millions of machine years of testing and bug fixes since it started life as FreeNAS. Migrating from CORE to SCALE is possible, but only recommended to users that see significant benefits from the unique TrueNAS SCALE features.
The migration path from TrueNAS CORE to SCALE is now better tested and is improved with this first update. Below is a summary of the pot-holes to avoid along the way:

Jails & Plugins cannot be migrated to Kubernetes Apps.
- Each application must be recreated or reinstalled on SCALE.
- Plugins and datasets can be migrated to App with the same application software
Netcli functionality is replaced by TrueNAS cli. (see docs – more to come)
Bhyve removed – VMs auto-migrate to KVM with same zvol
AFP Shares are retired
- Migrate to an SMB share with AFP compatibility enabled.
wheel group exists in CORE, not in SCALE
- This impacts permissions settings and can prevent shares from functioning. Change any permissions set to the wheel group before migrating.
Multipath is not supported
- Turn off multipathing within CORE/Enterprise before migrating.
GELI encryption is not supported and there is no migration
- File level backup/restore is required.
- Unlock the pool then use ZFS/rsync replication to replicate the data to a new pool.
iSCSI ALUA & Fibre Channel are not supported until TrueNAS SCALE Bluefin
Asigra plugin is currently not supported (support coming in a future release)
TrueNAS (Enterprise) High Availability is demonstrable, but not yet mature. Users are advised to wait until Update 3 or 4.

Linux was also missing a driver for SATA backplanes and this has delayed the delivery of enclosure management for Minis and R-series. This should be resolved soon.

The changes in TrueNAS SCALE 22.02.1

The feature set for TrueNAS SCALE 22.02.1 is described in the TrueNAS SCALE datasheet, and the TrueNAS SCALE documentation provides most of what you need to know to build and run your first systems. If you are missing some information or need advice, the TrueNAS Community forums provide a great source of information and community.

The details of TrueNAS SCALE 22.02.1 are in the release notes. There are over 270 new bug fixes and improvements that will provide a significant quality jump from the RELEASE version. Notable inclusions are:

The much loved Netdata App
Increased kernel NFS robustness and performance
Self-encrypting Drive support
Improved pool management UI
Better UPS support
Improved Gluster and Clustered SMB APIs

TrueCommand 2.2 will be using the SMB cluster APIs to make clustering simpler to deploy and use. This release is planned for May.

We want to thank the community for the tremendous support in improving TrueNAS SCALE quality! It’s been an exciting ride, and there’s much more to come, so please keep reporting bugs and making suggestions as we continue to improve the quality of TrueNAS SCALE together.

The Netdata App and its UI

Who Should Use TrueNAS SCALE?

At this U1 stage of its Software Development Lifecycle, TrueNAS SCALE is primarily for sub-PetaByte projects and tech labs. It is particularly well suited to users with Linux Apps and Virtualization requirements in addition to standard storage needs. Users with scale-out storage requirements can start testing for their specific use-cases or interests.

“Bluefin” is the next major release after SCALE 22.02. It will include some major enhancements including scale-out ZFS snapshots and replication, clustered Kubernetes, and clustered hypervisors. For more information, see this community post.

Enterprise Production Use

For larger commercial users with scale-out needs, iXsystems has a trial support program to support specific deployments and applications before they complete testing and enter the production phase. Please contact your iXsystems Account Representative, or email us at info@iXsystems.com if you are interested in trialing TrueNAS SCALE.

If you have any additional questions or need advice on a new project, please contact us. We are standing by to help.

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TrueNAS 13.0 RC1 Increases Storage Availability

Will Soteros — Tue, 19 Apr 2022 17:13:37 +0000

TrueNAS 13.0 reached its Release Candidate milestone today and previews some significant increases in storage availability. TrueNAS 13.0 RC1 piggybacks on the TrueNAS 13.0 BETA and includes new features, quality improvements, and the benefits of more extensive testing. TrueNAS 13.0 is focused on improving the security, performance, and reliability of scale-up storage capabilities of TrueNAS 12.0.

One of the primary goals of storage software and TrueNAS 13.0 is to increase the availability of storage. When storage cannot be accessed, it is unavailable and costs users time and money. In some cases, these costs can be millions of dollars per hour. The typical way storage availability is measured is the amount of time the data can be accessed as a % of the time for each year. For example, “5 nines” is 99.999% availability or less than 5 minutes of downtime per year. Each system should have a target of three, four, five, or more nines.

There are various causes of storage unavailability, and these are summed to determine the actual unavailability of a system in any given year.

Drive failures: This can be relatively frequent, especially with many drives, but there is no availability impact if you are using ZFS RAID and have configured enough spares.

Component failures: Rarer than drive failures, but component failures do happen and can cause long outages. Redundant controllers, fans, and power supplies can reduce the impact of individual component failures.

Repair times/Hardware Maintenance: Replacing a server takes time and will reduce expected availability to “Three 9’s” unless locally spared. TrueNAS HA (High Availability) systems have the spare controller built-in to enable “Five 9s” of availability.

Network outages: Rare, though these are not normally attributed to storage. It is ideal to have dual switches and no single point of failure to ensure storage availability.

Power outages: This is a common issue in homes and offices and can be mitigated with a UPS (or a solar battery). Data Centers will generally have two or three power sources/feeds, and these can be connected to redundant power inputs on the storage. Hot-swappable, redundant power supplies are recommended for these environments.

System reboots: Systems may have to reboot in some situations. Reboot times impact availability and should be as fast as possible. Rebooting also requires the ZFS pool to be reimported and the sharing services to be restarted. TrueNAS is well-regarded with respect to the low frequency of reboots and has been demonstrated to be much more reliable than Windows Servers.

Software updates: One of the primary reasons for rebooting is to enable software updates. TrueNAS HA systems reduce this time by having the standby controller already updated and so only the ZFS pool needs to be imported.

TrueNAS 13.0 can’t solve hardware availability issues, but the software can improve storage availability. The iX engineering team has reviewed the reboot and software update times and has found several ways of improving them, particularly for larger systems and HA systems.

The major improvement in TrueNAS 13.0 is the increase in parallelism when importing an OpenZFS pool. Previously, there were parts of the ZFS file system that were single-threaded, with a single process scanning metadata across the entire pool. This serialization extended pool import times dramatically. With OpenZFS 2.1, iXsystems has contributed an OpenZFS patch that parallelizes this process so that ten or more threads can simultaneously work on the task, providing up to a 90% reduction in pool import times for large pools.

For TrueNAS HA systems, there is an automated, multi-step software update process to shutdown the primary controller, activate the secondary controller, move the Virtual IP addresses, import the pool, replay any data in the SLOGs, and then restart the sharing services. Under TrueNAS 13.0, the faster ZFS pool imports will greatly improve failover and software update times. This will be particularly noticeable on systems with hundreds of hard drives, where imports traditionally took much longer. Smaller pools with dozens of drives are expected to see a 50% improvement, but more testing needs to be done for validation. All-flash pools import much more quickly on account of flash media’s much lower latency. The reduction in failover times helps IT meet their system availability goals.

Thanks to a major contribution from WD, TrueNAS 13.0 is also the first release that is going through comprehensive large-scale testing with over 1200 drives on a single HA system. The increased lab space we have added has allowed us to house this good-looking TrueNAS M60 system. These improvements and testing capabilities are also scheduled for TrueNAS SCALE and will mature in future releases.

Another Step Toward TrueNAS 13.0 RELEASE!

TrueNAS 13.0 is progressing through an accelerated delivery of the BETA1, RC1, RELEASE, and UPDATE stages. Because the software changes are less complex, it is maturing faster than TrueNAS 12.0 or TrueNAS SCALE. There is a TrueNAS 13.0 sub-forum on the Community forums for this accelerated process and Community feedback. Hundreds of users have started their testing, and the feedback has been favorable with most users reporting a very normal software update experience.

The new TrueNAS 13.0 documentation is based on the TrueNAS 12.0 docs which were more modular and expandable. The Community is invited to edit, contribute, or simply provide feedback. Please check out the documentation even if you don’t upgrade today.

TrueNAS SCALE: The Path to Scale-out and Linux Support

TrueNAS 12.0 users also have an option to migrate to TrueNAS SCALE. TrueNAS SCALE also supports Samba 4.15 and OpenZFS 2.1 but is based on Debian Bullseye and not FreeBSD.

Users looking for scale-out storage capabilities and/or Linux-friendly hyperconvergence with Kubernetes and KVM should look at SCALE. TrueNAS SCALE 22.02.0 hit the RELEASE stage on “Twosday”, 2/22/22.

TrueNAS CORE: Still the Best Free NAS

TrueNAS 13.0 security, quality, and performance improvements should have a positive impact on your systems. If you have any questions or comments, we’d love to hear them on the community forums, on the TrueNAS subreddit, or in response to this blog. If you need additional information on how TrueNAS can streamline, accelerate, and unify data management for your business, contact us.

For those with TrueNAS 12.0 installed on your system, you can upgrade to TrueNAS 13.0 RC1 easily. Download TrueNAS 13.0 RC1 and get started. TrueNAS Enterprise customers should wait for the TrueNAS 13.0 RELEASE or one of the UPDATES and contact iXsystems support before updating.

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Results of TrueNAS Enterprise Customer Experience Survey

Will Soteros — Tue, 12 Apr 2022 16:04:46 +0000

In recent posts, we shared satisfaction scores and user input & comments provided by more than 8,400 users of TrueNAS CORE and SCALE. In this post, we are happy to share how customers of TrueNAS Enterprise appliances rated their product, sales, and support experiences in a recent survey. We sincerely thank all of those who responded! iX pledged to make a charitable donation for every survey submission, and we are proud to report that $11,520 was raised from the survey to support the Red Cross.

The responses we received were largely positive across the board. We also received some great feedback and input on desired improvements and features for our products. iX is different, and we take pride in the success of our customer-centric approach. “Thinking people before profit”, we strive to help customers choose what is best for their environment, with clear and simple pricing and no hidden fees or upcharges. Word of mouth from our satisfied customers will always be our best sales tool.

Of course, our interactions following purchase and deployment are just as important. In the survey, customers scored our Support Team highly. Again more than 90% of responses said they had a good or excellent experience, with several comments of praise for the knowledge and professionalism of the iX Support Team. Based on the “iXperience” built into TrueNAS Enterprise and provided by our support and sales teams, 4 out of 5 customers said they would recommend iXsystems to a friend or colleague. A similar percentage of customers said they would recommend TrueNAS Enterprise to someone in the market for storage.

In terms of the product itself, a majority 88% of customers reported a good or excellent experience using TrueNAS Enterprise systems. The open development model of TrueNAS allows for more transparency while delivering on our promise of true data freedom. This ultimately results in a product that delivers better stability, performance, and security without vendor lock-in or artificially-imposed limits, usually at a much better price.

While we are generally happy with these scores, we are never satisfied. We will continue to invest in areas to meet or exceed customer expectations, and prioritize feedback as we continually improve. We are following up with any customer respondents who had anything less than a positive experience to learn more about how we can improve things for them and future customers while hopefully earning their recommendation in the future.

From the survey, the most requested areas of improvement for TrueNAS have been included in the backlog of features and capabilities that feed our Engineering Roadmap. The top six areas that our customers want us to focus on are:

Backup Integration
VMware Integration
Hardware Improvements
General Ease of Use
Documentation (Related to HA setup, installation, and replication)
Clustering (coming in TrueNAS SCALE!)

We also received some feedback that we have taken to heart. Some of the common requests included things like faster support response times, NFS enhancements, and more advanced reporting. Expect us to invest in these areas as we strive to keep our customers highly satisfied, and work to earn a high score from all who buy TrueNAS Enterprise.

A big thank you again to our customers for taking part in our survey. What’s more, everyone at iX is grateful for the business we earn from our customers. We have our customers to thank for being recognized as the fastest-growing storage systems vendor in 2021 and one of only two Open Source companies in the Top 25. We look forward to ongoing collaboration and doing great things together in the future. Thanks again for your help and feedback thus far!

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TrueNAS 2022 User Satisfaction Survey Comments – Part 2

Will Soteros — Tue, 05 Apr 2022 15:55:20 +0000

In our last post, we shared the number-based results of our recent user satisfaction survey. We also had a good amount of constructive feedback provided to us, as well as requests for new features. Here is some of the feedback and suggestions we received from the survey.

Constructive User Input

Please keep TrueNAS CORE free!
Applications like a file manager and activity log reviewer would be helpful.
Can you provide better consumer cloud integration options?
I wish there were more applications integrated into the platform
GPU passthrough to VMs is a must for some workloads. Please allow more flexibility with hardware and SCALE.
Please provide better guides or documentation for what everything does for people who are new to the NAS community.

Getting Involved

Want to get involved and have your feedback heard? Join our Community Forums and chat about all the things you’d like to see in TrueNAS. You can submit feature requests and bug requests here on our Jira tracker. You can also look to see if there is a similar ticket in Jira with the built-in search functionality. Lastly, you can vote on issues you would like to see implemented in TrueNAS!

Feedback and iteration are two of the most important components of any new technology or product. Build something for someone to use, listen to them, improve the product, repeat ad-infinitum. FreeNAS and TrueNAS have gone through many of these feedback loops (more efficiently than any comparable proprietary products, a feature of open source) to reach where we are today.

User Comments

“We have used FreeNAS/TrueNAS for 6 years in our company. We have found it to be efficient, reliable, and economical. I am glad I discovered it and have been able to incorporate it into the IT structures in our business.”
“TrueNAS saved my life—August 2021, my client was on fire. Two months before, I made a disaster recovery plan with TrueNAS. All the data was saved – thanks to FreeBSD, ZFS, rsync, and TrueNAS!!!!”
“Keep up the good work! TrueNAS has replaced my 15 year old Gentoo install. Using VMs, containers, and built-in services. Thank you so much.”
“Thank you all for your hard work. TrueNAS as a whole is amazing for a large number of use cases. Moved from ESXi and a self-configured NAS to just using TrueNAS SCALE for both service hosting, VM hosting, and as a NAS. And it’s awesome how it holds up to everything.”
“Keep it up! I can’t wait for when I have some more time to try out more features on my newly acquired test server! Definitely looking forward to an alternative to VMware’s vSAN!”
I have spent my career in IT leadership, managing global networks, infrastructure, and operations. When a need arose for network storage on a less than multi-million dollar budget, I started researching solutions and decided to give TrueNAS a try…I was pleasantly surprised! I was impressed with the ease of installation, robustness, and reliability of the TrueNAS product. Thank you!”
“Everything is progressing really well, iXsystems got me started in servers and ZFS and now I couldn’t imagine life without it. Thanks for all the hard work over the years.”

Do You Know TrueCommand?

We also found that almost 90% of users have yet to try TrueCommand, with nearly a third of those users simply not yet aware of what TrueCommand is used for. For the uninitiated, TrueCommand is a management dashboard designed for easy monitoring and management of TrueNAS systems and drives, as well as the cluster manager for TrueNAS SCALE.

While many users have small environments, TrueCommand is available to manage up to 50 drives for free. Given TrueCommand is meant for managing Enterprise environments, it makes sense it has fewer users overall in our community. Among those who have used TrueCommand, most are satisfied with its performance, so we hope you take the time to test it out!

Net Promoter Score (NPS)

As a whole, the numbers show that 93% of all free TrueNAS users (CORE and SCALE) actively recommend the software. With over one million deployments worldwide, that means there are hundreds of thousands of happy users. We’re proud that so many of our users are already advocates of TrueNAS. It speaks to the quality of our free software and the influence of our community.

With a Net Promoter Score (NPS) of 64.8, we are pleased to be in the “great” category, within striking distance of 71 and a coveted “excellent” score range. As our community grows, iX is growing to support continued engineering and continued improvement in user experience. Speaking of growth, iX is also a most excellent place to work. Are you an iXian?

Thank You Again!

As mentioned in Part 1, one of our core values is “pursue kaizen”, another way of saying “continuous improvement”. It is something we apply both to our products and ourselves. Another big thanks to our users for sharing their comments and feedback. We gained a lot of insight into our community and how we can improve TrueNAS for our users.

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TrueNAS 2022 User Satisfaction Survey Results – Part 1

Will Soteros — Tue, 29 Mar 2022 14:33:03 +0000

At iX, we create offerings that operate the way we ourselves prefer to use and consume them. We rely on collaboration with our community, including feedback, to build our backlog from which we choose feature requests. One of our core values is “pursue kaizen”, another way of saying “continuous improvement”. We strive to apply it to both our products and ourselves.

In our continuous effort to improve and reach new heights, we recently asked our community to give us feedback about their experience with TrueNAS. The results are in! Nearly 8,400 users stepped up and responded to our recent survey to provide their thoughts and give us insight into what TrueNAS means to them.

More than 4 out of 5 Users Agree

First and foremost, we are very pleased to learn that nearly 90% of respondents have already upgraded from FreeNAS to TrueNAS. TrueNAS CORE code was first made available over two and a half years ago in 2019, and the vast majority of users are now taking advantage of the maturity and features available.

Overall, the community had very positive feedback. Across the board, the scores show that more than 4 out of every 5 users are highly satisfied with their TrueNAS experience. We are delighted that our hard work over many years has earned such high marks, and will continue to pour our passions into developing offerings that users love.

TrueNAS CORE

TrueNAS CORE 12.0-U8 is the most widely deployed and highest quality of the current TrueNAS releases. On a 10-point scale, nearly 85% reported they are highly satisfied with their experience with TrueNAS CORE.

Even more encouraging, nearly nine out of ten would be confident using TrueNAS CORE at work. This should inspire confidence in the even the most ultra-conservative IT Admins that TrueNAS in 2022 is proving itself robust enough for many demanding applications.

If you’re happy with TrueNAS CORE, you’ll find even greater satisfaction with TrueNAS Enterprise which is built on the same foundation as CORE and designed especially for zero-downtime environments that need the added security provided by professional support.

For the ~10% of those who haven’t upgraded to TrueNAS CORE from FreeNAS, many of the responses mentioned that they didn’t want to risk an upgrade because they “haven’t had a need” or “it just works.” These comments are very encouraging to read. It shows that the stability and maturity of older versions are still meeting the needs of these users, though there have been several security updates since, so we would still encourage those users to update when they can. We recommend updating to FreeNAS 11.3-U5 first and then upgrading to TrueNAS CORE to retain rollback options. It’s an easy web update, and we’ve also made it simple to migrate from CORE and SCALE.

There’s never been a better time to make the move. TrueNAS CORE 13.0 will be coming soon and will introduce goodness from FreeBSD 13.0, OpenZFS 2.1.1, SAMBA 4.15, as well as optimizations for large systems with heavy disk usage.

TrueNAS SCALE

At the time of this survey, TrueNAS SCALE was still in the Release Candidate stage. Despite that, the vast majority of SCALE users were also very satisfied with the quality, features, and maturity of the product. This is a strong vote of confidence in the changes we’ve made in the development, release, and QA processes over the past two years.

Over a hundred QA and development cycles took place to transform FreeNAS 11.3 to the current TrueNAS CORE 12.0-U8. Meanwhile, there have been about six development cycles so far to bring TrueNAS SCALE to its current release. Although SCALE is the newest member of the TrueNAS family, it’s built on the same data freedom fundamentals as TrueNAS CORE and inherits much of the work that went into TrueNAS CORE.

As a result of its open development process, the platform is much more mature than users might have expected from pre-release software. We thus are happily surprised that 70% of users who primarily use TrueNAS SCALE are highly satisfied with the platform. What’s more, 4 out of 5 users would be comfortable deploying TrueNAS SCALE in an enterprise environment.

Thank You!

“The feedback from the TrueNAS community has been tremendous,” said Morgan Littlewood, iXsystems SVP for Product Development. “It’s always great to hear that users love the product because it indicates that we’re on the right path. The fundamentals of our products are strong, and that provides a great foundation for us to build the Enterprise edition of our product. We very much appreciate collaborating with the TrueNAS community, and we’ll continue to refine the product and add more useful features to make the user experience better for everyone.”

Part 2 of this topic will share the constructive comments and product feedback received in the survey. We invite all to look for Part 2 next week, as well as continuous improvements in future releases of TrueNAS as we pursue kaizen! Lastly, another big thanks to our users for participating in the survey.

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TrueNAS Facilitates the Transition to IPv6-Only

Will Soteros — Tue, 22 Mar 2022 14:48:10 +0000

TrueNAS has broadly supported IPv6 for over ten years. IPv6 clients can access NFS, SMB, S3, and WebDav shares on TrueNAS CORE, Enterprise, or SCALE. However, that support generally assumed that TrueNAS was used on dual-stack networks with both IPv4 and IPv6 access. With the introduction of TrueNAS SCALE, TrueNAS is now embracing IPv6-only networks.

Capabilities that were previously IPv4-only are now being made available via IPv6. Examples of these are:

Software updates via the WebUI in CORE, Enterprise, and SCALE
Pro-active support in TrueNAS Enterprise
HA dual-controllers in TrueNAS SCALE

Why is IPv6 Interesting?

IPv6 is the Internet’s solution to the 32-bit addressing limitation of IPv4. The shorter 32-bit addresses are both hard to acquire and less structured. It’s difficult to determine the organization or country that an end-point comes from. IPv6 addresses are 128-bit and very structured. They are expressed in groups of 4 hexadecimals, which makes them less readable that the typical IPv4 address (e.g 192.168.0.1).

With 128-bits, IPv6 addresses are split into a network (64-bit) and node (64-bit). The network address is split into 48-bits for the global organization. The Global Unicast addresses are assigned as blocks to ISPs, who then allocate them to their customers. Organizations can then assign the Local subnet IDs and route them within their own VPNs. Many large organizations and ISPs find that security is much simpler with this model.

Adoption of IPv6 has been steadily rising to the point where some organizations are becoming IPv6 only. Google provides statistics on access via IPv6 and now sees over 35% of its traffic using IPv6.

TrueNAS Fully Embraces IPv6-Only

Looking at this uptake and the technical benefits of a larger Internet, TrueNAS must embrace IPv6 and enable users to fully utilize this technology without a dual-stack approach. The major IPv6-only improvements being made are:

Software Updates: Previously, IPv6 users could download a new iso and apply a software update. Now, the webUI will connect to the update server and provide the point-and-click experience for new updates in TrueNAS CORE, Enterprise, or SCALE.

Pro-active Support: For users with Enterprise Support contracts, the Proactive support system will now be able to connect via IPv6 to iX’s support systems. Drive failures, power events, and temperature alerts will all be automatically communicated without the need for IPv4.

High Availability: The HA with TrueNAS Enterprise relies on the CARP protocol that was engineered for IPv4. With the rewrite of HA for TrueNAS SCALE and Linux, that protocol has been re-engineered to support IPv6. This enables HA without a dual-stack model. Enterprise customers with a strong intention to move to IPv6 will be encouraged to use TrueNAS SCALE rather than TrueNAS 13.0.

There will be other projects that can make better use of IPv6, including TrueCommand. These will be tackled in future releases. Let us know of any other issues that impact you.

Contact us

The TrueNAS IPv6 improvements should have a positive impact on your IPv6 systems. If you have any questions or comments, we’d love to hear them on the community forums, on the TrueNAS subreddit, or in response to this blog. If you need additional information on how TrueNAS can streamline, accelerate, and unify data management for your business, contact us.

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TrueNAS Minis Store More Than 100TB!

Will Soteros — Thu, 17 Mar 2022 19:02:09 +0000

Our TrueNAS Minis have always been a storage powerhouse. Mini but mighty and now, even mightier! With the integration of 18 TB WD Red Pro drives, TrueNAS Minis are now configurable to support more than 100 TB, allowing you to store more video footage and data with a minimal footprint.

	TrueNAS Mini Models
	Mini E	Mini X	Mini X+	Mini XL+
Max. Hard Drives	4 x 18TB	5 x 18TB	5 x 18TB	8 x 18TB
Additional SSDs	–	–	2 x 7.6 TB	2 x 7.6 TB
Raw Capacity	72 TB	90 TB	105 TB	159 TB
ZFS Layout	4W-RAIDZ1	5W-RAIDZ1	5W-RAIDZ1 + MIRROR	8W-RAIDZ2 + MIRROR
Usable Capacity (without Compression)	47 TB	63 TB	70 TB	102 TB

More Power and Value for Your Money

When it comes to value, choosing TrueNAS is the right decision. With full NAS systems as low as $50/TB at >1W per TB, you get increased capacity along with effective power efficiency, less power at a lower cost, without sacrificing quality. You get the tried and tested maturity of TrueNAS software with the support from iXsystems and the devoted community who put their trust in TrueNAS.

TrueNAS and WD Red Pro

Western Digital is a long-standing partner of iXsystems and the WD Red Plus and WD Red Pro drives are the preferred drive for the TrueNAS Mini product line. These Western Digital HDDs are purpose-built, optimized, and tested for demanding NAS applications. They are engineered to handle heavy workloads so that users can stream, back up, organize their digital content, and manage data like a pro.

“We are honored to have these latest high-capacity drives included in the TrueNAS Mini products. The 18 TB Red Pro drives enable best in class capacity and a power profile that enables the Minis to be whisper quiet.” -David Jarvis, Senior Account Executive for Western Digital

TrueNAS Minis are compact and whisper-quiet when it comes to storing your valuable data in a secure environment. Now with the ability to be configured to more than 100 TB, allowing you to store more while maintaining a small form factor. Let TrueNAS safeguard what matters to you most by bringing professional-grade data protection and storage capabilities to your home or office.

For a full specification table and drives compatibility list, please visit our Mini page at TrueNAS.com.

Ready to protect your valuable data with TrueNAS? Configure & Buy

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First Official RELEASE of TrueNAS on Linux!

Will Soteros — Tue, 22 Feb 2022 10:22:04 +0000

For the first time, TrueNAS, the most widely deployed Open Source Software-Defined Storage, is now officially available on both FreeBSD (TrueNAS CORE & TrueNAS Enterprise) and Linux with TrueNAS SCALE. TrueNAS SCALE 22.02.0 (Angelfish) is now released on “Twosday”, 2/22/22.

iXsystems is excited and delighted to welcome Linux users to join the TrueNAS Community. All of the excellent TrueNAS tools like OpenZFS, Snapshots, Replication, REST APIs, WebUI, Samba with Windows ACLs, High Availability, Enclosure Management, and Single-click software updates are now joined by the standard Linux toolchain and a familiar Debian Linux system environment. We invite all Linux admins, users, and enthusiasts to try it for themselves and come join the TrueNAS Community.

TrueNAS SCALE is still TrueNAS…plus MAJOR additions

TrueNAS SCALE is the culmination of an almost three-year collaborative effort from the iXsystems engineering team and the TrueNAS Community. The journey started with iXsystems contributions in promoting the combination of both Linux and FreeBSD as the primary OSes for OpenZFS 2.0. This allowed the TrueNAS middleware to be ported between both OS’s, with the goal of eventually supporting existing TrueNAS features atop a Linux base to unlock several Linux-specific capabilities, including Docker Containers, Kubernetes, KVM, and also Scale-out ZFS through the gluster file system.

TrueNAS SCALE’s set of additional features and capabilities enable TrueNAS to provide Open Source Hyperconverged Infrastructure (HCI) and Scale-out Unified Storage. Through the use of Linux, TrueNAS SCALE can live up to its acronym:

The TrueNAS SCALE path to Release

The path from development to ALPHA, then BETA, RC, and now RELEASE has taken 18 months of development and an extensive testing effort. Over 10,000 TrueNAS Community users have participated and tested on their widely varying hardware platforms and VMs. A successful three month RELEASE CANDIDATE (RC) stage with its two QA cycles completed the path to RELEASE. The lifecycle of TrueNAS SCALE, including the growth to 10,000 users is outlined below.

The RELEASE stage is the major milestone in our software lifecycle which enables customers to start building and deploying systems for business use. At RELEASE, iXsystems offers standard Enterprise support contracts. We look forward to working with our partners and customers over the coming months.

iXsystems is contributing significantly to Linux

While many applications port easily from FreeBSD to Linux, TrueNAS leverages many OS tools to provide an appliance-like experience. Adding a new OS, integrating it effectively, and then making sure it is rock solid and reliable is no small feat. The iXsystems engineering team and the many TrueNAS Community contributors and testers have collectively spent hundreds of development years making this release possible. Sincerest thanks to all who collaborated with us on this incredible journey!

Highlights of the many iXsystems technical contributions to TrueNAS SCALE include:

OpenZFS 2.0: The inclusion of FreeBSD and Linux as a thoroughly tested peer in OpenZFS enabled the migration of data between TrueNAS CORE to TrueNAS SCALE. Both the development and testing processes were contributed by iXsystems. After completing the OpenZFS 2.0 integration, iXsystems has contributed many scalability improvements, including a major reduction of pool import times in large systems.

Windows ACLs on Linux: By default, Linux only supports POSIX.1e ACLs which are a small subset of Windows (NFSv4) ACLs. The iXsystems addition of NFSv4 ACLs on OpenZFS within Linux enables much better SMB sharing compatibility with Windows.

Scale-out OpenZFS: iXsystems is integrating the Gluster File System and OpenZFS to create a system with the properties of scale-out ZFS. Recent contributions include the ability to tie Gluster and OpenZFS snapshots together, which will appear in the next release, known as “Bluefin”.

Kubernetes Apps: iXsystems migrated the Apps capability from FreeBSD Jails/Plugins to a Kubernetes infrastructure with Helm Charts and support for Docker Containers and pods. Partners such as TrueCharts.org have further enabled large catalogs of applications to be available to the user community.

CLI and GUI Usability: TrueNAS SCALE included a more efficient WebUI that lets users configure and view more settings on a single web page. The Command-Line Interface (CLI) has been enhanced with a TrueNAS CLI that lets users harness all the power of the TrueNAS REST APIs from a text console.

The changes in TrueNAS SCALE 22.02.0

The feature set for TrueNAS 22.02 is described in the TrueNAS SCALE datasheet, and the TrueNAS SCALE documentation provides most of what you need to know to build and run your first systems. If you are missing some information or need advice, the TrueNAS Community forums provide a great source of information and community.

The details of TrueNAS SCALE 22.02.0 are in the release notes. There are over 300 new bug fixes and improvements that will provide a significant quality jump from the RC2 version. Notable inclusions are:

Better integration with third-party app repositories, such as TrueCharts.
Ability to ‘sidegrade” from TrueNAS CORE to SCALE
Full NFSv4 ACL support on both NFS and SMB protocols
M-Series Enclosure Management
High Availability (dual-controller) initial support
Customizable Dashboard page

We want to thank the community for the tremendous support in bringing TrueNAS SCALE to life! The assistance in finding and resolving bugs has been invaluable. It’s been quite an exciting ride, and there’s much more to come, so please keep reporting bugs and making suggestions as we continue to improve the quality of TrueNAS SCALE together.

Who Should Use TrueNAS SCALE?

At this RELEASE stage of its Software Development Lifecycle, TrueNAS SCALE is primarily for home usage, smaller projects, and tech labs. It is particularly well suited to users with Linux Apps and Virtualization requirements in addition to standard storage needs. Users with scale-out storage requirements can start testing for their specific use-cases or interests.

For Linux developers, there are many opportunities to contribute to the Open Source TrueNAS SCALE project, and we have a vibrant Discord Community for contributors. It is a well-coordinated and managed environment to collaborate in developing the best open hyperconverged infrastructure as a collective. Bluefin is the next major release after SCALE 22.02. It will include some major enhancements including scale-out ZFS snapshots and replication, clustered Kubernetes, and clustered hypervisors. For more information, see this community post.

If you have any additional questions or need advice on a new project, please contact us. We are standing by to help.

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TrueNAS 13.0 BETA Improves Scale-up Unified Storage

Will Soteros — Tue, 08 Feb 2022 16:40:53 +0000

TrueNAS 13.0 reaches its BETA milestone today and is ready for serious testing by the community. TrueNAS 13.0 piggybacks on the TrueNAS 12.0 quality improvements and the move to OpenZFS 2.1. There are many major updates to the components of TrueNAS that are intended to increase the general reliability, performance, and security of TrueNAS unified storage.

TrueNAS 13.0 and TrueNAS SCALE are the successors of the very successful unification of FreeNAS and TrueNAS into TrueNAS 12.0. TrueNAS 13.0 is focused on continuing the scale-up storage capabilities of TrueNAS 12.0.

The significant new components of TrueNAS 13.0 are:

TrueNAS 12.0-U8 middleware: TrueNAS 13.0 is based on the TrueNAS 12.0-U8 middleware and includes thousands of bug fixes and general quality improvements. There will be very few UI and API changes that will enable the automated testing to verify the quality of the TrueNAS 13.0 software. We are expecting higher quality than a typical major release.

FreeBSD 13.0: The Operating System (OS) is updated to FreeBSD 13.0 and includes thousands of improvements and many iXsystems contributions. Released in April 2021, this OS includes many improvements to cryptography, networking, drivers, and NUMA scheduling. Overall, Phoronix found significant performance improvements.

OpenZFS 2.1: The improvements in OpenZFS 2.0 were greatly appreciated in TrueNAS 12.0. OpenZFS 2.1, released in July 2021, has many more improvements in reliability and performance. Altogether, there are hundreds of updates and bug fixes. One particular contribution made by iXsystems reduces the ZFS pool import times. By making the process more parallel, system restart times and failover times can be significantly reduced for larger systems.

Samba 4.15: The most commonly used service on TrueNAS is SMB and is provided via Samba.org. The latest Samba 4.15 release has some security improvements and virtual file system improvements that ensure SMB support is stable and fast on 13.0.

iSCSI target: iSCSI includes support for larger native I/O sizes and general performance improvements. There will be a more detailed analysis of performance improvements closer to the RELEASE date.

Other minor improvements include:

Intel I225 (2.5 Gbe) NIC support
Various 12.0 bug fixes that were too complicated to resolve in a minor update

Progress Toward TrueNAS 13.0 RELEASE!

TrueNAS 13.0 is going through an accelerated delivery of the BETA1, RC1, RELEASE, and UPDATE stages. It will mature faster than TrueNAS 12.0 or TrueNAS SCALE. There is a TrueNAS 13.0 sub-forum on the Community forums for this accelerated process and Community feedback.

The new TrueNAS 13.0 documentation is based on the TrueNAS 12.0 docs which were more modular and expandable. The Community is invited to edit and contribute. Please check out the documentation even if you don’t upgrade today.

The upgrades from TrueNAS 12.0 to TrueNAS 13.0 are expected to be very smooth due to the consistency of the software architecture. TrueNAS 12.0 enabled the merger of FreeNAS and TrueNAS into a unified software image and the new truenas.com website. FreeNAS has morphed into TrueNAS CORE and the general quality has improved with the consolidation of the CORE and Enterprise images. With the last update of TrueNAS 12.0-U8, over 85% of systems have updated from TrueNAS and FreeNAS 11.x.

TrueNAS SCALE: The Path to Scale-out and Linux Support

TrueNAS 12.0 users also have an option to migrate to TrueNAS SCALE. TrueNAS SCALE also supports Samba 4.15 and OpenZFS 2.1 but is based on Debian Bullseye and not FreeBSD.

Users looking for scale-out storage capabilities and/or Linux-friendly hyperconvergence with Kubernetes and KVM should look at SCALE. TrueNAS SCALE 22.02 is expected to hit the RELEASE stage in February.

Users with storage-centric use cases (file, block, object) that are generally satisfied with TrueNAS 12.0 will find that the TrueNAS 13.0 upgrade provides significant advantages without any major changes to data layout, tools, or user interface.

TrueCommand is the Single-Pane-of-Glass Management Platform

TrueNAS 12.0, SCALE, and TrueNAS 13.0 include support for TrueCommand (Docker or VM) and TrueCommand Cloud, a SaaS version that includes a VPN capability for managing across private networks. TrueCommand 2.1 is the latest release and includes:

Storage navigation of datasets, files across multiple NAS systems.
Real-time per-second statistics.
Role-Based and Team-Based Access Controls (RBAC).
Tracking and reporting inventory with serial numbers and support status.
Two-Factor Authentication and Single Sign-On.

TrueNAS CORE: Still the Best Free NAS

For those with TrueNAS 12.0 installed on your system, you can upgrade to TrueNAS 13.0 BETA with a single click! Otherwise, download TrueNAS 13.0 BETA and get started. TrueNAS Enterprise customers should wait for TrueNAS 13.0 RELEASE and contact iXsystems support before updating.

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TrueNAS 12.0-U8 Sets The Stage for TrueNAS 13.0 and SCALE 22.02

Will Soteros — Wed, 02 Feb 2022 15:25:10 +0000

TrueNAS 12.0-U8 was released today and is recommended for even the most conservative users of FreeNAS, TrueNAS CORE, and TrueNAS Enterprise. It will ship by default on all new TrueNAS systems and serve as the last of the TrueNAS 12.0 updates. Users have been very positive with respect to the rock-solid quality that TrueNAS 12.0 has achieved. Going forward, TrueNAS will provide two paths to the future; TrueNAS 13.0 and TrueNAS SCALE 22.02.

TrueNAS 13.0 continues on from TrueNAS 12.0 with improved quality and reliability for general storage use-cases on both CORE and Enterprise editions. TrueNAS 13.0 will provide major updates to FreeBSD, Samba, and OpenZFS while remaining a simple upgrade from TrueNAS 12.0. TrueNAS 13.0 is expected to get to BETA stage in February and RELEASE quality during the second quarter of 2022.

TrueNAS SCALE is an optional “sidegrade” for use-cases that require scale-out storage or more Linux capabilities (containers or VMs). TrueNAS SCALE 22.02 is in RC2 phase now and is expected to reach RELEASE quality later this month (2/22/22).

TrueNAS 12.0-U8 provides a natural path to migrate from CORE to SCALE. Users considering this migration will find supporting documentation on the new TrueNAS Upgrades page. Migrations to TrueNAS SCALE may be more complex and require more thought than updates to TrueNAS 13.0, especially for users with plugins or VMs.

TrueNAS 12.0: a Retrospective

While releasing TrueNAS 12.0, we created a new lifecycle model for TrueNAS CORE and Enterprise releases. The history of TrueNAS 12.0 releases has been:

TrueNAS 12.0 RELEASE was made available October 20, 2020, and included many new features and performance enhancements, along with OpenZFS 2.0 support and a major OS update to FreeBSD 12.2, which also broadened hardware compatibility.

TrueNAS 12.0-U1 was released in December, resolved the most significant bugs, and enabled features like Fusion pools and efficient scrubbing/resilvering.

TrueNAS 12.0-U2 was released in February and included bug fixes with some minor features.

TrueNAS 12.0-U3 was released April 13, 2021, and included bug fixes with some minor features. This release was officially ready for mission-critical users.

TrueNAS 12.0-U4 was released June 1, 2021, and included bug fixes with robustness improvements.

TrueNAS 12.0-U5 was released August 3, 2021, and included bug fixes, python upgrades, and security improvements. This version has been very stable and is considered the best production version, including all previous FreeNAS versions.

TrueNAS 12.0-U6 was released on October 5, 2021, and included a number of fixes, nearly a dozen improvements, and a few platform enhancements.

TrueNAS 12.0-U7 was released on December 7, 2021, and also includes a number of fixes, nearly a dozen more improvements, and a few platform enhancements including OpenZFS 2.0.6.

TrueNAS 12.0-U8 was released on February 2, 2022, and also includes dozens of fixes and a few improvements. These include:

- OpenZFS 2.0.7 (itself has 50+ fixes)
- Robustness improvements for cabling JBODs

TrueCommand 2.1 is the Single-Pane-of-Glass Management Platform

Storage navigation of datasets and files across multiple NAS systems.
Real-time per-second statistics.
Role-Based and Team-Based Access Controls (RBAC).
Tracking and reporting inventory with serial numbers and support status.
Two-Factor Authentication and Single-Sign-On.

TrueNAS CORE is the Best-Ever Free NAS

The improvements to TrueNAS further strengthen its position as the best-ever “free NAS” system available. In that way, TrueNAS still is and always will be FreeNAS in spirit. For those with FreeNAS still installed on your systems, we recommend upgrading to FreeNAS 11.3-U5 first from within the web interface, and then upgrading to TrueNAS 12.0-U8 to retain roll-back options. While it is an easy web update, we do recommend waiting to upgrade your pool until you have validated your performance and functionality. New users will simply download TrueNAS 12.0-U8 to get started.

If you have any questions or comments, we’d love to hear them on the community forums, on the TrueNAS subreddit, or in response to this blog. If you need additional information on how TrueNAS can streamline, accelerate, and unify data management for your business, please contact us, or visit truenas.com and download the TrueNAS version that best fits your needs.

True Data Freedom is being delivered with each new TrueNAS release!

The post TrueNAS 12.0-U8 Sets The Stage for TrueNAS 13.0 and SCALE 22.02 appeared first on TrueNAS - Welcome to the Open Storage Era.

iXsystems Outperforms in 2021 with 70% Year-over-Year Growth of TrueNAS Open Storage Deployments

Will Soteros — Mon, 31 Jan 2022 15:48:11 +0000

Customers Applaud Value and Flexibility as Key Drivers over Traditional Storage

SAN JOSE, CA, January 31, 2022 – iXsystems® today announced new growth milestones over the past 12 months with a 70% Year-over-Year revenue increase. The impressive growth is due to the rising adoption of TrueNAS Open Storage software and applicable storage systems, including TrueNAS M-Series, TrueNAS R-Series, TrueNAS X-Series, and TrueNAS Mini storage systems.

While the enterprise storage industry is seeing a rise in demand, iX significantly outperformed the market in 2021. Led by TrueNAS Enterprise, the only Open Source unified software-defined storage to provide business-grade capabilities, customers are choosing the platform for its full-featured, unified (block/file/object) storage for both flash performance and disk capacity. Now with over 1.1 million deployments and a new milestone of two exabytes of data under management, TrueNAS has delivered true storage freedom to thousands of organizations around the globe.

“Global market revenue for enterprise external OEM storage systems grew 9.7% year over year to $6.9 billion,” reported International Data Corporation (IDC) in the company’s Worldwide Quarterly Enterprise Storage Systems Tracker. “Total external OEM storage capacity shipped was up 27.9% year over year to 22.1 exabytes during the quarter.”

Significant iXsystems 12-month milestones achieved include:

70% year-over-year total sales growth
54% year-over-year international sales growth
146% growth in new TrueNAS Enterprise deployments over one petabyte
More than 500,000 TrueNAS software downloads
Partner generated channel sales YoY growth of 152%
Partner deal registration growth of 154% YoY
TrueNAS SCALE introduced
TrueCommand Cloud launched
TrueCharts introduced, a community catalog of apps for TrueNAS SCALE
RevMatch Channel Partner Program opened
Ranking among Top Five SDS Block Storage Solutions by DCIG
Winner of 2021 Best in Biz Awards

“We are pleased with the company’s momentum and technology milestones achieved over the past year,” said Michael Lauth, President, and CEO for iXsystems. “The commitment of our team has been exceptional in supporting customers and the important data storage challenges we address.”

Tweet This: @iXsystems Post 70% Year-over-Year Growth Driven by TrueNAS Enterprise Storage – https://www.ixsystems.com/press-releases/

Additional Resources:

To learn more about TrueNAS Open Storage, visit: https://www.truenas.com
Follow TrueNAS News on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/iXsystems

About iXsystems and TrueNAS

Through decades of expertise in system design and development of Open Source software (FreeNAS, FreeBSD, OpenZFS, and TrueNAS), iXsystems has become an innovation leader in high-availability storage and servers powered by Open Source solutions. With over one million deployments and backed by the legendary ZFS file system, TrueNAS offers the stability and reliability required for Backup, Multimedia, Cloud Hosting, Virtualization, Hyper-converged Infrastructure, and much more. Since the founding of iXsystems in 2002, thousands of companies, universities, and government organizations have come to rely on the company’s enterprise servers, TrueNAS Open Storage, and consultative approach to building IT infrastructure and Private Clouds with Open Source economics.

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TrueCommand 2.1 Builds on a Solid Foundation

Will Soteros — Tue, 04 Jan 2022 17:26:46 +0000

TrueCommand is a purpose-built management system for TrueNAS systems, whether they are CORE, Enterprise, SCALE, or combinations of all three. It enables 24×7 automated operations of many NAS systems by an individual or a global team. The latest release, TrueCommand 2.1, is now available.

TrueCommand 2.0 was a major step for TrueCommand with significant improvements in the underlying foundation. The statistics gathering process has been improved to increase the data points with minimal impact on TrueNAS operations. The integration of the storage navigation and cluster management features showed the power of multi-NAS management. TrueCommand Cloud was improved dramatically with a cloud-friendly database. With all these improvements and reliability, user adoption of TrueCommand has increased significantly with an annual growth rate in excess of 140%. There were over 5,000 TrueCommand users in Q4 2021.

TrueCommand 2.1 builds on this foundation and adds user management and inventory management (also in TC 2.0.2) to the ever-growing list of capabilities. The primary goals of TrueCommand are to automate and simplify operations of one or more TrueNAS systems.

Overview of TrueCommand 2.1

The inventory management capability has been getting applause from TrueCommand users. It simplifies the management of valuable hardware assets, including systems and drives. Users can quickly check their whole fleet for specific drive models or generate inventory reports of all hardware deployed.

Inventory Management Screens in TrueCommand

Getting Started with TrueCommand

You can download TrueCommand for free. Deployments with fewer than 50 drives require no license and are free forever. Once TrueCommand is installed and you have its SystemID, a license key can enable more drives. The self-service portal simplifies the purchase of TrueCommand licenses for less than $2 per drive annually. The portal also provides free 60-day trial licenses.

Important Note for Upgrading:

Updating to TrueCommand 2.1 from TrueCommand 2.0.x is available. Follow the documentation and all configuration and statistics will be preserved. Upgrading from TrueCommand 1.x must be done via TrueCommand 2.0.

We’re looking forward to the community feedback on TrueCommand 2.1. Report any issues and suggest features via the community dashboard. For advice on installation and usage of the free version, please use the community forum.

TrueCommand Background

TrueCommand was launched in 2019 as a single pane of glass management system for TrueNAS fleets. TrueCommand is deployed as a Container, as a VM, or as a Cloud service (aka TrueCommand Cloud). Previous features of TrueCommand have been retained. Below is a list of the more important ones:

Smart Dashboard: Monitor the performance of many systems from one screen.
LDAP Integration: Authenticate and authorize users via AD or LDAP.
Single Sign-On: Securely administer each NAS via TrueCommand via a web proxy.
Role-Based Access Control (RBAC): Define systems a user can monitor or configure.
Predictive Analytics: Predict and alert on events like storage capacity shortages.
Powerful Alerts: Flexible notification services and multi-variable, customizable alerting.
Custom Reports: Design reports that suit your organization.
NAS Updates: Initiate and monitor updates to many NAS systems.
Configuration Backup & Restore: Recover from disasters more easily.
Configuration Audits: Logging of any configuration changes and who made them.
Scrub and Replication Monitoring: Quickly identify systems with background tasks.
Datasets Monitoring: See all the datasets, their sizes, snapshots, and replication tasks.
API Keys: Use the TrueNAS 12.0 API keys to keep your root passwords more secure.
Scalability: Simultaneous monitoring of over 500 TrueNAS systems.
Real-time Stats & Analysis: Efficiently collect, analyze, and visualize NAS data.
Storage Navigator: Create, manage, and delete datasets on many NAS units.
iSCSI Manager: Automate the creation of large numbers of LUNs.
System-Down Alerts: Distinguish between network events and system down events.
TrueNAS SCALE cluster UI: Create and manage the SCALE cluster from one screen.
VM or Docker: Run on VM or container infrastructure, including a laptop.
TrueCommand Cloud: Secure web-based SaaS for managing multiple sites/systems.

TrueCommand Cloud is a cloud service (SaaS) that is provided through the addition of WireGuard VPNs to TrueCommand. Administrators or MSPs can securely manage many TrueNAS systems at different sites through firewalls and NATs. TrueCommand Cloud is now available so please subscribe via the portal or contact us if you need this capability.

The post TrueCommand 2.1 Builds on a Solid Foundation appeared first on TrueNAS - Welcome to the Open Storage Era.

TrueNAS SCALE 22.02-RC2 is ready for Santa

Will Soteros — Wed, 22 Dec 2021 19:54:41 +0000

TrueNAS SCALE 22.02 is getting to its second and final Release Candidate phase just in time for the Christmas holidays. If, like Santa, you have some free time after Christmas day, then now is the time to try out TrueNAS SCALE 22.02-RC2. It’s full of bells and whistles that you can enjoy over the coming year.

The TrueNAS SCALE datasheet has been updated with its planned Angelfish feature set. As TrueNAS SCALE “Angelfish” matures and its release date is set for February 2022, it transitions to its more formal and official name, SCALE 22.02. The RC1 version (22.02-RC1) had well over 6,000 daily users and received excellent feedback and bug reports. Many thanks go out to the TrueNAS community for helping SCALE in this next step on its sleigh ride to full release quality.

TrueNAS SCALE 22.02-RC2 includes a few new Christmas surprises:

Better Gluster cluster integration with TrueCommand 2.1
Final set of UX Changes to help make SCALE the best TrueNAS experience ever
Updated Hardware support with Linux Kernel 5.10.81
Better App integration and support for third-party repos, including TrueCharts

More importantly, this RC2 version includes over 200 bug fixes from RC1 and is now approaching the release quality everyone wants from their Christmas presents. Over the next two months, there will be more bug fixes as well as more extensive performance and integration testing. Linux-based TrueNAS SCALE has some different characteristics to the FreeBSD-based TrueNAS CORE.

The naming and timing of the Angelfish releases are shown in the following table.

TrueNAS SCALE Angelfish Releases
Release Number	Planned Date	Notes
SCALE 21.08-BETA.2	10/8/21	Last BETA version
SCALE 22.2-RC1	10/26/21	First Release Candidate
SCALE 22.2-RC2	12/21/21	Final release Candidate
SCALE 22.2.0	February 2022	Planned General Availability
SCALE 22.2.1	April 2022	First Update

We want to thank the community for the tremendous support in bringing TrueNAS SCALE to life. The assistance in finding and resolving bugs has been invaluable. It has also been awesome to collaborate with many developers who have contributed major enhancements. Please keep reporting bugs and making suggestions as we finish this initial GA release together as a community!

“Bluefin” has started its Journey

Bluefin is the next major release after Angelfish. It will include some major enhancements including scale-out ZFS snapshots and replication, clustered Kubernetes, and clustered hypervisors.

Bluefin nightly images will start publishing in early 2022, and we will finalize the list of major features around the same time. Bluefin will remain as nightlies until it reaches BETA. At that point, we will give it an official version name and a target GA date in 2022. You’ll see information in jira.ixsytems.com and can expect us to blog about it more in early 2022.

Who Should Use TrueNAS SCALE?

At this RC2 stage of its Software Development Lifecycle, TrueNAS SCALE is primarily for developers, testers, tech-savvy enthusiasts, and early adopters. For Linux developers, there are many opportunities to contribute to the Open Source TrueNAS SCALE project, and we have a vibrant Discord Community for contributors. It is a well-coordinated and managed environment to collaborate in developing the best open hyper-converged infrastructure as a collective. For more information, see this community post.

For larger commercial users with scale-out needs, iXsystems has a formal BETA program to support specific deployments and applications before they complete testing and enter the production phase. TrueNAS SCALE can be supported on TrueNAS M-Series, R-Series, and Mini platforms. Please contact your iXsystems Account Representative, or email us at info@iXsystems.com if you are interested in joining the BETA program.

If you have any additional questions or need advice on a new project, please email us at info@iXsystems.com. We are standing by to help.

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Meet TrueCharts – the First App Catalog for TrueNAS SCALE

Will Soteros — Tue, 14 Dec 2021 19:48:40 +0000

Enterprise storage does not need to be rigid and difficult. TrueNAS SCALE is scale-out storage and hyperconverged infrastructure that is also flexible. Key to that flexibility is the inclusion of Kubernetes for deploying containerized (e.g. Docker) applications. Kubernetes allows single containers or pods of containers to be easily deployed on a unified infrastructure. A growing assortment of these applications are now preconfigured for easy deployment using a TrueNAS-enhanced implementation of Helm Charts.

Users and third parties can now build catalogs of application charts for deployment with the ease of an app store experience. These catalogs are like app stores for TrueNAS SCALE. iXsystems has been collaborating and sponsoring the team developing TrueCharts, the first and most comprehensive of these app stores. Best of all, the TrueCharts Apps are free and Open Source.

TrueCharts delivers over 180 easily-deployed and diverse applications to the TrueNAS community and so we’ve invited the TrueCharts team to write a guest blog.

TrueCharts Guest Blog

With streamlined Kubernetes support for its ”apps”, TrueNAS SCALE makes the big step of bringing Kubernetes to the masses while staying true to its Open Source philosophy by allowing the community to build their own apps and catalogs. This ability for users to pick their own favorite catalogs for apps has already paid off. Meet TrueCharts, the first community app catalog!

TrueCharts catalog already supports over 180 Apps

TrueCharts was built by the founders of a group for installation scripts for True NAS CORE, called “Jailman”. TrueCharts aims to be more than what Jailman was capable of: a user-friendly installer, offering all the flexibility the average user needs and deserves!

Working as a completely independent project, the TrueCharts community has since spent a whole year carefully crafting tools to add many of the awesome features that Kubernetes has to offer to the TrueNAS SCALE apps ecosystem. For example, all apps can be simply enabled with Traefik reverse proxy and Wireguard VPN capabilities. In addition to the official apps like Plex, Nextcloud, and Minio, TrueCharts adds a huge variety of apps including Vaultwarden, Handbrake, OpenLDAP, Photoprism, Pihole, and Syncthing.

The main goal for TrueCharts is to give a solid framework for users who are new to Kubernetes, while also exposing as many Kubernetes features as possible for experienced users. Where the official apps by iXsystems focus on easy deployment, TrueCharts focuses on those applications that need a bit more flexibility to customize the app for a specific use case and system. This can all be done from within the TrueNAS SCALE UI, simply by adding the catalog and following our Quick Start guides!

TrueCharts enables each App to be easily customized

As the release of TrueNAS SCALE 22.02 “AngelFish” is getting closer and closer, the TrueCharts Team and iXsystems are already hard at work looking into a future of fully high-available apps, dynamic scaling, and distributed storage. Want to know more about TrueCharts? Visit TrueCharts.org or come visit our great community: TrueCharts on Discord!

TrueCharts and TrueNAS = Endless Possibilities

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TrueNAS 12.0-U7 is Released & TrueNAS 13.0 Begins

Will Soteros — Wed, 08 Dec 2021 16:02:16 +0000

TrueNAS 12.0-U7 was released today and is recommended for even the most conservative users of FreeNAS, TrueNAS CORE, and TrueNAS Enterprise. It will ship by default on all new TrueNAS systems. Assuming no unforeseen issues, U7 is likely to be the last of the TrueNAS 12.0 updates, as TrueNAS 13.0 begins its development lifecycle.

TrueNAS 12.0 has been very successful and over 85% of FreeNAS 11.3 users have already upgraded to TrueNAS CORE. TrueNAS 12.0 has now exceeded two exabytes (EB) of data under management and is growing at the astounding rate of 1 EB every 6 months.

TrueNAS 12.0: a Retrospective

While releasing TrueNAS 12.0, we created a new lifecycle model for TrueNAS CORE and Enterprise releases. The history of TrueNAS 12.0 releases has been:

TrueNAS 12.0-U1 was released in December, resolved the most significant bugs, and enabled features like Fusion pools and efficient scrubbing/resilvering.

TrueNAS 12.0-U2 was released in February and included bug fixes with some minor features.

TrueNAS 12.0-U3 was released April 13, 2021, and included bug fixes with some minor features. This release was officially ready for mission-critical users.

TrueNAS 12.0-U4 was released June 1, 2021, and included bug fixes with robustness improvements.

TrueNAS 12.0-U6 was released on October 5, 2021, and included a number of fixes, nearly a dozen improvements, and a few platform enhancements.

TrueNAS 12.0-U7 was released on December 7, 2021, and also includes a number of fixes, nearly a dozen more improvements, and a few platform enhancements. These include:

- OpenZFS 2.0.6
- More extensive SMB regression testing with various SMB options
- Ongoing improvements to UI & middleware performance for large drive counts
- Dashboard fixes for CPU temp reporting
- Various M-Series and R-Series webUI improvements

A Glimpse into the Future with TrueNAS 13.0

TrueNAS 13.0 is the next planned release after TrueNAS 12.0-U7. It will include some major component upgrades which will offer new features, performance improvements, bug fixes, and security improvements. The major component changes will include:

- FreeBSD 13-STABLE
- OpenZFS 2.1.1
- SAMBA 4.15

TrueNAS 13.0 will primarily be focused on its role as very stable enterprise storage and there will be very few webUI changes. TrueNAS 13.0 nightlies will begin this month and BETA will start early in 2022. There will be additional information provided prior to BETA. We look forward to working with the community to make this a smooth release and upgrade.

TrueCommand 2.0 is the Single-Pane-of-Glass Management Platform

- Storage navigation of datasets, files across multiple NAS systems.
- Real-time per-second statistics.
- Role-Based and Team-Based Access Controls (RBAC).
- Tracking and reporting inventory with serial numbers and support status.

TrueCommand inventory view of TrueNAS systems

FreeNAS to TrueNAS 12.0 Upgrades are Easy

For those with FreeNAS still installed on your systems, we recommend upgrading to FreeNAS 11.3-U5 first from within the web interface, and then upgrading to TrueNAS 12.0-U7 to retain roll-back options. While it is an easy web update, we do recommend waiting to update your system’s zpool feature flags until you have validated your performance and functionality. New users will want to simply download TrueNAS 12.0-U7 to get started.

TrueNAS Hardware Platforms

TrueNAS 12.0-U7 is compatible with all of the iXsystems platforms from the FreeNAS/TrueNAS Minis, to the power-efficient X-Series, all the way up to the flagship High Availability (HA) M-Series. There is also an R-Series product line that can run CORE, Enterprise, and SCALE editions of TrueNAS. All of these can be updated via the web UI and include graphical enclosure management.

For those with TrueNAS HA systems and support contracts, we recommend contacting iXsystems support to schedule an upgrade. We will verify your systems’ health, configuration, and support the upgrade process as part of the “white glove” service that comes with any support contract.

TrueNAS SCALE 22.02 is planned for release in February.

TrueNAS 12.0 users will have a choice of upgrading to TrueNAS 13.0 or TrueNAS SCALE whenever they like.

TrueNAS SCALE 22.02 “Angelfish” is intended for RELEASE in February 2022 while TrueNAS SCALE 22.02-RC2 is expected to be available later this month. TrueNAS SCALE 22.02-RC1 already has over 5,500 users and is getting some great reviews.

TrueNAS CORE is the Best-Ever Free NAS

The improvements to TrueNAS further strengthen its position as the best-ever “free NAS” system available. In that way, TrueNAS still is and always will be FreeNAS in spirit.

Please check out the updated TrueNAS documentation even if you don’t upgrade today. We’re extremely grateful for all the contributions received thus far and encourage the community to keep the suggestions coming!

Here’s to True data freedom!

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iXsystems Recognized in 11th Annual Best in Biz Awards for Most Innovative Product Line of the Year

Will Soteros — Thu, 02 Dec 2021 07:04:39 +0000

TrueNAS by iXsystems Now a Three-Time winner in National Award Program

[San Jose, CA] – December 2, 2021 – iXsystems has been named a bronze winner in the Most Innovative Product Line of the Year category in the Best in Biz Awards, the only independent business awards program judged each year by prominent editors and reporters from top-tier publications in North America.

TrueNAS by iXsystems is the world’s most popular Open Source storage operating system and is the most efficient solution for managing and sharing data over a network. TrueNAS Open Storage provides unified storage for file, block, object, and application data – making it an exceptionally flexible storage platform for business. All TrueNAS editions — CORE, Enterprise, and SCALE — leverage the enterprise OpenZFS file system to provide an all-inclusive data management solution that protects customer data with features like Copy-on-Write, Snapshots, Checksums, Scrubbing, and 2-Copy Metadata.

TrueNAS environments are managed by TrueCommand, a single-pane-of-glass management application that takes the repetitive work out of multi-system oversight by centralizing system alerts, reports, and analytics. The TrueNAS Open Storage line features the R-Series, X-Series, and M-Series (flagship) models, with the TrueNAS M60 supporting up to 20 PB and 20GB/s on a single node while delivering unprecedented scalability from 20 Terabytes to 2 Exabytes when leveraging TrueNAS SCALE.

2021 marked the 11th annual Best in Biz Awards and, following the havoc wreaked by the global pandemic, resoundingly confirmed that American business is back and stronger than ever before. The 11th annual program saw intense competition among more than 700 impressively strong entries from public and private companies of all sizes and spanning all geographic regions and industries in the U.S. and Canada, ranging from some of the best-known global brands to the most innovative start-ups and irrepressible local companies. This year’s judges were impressed with the winning companies’ resilience and adaptability that allowed them to turn the challenges of the past 20 months into remarkable growth numbers, their exemplary dedication to their customers in matters small and large, and particularly, many winners’ efforts to maintain and deepen their commitment to the environment and local communities.

“Receiving this honor not once, not twice, but three times is a testament to the innovative, customer-centric products and software engineered by iXsystems over the past several years. We are honored to be recognized once again by the Best in Biz Awards judging panel in the Most Innovative Product Line of the Year category,” said Morgan Littlewood, Senior Vice President of Product Development.

Since the program’s inception in 2011, winners in Best in Biz Awards have been determined based on scoring from independent judging panels assembled each year from some of the most respected national and local newspapers, TV and radio outlets, and business, consumer, technology, and trade publications in North America. Combining top editors’ and reporters’ unparalleled experience and expertise with the objectivity inherent in the journalistic ethos and further enhanced by the breadth of outlets represented, Best in Biz Awards judging panels are uniquely able to determine the best of the best from among the hundreds of competitive entries. The 2021 judging panel included, among others, writers from Associated Press, Barron’s, Consumer Affairs, Inc., USA Today, and Wired.

Best in Biz Awards 2021 honors were conferred in 100 different categories, including Company of the Year, Most Resilient Company, Fastest-Growing Company, Most Innovative Company, Best Place to Work, Customer Service Department, Executive of the Year, Finance Executive, HR Executive, Most Innovative Product, Enterprise Product, Best New Product, App, CSR Program, Environmental Program, Website and Newsletter of the Year. For a full list of gold, silver, and bronze winners in Best in Biz Awards 2021, visit http://www.bestinbizawards.com/2021-winners.

About iXsystems

Through decades of expertise in system design and development of Open Source software (FreeNAS, FreeBSD, OpenZFS, and TrueNAS), iXsystems has become an innovation leader in high availability storage and servers driven by Open Source solutions. With over one million deployments and backed by the legendary ZFS file system, TrueNAS offers the stability and reliability required for Backup, Multimedia, Cloud Hosting, Virtualization, Hyper-converged Infrastructure, and much more. Since the founding of iXsystems in 2002, thousands of companies, universities, and government organizations have come to rely on the company’s enterprise servers, TrueNAS Open Storage, and consultative approach to building IT infrastructure and Private Clouds with Open Source economics.

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OpenZFS 3.0 Introduced at Developer Summit

Will Soteros — Tue, 23 Nov 2021 15:55:16 +0000

The ninth annual OpenZFS Developer Summit took place November 8th and 9th online with iXsystems proudly returning as a Gold sponsor. The OpenZFS community remains vibrant and is continuing to develop features at a rapid pace. This blog summarizes some of the more interesting talks.

Matt Ahrens provided his annual “State of OpenZFS” recap of the progress made in OpenZFS since the 2020 Developer Summit, including the OpenZFS 2.0 release with the breakthrough features like the persistent L2ARC, sequential resilvering, Zstandard compression, and countless performance improvements. These OpenZFS 2.0 features are integrated into TrueNAS CORE and SCALE.

The TrueNAS Team contributed many performance improvements as well as the major task of ensuring FreeBSD and Linux share a compatible, well-supported common code base. Alexander Motin (iXsystems) gave an eye-opening talk at the November FreeBSD Vendor Summit in which he provided additional detail about the performance and reliability improvements the TrueNAS Team has been steadily adding.

OpenZFS 2.1 included more performance improvements and dRAID (distributed RAID). TrueNAS SCALE 22.02 and TrueNAS 13.0 use OpenZFS 2.1.1, with official releases expected in the first half of next year. dRAID pools can be created via the CLI, but requires more development and testing before enabling via the TrueNAS API and WebUI.

The upcoming OpenZFS 3.0 release roadmap was introduced along with its exciting candidate features including RAIDZ expansion, OpenZFS on S3 Object Storage, plus enhanced macOS and Windows support. The capabilities provide some terrific opportunities for future TrueNAS editions in 2023 and beyond.

DirectIO for ZFS provides an unbuffered write path for high-performance flash-based systems by bypassing the adaptive read cache (ARC). Up to a 3X improvement in write, performance was reported with write-mostly workloads that do not heavily leverage the ARC. DirectIO behavior is controlled by the “direct” dataset property with the options being standard, always, and disabled, inspired by the “sync” property.

A New ZIL That Keeps Up With Persistent Memory Latency described another proposal for optimizing the ZFS Intent Log for use with persistent memory NVDIMM devices like those used in the TrueNAS M-Series. The New ZIL or DirectIO could increase write performance for all TrueNAS editions.

ZFS on Object Storage is a new vdev type and agent that maps to S3-API storage for cloud-backed OpenZFS. There was also a talk on ZettaCache: fast access to slow storage, a caching mechanism designed to work with ZFS on Object Storage. These capabilities could greatly enhance TrueNAS hybrid cloud options.

VDEV Properties give VDEVs detailed reporting and configuration properties similar to those available with datasets. These tools would be very useful for larger TrueNAS systems with multiple generations of storage devices.

Improving ZFS send/recv centered on using controlled prefetching for higher send/receive performance. As datasets keep growing, TrueNAS users are always looking for increased replication performance.

ZFS performance on Windows described recent performance improvements in the OpenZFS on Windows project which is receiving usability refinements such as integration with the Windows Performance Monitor. This work brings Windows one step closer to being a first-class OpenZFS platform. With this, windows servers would be able to natively replicate data directly with TrueNAS, as well as make OpenZFS a more universal filesystem across traditional operating system boundaries with TrueNAS CORE and SCALE.

The second day of the OpenZFS Developer Summit was dedicated to hackathon projects and one that stood out was the Block Reference Table (BRT) work which will enable file-level cloning, rather than only dataset-level and ZVOL-level cloning. This work would enable TrueNAS to clone virtual machine disk images or large video files, without depending on an enclosing dataset.

The smaller usability improvements in conjunction with major new features demonstrate the true maturity of OpenZFS and the dedication of its development community to moving forward in unison. iXsystems and the TrueNAS development team are committed to continuing our integral role in the OpenZFS community. We look forward to the OpenZFS 3.0 release and the 2022 Developer Summit!

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TrueNAS SCALE Now Available on TrueNAS M-Series, R-Series, and Minis

Will Soteros — Tue, 26 Oct 2021 14:33:52 +0000

TrueNAS SCALE Now Available on TrueNAS M-Series, R-Series, and Minis

TrueNAS SCALE provides scale-out file and object services alongside Kubernetes and other standard TrueNAS storage capabilities

SAN JOSE, CA – October 26, 2021 — TrueNAS SCALE reached an important milestone today when TrueNAS SCALE 22.02-RC1 was released after 12 months of Alpha and Beta testing by over 4,000 TrueNAS Community members. This release includes scale-out file and object (S3) storage services as well as a wide range of containerized applications, supported on a Kubernetes platform. TrueNAS SCALE is now available for ordering and shipping on a wide range of TrueNAS platforms, including the TrueNAS M-Series, R-Series, and even Minis.

TrueNAS SCALE is an Open Source Hyperconverged Infrastructure (HCI) project that began its journey as an Alpha release in October 2020 with the now-delivered promise of:

Scale-out ZFS
Converged Compute and Storage
Active-Active Reliability
Linux Containers (Kubernetes) & VMs (KVM)
Ease of Deployment and Operation

The scale-out capabilities extend to both file (clustered SMB, Glusterfs) and object storage (S3 API with Minio) and do not force users to choose between file and object storage. After 12 months of enthusiastic development and testing, it is now being deployed in many applications and has about 100 PB under management. The Release Candidate (RC) phase is the start of more widespread deployment which will grow as further updates are provided.

Applications can run on TrueNAS SCALE clusters as either KVM VMs, Docker containers, or Kubernetes pods. There are now dozens of pre-tested and packaged applications including Plex, Nextcloud, HomeAssistant, and many more. Application catalogs enable community contributions such as the extensive and free catalog of applications from Truecharts.org.

TrueNAS SCALE Platforms

TrueNAS SCALE runs on the same platforms as TrueNAS CORE and TrueNAS Enterprise and allows for the migration of workloads. Customers can start with the rock-solid TrueNAS Enterprise and migrate to TrueNAS SCALE when their applications need scale-out capabilities. TrueNAS SCALE software is now shipping on most standard iXsystems platforms:

Minis: Professionals and Small Businesses
R-Series: High performance clusters
M-Series: High performance clusters (now) and HA systems (Q1 2022)

The TrueNAS M-Series uses TrueNAS SCALE to deliver unprecedented scalability from 20 Terabytes to 2 Exabytes. The TrueNAS M60 supports up to 20 PB and 20GB/s on a single node. The new TrueNAS M30 extends the M-Series down to start from under $15,000 and with 24 3.5” drive bays. Each TrueNAS M30 can be upgraded to an M40, M50, or M60, protecting the customer investment and minimizing downtime.

Setup and Manage TrueNAS SCALE Clusters with TrueCommand

Version 2.0 of TrueCommand provides the cluster webUI for deploying larger TrueNAS SCALE clusters with useful features like granular stats collection, customizable alerts, predictive analytics, Role-Based Access Control capabilities, and auditing. It can be deployed as a docker container or provided as a cloud service.

“iXsystems has redefined Open Storage with its TrueNAS SCALE edition,” said Scott Sinclair, Senior Analyst, Enterprise Strategy Group. “Feature-rich storage that delivers scale-out performance and Hyperconverged capabilities, TrueNAS SCALE is a significant entrant into Enterprise Open Source storage.”

“TrueNAS is enabling a new era in Open Storage data freedom for businesses in every sector that have requirements for reliable, secure, and agile data access that goes beyond the status quo,” said Brett Davis, Executive Vice President, iXsystems. “TrueNAS SCALE supports this direction with new levels of storage capacity, bandwidth, and hyperconvergence for enterprise customers looking to break free from the confinements of proprietary storage.”

To learn more about how TrueNAS can help your organization, contact us via https://www.truenas.com/contact-us/, or give us a call at 1-855-GREP-4-IX.

Tweet This: TrueNAS SCALE Now Generally Available on TrueNAS M-Series, R-Series, and Minis – https://www.ixsystems.com/press-releases/

Additional Resources:

To learn more about TrueNAS Open Storage, visit: https://www.truenas.com
Follow TrueNAS News on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/iXsystems

About iXsystems and TrueNAS

Through decades of expertise in system design and development of Open Source software (FreeNAS, FreeBSD, OpenZFS, and TrueNAS), iXsystems has become an innovation leader in high availability storage and servers powered by Open Source solutions. With over one million deployments and backed by the legendary ZFS file system, TrueNAS offers the stability and reliability required for Backup, Multimedia, Cloud Hosting, Virtualization, Hyper-converged Infrastructure, and much more. Since the founding of iXsystems in 2002, thousands of companies, universities, and government organizations have come to rely on the company’s enterprise servers, TrueNAS Open Storage, and consultative approach to building IT infrastructure and Private Clouds with Open Source economics.

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LinusTechTips says “Goodbye Windows, Hellooo TrueNAS”

Will Soteros — Mon, 25 Oct 2021 21:06:01 +0000

Video editing is one of the more demanding NAS workloads these days. The move to 4K and 8K video means that massive files need to be transferred with reliability and speed. LinusTech Media is one of the organizations that has these challenges, and they recently migrated from Windows Server Storage Spaces to TrueNAS 12.0 for its speed and reliability.

As always, Linus Sebastian and Jake Tivy produced a thoroughly entertaining and technically educational video. It’s well worth the 20 minutes to watch, and of this writing has nearly 2 million views already.

Linus Media previously used a Windows Storage Server Spaces server for video editing and TrueNAS as a reliable backup and archive of their data. They identified several key problems with their Windows storage that hindered their business operations:

1. Insufficient throughput to the drive storage
2. Excessive writing of unprotected data to RAM
3. “Blue Screen of Death” crashes happening too frequently
4. Storage “hanging” under high write loads – disrupting the whole business
5. The storage was too slow – making editing more difficult

In looking for a replacement, they were looking for a Linux system with the latest ZFS, Samba, and preferably a UI. While TrueNAS SCALE meets those requirements, it’s still in BETA, so we recommended TrueNAS CORE to them because they were running a production workload that was critical to their business. TrueNAS CORE 12, which has a decade of inherited development and community testing, has been in a release state for over a year. This made it a very mature, excellent choice for a mission critical use-case of this nature.

They built a high-end system with a 32 core AMD EPYC processor, 256 GB of RAM, dual 100Gbe NIC, and Gen4 NVMe drives. Performance was excellent and demonstrated the ZFS file system operating at 14-18GB/s internally within the system, far in excess of what the Windows storage server could achieve.

They then set about testing it with their video editors and ongoing transfers via SMB. When storage performance is adequate, the editors see very little lag and the system can stop on a dime, without “runaway footage”. The TrueNAS system delivered that performance and can likely sustain it for many more editors.

The reliability of TrueNAS under load comes from the magic of OpenZFS which is engineered for great stability and robustness. Unlike Windows Server, OpenZFS limits the amount of DRAM used for “dirty” or unprotected data. Its design also behaves much more consistently under high load and hence supports more critical workloads like video editing and virtualization storage. FreeBSD and TrueNAS have also had extensive field testing (millions of machine years) as a dedicated storage environment which has largely eliminated the system crash issues of the overly complex and general purpose Windows Server environment.

Technical Notes

The video included a few technical recommendations which are worth discussing.

Enable TRIM on SSDs: TRIM probably isn’t required for the performance seen. However, the primary reason for not enabling TRIM by default is that some SSDs behave badly with TRIM enabled. The Kioxia CD6 SSDs used in the video do not have this issue.

Disabling Compression: They disabled compression for storing video files. That’s not a bad decision, but might not have been necessary. OpenZFS is very good at detecting and skipping over incompressible data, so the penalty for leaving the default (compression on) isn’t likely to be noticeable in most cases.

Using ARC only for Metadata: For applications where data is not shared directly between many clients, it’s not a bad strategy. It reduces the amount of CPU used for managing a large ARC with data. If the cache hit rate would otherwise be low, then it is worth considering. For most use-cases, the use of ARC is beneficial.

SMB Multi-Channel: Multi-channel does improve the maximum performance seen by a single client but is rarely needed. It is not enabled by default because there are corner cases, particularly over a WAN, where a file can be corrupted. However, this is unlikely to happen in a LAN workgroup environment. The latest Samba in TrueNAS SCALE now has multi-channel readily available.

Single vs Multiple VDEVs: It was indicated that a single VDEV performed about as well as two VDEVs. This is probably dependent on the testing approach being used. For a single client it is likely to be true, but for many clients, more VDEVs can significantly improve overall performance.

Multiple boot drives: Yes, TrueNAS lets you mirror boot drives internally. For older SATA SSDs and HDDs, we did recommend mirror drives. For newer and high quality M.2 SSD boot drives, we are finding a single boot drive to provide enterprise level system reliability.

RAID-Z1 vs RAID-Z2: They used RAID-Z1 (single parity) for their pool. This is generally fine with good quality SSDs (test or burn-in the SSDs first!) which resilver quickly and fail infrequently. As they indicated, they also have a good backup plan. With HDDs, we recommend RAID-Z2 for reliable redundancy on the local storage pool.

Get Jake to deploy TrueNAS: Linus made a comical jab at some previous issues he had with FreeNAS. In his defense, he was often trying to push the envelope on new features/ hardware and trying to do it while doing a video. Jake sets up his systems methodically in the background, tests them thoroughly, and makes sure they work. As much as we love Linus, new TrueNAS users should aim to be more like Jake :-). Alternatively, give iXsystems a call and we’ll get you a turnkey appliance that removes any guesswork.

The TrueNAS Software

TrueNAS CORE is free, just like the older FreeNAS. TrueNAS 12.0-U6 was released on October 5, 2021 and includes a number of fixes, about ten improvements, and a few platform enhancements. These include:

- NFSv4 HA improvements (Enterprise version)
- More extensive SMB regression testing with various SMB options
- SMB shadow copies feature has been fixed (bug in U5)
- OpenZFS dedup performance improvements by defaulting to SHA-512 algorithm
- Better webUI snapshot filtering by name
- UI improvements for disk temperature monitoring and UEFI booting
- Ongoing improvements to UI & middleware performance for large drive counts
- Improved UI for plugin updates/upgrades
- Various M-Series and R-Series webUI improvements

TrueNAS SCALE will perform similarly to the version Linus and Jake tests. TrueNAS SCALE is entering the release-candidate stage on Tuesday 26th October. Performance testing of SCALE will be happening over the coming months and business production use of SCALE should start in Q1 2022.

TrueNAS Hardware Platforms

TrueNAS 12.0-U6 is compatible with all of the iXsystems platforms from the TrueNAS Minis, to the power-efficient X-Series, all the way up to the flagship High Availability (HA) M-Series. There is also an R-Series product line that can run CORE, Enterprise, and SCALE editions of TrueNAS. All of these can be updated via the web UI and include graphical enclosure management.

For an HA solution with similar performance to the system built by Linus, look at the TrueNAS M50 or M60. These systems will continue to operate even if one of the controllers were to fail. Combined with Enterprise support, you will have a 24×365 system with five nines of availability (99.999%).

If you have any questions or comments, we’d love to hear them on the community forums, on the TrueNAS subreddit, or in response to this blog. If you need additional information on how TrueNAS can streamline, accelerate, and unify data management for your business, please contact us, or visit the newly redesigned truenas.com and download the TrueNAS version that best fits your needs.

The post LinusTechTips says “Goodbye Windows, Hellooo TrueNAS” appeared first on TrueNAS - Welcome to the Open Storage Era.

TrueNAS SCALE Release Schedule Explained

Will Soteros — Tue, 19 Oct 2021 15:02:36 +0000

TrueNAS SCALE is completing its BETA phase and the “Angelfish” version is starting to swim downriver toward its release. We are now gearing up to both complete Angelfish and start the development of the next major version, which we have codenamed “Bluefin”. The first task is to rationalize the naming system.

The naming system for TrueNAS SCALE is being improved to simplify things for developers and operational users. Each version will have both a codename (e.g Angelfish, Bluefin….Carp? Cherubfish? We’re open to suggestions from the community for the next version after Bluefin) and an official version name (e.g SCALE 22.02) prior to release. The official version name will reflect the planned general availability (GA) date where users can expect to be able to get Enterprise support and the code quality is sufficiently high. The following table shows the high-level TrueNAS SCALE version plan.

SCALE Version	Current	Next	Future
Icon
Codename	Angelfish	Bluefin	Carp?
Status	RC1 (Oct 26)	Nightly (soon)	Planned
Official name	22.02	22.TBD	23.TBD
Release Target	Feb 2022	Late 2022	2023
Key Features	Kubernetes/Apps	Clustered Kubernetes	TBD
	KVM Hypervisor	High Availability VMs
	Scale-out ZFS	Scale-out Snapshots
	Clustered SMB	Many others.

The Angelfish version will be officially called “SCALE 22.02”, since Feb 2022 is the (GA) target. Angelfish is largely defined by the feature set in SCALE 21.08. The naming of future Angelfish releases will be changed as shown in the following table.

TrueNAS SCALE Angelfish Releases
Release Number	Planned Date	Notes
SCALE 21.08-BETA.2	10/8/21	Available and recommended
SCALE 22.02-RC1	10/26/21	In the final QA process
SCALE 22.02-RC2	December 2021	In development – includes M-Series HA
SCALE 22.02.0	February 2022	Planned General Availability
SCALE 22.02.1	April 2022	First Update

The October RC1 release is being renamed SCALE 22.02-RC1 because this is the official branch point between Angelfish and Bluefin. From this point, new software improvements and features would arrive in the Bluefin version. There will be publicly available Bluefin nightly releases (aka “nightlies”) for the development community and active testers to help collaborate on this next major release of TrueNAS SCALE. In some cases, bug fixes provided to Bluefin will be tested and then backported to Angelfish. This naming convention avoids any problems if both Angelfish and Bluefin have releases in the same month.

TrueNAS SCALE Angelfish completes the primary goals of TrueNAS SCALE (SCALE as an acronym equals Scale-out, Convergence, Active-active, Linux, Easy) for many, but not all, use cases. The SCALE Bluefin version will take this to the next level and add many new features, including Kubernetes clustering and scale-out ZFS snapshots/replication.

Bluefin nightlies will start before the end of the year, and we will finalize the list of major features early in 2022. Bluefin will stay as nightlies until it reaches BETA. At that point, we will give it an official version name and a target GA date. You’ll see information in jira.ixsytems.com and can expect us to blog about it more in early 2022.

The good news is that none of these changes impact the schedule. TrueNAS SCALE 22.02-RC1 was frozen a week ago and is halfway through its QA cycle. It’s looking good for its release on October 26. The quality is another major step from SCALE 21.08 which now has almost 4,000 users, the most of any previous TrueNAS or FreeNAS BETA release.

We want to thank the community for the tremendous support in bringing TrueNAS SCALE to life. The assistance in finding and resolving bugs has been invaluable. It’s also been awesome to collaborate with many developers who have contributed major enhancements. Please keep reporting bugs and making suggestions as we finish this initial GA release together!

Who Should Use TrueNAS SCALE?

At this BETA and RC stage of its Software Development Lifecycle, TrueNAS SCALE is primarily for developers, testers, tech-savvy enthusiasts, and early adopters. For Linux developers, there are many opportunities to contribute to the Open Source TrueNAS SCALE project, and we have a vibrant Discord Community for contributors. It is a well-coordinated and managed environment to collaborate in developing the best open hyperconverged infrastructure as a collective. For more information, see this community post.

For larger commercial users with scale-out needs, iXsystems has a formal BETA program to support specific deployments and applications before they complete testing and enter the production phase. Please contact your iXsystems Account Representative or email us at info@iXsystems.com if you are interested in joining the BETA program.

If you have any additional questions or need advice on a new project, please email us at info@iXsystems.com. We are standing by to help.

The post TrueNAS SCALE Release Schedule Explained appeared first on TrueNAS - Welcome to the Open Storage Era.

Nextcloud and TrueNAS Collaborate to Help You Build Your Private Cloud

Will Soteros — Tue, 12 Oct 2021 08:00:56 +0000

Today we are announcing a partnership with Nextcloud to provide an officially supported integration with TrueNAS. Nextcloud and TrueNAS are the #1 Open Source platforms for team collaboration and software-defined storage, respectively. The Nextcloud software suite will plug into TrueNAS and both companies will offer support for the powerful combination.

Together, Nextcloud and TrueNAS combine to provide a very complete private cloud infrastructure with both data storage and a suite of team collaboration services like document creation, chat, email, conferencing, calendaring, and several others. The combination is Open Source and self-hosted for maximum privacy and security. Unlike public cloud services (e.g. G-Suite, Office 365), an organization’s data can be securely managed onsite without any third-party backdoors. The HA and integrated replication capabilities of TrueNAS allow very reliable infrastructure to be built that is less dependent on Internet access bandwidth or reliability.

Nextcloud Hub is a collaboration platform designed to be self-hosted for complete privacy and cost control. The applications included are:

Nextcloud Files: Share and sync documents, spreadsheets, presentations, photos, and any other type of documents. With Collabora Online (included), multiple users can edit documents in real-time. Data can be accessed via the web or Windows, Mac, Linux, iOS, and Android clients.

Nextcloud Talk: Video and audio conferencing, combined with chat and whiteboarding, increase remote productivity in the new telecommuting era.

Nextcloud Groupware: Calendars, webmail, and task management are integrated with Files and Talk so teams can collaborate both within and across organizations.

TrueNAS is a software-defined storage platform which provides file, block, object, and app storage built on top of OpenZFS. The powerful enterprise capabilities of TrueNAS include:

Data Management: Built into TrueNAS CORE, OpenZFS provides continuous integrity checks and self-healing, along with RAID functions, snapshots, clones, and replication of data.

Integrated Security: Encryption of data-at-rest is managed with admin-provided keys or integration with enterprise KMIP servers. Integrated VPNs and encrypted replication provide protection from hackers.

High Availability (HA): Downtime impacts productivity and is unacceptable to larger organizations. TrueNAS Enterprise provides dual-controller options (X-Series and M-Series) to deliver “five nines” availability (equivalent to downtime of less than 5 minutes per year).

Scalability: Scale up to 20 PB in a single one-rack system or scale out to even larger systems with TrueNAS SCALE. Most importantly, there is no need to pay excessively for users with high capacity needs due to photos or videos.

Unified Storage: While Nextcloud will manage a lot of data for the organization, the same TrueNAS may also manage NFS, SMB, iSCSI, or S3 data for other applications and backup systems.

An official Nextcloud plugin for TrueNAS simplifies the installation and operation of Nextcloud. The plugin can be installed with a few clicks on a webUI to create a dataset and initiate the Nextcloud instance. The engineering teams of both companies will collaborate to ensure reliable operation and resolve any integration issues found. Users will have access to both the large Nextcloud and TrueNAS communities for feedback and questions.

The Nextcloud Plugin with TrueNAS Web UI

The Nextcloud plugin is free for up to 100 users and directly available for download within TrueNAS. Small businesses and extended families can set up their own private clouds in just a few clicks. For larger schools and organizations with more than 100 users, an Enterprise support option is available starting at $8/month per user with no limits on the storage capacity or compute power per user. With the use of TrueNAS HA systems, these organizations will be able to build high-reliability solutions. TrueCommand can be used to manage distributed infrastructure deployments

The initial Nextcloud plugin will be based on Nextcloud 22 and TrueNAS CORE 12.0-U6. Collabora will run as a Linux server, VM, or Kubernetes pod. Future versions of the plugin will feature integration with Collabora Online and integration with TrueNAS SCALE for scale-out operation. We look forward to working with both Nextcloud and TrueNAS communities to deliver a first-class Open Source experience.

Later this week, on Wednesday the 13th of October (8am Pacific = 5pm Central European Time), we will host a live Q&A session with Morgan Littlewood, Senior VP at iXsystems, and Jos Poortvliet, Marketing Director and Co-Founder of Nextcloud. It will stream live from the TrueNAS YouTube channel and everyone will be able to ask them anything, so stay tuned!

If you have any additional questions or need advice on a new TrueNAS or Nextcloud project, please contact us. We are standing by to help.

The post Nextcloud and TrueNAS Collaborate to Help You Build Your Private Cloud appeared first on TrueNAS - Welcome to the Open Storage Era.

Nextcloud and TrueNAS deliver Productivity and Privacy

Will Soteros — Tue, 12 Oct 2021 08:00:07 +0000

Powerful content collaboration platform enriches open source enterprise storage platform

Stuttgart, October 12, 2021 – Nextcloud GmbH, the company behind the worlds’ most deployed on-premises content collaboration platform, and iXsystems inc., developers of the industry’s number one open storage platform, announce a partnership to bring the full suite of Nextcloud Hub features to TrueNAS. Tens of thousands of TrueNAS systems already run Nextcloud and availability of a supported, well integrated offering will give larger organizations more confidence to deploy.

As self-funded companies that share a strong open source philosophy, Nextcloud and TrueNAS are natural partners. Our mutual customers will benefit from an open and flexible platform with strong enterprise support capable of delivering efficient collaboration at any scale.

— Frank Karlitschek,CEO and Founder, Nextcloud

iXsystems’ TrueNAS systems deliver flexible open storage, scaling from small home servers to 20PB+ storage platforms. TrueCommand offers simple management with docker and cloud deployment options. Nextcloud Hub is available as a supported app on the TrueNAS platform and can be easily deployed on new installations. TrueNAS systems will offer the full Nextcloud Hub experience with Files, Groupware, Talk, and Collabora Online based office document editing. TrueNAS users will gain immediate access to easy, efficient document storage, sharing and real-time collaboration and communication, expandable with >200 integrated Nextcloud apps.

Unlike traditional cloud productivity platforms from Google and Microsoft, all data is maintained within the user’s private infrastructure and is not accessible to anyone else. In addition, both Nextcloud and TrueNAS provide an extensive layer of security and compliance capabilities. Storage capacity can be scaled without any per-user restrictions or additional license fees.

Enterprise storage needs continue to explode, only overtaken by the growth of compliance and privacy challenges. iXsystems and Nextcloud are uniquely capable of delivering a platform that tackles these two challenges at once.

— Brett Davis, EVP, iXsystems

Nextcloud Hub for TrueNAS is available immediately, based on the current Nextcloud 22. TrueNAS 12.0 users (CORE and Enterprise) can deploy the Nextcloud plugin. Nextcloud and iXsystems also offer enterprise support options for business users. Find more details in our blogs: TrueNAS announcement – Nextcloud announcement.

A video with a walk-through of the installation process and a short look at Nextcloud is available on the TrueNAS YouTube channel.

About Nextcloud GmbH

Nextcloud Hub is the industry-leading, fully open source, on-premises team collaboration platform, combining the easy user interface of consumer-grade cloud solutions with the security and compliance measures enterprises need. Nextcloud Hub brings together universal access to data through mobile, desktop and web interfaces with next-generation, on-premise secure communication and collaboration features like real-time document editing, chat and video calls, putting them under direct control of IT and integrated with existing infrastructure.

Nextcloud’s easy and quick deployment, open, modular architecture and emphasis on security and advanced federation capabilities enable modern enterprises to leverage their existing file storage assets within and across the borders of their organization. For more information, visit nextcloud.com or follow @nextclouders on Twitter.

The post Nextcloud and TrueNAS deliver Productivity and Privacy appeared first on TrueNAS - Welcome to the Open Storage Era.

TrueNAS 12.0-U6 is Released & Continues the Forward Momentum in Quality

Will Soteros — Wed, 06 Oct 2021 17:00:24 +0000

TrueNAS 12.0-U6 was released yesterday and is now the recommended update for even the most conservative users of both TrueNAS CORE and TrueNAS Enterprise. It will now ship by default on all new TrueNAS systems.

TrueNAS 12.0-U5 and U5.1 were the most popular releases of TrueNAS ever. Over 65% of the FreeNAS 11.3 installed base has upgraded to TrueNAS CORE. TrueNAS 12.0 exceeded one exabyte (EB) of data under management in June and is now approaching 2 EB. The FreeNAS.org website has been folded into the TrueNAS.com website to give our community one source for all things TrueNAS/FreeNAS-related. All FreeNAS versions have officially been moved to “legacy” status.

While releasing TrueNAS 12.0, we created a new lifecycle model for TrueNAS CORE and Enterprise releases. The history of TrueNAS 12.0 releases has been:

TrueNAS 12.0-U1 was released in December, resolved the most significant bugs, and enabled features like Fusion pools and efficient scrubbing/resilvering.

TrueNAS 12.0-U2 was released in February and included bug fixes with some minor features.

TrueNAS 12.0-U3 was released April 13, 2021, and included bug fixes with some minor features. This release was officially ready for mission-critical users.

TrueNAS 12.0-U4 was released June 1, 2021, and included bug fixes with robustness improvements.

TrueNAS users have reported that updates have been smoother than ever with the 12.0 releases.

TrueNAS 12.0-U6 was released on October 5, 2021, and includes a number of fixes, about ten improvements, and a few platform enhancements. These include:

- NFSv4 HA improvements
- More extensive SMB regression testing with various SMB options
- SMB shadow copies feature has been fixed (bug in U5)
- OpenZFS dedup performance improvements by defaulting to SHA-512 algorithm
- Better webUI snapshot filtering by name
- UI improvements for disk temperature monitoring and UEFI booting
- Ongoing improvements to UI & middleware performance for large drive counts
- Improved UI for plugin updates/upgrades
- Various M-Series and R-Series webUI improvements

In addition to improving TrueNAS 12.0 software, we’re also actively partnering with companies that deliver some significant value-add to TrueNAS users. Futurex announced yesterday that they have integrated their KMIP management servers with the KMIP capability in TrueNAS 12.0 Enterprise. Later this month, there will be a joint announcement with Nextcloud about collaboration between the TrueNAS and Nextcloud platforms.

FreeNAS to TrueNAS 12.0 Upgrades are Easy

For those with FreeNAS installed on your system, we recommend upgrading to FreeNAS 11.3-U5 first and then upgrading to TrueNAS 12.0-U6 with a single click to retain roll-back options. While it is an easy web update, we do recommend waiting to update your system’s zpool feature flags until you have validated your performance and functionality. New users will want to simply download TrueNAS 12.0-U6 to get started.

TrueNAS Hardware Platforms

TrueNAS 12.0-U6 is compatible with all of the iXsystems platforms from the FreeNAS/TrueNAS Minis, to the power-efficient X-Series, all the way up to the flagship High Availability (HA) M-Series. There is also an R-Series product line that can run CORE, Enterprise, and SCALE editions of TrueNAS. All of these can be updated via the web UI and include graphical enclosure management.

TrueCommand 2.0 is the Single-Pane-of-Glass Management Platform

TrueNAS 12.0 includes support for TrueCommand (Docker or VM) and TrueCommand Cloud, a SaaS version that includes a VPN capability for managing across private networks. TrueCommand 2.0 includes a storage navigator to view datasets, files across multiple NAS systems, and real-time per-second statistics. The latest version, TrueCommand 2.0.2, includes the capability to track and report inventory with serial numbers and support status.

TrueCommand inventory view of TrueNAS systems

TrueNAS 13.0 and SCALE are Progressing

TrueNAS users will have a choice of migrating to SCALE (Linux containers, hyperconvergence, and scale-out) or maintaining their TrueNAS CORE and Enterprise operations. TrueNAS 12.0-U7 is planned for the January timeframe. The next version of TrueNAS CORE and Enterprise will be 13.0 and will be based on FreeBSD 13.0. Early development has begun and more information will be available later this year.

TrueNAS SCALE 21.08-BETA already has over 3,000 users and is getting very positive early reviews. For the next few months, the focus will be on getting TrueNAS SCALE to a release quality similar to TrueNAS CORE/Enterprise 12.0. TrueNAS SCALE 22.02 is expected to be a solid, feature-complete Release Candidate (RC) release planned for the end of October.

TrueNAS CORE is the Best-Ever Free NAS

The improvements to TrueNAS further strengthen its position as the best-ever “free NAS” system available. In that way, TrueNAS still is and always will be FreeNAS in spirit.

If you have any questions or comments, we’d love to hear them on the community forums, on the TrueNAS subreddit, or in response to this blog. If you need additional information on how TrueNAS can streamline, accelerate, and unify data management for your business, please contact us, or visit the newly redesigned truenas.com and download the TrueNAS version that best fits your needs.

Here’s to storage freedom!

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Futurex Enables Centralized Key Management for TrueNAS via KMIP

Will Soteros — Tue, 05 Oct 2021 13:00:20 +0000

Futurex’s on-premises and cloud KMIP solutions simplify encryption key management for greater security and control for TrueNAS Unified Storage

SAN JOSE, Calif. and BULVERDE, Texas, October 5, 2021 — iXsystems, the leader in Open Storage with TrueNAS, and Futurex, a leader in enterprise-class data security solutions, announced the integration of TrueNAS Enterprise with Futurex’s Key Management Enterprise Server (KMES) Series 3 and Futurex’s VirtuCrypt Enterprise Key Management Service, to enable full-spectrum key management, giving TrueNAS users additional security, flexibility, and control.

TrueNAS is Open Source storage that enables unified and secure data management and data sharing over a network. TrueNAS systems are now integrated with the Futurex KMES Series 3 and Futurex’s VirtuCrypt services, using the Key Management Interoperability Protocol (KMIP). Whether used on-premises or in the cloud, users can now create, use, and manage cryptographic keys, self-encrypting drive (SED) passwords, and ZFS encryption keys — all from a FIPS 140-2 Level 3 validated platform.

“Together with Futurex, we are giving TrueNAS users more cryptographic control of their data. TrueNAS encrypts the data via self-encrypting drives or OpenZFS dataset encryption, each with KMIP options. Futurex securely manages cryptographic keys with on-premises and cloud-based central key management solutions,” said Morgan Littlewood, SVP product management at iXsystems.

“Futurex eases the burdens of key management with a flexible solution that provides support for symmetric and asymmetric keys, certificate signing, and data encryption and decryption,” said Adam Cason, vice president, global and strategic alliances at Futurex. “TrueNAS, combined with Futurex centralized key management, increases data security with less hassle.”

The technical integration guide is available here. A webinar, “Securing Your Critical Data in an Increasingly Hostile Environment,” will be held on October 13, 2021, with iXsystems, Techgardens, and Futurex. Register here.

About iXsystems and TrueNAS

Through decades of expertise in system design and development of Open Source software (FreeNAS, FreeBSD, OpenZFS, and TrueNAS), iXsystems has become an innovation leader in high availability storage and servers powered by Open Source solutions. With over one million deployments and backed by the legendary ZFS file system, TrueNAS offers the stability and reliability required for Backup, Multimedia, Cloud Hosting, Virtualization, Hyper-converged Infrastructure, and much more. Since the founding of iXsystems in 2002, thousands of companies, universities, and government organizations have come to rely on the company’s enterprise servers, TrueNAS Open Storage, and consultative approach to building IT infrastructure and Private Clouds with Open Source economics. For more information, please visit truenas.com.

About Futurex

For more than 40 years, Futurex has been a trusted provider of enterprise-class data security solutions. More than 15,000 organizations worldwide, including financial services providers and corporate enterprises, have used Futurex’s innovative hardware security modules, key management servers, and enterprise-class cloud solutions to address their mission-critical systems, data security, and cryptographic needs. For more information, please visit futurex.com.

# # #

Media contacts:

For iXsystems:

Denise Ebery, iXsystems, denise@iXsystems.com, +1 916-307-8378

For Futurex:

Kelly Stremel, McKenzie Worldwide, mediarelations@futurex.com, + 1 360-687-1332

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TrueNAS vs FreeNAS (and why you should upgrade!)

Will Soteros — Tue, 14 Sep 2021 18:35:54 +0000

FreeNAS reigned as the world’s most popular Open Source Software-Defined Storage (SDS) from 2009 to 2020. During Q3 2020, TrueNAS 12.0 was introduced, which started the transition of FreeNAS merging into TrueNAS. Within a year, TrueNAS is now the new #1 Open Source SDS with more than twice the number of systems deployed. The final phase of the transition will be to merge the FreeNAS.org site into the TrueNAS.com site. While we kick off that process this week, we wanted to take the opportunity for one last comparative review of FreeNAS and TrueNAS, and discuss why now is the time to upgrade if you haven’t already.

FreeNAS is now known as TrueNAS CORE

TrueNAS CORE inherited the same free and Open Source attributes of FreeNAS and has continued to build on that foundation with new features. Below is a high-level overview of the capabilities of TrueNAS CORE.

Looking beyond features, both the quality and functionality of TrueNAS CORE 12.0-U5 are also now substantially superior to FreeNAS 11.3-U5 (which was the last official FreeNAS release). FreeNAS has been transitioned to “legacy” status and is no longer recommended for any new deployments.

Given this progress, we will be officially consolidating the freenas.org website into truenas.com to give users and contributors a single hub of information for all things TrueNAS. With this, we are also recommending that all users deploy TrueNAS for both security and support going forward.

Why Are FreeNAS and TrueNAS so Popular?

TrueNAS and FreeNAS share a common architecture and more than 90% of the same software. They provide the software for an extremely flexible unified storage system (i.e. – NAS, SAN, and/or object) on a proven and robust ZettaByte File System (ZFS) base. For more detail, please refer to the TrueNAS documentation.

Key capabilities of both FreeNAS and TrueNAS include:

File services: NFSv3/v4 and Windows SMB provide the foundation. Windows compatibility (Active Directory, Shadow copies) is excellent, and ZFS enhances it with superior performance and features.

Block services: iSCSI can be used for virtualization and backup, or other applications that need block storage. VMware compatibility (VAAI, snapshots, clones) simplifies deployments. Extreme reliability (RAID-Z1/Z2/Z3, scrubbing, and replication) ensures that block storage data is very safe. Fiber Channel is also available with TrueNAS Enterprise.

Object storage services: S3 API source and target are required for many modern applications. Emulate a local S3 service using the compatible Minio API or sync data with AWS S3 and other cloud services for long-term archive.

Application services: jails, plugins, and VMs simplify application deployments and reduce the physical footprints needed. Plex, NextCloud, Asigra, and many other applications can be integrated into the NAS and receive all the benefits of ZFS.

ZFS data management (snapshots, clones, scrubbing, RAID-Z protection, replication) underlies all of these services and allows data to be managed and protected simply and consistently. When hardware failures or operator errors happen, ZFS provides the tools to recover your data and continue operating.

System management coordinates all of the above services with powerful middleware that presents the users with an easy-to-use WebUI and a fully functional REST API for automation. TrueCommand was added to enhance management capabilities and enable the administration of many FreeNAS and TrueNAS systems from a single pane of glass.

Hardware flexibility gives the user the ability to install TrueNAS CORE on the consumer, professional, and enterprise hardware of their choosing. Virtually any x86 storage server can be built with industry-standard NICs, HBAs, and drives of any type. The community helps with validating an enormous range of components, including retired enterprise gear.

What Are the Differences Between FreeNAS and TrueNAS?

With FreeNAS receiving its final release with 11.3-U5, all new feature development is happening on TrueNAS. Beyond that (and apart from the obvious rebranding), TrueNAS also adds many technical enhancements that improve the user experience, both now and going forward. The current list of TrueNAS enhancements includes:

Unified TrueNAS CORE and Enterprise: TrueNAS Enterprise 11.3 and FreeNAS 11.3 were separate software images, each with their own QA process and unique bugs. With TrueNAS 12.0, the model is now a unified image with a license key to enable iXsystems Enterprise platform features like Fibre Channel, High Availability, KMIP, and Enclosure Management. The result has been a more efficient development cycle with fewer bugs and faster problem resolution within TrueNAS. TrueNAS CORE users now benefit from the same QA and testing that TrueNAS Enterprise users get.

Enhanced Software Quality: In addition to faster bug resolution, TrueNAS 12.0 has improved testing and quality. FreeBSD 12.1, SAMBA 4.12, OpenZFS 2.0, and Python 3.9 are all much better than their predecessors. The common software has allowed an increase in the QA test coverage, resulting in fewer critical issues and a generally more reliable experience. TrueNAS 12.0-U5.1 has been the best release so far, and we expect that to continue improving with each future TrueNAS release.

Improved OpenZFS Performance: TrueNAS moved from the FreeBSD version of OpenZFS to the multi-OS version of OpenZFS 2.0. This included feature parity with the Linux version and also included a wide range of performance enhancements and features. Fusion Pools, using special VDEVs, persistent L2ARC, and other general performance improvements have been the result of this transition. With this update, we’ve often measured 30% performance improvements on larger TrueNAS systems like the TrueNAS M60. TrueNAS has also made further virtualization improvements with version 12.0.

Better Security: The removal of security threats is a never-ending challenge. Many vulnerabilities have been removed by FreeBSD 12.1 and SAMBA 4.12. In addition, TrueNAS has been improved both in terms of its software quality, features, and documentation of issues. Security.truenas.com maintains the list of security vulnerabilities. TrueNAS 12.0 added ZFS dataset-level encryption, KMIP (Enterprise), and OpenVPN capabilities as well. Any vulnerabilities found will be patched in TrueNAS.

Modern Hardware: The update to FreeBSD 12.1 and the subsequent fixes improve support for modern hardware such as AMD’s high core-count processors and NVMe SSDs. Performance and system reliability have been improved with TrueNAS.

Cloud Management: The latest TrueCommand 2.0 uses a vastly improved TrueNAS stats collection system that offers per-second statistics and better CPU/network efficiency. TrueCommand users should update to TrueNAS 12.0-U4 or later to gain access to these improvements. TrueCommand Cloud enables multi-site management via SaaS.

Path to Scale-Out: TrueNAS 12.0 and OpenZFS 2.0 are the foundations for the Linux-based TrueNAS SCALE which provides Open Source Hyperconverged Infrastructure (HCI) and scale-out storage. There is a path for migrating TrueNAS CORE and Enterprise systems to TrueNAS SCALE for users that want these features. FreeNAS users will first need to migrate to TrueNAS CORE before making the jump to SCALE.

FreeNAS to TrueNAS 12.0 Upgrades are Easy

The short-term and long-term benefits of TrueNAS are clear. We recommend FreeNAS users plan and execute their updates. The current version is TrueNAS 12.0-U5.1 which is a minor update to TrueNAS 12.0-U5 and includes all the same benefits.

TrueNAS 12.0-U5 is compatible with all of the iXsystems platforms – from the FreeNAS and TrueNAS Minis, to the power-efficient X-Series, all the way up to the flagship High Availability (HA) M-Series. The “FreeNAS Certified” Server line was also replaced by the new R-Series product line that can run CORE, Enterprise, and SCALE editions of TrueNAS.

For those with FreeNAS installed on your system, we recommend upgrading to FreeNAS 11.3-U5 first and then upgrading to TrueNAS 12.0-U5 with a single click to retain roll-back options. While it is an easy web update, we do recommend updating your system’s zpool feature flags only after you are finished validating your performance and functionality.

For those with TrueNAS 11.x HA systems and support contracts, we recommend contacting iXsystems support to schedule an upgrade. We will verify your systems’ health and configuration, and support the upgrade process as part of the “white glove” service that comes with any support contract.

TrueNAS CORE is the Best-Ever Free NAS

In short, if you’ve been waiting to upgrade from FreeNAS to TrueNAS, now is the time. You lose nothing (heck, we even have a FreeNAS-themed UI skin for us nostalgists), and you’ll gain all the new improvements we’ve made and plan to release into the future, while also keeping your system security up to date.

TrueNAS 12.0-U5 still is and will continue to be the best ever “free NAS” system available. If you have any questions or comments, we’d love to hear them on the community forums, on the TrueNAS subreddit, or in response to this blog.

If you need additional information on how TrueNAS can streamline, accelerate, and unify data management for your business, please contact us.

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TrueNAS Increases the Flexibility of its VMware Storage Solution

Joshua Smith — Thu, 02 Sep 2021 23:23:52 +0000

TrueNAS has integrated well with VMware and vSphere for many years by maintaining VMware-ready certification status and including support for vStorage API for Array Integration (VAAI), vSphere Storage DRS, a vCenter plugin, and other integrations. In 2021, the TrueNAS VMware partnership is expanded with the performance and security improvements of TrueNAS 12.0 and a new TrueNAS vCenter Plugin (v3.4.0).

The new TrueNAS vCenter Plugin is being released today. The plugin integrates into the VMware vCenter utility, which provides management of vSphere clusters and their storage. The plugin connects with the TrueNAS API to create, delete, and manage datastores from within the vCenter WebUI. Datastores can be set up and managed on one or more TrueNAS systems via iSCSI, NFS, and this latest release now also enables Fibre Channel (FC).

The number of steps to deploy the TrueNAS vCenter plugin has been halved and deployment only takes a few minutes. Once up and running, the familiar vCenter webUI makes it easy to perform common virtualization tasks involving compute, hypervisor, and storage. The TrueNAS vCenter plugin is included for free with TrueNAS Enterprise deployments.

vCenter 6.7 WebUI

TrueNAS 12.0 Unlocks New Upside for Virtualization Workloads

TrueNAS 12.0, which is now the General Availability (GA) release “train”, added several improvements to both performance and security. Overall general storage performance increased by 30% and deduplication was improved for virtualization workloads. To take advantage of these gains, the TrueNAS M60 appliance was introduced to enable one million IOPS, 20GB/s, and 20 PB capacity. In terms of simplifying compliance and addressing enterprise security needs, encryption per dataset and KMIP functionality were added. Additionally, recertification of TrueNAS 12.0 with Veeam was recently completed.

TrueCommand Completes the Management Experience

While vCenter manages the virtualization aspects of TrueNAS, TrueCommand 2.0 provides complementary management of the physical infrastructure (controllers, drives, SSDs, temperatures), the ZFS file system, and the more complex data management tasks like snapshot policies and replication across many TrueNAS systems, some of which may be managed via vCenter. TrueCommand Cloud also provides a SaaS capability to securely manage these systems across many sites. Both TrueCommand and vCenter can be accessed via a web browser on the same management station.

TrueCommand 2.0 WebUI

VMware + TrueNAS: a Powerful Combo

The combination of TrueNAS 12.0, TrueCommand 2.0, and the TrueNAS vCenter plugin deliver an easy-to-manage virtualization experience that leverages Open Source economics to provide best-in-class value with Enterprise support.

TrueNAS is an extremely flexible virtualization storage platform with capabilities for high-performance all-flash datastores or lower-cost hybrid datastores via iSCSI, Fibre Channel, or NFS. Virtualized environments are made even more reliable through the data protection features of TrueNAS and OpenZFS such as copy-on-write snapshots, built-in integrity checking and self-healing, and highly efficient replication. Enterprise backup can be provided via native ZFS tools or via integration with Asigra, Veeam, or other backup software. Unlike VSAN and block storage solutions, TrueNAS also enables integrated data sharing between VMs via SMB, NFS, or S3

In addition to the legendary software flexibility of TrueNAS, there is also significant flexibility in the platform choices. Small HA systems can be built with the compact and efficient TrueNAS X-Series systems, and larger systems with the datastore and sharing capabilities for thousands of VMs can be built with the TrueNAS M-Series. The flagship TrueNAS M60 scales to more than 20GB/s and 20PB in capacity. All of the platforms can be managed across multiple sites from TrueCommand and vCenter.

Learn More

More information on the TrueNAS virtualization solution is available on the Documentation Hub. Thousands of organizations ranging from small businesses to Fortune 100 companies have turned to TrueNAS to reduce the cost and complexity of their virtualization infrastructure. Contact iXsystems to learn how we can help you do the same.

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TrueNAS SCALE 21.08 Delivers Major SMB Enhancements

Will Soteros — Tue, 31 Aug 2021 15:56:39 +0000

TrueNAS SCALE 21.08 BETA has been released and includes clustered SMB (aka Windows storage) and a much improved Windows-style ACL (Access Control List) editor. These build on the major iXsystems innovation of Windows-style (aka NFSv4) ACLs on Linux ZFS. With these new features, the first release (“Angelfish”) of TrueNAS SCALE is largely feature complete and scheduled to go through the RC and RELEASE process in Q4 of 2021.

TrueNAS SCALE 21.06 had the largest community of BETA users of any previous TrueNAS or FreeNAS release with over 3,000 deployed systems and a lot of field testing. Many thanks to the thousands of community developers and testers who have contributed to the effort.

Commercial BETA trials have started for a limited number of users and are also going well. The TrueNAS R-Series platforms are the first platforms available with TrueNAS SCALE support.

TrueNAS SCALE 21.08 BETA includes about 400 improvements (including bug fixes). The major new capabilities of TrueNAS SCALE 21.08 include:

Windows-style ACL Editor: TrueNAS CORE and Enterprise support Windows-style file system ACLs (aka NFSv4 ACLs), based on OpenZFS with FreeBSD-compatible extended attributes. TrueNAS SCALE includes iXsystems enhancements to Linux which also allow importing of TrueNAS CORE & Enterprise pools while keeping the same extended attributes. With 21.08, the ACL editor in the WebUI received a large improvement in ease of use, while still supporting advanced ACL configurations. This makes it much easier for storage administrators to set up and manage ACLs in an immediately familiar way with a much smaller learning curve for new users.

Scale-Out SMB: TrueCommand 2.0 provides a WebUI for TrueNAS SCALE which enables ZFS datasets to be pooled together as cluster volumes which span multiple nodes. Clustered SMB access to those clustered volumes is previewed on TrueNAS SCALE 21.08 via APIs, and will be WebUI configurable with an upcoming TrueCommand version update. This allows scale-out capacity and bandwidth as well as fault tolerance.

Improved System and Sharing Dashboards: The main dashboard and the sharing dashboards have been significantly improved. The overall goal is to simplify setup and administration by reducing the steps required.

Enclosure Management: Enclosure management provides visual control of specific iXsystems platforms such as the TrueNAS R-Series, with support for the Minis, M-Series, and X-Series coming soon.

OpenZFS 2.1: 21.08 includes an updated version of OpenZFS which lays the groundwork for future file-system feature enhancements. iXsystems contributed code for better scaling of worker processes with processor cores which makes tasks such as scrubbing and resilvering behave more reliably.

Container Storage Interface (CSI): The Democratic CSI is now supported and has been improved to be all API based. This will enable more robust deployments of TrueNAS storage for Kubernetes systems.

Application Catalog Improvement: Third-party applications can be deployed as single (Docker) containers or “pods” of containers described with customizable Helm charts. These applications can be downloaded via catalogs like TrueCharts, which also provides a process for users to build and customize their own catalogs. The syncing and managing of catalogs has been improved and is now snappier and more robust.

The WebUI, while similar to TrueNAS CORE, has also been vastly improved with new UX enhancements which enable configuration and management of a system with far greater ease than ever before. Users will find much more relevant and important information readily available with less need to navigate through multiple pages in the interface. See the animated demo below.

TrueNAS 21.08 WebUI

TrueNAS SCALE documentation has also improved significantly and includes instructions on how to sidegrade from TrueNAS CORE to SCALE. In addition, there are Developer Notes and Release Notes.

We appreciate the community feedback and bug reports and hope to get all those features to full RELEASE quality faster. A special thanks also goes to the large number of awesome community members who joined the development and test team. We’ve really appreciated your contributions and teamwork and it has greatly contributed to the accelerated development process.

Who should use TrueNAS SCALE?

At this BETA stage of its Software Development Lifecycle, TrueNAS SCALE is primarily for developers, testers, tech-savvy enthusiasts, and early adopters. The software is now feature complete and will be heading into its Release Candidate (RC) phase in October. The SCALE software can be downloaded here after reading the release notes.

For larger commercial users with scale-out needs, iXsystems has a formal BETA program to support specific deployments and applications before they complete testing and enter the production phase later this year. Please contact your iXsystems Account Representative or email us at info@iXsystems.com if you are interested in joining the BETA program.

Production users with standard NAS (NFS, SMB, iSCSI, S3) requirements are still advised to use TrueNAS CORE and Enterprise, which have hundreds of times more data under management and over ten years of operation. TrueNAS SCALE has inherited some of that maturity and the automated testing, but it will be a while before it has the same quality and reliability.

If you have any additional questions or need advice on a new project, please email us at info@iXsystems.com. We are standing by to help.

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TrueNAS 12.0-U5 Released, FreeNAS Transitions to “Legacy” Status

Will Soteros — Wed, 04 Aug 2021 01:27:11 +0000

The migration of FreeNAS to TrueNAS started in October 2020. The transition has been deliberately slow and methodical, while the efficiency gains have been every bit the windfall we anticipated. Over this period, many exabytes of data were carefully managed while the ZFS file system and NAS software were updated with new technologies, features, and performance.

It’s now time to thank the FreeNAS shark for its service. FreeNAS 11.3-U5 played its part by being a very stable and reliable release. TrueNAS 12.0 is now much faster, more secure, and more reliable than any previous FreeNAS release.

TrueNAS 12.0-U5 was released today and is now the recommended update for even the most conservative users of both TrueNAS CORE and TrueNAS Enterprise. Wait a couple of weeks for community feedback and then update. It will ship by default on all new TrueNAS systems.

In October of last year, the first release of TrueNAS 12.0 marked the official merger of FreeNAS and TrueNAS into a unified software image, accompanied by a long list of features and performance improvements. Since then, over 70% of the FreeNAS 11.3 installed base have already migrated to TrueNAS CORE. TrueNAS 12.0 passed one exabyte (EB) of data under management over two months ago; this number is now about 1.5 EB.

FreeNAS Transition to “Legacy” status as TrueNAS 12.0-U5 isReleased

In the near future, the FreeNAS.org website will be redirected to the newer-styled TrueNAS.com website. There will be very little change for most users, but Google searches will be redirected to current TrueNAS software and not the legacy software information. (We will maintain a page on truenas.com for legacy FreeNAS software downloads).

While releasing TrueNAS 12.0, we created a new lifecycle model for TrueNAS CORE and Enterprise releases. The history of TrueNAS 12.0 releases has been:

TrueNAS 12.0 RELEASE was made available October 20, 2020, and included many new features along with OpenZFS 2.0 support.

TrueNAS 12.0-U1 was released in December, resolved the most significant bugs, and enabled features like Fusion pools, efficient scrubbing/resilvering.

TrueNAS 12.0-U2 was released in February, and included bug fixes and minor features.

TrueNAS 12.0-U3 was released April 13, 2021, and included bug fixes and some minor features. This release was recommended for mission-critical users.

TrueNAS 12.0-U4 was released June 1, 2021, and included bug fixes and robustness improvements.

TrueNAS users have been reporting that updates have been smooth.

TrueNAS 12.0-U5 was released on August 3, 2021. A full list of changes and bugs is available for those with an account on the TrueNAS Jira bug tracker. Issues resolved include:

About twenty improvements and eighty bug fixes.
Python upgrades to address potential memory leaks and eliminate rare middleware crashes.
OpenZFS update to 2.0.5.
Several security updates to key components that are not available in 11.3.
TrueNAS R-Series and Mini Enclosure management has been improved.
Several WebUI improvements – including resolving a dashboard CPU% bug.
NVMe drives automatic resizing support.
M-Series HA improvements.

Please check out the updated TrueNAS documentation even if you don’t upgrade today. We’re extremely grateful for all the contributions received thus far and encourage more user suggestions going forward.

FreeNAS to TrueNAS 12.0 Upgrades are Easy

TrueNAS 12.0-U5 is compatible with all of the iXsystems platforms from the FreeNAS/TrueNAS Minis, to the power-efficient X-Series, all the way up to the flagship High Availability (HA) M-Series. There is also a new R-Series product line that can run CORE, Enterprise, and SCALE editions of TrueNAS. All of these can be updated via the web UI and include graphical enclosure management.R-Series enclosure management showing a drive and its associated vdev

For those with FreeNAS installed on your system, we recommend upgrading to FreeNAS 11.3-U5 first and then upgrading to TrueNAS 12.0-U5 with a single click to retain roll-back options. While it is an easy web update, we do recommend waiting to update your system’s zpool feature flags until you are finished validating your performance and functionality.

For new users, download TrueNAS 12.0-U5 to get started.

TrueCommand 2.0 is the Single-Pane-of-Glass Management Platform

TrueCommand view of TrueNAS systems with per second updates

TrueNAS 13.0 and SCALE are Progressing

TrueNAS users will have a choice of migrating to SCALE (Linux containers, hyperconvergence, and scale-out) or maintaining their TrueNAS CORE and Enterprise operations. TrueNAS 12.0-U6 is planned for the November timeframe. The next version of TrueNAS CORE and Enterprise will be 13.0 and will be based on FreeBSD 13.0. Early development has begun and more information will be available later this year.

TrueNAS SCALE 21.06-BETA already has thousands of users and is getting very positive early reviews. For the next five months, the focus will be on getting TrueNAS SCALE to a release quality similar to TrueNAS CORE/Enterprise 12.0. TrueNAS SCALE 21.08 is expected to be a solid, largely feature-complete BETA release. A Release Candidate is planned for early Q4.

TrueNAS CORE is the Best-Ever Free NAS

TrueNAS 12.0-U5 improvements continue its tradition as the best-ever “free NAS” system available. If you have any questions or comments, we’d love to hear them on the community forums, on the TrueNAS subreddit, or in response to this blog. If you need additional information on how TrueNAS can streamline, accelerate, and unify data management for your business, please contact us.

The post TrueNAS 12.0-U5 Released, FreeNAS Transitions to “Legacy” Status appeared first on TrueNAS - Welcome to the Open Storage Era.

TrueNAS M-Series Update Enables Unprecedented SCALE-ability

Will Soteros — Tue, 03 Aug 2021 17:33:54 +0000

Accurately predicting storage performance and capacity needs for the next twelve months is a struggle for most customers, let alone predicting it over the entire 5+ year lifetime of a storage system. To make matters worse, even if it were possible to predict that far ahead, most customers couldn’t afford to buy all of the necessary capacity at once. This can make storage purchases an economically daunting proposition for many IT organizations.

This is why simple, cost-effective capacity and performance scalability were made primary design principles behind the TrueNAS M-Series enterprise storage systems. And, with some significant hardware and software improvements released in 2021, the third generation TrueNAS M-Series now makes keeping pace with data growth even simpler while also enabling unprecedented scalability from 20 TB to 20 PB and beyond…all the way to 2 Exabytes!

M-Series Hardware Scales Up from 20 TB to 20 PB

The original TrueNAS M-Series was released in 2018 and has since delivered rock solid service to thousands of TrueNAS customers. There are three major M-Series models: M40, M50, and M60. Each model has single and dual storage controller options and multiple network options including 100/25Gbe and Fibre Channel.

The TrueNAS M60 is the latest model that began shipping in late 2020. The updated midplane in the M60 chassis supports a 16GByte/s interconnect between controllers as well as 16GByte/s of PCIe bandwidth to four dual-ported NVME SSDs. The combination of M60 controllers, NVDIMMs, and midplane bandwidth enabled over 20GByte/s of storage bandwidth and one million IOPS.

The third generation M-Series models, introduced in March 2021, now all use the very same M60 Chassis. The M60 chassis was introduced at no extra cost to TrueNAS customers and ensures that all M-Series models can be non-disruptively upgraded for additional capacity and bandwidth should their current model approach its performance or space limits. Simply replace one controller at a time while the system remains in service. All data remains available, and all configuration and IP addressing remains unchanged.

Let’s examine these expansion and upgrade capabilities more closely using an M40 as an example.

A new M40 customer can now start with a small number of HDDs or SSDs, even as little as 20TB. If capacity growth is needed, Expansion Shelves (24, 60, or 102 Bays) can be added to grow capacity. The M40 has the CPU/RAM/HBA resources to support two shelves.

To grow capacity or performance further, the M40 controllers can be upgraded to M50 (4/8 shelves) or M60 (12 shelves) controllers. Additional shelves can then be added to grow the capacity to over 20 PB in a single rack. This can all be done as in-service upgrades with applications seeing only non-disruptive pauses, as if a software update was being done.

This 2021 M-Series hardware change allows the M-Series to address requirements from 20TB to 20PB with in-service upgrades. That’s a factor of 1,000x capacity increase.

TrueNAS M-Series can SCALE “out” from 20 PB to 2 Exabyte

A single TrueNAS Enterprise M60 can support over 20 PB of data. This is more than enough for many projects, or even for entire organizations, but there are many applications that need even more than this. Video archives, scientific data, and enterprise backup applications often require hundreds of petabytes with some organizations even requiring an exabyte or beyond.

These massive storage requirements typically need the scale-out architecture that is enabled by TrueNAS SCALE. TrueNAS SCALE provides scale-out capabilities for both file storage (SMB or gluster) and object storage (S3 API). With TrueNAS SCALE 21.08, these capabilities are currently available for BETA testing and will progress to RELEASE in the coming months. TrueNAS SCALE 22.02-RC (available in October) is expected to include single-controller BETA support for the M-Series, with full Enterprise support available next. All of the standard OpenZFS and management capabilities of TrueNAS Enterprise are still provided.

A storage customer can start with a TrueNAS Enterprise M-Series platform, such as an M60 with up to 20 PB. This M-Series platform may grow to occupy a whole rack with its expansion shelves. After a software “sidegrade” to TrueNAS SCALE, data is maintained and then additional nodes/racks can be added to potentially scale-out an S3 cluster to 100 nodes, or nearly 2 Exabytes of capacity.

The Benefits of M-Series SCALE-ability

The combination of third generation M-Series hardware “scale-up” and the TrueNAS SCALE “scale-out” software enables systems to grow from 20 TB to 20 PB and all the way to 2 EB.

Not everyone needs this massive scalability from 20 TB to 2 EB. However, many storage customers need the ability to grow more than 10X over the lifetime of their investment. The TrueNAS M-Series is designed to adapt to changing requirements by allowing scalability while protecting investments and minimizing any downtime.

The M-Series scalability is also remarkable in that it is built with Open Source technology and economics. Industry-standard hardware components, along with Open Source TrueNAS software, enable the continued growth of data while keeping the cost of storage affordable. Our goal is to enable data growth while staying within allocated budgets.

Thank You to Our Customers and Community

We would like to thank all of our TrueNAS M-Series customers for helping us refine the M-Series platform and ensure that we have a solid operational model. Your feedback has been invaluable, and we are committed to your continued support. And, if you have M-Series or other systems from before 2021, please contact us if you need to address your own scalability needs. There are several options available to you.

The TrueNAS community has also been outstanding in its support of the TrueNAS SCALE project. We are excited to complete the ALPHA and BETA phases and start supporting production deployments. Thank you for the feedback, bug tickets, and enthusiastic support. We hope the energy put into SCALE helps you and your organizations in the future.

If you have any additional questions or need advice on a new project, please contact us. We are standing by to help.

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Combating Ransomware with TrueNAS

Will Soteros — Mon, 02 Aug 2021 20:36:53 +0000

Ransomware is making headlines globally but is not receiving a coordinated response from world leaders or the IT industry. Malicious groups ranging from online street thugs to full-blown state-sponsored military operations are infecting computers and holding them for ransom using encryption with little regard for who might be impacted. It’s often not even clear if a successful ransom payment will result in the timely return of the victim’s data.

Governments cannot be expected to solve this problem, and in fact may penalize you for paying a ransom to “terrorists”. IT decision makers must urgently look outside of their standard toolkit because hackers are always looking for new attack vectors to compromise systems. iXsystems TrueNAS offers a robust approach to combating ransomware that embraces mainstream IT solutions while providing additional layers of security that can be integrated into any organization’s ransomware protection strategy.

The Nuts and Bolts of Ransomware

A large portion of systems that fall victim to ransomware are running Microsoft Windows and rely on Windows technologies such as Group Policy and the Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS) to keep intruders at bay and mitigate the damage they do. While this approach will prevent some attacks, these approaches often miss the most common yet nefarious ransomware attack vector: a privileged user downloading unintentional malware that infects and encrypts every resource that they have access to. The more privileged the user, the more damage they can inadvertently cause — up to full and total destruction performed with Administrative access.

In addition to user workstations, consumer-grade NAS systems such as QNAP, Synology, and WD CloudNAS have also fallen victim to high-profile and widespread ransomware attacks. NAS systems like these that are Internet accessible are particularly vulnerable. Where built-in applications and services have root access to the system, each application enabled makes the whole system more vulnerable. Extreme care should be taken before exposing any storage service to the internet, and if required, should be done using a variety of techniques such as incorporating VPNs, Encryption, and two-factor authentication (2FA).

Additionally, many high-profile targets are compromised and analyzed months in advance before a ransomware attack. Adversaries perform reconnaissance to identify and target backup strategies and identify anything that provides an advantage when launching their attack. If necessary, reinforce your network security tools and procedures as they are often the first defense for your storage security.

Ransomware Payments Should be Your Last Resort, Not Your First

The true secret to combating ransomware is to treat it like any other threat to your data and build a robust storage infrastructure that can provide end-to-end data integrity with rapid restoration capabilities. This is where TrueNAS with its OpenZFS file system helps safeguard exabytes of data across the globe from not only ransomware but also the traditional threats that a good data protection strategy is designed to address. From user error to bit rot, you should be ready for anything, and TrueNAS provides key capabilities that give you an upper hand against all risks to your data, including:

Bitrot protection, thanks to continuous filesystem checksumming
Redundancy, thanks to flexible volume configuration
Protection from disrupted writes thanks to a “copy-on-write” design
Instant point-in-time, immutable backups thanks to snapshots
Fully-validated bit-level backup thanks to snapshot-based replication
Optional dataset or full-disk encryption for privacy and compliance
Optional high-availability for robust service delivery
Cloud backup integration with all leading providers
Replication and backup to non-TrueNAS hosts via rsync
Windows malware immunity thanks to Unix operating systems
SMB share protection with WORM profile options

TrueNAS Goes the Extra Mile for Data Security

In practice, a network of TrueNAS systems deliver industry-standard sharing protocols including SMB, NFS, iSCSI, AFP, and FTP to servers and workstations with the key difference being that essential data protection operations are invisible to users and out of reach of known ransomware. Should a connected system be infected, the administrator can selectively roll back the impacted storage and optionally clone the infected state for forensic analysis. Backup operations also take place transparently to users and are online for continuous inspection with optional air-gapping. This infrastructure can be further secured with:

Tightly restricted Internet access with OpenVPN options for remote access
Third party Application protections via industry standard containerization technologies
Role-based Access Control (RBAC) and auditing with TrueCommand
End-to-end encrypted administrative access
Least-privileged Active Directory joining authority
Optional two-factor authentication for administrative access, including UI and SSH

Isn’t Open Source a Security Disadvantage?

Quite the contrary. Having source code open and available provides significant benefits to security that closed-source products can’t provide. TrueNAS is backed by one of the largest Open Source communities today, the TrueNAS Community, who actively help with specifying requirements, development, validation, and field testing of the software. TrueNAS software is also completely open for transparency and external review to avoid the types of hacks that have become the norm for many closed-source pieces of software.

Time to Take Preventative Action with TrueNAS

Ransomware is a pervasive and evolving threat, but it does not change the fundamental rules and responsibilities of data protection. The TrueNAS family by iXsystems offers flexible storage solutions ranging in size from a few terabytes to many petabytes, with a comprehensive set of security tools, a unified user experience, and up to 24/7 technical support. For up to date information on TrueNAS security information, users should visit security.truenas.com.

Whether you are using TrueNAS CORE, Enterprise, or SCALE, TrueNAS provides the tools needed for data security. The TrueNAS Community Forum is an excellent place to discuss any concerns or ask questions of other experienced users. Contact iXsystems when you are ready for professional support to build secure data infrastructure for your organization.

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TrueCommand 2.0 Enables TrueNAS Clusters

Will Soteros — Tue, 22 Jun 2021 17:20:52 +0000

Unified management systems simplify clustering and complement the scale-out storage capability of TrueNAS SCALE, which also reached BETA this month.

SAN JOSE, Calif, June 22, 2021 – iXsystems, the leader in Open Source storage, announced the general availability of TrueCommand 2.0, the second major release of the single-pane-of-glass management system that simplifies the monitoring and control of fleets of systems running TrueNAS CORE, Enterprise, or SCALE.

TrueCommand 2.0 adds an array of new features to its existing ability to manage faults, configuration, access control, performance, and security. Chief among the key features enabled is the ability to manage clusters of TrueNAS SCALE nodes for high capacity (100+ PB) and bandwidth (100+GB/s) applications. It also adds real-time (per second) statistics and a storage navigator function to manage datasets and their snapshots.

TrueCommand can be deployed as a Docker container or delivered as a TrueCommand Cloud service with integrated VPN security. TrueCommand Cloud provides VPN and web proxy services to help enterprises and MSPs manage their fleet of TrueNAS systems from a web interface anywhere in the world.

TrueNAS Software Continues to Fuel the Open Storage Movement

Released in October 2020, TrueNAS 12.0 (CORE, Enterprise) is now one of the most widely adopted releases and the fastest to reach one exabyte under management. TrueNAS 12.0-U4, just released this month, is the latest production-ready release and is based on OpenZFS 2.0.

In addition, TrueNAS SCALE has also reached BETA with the availability of version 21.06. This represents a major milestone for the highly-anticipated Open Source Hyperconverged Infrastructure software that provides scale-out storage and compute. The community of users deploying SCALE has grown to well over 2,000 users. Customer deployments have also begun, and the BETA program is now available to select customers.

“We are excited to deliver three significant software releases this month, and TrueCommand 2.0 is a major leap for the management of TrueNAS CORE, Enterprise, and SCALE,” said Brett Davis, iXsystems Executive Vice President. “Over the last year, we have unified the FreeNAS and TrueNAS software and brands, improved the software quality and user experience for our customers and community, and grown our storage business by over 60%. The additions of TrueCommand 2.0 and TrueNAS SCALE represent our continued commitment to providing enterprise storage with Open Source economics and flexibility to solve data growth challenges without compromise.”

For more information about iXsystems or to learn more about becoming a partner and how TrueNAS can help your organization, contact us or call us at +1-408-943-4100.

About iXsystems and TrueNAS

Through decades of expertise in system design and development of Open Source software (FreeNAS, FreeBSD, OpenZFS, and TrueNAS), iXsystems has become an innovation leader in high availability storage and servers powered by Open Source solutions. With over one million deployments and backed by the legendary ZFS file system, TrueNAS offers the stability and reliability required for Backup, Multimedia, Cloud Hosting, Virtualization, Hyper-converged Infrastructure, and much more. Since the founding of iXsystems in 2002, thousands of companies, universities, and government organizations have come to rely on the company’s enterprise servers, TrueNAS Open Storage, and consultative approach to building IT infrastructure and Private Clouds with Open Source economics.

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TrueNAS SCALE BETA Begins Now!

Will Soteros — Tue, 22 Jun 2021 16:33:21 +0000

After a very successful ALPHA cycle with thousands of deployed and tested nodes, TrueNAS SCALE 21.06 marks the official beginning of BETA and is now being tested for general NAS usage, scale-out, and application deployment. Many thanks to the thousands of community developers and testers who have contributed to the effort.

As our initial community post and blog indicated, TrueNAS SCALE is defined by its acronym:

Scale-Out ZFS: Capacity & Performance

Converged Compute and Storage

Active-Active Reliability

Linux containers & Virtualization: Docker, K8s, and KVM

Easy Setup & Management

With TrueNAS SCALE 21.06 and the recent release of TrueCommand 2.0, every element in the acronym has been delivered and is ready for BETA testing on the path to RELEASE later this year. The major new capabilities of TrueNAS SCALE 21.06 include:

SMB ACLs: TrueNAS CORE supports NFSv4 and SMB ACLs, based on OpenZFS with FreeBSD-compatible extended attributes. TrueNAS SCALE includes an iXsystems enhancement to Linux which also allows importing of TrueNAS pools while keeping the same extended attributes functional. This is the final piece that allows the migration of storage from TrueNAS CORE to SCALE.

Applications: Third-party applications can now be deployed as single (Docker) containers or “pods” of containers using Helm charts with dynamic, customizable configurations. TrueNAS SCALE 21.06 also includes the ability to use one or more community-provided application repositories. One of our community members (Ornias) has built an extensive library of applications called TrueCharts, which also provides a process for users to build and customize their own libraries.

Scale-Out ZFS: TrueCommand 2.0 provides a WebUI for TrueNAS SCALE which enables ZFS datasets to be pooled together as cluster volumes which span multiple nodes. Cluster volumes will have a variety of redundancy properties including 3-way Mirrors, N+1, and N+2. Each cluster volume can then be shared with GlusterFS natively. Support for clustered SMB access will be available in August with SCALE 21.08.

TrueNAS 21.06 WebUI

Unlike other hyperconverged infrastructure solutions, TrueNAS SCALE will have several deployment options: single node, as a dual-node “High-Availability” (HA) system, or as a cluster of multiple nodes. Using the same software platform, you can build powerful single-node solutions, as well as the capability to create scale-out file systems that span multiple SCALE instances. You can start off with a single node system today, and in the future, you will have the option to scale-out should the need arise. The HA capability is currently being tested and will be available for approved enterprise beta-testers on the M-Series in an upcoming release. TrueNAS SCALE documentation has also reached its BETA phase. It is based on the greatly improved documentation of TrueNAS CORE. In addition, there are Developer Notes and Release Notes. Even if you aren’t ready to make the leap, please review the docs and let us know if you have any questions. We appreciate the community feedback and bug reports and hope to get all those features to RELEASE quality faster. A special thanks also go to the large number of awesome community members who joined the development and test team. We’ve really appreciated your contributions and teamwork and it has greatly contributed to the accelerated development process.

Is TrueNAS SCALE for Users or Developers?

At this BETA stage of its Software Development Lifecycle, TrueNAS SCALE is primarily for developers, testers, and early adopters. The SCALE software can be downloaded here. For Linux developers, there are many opportunities to contribute to the Open Source TrueNAS SCALE project, and we have a vibrant Slack community for contributors. It is a well-coordinated and managed environment to develop the best open hyperconverged infrastructure. For more information, see this community post. For larger commercial users with scale-out needs, iXsystems has started a formal BETA program to support specific deployments and applications before they complete testing and enter the production phase later this year. Please contact your iXsystems Account Representative or email us at info@iXsystems.com if you are interested in joining the BETA program. TrueNAS SCALE 21.06 is also intended for tech-savvy enthusiasts who have one or more nodes, a backup plan, and a willingness to resolve any issues they find. The feedback from enthusiasts has been positive and we hope to see more feedback on the community forum. Users should read the release notes to confirm support for their particular use case. Production users with standard NAS (NFS, SMB, iSCSI, S3) requirements are still advised to use TrueNAS CORE and Enterprise, which have hundreds of times more data under management and over 10 years of operation. TrueNAS SCALE has inherited some of that maturity and the automated testing, but it will be a while before it has the same quality and reliability. If you have any additional questions or need advice on a new project, please email us at info@iXsystems.com. We are standing by to help.

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TrueNAS 12.0 Surpasses an Exabyte Under Management

Will Soteros — Wed, 02 Jun 2021 15:45:05 +0000

TrueNAS 12.0-U4 was released today and marks another step forward on the path of improving quality. The last release, TrueNAS 12.0-U3.1, has been the highest-ever quality release of the TrueNAS family, is now the most widely deployed version of the software, and has been applied to many mission-critical enterprise deployments. TrueNAS 12.0-U4 now builds on this foundation and is suitable for even the most conservative users of both TrueNAS CORE and TrueNAS Enterprise.
TrueNAS 12.0 marked the official merger of FreeNAS and TrueNAS into a unified software image, accompanied by a long list of features and performance improvements. With TrueNAS 12.0, OpenZFS 2.0 has outperformed the previous versions of ZFS both in our lab and user environments and has proven to be even more robust in large-scale deployments. Over half of the FreeNAS 11.3 installed base have already migrated to TrueNAS CORE, and 12.0-U4 makes the process even more compelling and straightforward. Many thanks to the community for making this transition possible.
Additionally, it is awe-inspiring to see that TrueNAS 12.0 has passed one exabyte (EB) of data under management in a little over six months. The University of Chicago created this infographic to describe how massive an exabyte actually is.

While releasing TrueNAS 12.0, we created a new lifecycle model for TrueNAS CORE and Enterprise releases. The history of TrueNAS 12.0 releases has been:
TrueNAS 12.0 RELEASE was made available October 20, 2020, and included many new features along with OpenZFS 2.0 support.
TrueNAS 12.0-U1 was released in December, resolved the most significant bugs, and enabled a few new features like Fusion pools and more efficient scrubbing and resilvering.
TrueNAS 12.0-U2 was released in February and included many bug fixes and some minor features. A minor update to 12.0-U2.1 was provided to reduce some alerts seen by users.
TrueNAS 12.0-U3 was released April 13, 2021, and included many bug fixes and some minor features. This release was recommended for mission-critical users.
TrueNAS 12.0-U4 was officially released June 1, 2021, and includes some bug fixes and robustness improvements.
Issues resolved in TrueNAS 12.0-U4:

About a dozen improvements and 110 bug fixes are included.
Python upgrade and several improvements to address memory leaks and reduce potential crashes of core middleware processes. This rare issue does not impact ongoing data services and has proven to be difficult to reproduce.
OpenZFS improvements for both small and high-performance systems. Performance during scrubs while under high CPU load should be more reliable.
Security updates for OpenVPN, Samba, and other ports.
Replication WebUI improvements to simply process and avoid mistakes.
Updated Minio (the S3 target) to the latest version which includes support for APIv3.
Minor WebUI and reporting issues including the display of more jails per page.
New driver support for Realtek RTL8125/RTL8111 Ethernet devices (2.5GBase-T).

Please check out the new TrueNAS documentation even if you don’t upgrade today. We’re extremely grateful for all the contributions received thus far and encourage more user suggestions going forward.
TrueNAS 13.0 Planning has Begun
The next version of TrueNAS CORE and Enterprise will be 13.0 and will be based on FreeBSD 13.0. Early planning has begun and more information will be available later this year. For the next six months, the focus will be on getting TrueNAS SCALE to a release quality similar to 12.0. With that work completed, users will have a choice of migrating to SCALE (Linux containers and scale-out) or maintaining their TrueNAS CORE and Enterprise operations. A U5 update to TrueNAS 12.0 is planned for the September timeframe.
FreeNAS to TrueNAS 12.0 Upgrades are Easy
TrueNAS 12.0-U4 is compatible with all of the iXsystems platforms from the FreeNAS/TrueNAS Minis, to the power-efficient X-Series, all the way up to the flagship High Availability (HA) M-Series. There is also a new R-Series product line that can run CORE, Enterprise, and SCALE editions of TrueNAS. All of these can be updated via the web UI.
For those with FreeNAS installed on your system, we recommend upgrading to FreeNAS 11.3-U5 first and then upgrading to TrueNAS 12.0-U4 with a single click to retain roll-back options. While it is an easy web update, we do recommend waiting to update your system’s zpool feature flags until you are finished validating your performance and functionality.
For those with TrueNAS HA systems and support contracts, we recommend contacting iXsystems support to schedule an upgrade. We will verify your systems’ health, configuration, and support the upgrade process as part of the “white glove” service that comes with any support contract.
For new users, download TrueNAS 12.0-U4 to get started.
TrueCommand 2.0 is the Single-Pane-of-Glass Management Platform
TrueNAS 12.0 also includes support for TrueCommand and TrueCommand Cloud, a SaaS version that includes a VPN capability for managing across private networks. TrueCommand 2.0 BETA is available and will be released later in June. This version includes a storage navigator to view datasets, files, multiple NAS systems, and real-time per-second statistics.
TrueNAS CORE: Still the Best Free NAS
TrueNAS 12.0-U4 improvements continue to make it the best free NAS system available. If you have any questions or comments, we’d love to hear them on the community forums, the TrueNAS subreddit, or in response to this blog. If you need additional information on how TrueNAS can streamline, accelerate, and unify data management for your business, please contact us.

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TrueNAS SCALE Recognized by Forrester as Pioneer in Open Source HCI

iX Team — Thu, 13 May 2021 19:34:25 +0000

HyperConverged Infrastructure (HCI) has already proven itself to be very important to the future of Enterprise IT. It provides simpler deployment and scaling of workloads from edge systems to colocation facilities (CoLos), and data centers. Forrester recently recognized TrueNAS SCALE as a pioneer in a new segment of the HCI market: Open Source HCI.

Until now, HCI solutions have been built with appliances to simplify supportability and performance tuning. Nutanix and VSAN software are typically packaged with a hardware straightjacket without good software-only options. These are very useful solutions, but lock the enterprise into a restrictive operating model which is lucrative to the vendors.
Truly software-defined HCI solutions provide the economic opportunity of running on any infrastructure and even virtual instances in Public Clouds. Hybrid clouds can be built where applications and data can migrate seamlessly to any physical or cloud infrastructure without any commercial hardware constraints. Servers can be repurposed and clouds can be used for geographic diversity. TrueNAS SCALE is a software-defined HCI solution that is designed to go to the next stage; fully Open Source HCI. It can run on any hardware or any cloud infrastructure and can be deployed for free where it is needed. The core of its software and business model is inherited from the original TrueNAS, which has successfully delivered extremely reliable and high value storage solutions for tens of thousands of enterprises.
TrueNAS CORE and Enterprise are mature software editions with over one million deployments. TrueNAS SCALE has recently started its journey and has thousands of deployments in its first six months. Early adopters are starting to use the SCALE software, and we expect more rapid adoption later this year as iXsystems provides supported versions and solutions.
After its commercial release, TrueNAS SCALE will deliver Open Source economics to enterprise infrastructure and allow full control of an organization’s destiny including both physical infrastructure as well as the operating economics. This is much like TrueNAS CORE and Enterprise which provide Open Source economics for Enterprise storage.

Forrester’s blog on Open Source HCI was very interesting as it was the first major analyst to endorse this space as significant to enterprises. It’s not an unexpected conclusion when you consider that both HCI and Open Source are already strong forces in the industry on their own, as anyone using either would confirm. The combination of the two is simply a natural progression.
The Forrester article calls out TrueNAS SCALE as an early pioneer in Open Source HCI. We announced TrueNAS SCALE and delivered the first version of SCALE in 2020. We’ll deliver the BETA and RELEASE versions in 2021. iXsystems is excited to be leading this pioneering effort and welcomes other pioneers to join the development and user communities. Initial sales and delivery of proof-of-concept systems are starting now in Q2 2021, so the pioneering wagon train is heading west at a pretty good clip.
The event that initiated the Forrester blog is that Big Blue is entering the Open Source HCI space as well. iXsystems is delighted that Big Blue is confirming our thesis of the market direction and size. We agree that enterprises seeking high performance, flexible solutions will be looking for Open Source HCI.
To learn more about how TrueNAS SCALE can address your HCI needs, please email us at info@iXsystems.com. We are standing by to help.

Background on TrueNAS SCALE

TrueNAS SCALE is Open Source HCI. As our initial community post and blog indicated, TrueNAS SCALE is defined by its acronym:

TrueNAS SCALE started from the TrueNAS CORE 12.0 base which includes OpenZFS 2.0, all the file, block, and object storage services, the middleware to coordinate these, and the web UI to present a user-oriented view of the system. This base has been tested by hundreds of thousands of users over the last few years and is very similar to the TrueNAS CORE 12.0-U2 release that is already widely deployed. The major new capabilities are based on Debian Linux and these define the new HCI capabilities of SCALE:

KVM Virtualization: Mature Hypervisor with good reliability, Guest OS support, and enterprise features.
Kubernetes: Third Party Applications can now be deployed as single (docker) containers or “pods” of containers. Using Helm Charts, complex applications can now be easily deployed with dynamic charts. TrueNAS SCALE 21.02 also now includes the ability to register and use community-provided application repositories.
Scale-out ZFS: SCALE will enable datasets to be defined as ZFS datasets or cluster datasets which span multiple nodes and ZFS pools. Cluster datasets will have a variety of redundancy properties.

Unlike other Hyperconverged Infrastructure solutions, TrueNAS SCALE will have deployment benefits as a single node, as a dual-node “high-availability” system, or as a cluster of multiple nodes. You can start off with a single node system today, and then scale-out. If you have any additional questions or need advice on a new project, please email us at info@iXsystems.com. We are standing by to help.

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TrueNAS enables Container Storage and Kubernetes

iX Team — Tue, 20 Apr 2021 17:45:52 +0000

Kubernetes is the leading open source system for managing containers in the modern, cloud environment. There is a need for applications running in those containers to quickly access data that exists in large, external, storage systems. Kubernetes Container Storage Interface (CSI) is the API for providing access to such storage and managing the complete storage lifecycle including provisioning, snapshots, clones, resizing, and removing. CSI is the natural interface between the growing needs of organizations to leverage Kubernetes for application scaling and TrueNAS driven by OpenZFS.
The modern world of cloud computing has created a need to manage multiple applications not only running on the same systems but also on multiple systems. Containers are the leading approach to manage applications with efficiency. Kubernetes is the leading open source container management system. In order to access data storage systems, the Kubernetes CSI was released in 2018.
A new implementation of the CSI is the Democratic CSI driver that connects Kubernetes, and other container systems, with the open source ZFS file system. ZFS is at the heart of iXsystems TrueNAS. The ability to work with the Democratic CSI driver enhances TrueNAS’s ability to work closely with containerized applications to provide rapid access to mission critical information. The Democratric CSI driver uses the APIs of TrueNAS and the features of ZFS. Through this CSI, the full power of TrueNAS CORE, Enterprise, and SCALE are available to containerized applications in Kubernetes.
For those in our community who have used TrueNAS CORE (FreeNAS) for years, your access to containers has improved. You have direct access to the storage system via CSI. One question some of our long time developers might ask is how this relates to Docker. The Kubernetes group points out that Docker is a development environment, and that Docker images can be migrated into Kubernetes as long as the image is Open Container Initiative (OCI) compliant. As people move forward, we will work with the Kubernetes community to resolve any issues.
TrueNAS Enterprise customers who deploy high availability (HA) applications can also leverage CSI. Kubernetes HA supports CSI and the HA tools in TrueNAS Enterprise ensure that the entire system architecture can support the high availability needs of mission critical applications.
The cloud isn’t just about managing multiple applications on individual servers. Scale-out is the ability to manage applications and groups of applications running on multiple servers, coordinating their performance. Both Kubernetes and TrueNAS SCALE are designed for the modern, scale-out environment, and CSI is a link to manage storage resources in the hybrid cloud.
The Democratic CSI driver integrates ZFS and TrueNAS into the Kubernetes environment and other container management platforms including Nomad. Kubernetes and the TrueNAS system communicate via the CSI to set up the storage volumes, and iSCSI/NFS then provides the direct link between applications in pods/containers and the TrueNAS storage system. The iXsystems team has worked to provide our community with these tools to ensure that TrueNAS and Kubernetes are the easiest way to provide data into modern, high demand, containerized, applications.
Contact iXsystems to learn more about how to integrate TrueNAS into your Kubernetes architecture. For those interested in using Kubernetes within TrueNAS SCALE, please look at the Apps documentation provided.

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New TrueNAS Release & Microsoft Azure Integration – Issue #92

iX Team — Thu, 15 Apr 2021 19:00:37 +0000

New TrueNAS Release & Microsoft Azure Integration

TrueNAS reaches Prime Time with its latest release! TrueNAS 12.0 is the official merger of FreeNAS and TrueNAS into a unified software image accompanied by a long list of features and performance improvements. With new features, improved performance, and higher quality, TrueNAS 12.0-U3 becomes the default release for new systems.

Learn more

Q2 2021 TrueNAS Specials are available for a limited time!
Check out these two systems that are ready for immediate shipping and deployment. Prices are good enough through June 30th or until supplies run out, so reserve your system now!

This TrueNAS M40-HA is packed with 432 TB of raw capacity and full 100GbE networking for under $45,000. With industry-leading Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) and capabilities of up to 6.5Gb/s throughput, this system is perfect for video editing and performance file-sharing.

Learn More

This All-Flash TrueNAS R10 delivers 30 TB of all-flash performance and capacity for just $9,900. Starting with 32 GB RAM and dual 10GbE networking, the TrueNAS R10 offers upgrades to 100GbE networking and can be installed with any version of TrueNAS, including Enterprise and SCALE.

Learn More

Network Center takes TrueNAS to Azure
In the corporate world, the hybrid cloud environment is the norm, not the exception. TrueNAS is designed to simplify and support multiple deployments within the hybrid world. Recently, Mike Pagan, Senior Solution Architect at Network Center, an iXsystems partner, used published tools to deploy TrueNAS to the Microsoft® Azure public cloud.

Learn more

iSCSI Performance with VMware ESXi and the TrueNAS Mini X+
This video from 2GuysTek will show you the setup and connectivity between a single ESXi virtual host and TrueNAS on the Mini-X+. If you’re looking to see what TrueNAS can do for your VMware virtual infrastructure using 10Gig Ethernet, this video is for you!

TrueNAS CORE – Active Directory and Windows Integration in 10 Minutes
Watch Sheridan Computers set up TrueNAS CORE with Windows Active Directory integration, allowing it to protect samba shares with Windows Active Directory users and groups. This video will show you how it can easily be done with just 10 minutes of your time.

How Do I Back Up All My Servers???
This video shows how Craft Computing backs up all their servers and utilizes TrueNAS Replication & Snapshots in the process.

Latest Releases

TrueNAS	12.0-U3	Release Notes
TrueCommand	1.3.2	Release Notes
TrueNAS SCALE	21.02-ALPHA.1	Release Notes

iXsystems is selected as one of the 40 Coolest Software-Defined Storage Vendors by CRN!

The 40 vendors that were selected have developed the software that provides the kind of storage services needed to meet today’s changing workloads and applications. iXsystems is proud to be highlighted as one of the top providers of storage technology that can be used for deployments spanning the range of business user requirements. From traditional on-premises to solutions in the cloud, from hardware to software, from capital expense to managed services and everything in between, iXsystems proves to be one of the coolest and most versatile storage vendors around.

Learn More

Here’s what experts at Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG) had to say about TrueNAS in their recent validation report:

“The combination of ZFS, open source, and a lean sales force provides efficiencies that enable iXsystems to offer high performance, feature-rich solutions at high value price points. We calculated a significant delta. Based on our testing and analysis, we found that iXsystems can typically offer up to double the performance at half the cost of their major competitors.”

Download the full report

TrueNAS Community Store
Know someone who loves TrueNAS? Maybe that someone is you. Check out our new TrueNAS Community Store and show off your TrueNAS pride. We’ll be adding additional items in the coming year so be on the lookout to score new TrueNAS gear.

eBook on Open Source Storage

This free eBook from iXsystems and ActualTech Media explains how proprietary and cloud storage falls short and why Open Source is a better development model for storage systems. Learn about the advantages of NVMe and NVDIMM storage for the modern enterprise and why businesses need a unified data platform.

Download eBook

Tech-Tip #92
TrueNAS allows users to run specific commands or scripts on a regular schedule using cron(8). This can be helpful for running repetitive tasks.

Learn More about Cron Jobs

Links of the Month

Employment Opportunities
Are you as passionate about Open Source technology as we are? Maybe you’re a perfect fit for one of our open positions. Send your resume our way! We’d love to chat with you more about the opportunities here at iXsystems!

The post New TrueNAS Release & Microsoft Azure Integration – Issue #92 appeared first on TrueNAS - Welcome to the Open Storage Era.

TrueNAS 12.0 Reaches Prime Time

iX Team — Wed, 14 Apr 2021 15:54:12 +0000

TrueNAS 12.0-U3 was released yesterday and marks an important milestone in the transition from FreeNAS to TrueNAS. TrueNAS 12.0 is now considered by iXsystems to be a higher quality release than FreeNAS 11.3-U5, our previous benchmark, and is now ready for mission-critical enterprise deployments. The new TrueNAS documentation site has also reached a point where it has more content and capabilities than FreeNAS.
TrueNAS 12.0 is the official merger of FreeNAS and TrueNAS into a unified software image accompanied by a long list of features and performance improvements. Nearly all of the significant bugs were resolved in TrueNAS 12.0-U2.
With new features, improved performance, and higher quality, TrueNAS 12.0-U3 becomes the default release for new systems. Any new bugs or security vulnerabilities found in FreeNAS 11.3 will be resolved through updates in TrueNAS 12.0. Therefore, FreeNAS 11.3-U5 will be the last FreeNAS release.
How did we make that assessment? Over 50% of FreeNAS 11.3 systems and 20% of TrueNAS Enterprise systems have upgraded to TrueNAS 12.0. These transitions since 12.0-U2 have been very smooth. With TrueNAS 12.0, OpenZFS 2.0 has outperformed the previous versions of ZFS both in our lab and user environments and has proven to be even more robust in large scale deployments.
TrueNAS 12.0-U3 resolves some minor bugs and is an easy web update. However, we do recommend waiting to update your systems zpool feature flags until you are finished validating your performance and functionality.
The history of TrueNAS 12.0 releases has been:

TrueNAS 12.0 RELEASE was made available October 20, 2020, and included many new features along with OpenZFS 2.0 support.
TrueNAS 12.0-U1 was released in December, resolved the most significant bugs, and enabled a few new features like Fusion pools and more efficient scrubbing and resilvering.
TrueNAS 12.0-U2 was released in February, and included many bug fixes and some minor features. A minor update to 12.0-U2.1 was provided to reduce some alerts seen by users.
TrueNAS 12.0-U3 was officially released April 13, 2021, and includes many bug fixes and some minor features. A full list of changes and bugs is available for those with an account on the TrueNAS Jira bug tracker.

Issues resolved in TrueNAS 12.0-U3:
Four new features, seven improvements, and about 140 bug fixes are included. Many of these are minor reporting or web UI issues. For the M-Series, we’ve added the ability to remotely upgrade and downgrade NVDIMM firmware. For all platforms, there are improvements to ZFS ARC and network interface statistics.
TrueNAS 12.0 Documentation is Now More Extensive Than 11.3
TrueNAS 12.0 has moved to a more modern documentation style that encourages and simplifies user and community contribution. The new modular TrueNAS documentation is now more comprehensive than FreeNAS was. We’ve completed an initiative to simplify navigation and improve usability. Please check out the new TrueNAS documentation even if you don’t upgrade today. We’re extremely grateful for all the contributions received thus far and encourage more user suggestions going forward. See below for an example of the new docs site and menu system.

TrueNAS Quality Lifecycle
While releasing TrueNAS 12.0, we created a new lifecycle model for TrueNAS CORE and Enterprise releases. The table below summarizes our current process and the dates for TrueNAS 12.0. We always recommend that mission critical use cases should also wait for a version to be widely deployed before deploying it themselves. TrueNAS 12.0-U2.1 was very good and with 12.0-U3, we expect to meet our quality goals.

FreeNAS to TrueNAS 12.0 Upgrades are Easy
TrueNAS 12.0-U3 is compatible with all of the iXsystems platforms from the FreeNAS/TrueNAS Minis, to the power-efficient X-Series, all the way up to the flagship High Availability (HA) M-Series. There is also a new R-Series product line that can run CORE, Enterprise, and SCALE editions of TrueNAS. All of these can be updated via the web UI.
For those with FreeNAS installed on your system, we recommend upgrading to FreeNAS 11.3-U5 first and then upgrading to TrueNAS 12.0-U2 with a single click to retain roll-back options. Otherwise, download TrueNAS 12.0-U3 to get started.
For those with TrueNAS HA systems and support contracts, we recommend contacting iXsystems support to schedule an upgrade. We will verify your systems’ health, configuration, and support the upgrade process as part of the “white glove” service that comes with any support contract.
TrueCommand 2.0 is coming
TrueNAS 12.0 also includes support for TrueCommand and TrueCommand Cloud, a SaaS version that includes a VPN capability for managing across private networks. TrueCommand Cloud is generally available and is based on TrueCommand 1.3.2.
TrueCommand 2.0 will add new functionality to TrueNAS 12.0 deployments. More information will be available later this month. TrueCommand 2.0 trials have been going well and include a storage navigator for browsing and snapshotting files, directories, and datasets. Please contact iXsystems if you are a TrueCommand user and interested in early access to TrueCommand 2.0.

TrueNAS CORE: Still the best Free NAS
TrueNAS 12.0-U3 improvements continue to make it the best free NAS system available. If you have any questions or comments, we’d love to hear them on the community forums, on the TrueNAS subreddit, or in response to this blog. If you need additional information on how TrueNAS can streamline, accelerate, and unify data management for your business, please contact us.

The post TrueNAS 12.0 Reaches Prime Time appeared first on TrueNAS - Welcome to the Open Storage Era.

Network Center takes TrueNAS to Azure

iX Team — Tue, 13 Apr 2021 15:30:56 +0000

While people talk about “the Cloud” as if it’s singular, it’s more like the sky. There are multiple cloud platforms, hosts, and applications. There are small clouds on premises. In the corporate world, the hybrid cloud environment is the norm, not the exception. TrueNAS is designed to simplify and support multiple deployments within the hybrid world. Recently, Mike Pagan, Senior Solution Architect at Network Center Inc., an iXsystems partner, used published tools to deploy TrueNAS to the Microsoft® Azure public cloud.

TrueNAS is the leading open source storage system. While the historic focus has been on on-premises deployments, the flexibility of the architecture means that more customers are looking at how to use it for hybrid cloud applications. Organizations want the power to migrate data and workloads between on-premises, co-location (colo), and their favorite cloud platforms. There are three primary reasons to manage TrueNAS on cloud platforms:

Applications in the cloud needed to access information in TrueNAS systems.
On-prem systems backing up data to cloud storage.
On-prem systems replicating to the cloud for disaster recovery.

TrueNAS CORE and SCALE can both be deployed in the cloud. TrueNAS SCALE is being developed for scale-out applications on multiple cloud platforms. While the iXsystems development team has enabled TrueNAS on Amazon® AWS, the architecture has been designed from the start to be open and deployable to other cloud vendors and platforms.

Network Center, Inc. (NCI) is a cutting-edge technology solutions company serving the Upper Midwest. As part of their toolset, they partner with iXsystems to provide TrueNAS storage solutions to their customers. As a technology partner, NCI has been looking at early versions of TrueNAS SCALE. Mike Pagan was interested in knowing how easy it would be to deploy TrueNAS on Azure. “Some customers are willing to work with hybrid deployments, with data on one cloud platform and on-prem storage on another,” said Mike. “Others want their early hybrid cloud deployments to be simple. I wanted to understand what it would take to deploy TrueNAS on Azure for our customers who wish to initially work only with a single hybrid cloud storage platform.”

Mr. Pagan documented his own deployment process in an excellent blog post (Archived), which documented how to create TrueNAS appliances on Azure. He first accomplished it with TrueNAS CORE, and then worked to do the same with TrueNAS SCALE. SCALE provided the additional tools to simplify operations and management within the Azure environment.

With TrueNAS operating on Azure, replication and migration of data and workloads between Azure and on-premises storage systems is now possible. The on-prem systems provide much lower costs per terabyte (TB) and also improve the performance of local applications. The Azure cloud platform, like AWS, makes it easy to spin up compute and storage resources for shorter term tasks.
To learn more about how TrueNAS works with the cloud, including on Microsoft Azure, contact iXsystems or Network Center.

The post Network Center takes TrueNAS to Azure appeared first on TrueNAS - Welcome to the Open Storage Era.

TrueNAS Mini X+ | Big Performance in a Small Package! – Issue #91

iX Team — Tue, 23 Mar 2021 10:00:02 +0000

TrueNAS Mini X+ | Big Performance in a Small Package!

Watch Rich and Jon from 2GuysTek discuss why the TrueNAS Mini X+ is a serious contender in the premium home NAS market.

Q1 2021 TrueNAS Specials for Less than 7 cents per GB!
Only a few days left to take advantage of our Q1 Specials. Limited stock is available so reserve yours now!

Get 42 TB of All-Flash high-availability storage for only $18,900. This compact, entry-level TrueNAS X10-HA system is perfect for file-sharing or video editing.

Learn More

This TrueNAS M60-HA system delivers an incredible 4 PB of raw storage capacity in 12U, complete with expansion shelves for less than 7 cents/GB. This makes it the ideal choice for video editing, archives, backups, or scientific data. You can also scale up to 22 PB on a single head unit for additional storage.

Learn More

Fox Studios Turns to Open Storage and TrueNAS for the Scoring Stage!
The Newman Scoring Stage at Fox Studios in Los Angeles is famous for producing best-in-class film scores. In order to store and preserve these scores, Fox needed a reliable large-scale storage solution. Find out why Fox chose TrueNAS for this essential task. 🎼

Learn more

How to Set Up TrueNAS CORE and Connect to it from Ubuntu
Are you feeling overwhelmed by the setup process? Get step-by-step instructions on the basic setup to get your system up and running!

Learn More

TrueNAS SCALE 21.02 Angelfish
Watch Thomas from Lawrence Systems explain the Alpha release of Truenas SCALE and clear up some of the common misconceptions about it.

Streamlining Post Production with TrueNAS
Learn how creative agency Clockwork 9 eliminated post-production bottlenecks and liberated their workflows with a TrueNAS M40-HA.

TrueNAS Mini XL+ Hardware Overview
Watch Kevin Stevenson from GetmetheGeek.com give you a brief overview of the TrueNAS Mini XL+ so you can decide if it’s the right storage unit for you.

Latest Releases

TrueNAS	12.0-U2.1	Release Notes
TrueCommand	1.3.2	Release Notes
TrueNAS SCALE	21.02-ALPHA 1	Release Notes

Download the full report

TrueNAS Community Store
Know someone who loves TrueNAS? Maybe that someone is you. Perfect timing since it’s gift giving season and there’s nothing wrong with giving yourself a gift! Check out our new TrueNAS Community Store and show off your TrueNAS pride. We’ll be adding additional items in the coming year so be on the lookout to score new TrueNAS gear.

Download eBook

Tech-Tip #91
It is recommended to configure SSH and automatic dataset snapshots in TrueNAS before creating a remote replication task. This ensures that both systems can connect to each other and new snapshots are regularly available for replication. To streamline creating simple replication configurations, the replication wizard can assist with creating a new SSH connection and automatically creates a periodic snapshot task for sources that have no existing snapshots.

Learn More about Remote Replication

Links of the Month

Practical Guide to Storage of Large Amounts of Microscopy Data via Cambridge University Press
How to install JellyFin on Debian (Docker TrueNAS) via Nath042

The post TrueNAS Mini X+ | Big Performance in a Small Package! – Issue #91 appeared first on TrueNAS - Welcome to the Open Storage Era.

iXsystems TrueNAS Named Among DCIG’s Top 5 SDS Block Storage Solutions

iX Team — Tue, 02 Mar 2021 13:00:09 +0000

Research Firm Recognizes iXsystems as “Rising Vendor” Among Leading Storage Providers

SAN JOSE, CA – March 2, 2021 – iXsystems, a leading provider of open storage solutions, today announced that the Data Center Infrastructure Group (DCIG) has named the company’s TrueNAS Open Storage software platform as one of the Top 5 Software Defined Storage (SDS) Block Storage Solutions. In the report titled “2021-22 DCIG Top 5 Rising Vendors SDS Block Storage Solutions,” TrueNAS Open Storage excelled in multiple areas to outperform comparable SDS solutions, including the ability to support file and object services in addition to block.
According to the report, “iXsystems has decades of expertise in system design and development of Open Source software including FreeBSD, ZFS, Open ZFS, and TrueNAS. As one of the Top 5 solutions reviewed, the storage platform displayed robust support capabilities compared to other solutions evaluated.”
TrueNAS is the most flexible software defined storage solution for managing and sharing data over a network. The software offers a high value route to safe, secure, centralized, and easily accessible business-class storage. Users can install TrueNAS on virtually any hardware platform, making it suitable for a broad array of applications. To further simplify management, TrueNAS systems leverage the TrueCommand single pane-of-glass management application which centralizes alerts, reports, and analytics from many TrueNAS systems into one easy-to-use interface.
In the report published by DCIG, the firm differentiates TrueNAS advantages from several other SDS solutions in multiple areas:

OpenZFS 2.0-Based – ZFS is at the core of TrueNAS SDS. As the notable leader in ZFS development on FreeBSD, iXsystems brings that expertise to OpenZFS 2.0. ZFS storage is well-known for its reliability and rich set of data services.
Open Storage Freedom – TrueNAS is available from iXsystems as three products. TrueNAS CORE (previously FreeNAS) runs on FreeBSD and is completely free and Open Source. It supports file, block, and object protocols. Other products include TrueNAS Enterprise (designed for business-critical data, 24×365 support and full enterprise support) and TrueNAS SCALE (a free and Open Source Hyperconverged solution).
Pre-integrated Storage Appliances – iXsystems makes TrueNAS Enterprise available on TrueNAS X-Series, M-Series, and R-Series storage appliances, configurable as all-flash or hybrid storage systems. These turnkey storage systems integrate with leading hypervisor and backup solutions.

“TrueNAS is considered by many to be the world’s most popular SDS product lines, with over one million deployments, offering unified block, file, and S3 compatible object storage to solve the broadest range of storage challenges,” said Brett Davis, Executive Vice President at, iXsystems. “Recognition in this report reflects the dedication of the iXsystems’ team in delivering a feature-rich platform at the industry’s most compelling price.”

To learn more about how TrueNAS can help your organization, contact us via https://www.truenas.com/contact-us/, or give us a call at 1-855-GREP-4-IX.
Tweet This: @iXsystems TrueNAS Named Among DCIG’s Top 5 SDS Block Storage Solutions – iXsystems Named One of DCIG’s Top 5 SDS Block Solutions
Additional Resources:
● To learn more about TrueNAS Open Storage, visit: https://www.truenas.com
● Follow TrueNAS News on Twitter at: https://twitter.com/iXsystems
About iXsystems and TrueNAS
Through decades of expertise in system design and development of Open Source software (FreeNAS, FreeBSD, OpenZFS, and TrueNAS), iXsystems has become an innovation leader in high availability storage and servers powered by Open Source solutions. With over one million deployments and backed by the legendary ZFS file system, TrueNAS offers the stability and reliability required for Backup, Multimedia, Cloud Hosting, Virtualization, Hyper-converged Infrastructure, and much more. Since the founding of iXsystems in 2002, thousands of companies, universities, and government organizations have come to rely on the company’s enterprise servers, TrueNAS Open Storage, and consultative approach to building IT infrastructure and Private Clouds with Open Source economics.

The post iXsystems TrueNAS Named Among DCIG’s Top 5 SDS Block Storage Solutions appeared first on TrueNAS - Welcome to the Open Storage Era.

TrueNAS SCALE 21.02 is delivered

iX Team — Wed, 17 Feb 2021 17:18:24 +0000

After a very successful development cycle with thousands of downloads, TrueNAS SCALE 21.02 is now available. TrueNAS SCALE “Angelfish” is rapidly maturing for single node use and is now being tested for multi-node or scale-out use. The KVM Hypervisor and Kubernetes capabilities are ready for enthusiasts to take for a spin.

As our initial community post and blog indicated, TrueNAS SCALE is defined by its acronym:

TrueNAS SCALE starts from the TrueNAS 12.0 base which includes OpenZFS 2.0, all the file, block, and object storage services, the middleware to coordinate these, and the web UI to present a user-oriented view of the system. This base has been tested by hundreds of thousands of users over the last few years and is very similar to the TrueNAS CORE 12.0-U2 release that came out last week.
The major new capabilities are based on Debian Linux and these define the new opportunities for SCALE:

KVM Virtualization: Mature Hypervisor with good reliability, Guest OS support, and enterprise features. This is already in a more mature state than Bhyve is on TrueNAS CORE.
Kubernetes: 3rd Party Applications can now be deployed as single (docker) containers or “pods” of containers. Using Helm Charts, complex applications can now be easily deployed with dynamic charts. TrueNAS SCALE 21.02 also now includes the ability to register and use community-provided repositories.
Scale-out ZFS: SCALE will enable datasets to be defined as ZFS datasets or cluster datasets which span multiple nodes and ZFS pools. Cluster datasets will have a variety of redundancy properties. The APIs for these have been completed and the UI in TrueNAS SCALE is being tested before trial release in the next few weeks.

Unlike other Hyperconverged Infrastructure solutions, TrueNAS SCALE will have deployment benefits as a single node, a dual-node “high-availability” system, or as a cluster of multiple nodes. You can start off with a single node system today, and in the future, you will be able to scale-out.
The high level release plan follows this updated process which has a two month cadence. Angelfish is the codename for the feature set described by a set of feature groups. Each “feature group” is described as either PREVIEW, ALPHA, BETA, RC, or RELEASE quality. This third version is called TrueNAS SCALE 21.02 (Angelfish) and is described as follows:

Users should read the release notes to confirm support for their particular use case.
The UI, while similar to TrueNAS CORE, has also been improved with some new UX enhancements across the ‘Networking’ and ’Settings’ sub-sections. Further UX improvements are expected to arrive in version 21.04.
In this version, we also introduced the new TrueNAS CLI that uses the API and persists all changes. This CLI will make it easier to script the set-up and configuration of TrueNAS. At a later date, the CLI will be backported to TrueNAS CORE and Enterprise.

The Kubernetes implementation has progressed most significantly with dynamic helm charts (as the application is installed, the user is prompted for specific configuration information) and community-defined application repositories. One terrific repository, TrueCharts, was developed independently of iXsystems by “Ornias”. An image of this repo within TrueNAS SCALE is below.

Cluster datasets require some additional TrueCommand features (TC 2.0 trials starting this month) to provide an easy-to-use WebUI to manage them. In the meantime, the CLI and APIs are complete and this feature group is now in ALPHA status.
TrueNAS SCALE documentation is minimal at the moment and relies on its similarity to TrueNAS CORE in addition to the Developer Notes and Release Notes. In March, the TrueNAS CORE documentation will be receiving a facelift which will greatly improve navigation and ease of use. Once that is complete, TrueNAS SCALE documentation will take shape as a clone of TrueNAS CORE. We aim for good TrueNAS SCALE documentation in the 21.04 release.
We appreciate the community feedback and bug reports and hope to get all those features to RELEASE quality faster. A special thanks also goes to the large number of community members who joined the development and test team. We’ve really enjoyed your contributions and teamwork and it has greatly contributed to the accelerated development process.
Is TrueNAS SCALE for Users or Developers?
At this stage of its Software Development Lifecycle, TrueNAS SCALE is still primarily for developers and enthusiasts and can be downloaded here. For Linux developers, there are many opportunities to contribute to the Open Source TrueNAS SCALE project and we have a vibrant Slack community for contributors. It is a well coordinated and managed environment to develop the best Open Hyperconverged Infrastructure. For more information, see this community post.
This TrueNAS SCALE 21.02 version is also intended for tech-savvy enthusiasts who have a single node, a backup plan, and a willingness to resolve any issues they find. The feedback from enthusiasts has been good and the new Kubernetes capabilities will simplify the addition of applications.
Users with standard NAS (NFS, SMB, iSCSI, S3) requirements are still advised to use TrueNAS CORE and Enterprise, which have a thousand times more data under management and over 10 years of operation. TrueNAS SCALE will inherit some of that maturity, but it will be a while before it catches up to the same quality and reliability. However, the journey has started and the progress has been great! If you have any additional questions or need advice on a new project, please email us at info@iXsystems.com. We are standing by to help.
To discuss this blog in more detail, visit our Forums.

The post TrueNAS SCALE 21.02 is delivered appeared first on TrueNAS - Welcome to the Open Storage Era.

TrueNAS 12.0-U2 is Released

iX Team — Tue, 09 Feb 2021 21:44:34 +0000

TrueNAS 12.0 was the official merger of FreeNAS and TrueNAS into a unified software image accompanied by a long list of features and performance improvements. In the last three months, about 50,000 systems have upgraded to TrueNAS 12.0. The level of field testing is higher than TrueNAS has ever seen and is comparable to FreeNAS 11.3-U5. TrueNAS 12.0-U2 provides a common OpenZFS base with TrueNAS SCALE, providing the “storage freedom” to migrate between all TrueNAS editions.

TrueNAS 12.0-U2 resolves some bugs and is an easy web update for CORE users. Enterprise users can automatically update via the web UI on February 23rd. In the meantime, manual updates via a file download are available from iXsystems Support. In all cases, we recommend upgrading to FreeNAS or TrueNAS 11.3-U5 before moving to 12.0. Avoid updating the zpool feature flags so that a roll-back is possible after testing. Once the zpool feature flags are updated, a roll-back to a previous TrueNAS version will no longer be an option.
The history of TrueNAS 12.0 releases has been:

TrueNAS 12.0 RELEASE was made available October 20, 2020 and included many new features along with OpenZFS 2.0 support.
TrueNAS 12.0-U1 was released in December, resolved the most significant bugs, and enabled a few new features like Fusion pools and better scrubbing and resilvering.
TrueNAS 12.0-U1.1 was released in January to hotfix a serious OpenZFS bug that was causing data/read cache corruption while acting as storage for Virtualization workloads…
TrueNAS 12.0-U2 has been released and includes many bug fixes and some minor features. A full list of changes and bugs* is available. (*Note: Please register and log in to view the full list)

Major Bugs resolved in 12.0-U2 include:

Networking Performance: A performance bug has been found in Chelsio and Intel drivers for FreeBSD 12.2.
OpenZFS ACoW Corruption: While fixed in Hot-Patch U1.1, users still running 12.0 or 12.0-U1 are encouraged to update right away to avoid any potential issues on workloads using another filesystem on top of ZFS (Typically Virtualization Specific).
SMTP Oauth: Resolves an issue with setting up email alerts while using Gmail’s Oauth functionality.

Coming Soon!

SCALE Migration: A path to migrate from TrueNAS CORE to TrueNAS SCALE will be documented and made available for testing in the near future. This migration path is for convenience for SCALE enthusiasts who want to experiment with Linux containers and is not recommended for TrueNAS CORE users happy with their deployments.

TrueNAS Quality Lifecycle
While releasing TrueNAS 12.0, we created a new lifecycle model for TrueNAS CORE and Enterprise releases. The table below summarizes our current processes and the dates for TrueNAS 12.0. We always recommend that mission critical use cases should also wait for a version to be widely deployed before deploying it themselves.

TrueNAS 12.0 Documentation has reached content parity with 11.3
TrueNAS 12.0 has moved to a more modern documentation style that encourages contribution. The new and modular documentation is now as comprehensive as that of FreeNAS 11.3. We’ve now started an initiative to simplify navigation and improve usability. Please check out the 12.0 documentation even if you don’t upgrade today. We’re grateful for all the contributions received thus far!
Migrating to TrueNAS SCALE
One of the side benefits of the massive TrueNAS 12.0 and OpenZFS 2.0 work is that it paved the way for TrueNAS SCALE. While TrueNAS SCALE 20.12 “Angelfish” is based on 90% of the same software, SCALE is still in ALPHA state. For most users, we recommend moving to TrueNAS 12.0 and OpenZFS 2.0. From there, users can either stay with the CORE edition or migrate to SCALE for Linux services and scale-out functionality. We call this flexibility “Storage Freedom”. Post TrueNAS 12.0-U2, we will enable a migration path to TrueNAS SCALE for those that want to test Kubernetes or scale-out before it is fully GA. Like TrueNAS CORE, TrueNAS SCALE is free and Open Source.
FreeNAS to TrueNAS 12.0 Upgrades are Easy
For those with FreeNAS installed on your system, we recommend upgrading to FreeNAS 11.3-U5 first and then upgrading to TrueNAS 12.0-U2 with a single click to retain roll-back options. Otherwise, download TrueNAS 12.0-U2 to get started.
TrueNAS 12.0-U2 can operate on all of the iXsystems platforms from the FreeNAS and TrueNAS Minis, to the power-efficient X-Series, all the way up to the flagship High availability (HA) M-Series. There is also a new R-Series product line that can run CORE, Enterprise, and SCALE editions of TrueNAS.
For those with TrueNAS HA systems and support contracts, we recommended contacting iXsystems support to schedule an upgrade. We will verify your systems’ health, configuration, and support the upgrade process to minimize issues.
TrueCommand Cloud
TrueNAS 12.0 also includes support for TrueCommand and TrueCommand Cloud, a SaaS version that includes a VPN capability for managing across private networks. TrueCommand Cloud is generally available and based on TrueCommand 1.3.2. TrueCommand 2.0 will begin to trial this month and includes a storage navigator for browsing files, directories, and datasets.
TrueNAS CORE: Still the best Free NAS
TrueNAS 12.0-U2 improvements continue to make it the best Free NAS system available. If you have any questions or comments, we’d love to hear them on the community forums, on the TrueNAS subreddit, or in response to this blog. If you need additional information on how TrueNAS can streamline, accelerate, and unify data management for your business, please contact us.

The post TrueNAS 12.0-U2 is Released appeared first on TrueNAS - Welcome to the Open Storage Era.

TrueNAS Storage Supports Fiber Optic Seismic Research

iX Team — Thu, 21 Jan 2021 13:00:51 +0000

TrueNAS M40 Stores and Protects Data Used to Better Prepare, Educate, and Communicate the Potential for Earthquake Damage

SAN JOSE, CA – January 21, 2021 — TrueNAS M-Series Open Storage systems have been successfully deployed to capture data created by an advanced seismic monitoring system. Measuring seismic activity on the City of Pasadena’s unused dark fiber optic network, which was installed 30 years ago, will give the city and its citizens earthquake impact and damage predictions for each neighborhood in the area with the goal of improving public safety.
The seismic monitoring system, created and run by researchers at Caltech, leverages 23 miles of unused fiber optic cable that circles Pasadena, California. In the cable, there are hundreds of individual fiber strands, many of which are unused or “Dark” and made available for research use by the City. The research team spearheading this work is led by assistant professor of geophysics Zhongwen Zhan. Zhan is using the relatively new field of Digital Acoustic Sensing (DAS) for this research. DAS uses laser pulses submitted through fiber optics to sense underground activity.
Seismic waves passing through the soil cause the expansion and contraction of the cable, changing the distance the light travels between waypoints in the cable. The fluctuations in the distance the light travels are analogous to thousands of seismometers for more precise measurement of seismically created waves in the area. The measurements collected by the University are equivalent to having data from 30,000 seismometers, which is significant.
To store the resulting data, Caltech’s Seismological Laboratory has several GPU-enabled servers which route the data through a 40GbE network and into two high-capacity TrueNAS M40 storage systems from iXsystems. With the TrueNAS M-Series line, users are capable of expanding available capacity to more than 10 Petabytes, which provides exceptional scalability to meet research needs.
The TrueNAS M40 is an enterprise storage system built on an Open Source foundation and file system (OpenZFS). The systems offer cost-effective single or dual storage controller configurations and enterprise support for 24×7 reliability. Each storage controller combines multiple layers of high-speed memory to boost performance: 128GB of RAM, up to 3.2TB SSD-based read cache, and 16GB NVDIMM-based write cache. In terms of throughput, the systems support 2x 40GbE (or 4x 10GbE) + 2x 10GBase-T interfaces per storage controller, providing adequate performance headroom as data volumes increase. With a future-proof 128-bit “scale up” file system, the M40 easily expands as needed, providing the ability to simply and cost-effectively retain large volumes of research data.
Because the storage demands for this research are expected to be very high and the work that will be done with the data very intensive, the TrueNAS M40 was deployed. With the University’s work in this area expected to grow significantly over the next year, we are confident in the storage infrastructure that underpins this work and allows the research team to expand their scope of work in 2021.
Fiber optic networks are currently in place throughout a large number of cities and counties statewide. As a result, this opens the opportunity for a significant expansion of research throughout a number of municipalities in the area. This research has the potential to significantly improve emergency preparedness through a better understanding of the ground beneath us as vulnerabilities are mapped and the areas predisposed to earthquake damage pinpointed.
“The TrueNAS M40 brings the power of High Availability (HA) ZFS storage to Caltech’s IT backend, making it a robust data retention solution for this application,” said Morgan Littlewood, SVP, Product Management and Business Development. “Compared to the alternative proprietary storage options, the budget-friendly TrueNAS M40 delivers a full suite of data management features and resiliencies that ensure there are no issues during operations.”
To learn more about how TrueNAS can help your organization, contact us via https://www.truenas.com/contact-us/, or give us a call at 1-855-GREP-4-IX.
Tweet This: @iXsystems TrueNAS Storage Deployed to Support Caltech Fiber Optic Seismic Research – https://www.ixsystems.com/press-releases/
Additional Resources:
● To learn more about TrueNAS Open Storage, visit: https://www.truenas.com
● Follow TrueNAS News on Twitter at: https://twitter.com/iXsystems
About iXsystems and TrueNAS
Through decades of expertise in system design and development of Open Source software (FreeNAS, FreeBSD, OpenZFS, and TrueNAS), iXsystems has become an innovation leader in high availability storage and servers powered by Open Source solutions. With over one million deployments and backed by the legendary ZFS file system, TrueNAS offers the stability and reliability required for Backup, Multimedia, Cloud Hosting, Virtualization, Hyper-converged Infrastructure, and much more. Since the founding of iXsystems in 2002, thousands of companies, universities, and government organizations have come to rely on the company’s enterprise servers, TrueNAS Open Storage, and consultative approach to building IT infrastructure and Private Clouds with Open Source economics.

The post TrueNAS Storage Supports Fiber Optic Seismic Research appeared first on TrueNAS - Welcome to the Open Storage Era.

TrueNAS CORE Open Storage Named Finalist in TechTarget Product of the Year Awards

iX Team — Tue, 19 Jan 2021 13:00:05 +0000

Award Program Highlights Economic Revolution in Business-Class Open Storage

SAN JOSE, CA – January 19, 2021 — TrueNAS CORE Open Storage 12.0 has been recognized as a finalist in the Storage System and Application Software category of the 2020 TechTarget/SearchStorage Product of the Year Awards. The Open Storage platform was selected for addressing the age-old challenge of reducing proprietary enterprise storage costs while advancing features, performance, and ease of use.
TechTarget’s comparison of storage hardware, software, and services has taken place annually for nearly two decades. iXsystems’ TrueNAS CORE Open Storage was selected in the 2020 award program by a panel of judges that included industry analysts, consultants, and customers. Based on the level of innovation, performance, ease of integration, ease of use and manageability, functionality, and value, the company’s software has been placed appropriately as a top contender in the Storage System and Application Software category.
According to TechTarget, “Numerous IT trends, such as digital transformation and IT modernization, have hastened the adoption of faster, easier to manage and more flexible enterprise data storage products. While the new coronavirus pandemic has put many major IT projects on hold, other organizations have only accelerated the modernization of their infrastructures.”
“TrueNAS CORE (formerly FreeNAS) is open source and free to use once installed on a server,” noted the publication, “Version 12.0 of the product has not only improved performance, but has multi-layer security and uses block, file, and object storage.”
TrueNAS 12.0 is a significantly faster operating system that delivers on today’s demands for affordable capacity, security, and performance, as well as being the first distribution to ship with OpenZFS 2.0. The latest version also delivers powerful new capabilities that increase performance as much as 30% with mixed SSD and HDD fusion pools, persistent read cache, ZFS async operations, and checksum vectorization improvements, along with many other advancements.
Multi-layer enterprise security updates protect sensitive data with ZFS dataset encryption for ultra-secure remote replication, Key Management Interoperability Protocol (KMIP) for drives and datasets, Two Factor Authentication (2FA), and more. The software can be used with existing customer hardware or with a broad range of storage solutions available through TrueNAS resellers.
“Recognition in the 2020 TechTarget/SearchStorage Product of the Year Awards reflects the dedication of our team and community developers to meet the business and technological requirements of enterprise storage professionals today,” said Brett Davis, Executive Vice President, iXsystems. “The goal of TrueNAS Open Storage is to democratize and lower barriers of entry for enterprise storage, making it available to all. Being recognized in these awards validates our approach as the economic advantage of Open Storage becomes a reality for organizations of all sizes globally.”
For more information about the TechTarget/SearchStorage.com 2020 Product of the Year awards and a complete list of finalists, visit: https://searchstorage.techtarget.com/feature/Enterprise-data-storage-2020-Products-of-the-Year-finalists
The Asigra TrueNAS appliance won a Techtarget/SearchStorage.com award in 2018 for the integration of enterprise backup and storage in a unique appliance with industry-leading ease-of-use and TCO.
To learn more about how TrueNAS can help your organization, contact us via https://www.truenas.com/contact-us/, or give us a call at 1-855-GREP-4-IX.
Tweet This: @iXsystems TrueNAS CORE Open Storage Recognized in TechTarget/SearchStorage Product of the Year Awards – https://www.ixsystems.com/press-releases/
Additional Resources:
● To learn more about TrueNAS Open Storage, visit: https://www.truenas.com
● Follow TrueNAS News on Twitter at: https://twitter.com/iXsystems
About iXsystems and TrueNAS
Through decades of expertise in system design and development of Open Source software (FreeNAS, FreeBSD, OpenZFS, and TrueNAS), iXsystems has become an innovation leader in high availability storage and servers powered by Open Source solutions. With over one million deployments and backed by the legendary ZFS file system, TrueNAS offers the stability and reliability required for Backup, Multimedia, Cloud Hosting, Virtualization, Hyper-converged Infrastructure, and much more. Since the founding of iXsystems in 2002, thousands of companies, universities, and government organizations have come to rely on the company’s enterprise servers, TrueNAS Open Storage, and consultative approach to building IT infrastructure and Private Clouds with Open Source economics.

The post TrueNAS CORE Open Storage Named Finalist in TechTarget Product of the Year Awards appeared first on TrueNAS - Welcome to the Open Storage Era.

OpenZFS 2.0 Ships First on TrueNAS

iX Team — Thu, 10 Dec 2020 17:36:07 +0000

Congratulations to the OpenZFS Community! OpenZFS 2.0.0 hit the RELEASE milestone on November 30, 2020. OpenZFS 2.0 represents a new era for both the project and the file system itself, and iXsystems is proud to have contributed to such a significant engineering accomplishment. We’re also excited to announce its official availability to our Community starting immediately, making TrueNAS the first software to officially include it in a release.

Available Now!

After 11 months of testing the OpenZFS 2.0 codebase, we are very comfortable with its quality and even more enthusiastic about the performance and features it brings.
TrueNAS 12.0-U1 was made available yesterday (December 9, 2020), and with it, TrueNAS CORE and TrueNAS Enterprise now have OpenZFS 2.0 RELEASE included. TrueNAS SCALE 20.12 has integrated OpenZFS 2.0 RELEASE into its nightly and will be included in the official release due out next week. Complete integration of OpenZFS 2.0 RELEASE will be achieved within three weeks.

What’s the big deal with OpenZFS 2.0?

ZFS has been a big deal for over a decade and a half as an enterprise file system with unequaled data protection features. FreeNAS and TrueNAS embraced ZFS and have made it the “easy button” for ZFS for nearly 10 years, with over 1 million deployments on FreeBSD. There have been more deployments of ZFS via TrueNAS (and FreeNAS) than any other platform.

OpenZFS 2.0.0 unifies the OS support for ZFS and is thoroughly described in this Ars Technica article. One of the major contributions of iXsystems was ensuring that FreeBSD and Linux were equally well supported and synchronized in OpenZFS 2.0. The software is automatically tested and verified on both OSes, and the differences between the two OSes is limited to a small number of source code files for excellent maintainability. With this evolution, Linux-based systems can replicate to and from FreeBSD-based systems, and pools from one can also be imported by the other. This capability is the key to TrueNAS CORE/Enterprise being able to coexist with TrueNAS SCALE.
TrueNAS 12.0 has a long list of features and performance improvements, many of which are made possible by OpeZFS 2.0. Thus far, TrueNAS 12.0 has been clocked at over 1.2 Million IOPS and over 23GB/s on a TrueNAS M60 and generally showed 20-30% performance improvements on larger systems. Other OpenZFS 2.0 benefits include:

Metadata on Flash: Special SSD vdevs can be used for Metadata acceleration. This can include both file system metadata and dedupe tables.
Fusion Pools: Special SSD vdevs (known in OpenZFS parlance as “special allocation classes”) can also be used for data based on I/O write size. This is configurable on a per dataset basis. Users can accelerate database datasets or special VMs.
Dataset Encryption: Specific datasets can be selected or deselected for encryption with a user-provided key. When replicating the dataset to another TrueNAS, the key does not have to be provided and so the data can be transmitted and stored in the original encrypted state.
Asynchronous Trim: Trim commands free up space, particularly within SSDs. By making these Trim commands asynchronous, they scale and perform better. This is particularly useful for deduplication of flash storage and can significantly reduce costs.
Faster Boot: OpenZFS 2.0 includes a more parallel process for importing a ZFS pool with many drives. This reduces boot and failover times.
Persistent L2ARC: L2ARC (flash-based read cache) now survives reboots and failovers without clearing its cache, saving hours or days it formerly took to rehydrate larger cache, and allowing performance-sensitive systems to get back to full speed without delay.
ZFS async DMU and CoW: Within the original ZFS is a Data Management Unit (DMU) and an algorithm for Copy-on-Write (CoW). These algorithms were implemented in a synchronous manner, which required a transaction to wait until another transaction was completed. iXsystems contributed to the conversion of these algorithms to an asynchronous approach, which reduces the amount of wait time and increases parallelism in OpenZFS 2.0. An added benefit is that fewer disk I/Os are needed for sequential writes. This increases drive efficiency and reduces latency in heavy workloads.
ZFS Record Size Increases: One benefit of async CoW is that larger ZFS record sizes will perform better with fewer Read-Modify-Write activities. Instead of operating with 128KB record size, a 256KB or 512KB record size may be beneficial for some workloads. This will increase the bandwidth of many RAIDZ1/2/3 VDEVs.

Storage Freedom with TrueNAS SCALE

One of the side benefits of the massive TrueNAS 12.0 and OpenZFS 2.0 work is TrueNAS SCALE. Next week we’ll release the second Beta version, TrueNAS SCALE 20.12 “Angelfish”. For most users, we recommend moving to TrueNAS 12.0 and OpenZFS 2.0. From there, users can stay with CORE or Enterprise editions, or migrate in 2021 to SCALE for Linux services or scale-out functionality. We call this flexibility, “Storage Freedom” and an easy migration will be available in TrueNAS 12.0-U2.

TrueNAS 12.0 Upgrades are Easy

For those with FreeNAS 11.3 still installed on your system, you can upgrade to TrueNAS CORE 12.0 RELEASE with a single click! Otherwise, download TrueNAS 12.0 RELEASE to get started.
TrueNAS 12.0 can operate on all of the iXsystems platforms from the FreeNAS and TrueNAS Minis, to the power-efficient X-Series, all the way up to the flagship High availability (HA) M-Series. There is also a new R-Series product line that can run CORE, Enterprise, and SCALE editions of TrueNAS 12.0.
For those with TrueNAS HA systems and support contracts, we recommended contacting iXsystems support to schedule an upgrade. We will verify your systems’ health, configuration, and support the upgrade process to minimize issues. On December 22, we plan to enable the upgrades to be done from the UI.

The post OpenZFS 2.0 Ships First on TrueNAS appeared first on TrueNAS - Welcome to the Open Storage Era.

TrueNAS 12.0-U1 is Scheduled for early December

iX Team — Wed, 25 Nov 2020 18:00:19 +0000

We wanted to update everyone on the progress of the TrueNAS 12.0 release train. In just four weeks, more than 20,000 systems have been upgraded to TrueNAS 12.0. The feedback on performance and feature improvements has been excellent. TrueNAS 12.0-U1 has entered development code-freeze and is now entering its final QA cycle for availability in early December.
TrueNAS 12.0 RELEASE was made available October 20, 2020, and with it, TrueNAS CORE and TrueNAS Enterprise were available for production deployments. TrueNAS 12.0 was also the official merger of FreeNAS and TrueNAS into a unified software image accompanied by a long list of features and performance improvements. The TrueNAS 12.0 Release notes provide all the technical details.
TrueNAS Enterprise users (M-Series and X-Series) can manually upgrade to TrueNAS 12.0 RELEASE if specific features are needed. With TrueNAS 12.0-U1, the UI-based online update will be made available. This process is simpler and faster than manual updating; however, we still recommend that our clients contact iXsystems support and schedule the upgrade with them to make sure the best practices are followed and any issues are resolved along the way. In all cases, we recommend upgrading to TrueNAS 11.3-U5 before moving to 12.0, so that a roll-back is possible.
TrueNAS 12.0-U1 has also resolved the most significant bugs reported and has allowed us to add a few new features.

Bugs resolved include:

Reporting UI: Issues with some WebUI themes causing the Reporting sections of the UI to not fully load and display data.
SNMP Performance: SNMP usage leading to very high CPU utilization.

New features added include:

TRIM: TRIM can now be enabled or disabled via the webUI. It improves performance with SSDs that have high quality TRIM implementations.
Top Users: The system can report the busiest storage clients and which protocols they are using via SNMP.
Scrub and resilver Performance: Improvements in the algorithms allow scrubbing and resilvering to have less impact on busy workloads while also completing faster.
Fusion Pools (the ability to have SSDs and HDDs in the same pools): The webUI has added the capability to specify that small blocks are assigned to the special flash vdevs. The size of the small block is configurable.

TrueNAS System improvements include:

- M60: The TrueNAS M60 (with up to 23GB/s and 1 Million IOPS), the ES-102 (102 bay HDD expansion), and the ES-24F (24 SSD bay expansion), and are all now shipping with visual enclosure management.

- R-Series: Visual enclosure Management has been enabled for the TrueNAS R10, R20, R40, and R50 so that the status of drives and systems are easily viewed remotely.

NVME Hot swap enables the high performance drives to be used as performance vdevs in Fusion pools (pools with flash vdevs and HDD vdevs). Early testing of Fusion Pools has been promising and there will be more to come later.
Mini and X-Series systems will also benefit from all the bug fixes and new features.

Below is a graphic showing TrueNAS 12.0-U1 enclosure management of the TrueNAS R50 with 48 HDD bays. It simplifies monitoring, diagnostics, and operations of larger systems, saving hours of admin time and further preventing downtime.

TrueCommand CLOUD
TrueNAS 12.0 also includes support for TrueCommand CLOUD, a SaaS version of TrueCommand which includes a VPN capability for managing across sites. Service trials have started and are going well. We expect to make this service generally available in December at the same time as TrueNAS 12.0-U1.

TrueNAS 12.0 Documentation is reaching parity with 11.3
TrueNAS 12.0 has moved to a more modern documentation style that encourages contribution. The new documentation is more modular and expandable, and is now nearly as comprehensive as that of FreeNAS 11.3. We’ll continue to improve usability once completeness is achieved. Please check out the 12.0 documentation even if you don’t upgrade today. We’re grateful for all the contributions received thus far!

Migrating between TrueNAS 12.0-U2 and TrueNAS SCALE 20.12
One of the side benefits of the massive TrueNAS 12.0 and OpenZFS 2.0 work is TrueNAS SCALE. While TrueNAS SCALE 20.10 “Angelfish” is based on 90% of the same software, SCALE is less mature but very promising. For most users, we recommend moving to TrueNAS 12.0 and OpenZFS 2.0. From there, users can stay with CORE or Enterprise editions or migrate in 2021 to SCALE for Linux services or scale-out functionality. We call this flexibility, “Storage Freedom”. In TrueNAS 12.0-U2 we plan to automate migration to TrueNAS SCALE for those that need Kubernetes or scale-out. Like TrueNAS CORE, TrueNAS SCALE is free and Open Source.

FreeNAS to TrueNAS 12.0 Upgrades are Easy
For those with FreeNAS installed on your system, we recommend upgrading first to FreeNAS 11.3-U5 and then you can upgrade to TrueNAS 12.0 with a single click and roll-back options! Otherwise, download TrueNAS 12.0 to get started.
TrueNAS 12.0 can operate on all of the iXsystems platforms from the FreeNAS and TrueNAS Minis, to the power-efficient X-Series, all the way up to the flagship High availability (HA) M-Series. There is also a new R-Series product line that can run CORE, Enterprise, and SCALE editions of TrueNAS.
For those with TrueNAS HA systems and support contracts, we recommended contacting iXsystems support to schedule an upgrade. We will verify your systems’ health, configuration, and support the upgrade process to minimize issues.

TrueNAS CORE: Still the best Free NAS
TrueNAS 12.0-U1 improvements continue to make it the best Free NAS system available. If you have any questions or comments, we’d love to hear them on the community forums, on the TrueNAS subreddit, or in response to this blog. If you need additional information on how TrueNAS can streamline, accelerate, and unify data management for your business, please contact us.

The post TrueNAS 12.0-U1 is Scheduled for early December appeared first on TrueNAS - Welcome to the Open Storage Era.

iXsystems TrueNAS M60 Recognized as SDC Awards Storage Hardware Innovation of the Year Finalist

iX Team — Thu, 12 Nov 2020 16:08:34 +0000

Industry’s Fastest OpenZFS Open Storage System Named For Affordable Capacity, Performance, and Security

SAN JOSE, CA, November 12, 2020 – iXsystems® today announced that the TrueNAS® M60 unified storage system, powered by the fast and efficient TrueNAS 12.0 operating system and OpenZFS® filesystem, has been named among the finalists in the 2020 SDC Awards under the Storage Hardware Innovation of the Year category. Winners will be selected through public voting online at https://sdcawards.com/vote until November 20th and announced during a virtual ceremony on December 3rd.
The 2020 SDC Awards recognize and reward successful products and services that serve as the foundation for digital transformation. Winners are selected by the readers of Digitalisation World’s multimedia platform as well as peers, clients, and others in the supply chain. The iXsystems M60 was selected as an SDC Storage Hardware Innovation Awards finalist by the group’s editorial staff for its ability to meet an array of demanding virtualization, multimedia, and backup application requirements at a fraction of the cost of alternatives.
The TrueNAS M60 leads the iXsystems M-Series flagship line of unified storage systems and is built for enterprise environments where maximum performance is a requirement. The M60 can be configured with single or dual-controllers and hybrid, fusion, or all-flash storage to achieve over 20GB/s and 1 Million IOPS performance. The system boasts a total capacity up to 20PB hybrid storage or 4PB of all-flash storage in a 4U High-Availability (HA) system with 64 processing cores. With the advanced security features in TrueNAS 12.0, organizations can easily deploy applications that protect their data with easy-to-use encryption, VPNs, and key management.

“Under today’s challenging business conditions, organizations need more flexible and affordable storage that offers the performance and capacity to support strategic IT requirements,” said Morgan Littlewood, SVP, Product Management and Business Development for iXsystems. “The TrueNAS M60 breaks new ground in ZFS performance and rack density while maintaining the unrivaled flexibility of TrueNAS software. We are thrilled it is being considered as the Storage Hardware Innovation of the Year by the SDC Awards.”

Voting for the SDC Awards 2020 is open now until November 20 at 5:30 p.m. British Standard Time. To vote for the TrueNAS M60 in the Storage Hardware Innovation of the Year category, please visit https://sdcawards.com/vote.
Tweet This: @iXsystems Named Finalist in SDC Awards 2020 for the TrueNAS M60 Unified Storage System – https://www.ixsystems.com/press-releases/
Additional Resources:
● To learn more about TrueNAS Open Storage, visit: https://www.truenas.com
● Follow TrueNAS News on Twitter at: https://twitter.com/iXsystems
About iXsystems and TrueNAS
Through decades of expertise in system design and development of Open Source software (FreeNAS, FreeBSD, OpenZFS, and TrueNAS), iXsystems has become an innovation leader in high-availability storage and servers powered by Open Source solutions. With over one million deployments and backed by the legendary ZFS file system, TrueNAS offers the stability and reliability required for Backup, Multimedia, Cloud Hosting, Virtualization, Hyper-converged Infrastructure, and much more. Since the founding of iXsystems in 2002, thousands of companies, universities, and government organizations have come to rely on the company’s enterprise servers, TrueNAS Open Storage, and consultative approach to building IT infrastructure and Private Clouds with Open Source economics

The post iXsystems TrueNAS M60 Recognized as SDC Awards Storage Hardware Innovation of the Year Finalist appeared first on TrueNAS - Welcome to the Open Storage Era.

TrueNAS 12 & TrueNAS SCALE are officially here! – Issue #87

iX Team — Thu, 29 Oct 2020 18:00:03 +0000

NOTE: This is historical content that may contain outdated information.

TrueNAS 12.0 is Released!

TrueNAS 12.0 RELEASE is now available! TrueNAS CORE and TrueNAS Enterprise are now ready for production deployments. The merger of FreeNAS and TrueNAS into a unified software image is officially complete, delivering features such as ZFS Native Crypto, API Keys, Fusion Pools, TrueCommand Cloud Integration, and much more!

Learn More
Download TrueNAS 12.0

iXsystems Expands TrueNAS Product Line with R-Series Systems and Scale-out HCI Software

The TrueNAS Open Storage portfolio expands with the TrueNAS R-Series storage systems and the TrueNAS SCALE Open Source HyperConverged Infrastructure (HCI) software. The new R-Series storage systems include four models designed for maximum density, performance, Open Storage flexibility, and cost savings. TrueNAS SCALE introduces easy-to-manage hyperconvergence based on scale-out OpenZFS.

Read the Announcement
TrueNAS R-Series

Recession-proof System Specials on High Availability TrueNAS Systems (While Supplies Last)

During these challenging times, keeping budgets under control is more critical than ever. Therefore, we’re offering two specific system configurations at special prices to answer the call. Both are high-availability and hybrid disk/flash systems, designed for 24×7 availability: the TrueNAS X10-HA offers 84 TB of redundant, entry-level enterprise storage, and a TrueNAS M40-HA is loaded with 1.5 PB. These systems are ready-to-ship in limited quantities and are available while supplies last. Click below for detailed information on each system.

84 TB TRUENAS® X10-HA $13.9K

1.5 PB TRUENAS® M40-HA $99.9K

Latest Releases

TrueNAS	12.0	Release Notes
TrueCommand	1.3.2	Release Notes

Here’s what the experts at Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG) had to say about TrueNAS in their recent validation report: “The combination of ZFS, open source, and a lean sales force provides efficiencies that enable iXsystems to offer high performance, feature-rich solutions at high value price points. We calculated a significant delta. Based on our testing and analysis, we found that iXsystems can typically offer up to double the performance at half the cost of their major competitors.”

Download the full report here

TrueNAS Open Storage Overview
In this video, we introduce the TrueNAS Open Storage family and describe the main features of TrueNAS CORE, TrueNAS Enterprise, and TrueNAS SCALE. Welcome to the Open Storage revolution!

Watch the Video

Open Storage Economics Advanced with TrueNAS M60
Mike Matchett from TruthInIT interviews iXsystems Executive Vice President Brett Davis regarding storage freedom in TrueNAS Open Storage products, and highlights the latest addition to the TrueNAS M-Series.

Watch the Video

TrueNAS Community Store

We’re excited to announce the opening of the TrueNAS Community Store! We’ll be adding additional items over Q4 2020 so be on the lookout to score new TrueNAS gear.

Shop TrueNAS Store

Creating TrueNAS CORE Install Media
In this tutorial, we’ll walk you through creating TrueNAS installation media with either a USB stick or blank DVD. This step will allow you to set up TrueNAS CORE on your system.

Watch here now

More webinars

How to Upgrade FreeNAS to TrueNAS by Lawrence Systems
Thomas Lawrence of Lawrence Systems shows you how to update from FreeNAS to the latest TrueNAS 12.0-RELEASE, including your ZFS pools and iocage jails.

Watch the Video

iXsystems Launches Professional-Grade Storage for the Edge with TrueNAS Mini X
E-Channel News meets with iXsystems EVP Brett Davis to discuss the history of iXsystems and TrueNAS, the reasoning behind choosing Linux for TrueNAS SCALE, how TrueNAS can meet the needs of any storage environment, in addition to the latest TrueNAS Mini X.

Learn More

eBook on Open Source Storage

This free eBook explains how proprietary and cloud storage falls short and why Open Source is a better development model for storage systems. Learn about the advantages of NVMe/NVDIMM storage for the modern enterprise and why businesses need a unified data platform.

Download eBook

We’re Hiring!
We’re looking for people that are as passionate about Open Source technology as we are. Check out the link below to see what open positions we have and to send us your resume! We’d love to chat with you more about the opportunities here at iXsystems. View Open Positions

Tech-Tip #84
When connecting to the TrueNAS system 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 typing /etc/netcli

Links of the Month

TrueNAS 12.0-RELEASE Has Launched! By Lawrence Systems via Lawrence Systems
Say goodbye to FreeNAS, Upgrading FreeNAS 11.3 to TrueNAS 12 Release via PhasedLogix IT Services
The OpenZFS Developers Summit 2020 Part 1 via Klara Systems
FreeBSD Case Study: Netflix via FreeBSD Foundation via FreeBSD Foundation

Quote of the Month
“Throughout multiple storage expansions and Operating System updates, and generally putting TrueNAS through the wringer, we have never lost any data. That demonstrates how stable and reliable ZFS is as a file system and logical volume manager.”

– Ron Simpson, Operations Supervisor at McGill University

The post TrueNAS 12 & TrueNAS SCALE are officially here! – Issue #87 appeared first on TrueNAS - Welcome to the Open Storage Era.

TrueNAS 12.0 is Released!

Václav Navrátil — Wed, 21 Oct 2020 15:41:42 +0000

TrueNAS 12.0 RELEASE was made available yesterday (October 20, 2020), and with it, TrueNAS CORE and TrueNAS Enterprise are now ready for production deployments. The merger of FreeNAS and TrueNAS into a unified software image is now officially complete and has become a production-ready platform right on schedule.

With the merger of the software, we are also making progress toward a new and improved TrueNAS.com website, which is the future home of all things TrueNAS-related. The chart below describes the transition.

And, here is the long list of features and performance improvements.

Prior to this RELEASE version, almost 7,000 users were involved in putting TrueNAS 12.0 software through its paces. During the pre-RELEASE process, TrueNAS 12.0 demonstrated over 1.2 Million IOPS and over 23GB/s on a TrueNAS M60. TrueNAS 12.0 RC1 provided the stability needed to move many enthusiasts into production. Many thanks for the positive feedback and the bug reports, which were mostly minor or hardware-specific.

TrueNAS 12.0 RELEASE is expected to be very solid and perform significantly better than the 11.3 versions. It is also the first production RELEASE of the OpenZFS 2.0 base. Snapshot your pool, backup your data, and try it out! You can download it here. There is a TrueNAS 12.0 sub-forum on the Community forums for this unification process and Community feedback.

An updated summary of the TrueNAS 12.0 features is below (with capabilities specific to TrueNAS Enterprise identified by the light blue text). As promised, no features were removed from FreeNAS 11.3, but many features have been added.

TrueNAS 12.0 Documentation is Improving

TrueNAS 12.0 has moved to a more modern documentation style that encourages contribution. The new documentation is more modular and expandable, but is not yet as complete and comprehensive as that of FreeNAS 11.3. Feel free to use both user guides while we complete the transition. Please check out the 12.0 documentation even if you don’t upgrade today. We’re grateful for all the contributions received thus far!

Storage Freedom with TrueNAS SCALE

One of the side benefits of the massive TrueNAS 12.0 and OpenZFS 2.0 work is TrueNAS SCALE. Last week we passed a milestone with the first version, TrueNAS SCALE 20.10 “Angelfish”. While it is based on 90% of the same software, SCALE is less mature but very promising. For most users, we recommend moving to TrueNAS 12.0 and OpenZFS 2.0. From there, users can stay with CORE or Enterprise editions or migrate in 2021 to SCALE for Linux services or scale-out functionality. We call this flexibility, “Storage Freedom”.

TrueNAS CORE: Still the Best Free NAS

We hope these TrueNAS 12.0 performance improvements have a positive impact on your FreeNAS systems. If you have any questions or comments, we’d love to hear them on the community forums, on the TrueNAS subreddit, or in response to this blog. If you need additional information on how TrueNAS can streamline, accelerate, and unify data management for your business, please email us.

TrueNAS 12.0 Upgrades are Easy

For those with FreeNAS 11.3 installed on your system, you can upgrade to TrueNAS 12.0 RELEASE with a single click! Otherwise, download TrueNAS 12.0 RELEASE to get started.
TrueNAS 12.0 can operate on all of the iXsystems platforms from the FreeNAS and TrueNAS Minis, to the power-efficient X-Series, all the way up to the flagship High availability (HA) M-Series. There is also a new R-Series product line that can run CORE, Enterprise, and SCALE editions of TrueNAS 12.0. A press release was also released yesterday on the TrueNAS R-Series and the first TrueNAS SCALE release.
For those with TrueNAS HA systems and support contracts, we recommended contacting iXsystems support to schedule an upgrade. We will verify your systems health, configuration, and support the upgrade process to minimize issues.

The post TrueNAS 12.0 is Released! appeared first on TrueNAS - Welcome to the Open Storage Era.

iXsystems Expands TrueNAS Product Line with R-Series Systems and Scale-out HCI Software

iX Team — Tue, 20 Oct 2020 12:00:17 +0000

R-Series Appliance Deliver Open Source Economics to Enterprise Storage while TrueNAS SCALE Removes Barriers to Growth

SAN JOSE, CA – October 20, 2020 — The TrueNAS Open Storage portfolio expands with the TrueNAS R-Series storage systems and the TrueNAS SCALE Open Source HyperConverged Infrastructure (HCI) software. The new R-Series storage systems include four models designed for maximum density, performance, Open Storage flexibility, and cost savings. TrueNAS SCALE introduces easy-to-manage hyperconvergence based on scale-out OpenZFS.

TrueNAS R-Series Storage Systems

The TrueNAS R-Series combines the advantages of purpose-built storage systems with the flexibility of TrueNAS, the world’s most popular storage OS. The R-Series includes the ability to run any of three TrueNAS software editions:

TrueNAS CORE: Free and Open Source, the Community edition, formerly known as FreeNAS, supports File, Block, Object, and Application storage.
TrueNAS Enterprise: The feature-rich Enterprise edition with Enterprise support provides additional security, Fibre Channel, and Enterprise integrations.
TrueNAS SCALE: The new hyperconverged edition includes scale-out ZFS, KVM, and Kubernetes.

Unlike proprietary alternatives, the R-Series is designed to provide industry-leading CapEx/OpEx storage economics, performance, deployment flexibility, and storage density. Each of the TrueNAS R-Series models feature IntelⓇ XeonⓇ Scalable CPUs and can be configured with the processing, memory, and networking needed to deliver up to 100 Gb/s of storage performance:

TrueNAS R50: High capacity 4U with 48 x 3.5″ & 4 x 2.5″ NVMe Bay, and up to 890 TB capacity. The TrueNAS R50 can also scale-up to 3PB and then scale-out to 300PB.
TrueNAS R40: High density 2U all-flash system with 48 x 2.5″ Bays, and up to 360 TB of flash capacity.
TrueNAS R20: Power efficient 2U with 12 x 3.5″ and 2 x 2.5″ Bays and up to 230 TB capacity.
TrueNAS R10: Compact 1U all-flash system with 16 x 2.5″ Bays and up to 120 TB of flash capacity.

“In my experience, looking for the right storage solution at the right price can be a daunting task, with some providers charging premiums per feature and others burying those premiums into over-inflated support bundles that approach the cost of the system itself”, said Peter Boleski, IT Infrastructure Manager, INFINITT North America, Inc. “With iXsystems’ TrueNAS, the vast array of features are included and the systems are priced fairly, so I don’t need to worry about a pay-per-feature approach, artificial capacity limits, or unreasonable support costs. We’re building a cost-effective storage environment with a full suite of features throughout our data centers, with confidence our data will be safe on the robust OpenZFS file system.”

R-Series pricing starts at under $4,000 and grows with processing and storage capacity. All-flash system prices of less than $300/TB are provided with TrueNAS SCALE software included.

TrueNAS SCALE Hyperconvergence

iXsystems is also announcing the first release of TrueNAS SCALE: a unique, easy to manage HCI platform for converged compute and scale-out Open ZFS storage. TrueNAS SCALE is available as Open Source software built atop Debian Linux, or as an appliance-based solution that combines TrueNAS SCALE with purpose-built systems, including High-Availability (HA) systems like the X-Series, M-Series, or the all-new R-Series systems. The Open Source economics of TrueNAS SCALE changes the existing HCI playing field.
TrueNAS SCALE Open Source HCI addresses the cost of scaling compute and storage with all of the advantages of Open Storage, Open Virtualization, and Open APIs. The TrueNAS-based technology is backed by a community of more than 250,000 users worldwide and applies Open Source economics to deliver ultra-low capital and operational costs. The platform uses best-of-breed components that deliver SMB and NFS File Sharing, iSCSI Block Storage, S3 Object API integration, and Cloud Sync with public cloud storage like S3.
Unlike other HCI platforms, a user can get started with TrueNAS SCALE on a single node and incrementally scale up and scale out to over 100 storage nodes with many additional compute-only nodes. TrueNAS SCALE is true Disaggregated HCI, meaning storage and compute can be scaled independently. Each node can support Virtual Machines (via the KVM hypervisor) as well as Docker containers via native Kubernetes.

“I have long admired iXsystems for its well-engineered storage systems and its leadership in Open Source storage. The new iXsystems TrueNAS SCALE Open Source operating system and R-Series arrays enable iXsystems to address much higher capacity storage environments,” observes Ken Clipperton, Lead Analyst, Storage, DCIG. “TrueNAS SCALE creates even more value by delivering both enterprise NAS and disaggregated hyperconverged infrastructure. TrueCommand management software–running locally on TrueNAS or in the cloud–further drives down cost by simplifying the management of large TrueNAS deployments.”

“TrueNAS is enabling a new era in Open Storage for businesses in every sector that have requirements for reliable, secure, and agile data access while removing the limitations of proprietary storage,” said Brett Davis, Executive Vice President, iXsystems. “TrueNAS systems and solutions democratize enterprise storage by providing best-in-class platform choices combined with Open Storage software to deliver ”Storage Freedom” and Open Source economics to our customers around the globe.”

To learn more about how TrueNAS Open Storage can help your organization, contact us via https://www.truenas.com/contact-us/, or give us a call at 1-855-GREP-4-IX.
Tweet This: iXsystems Expands TrueNAS Product Line with R-Series Systems and Scale-out Software – https://www.ixsystems.com/press-releases/
Additional Resources:
● To learn more about TrueNAS Open Storage, visit: https://www.truenas.com
● Follow TrueNAS News on Twitter at: https://twitter.com/iXsystems
About iXsystems and TrueNAS
Through decades of expertise in system design and development of Open Source software (FreeNAS, FreeBSD, OpenZFS, and TrueNAS), iXsystems has become an innovation leader in high-availability storage and servers powered by Open Source solutions. With over one million deployments and backed by the legendary ZFS file system, TrueNAS offers the stability and reliability required for Backup, Multimedia, Cloud Hosting, Virtualization, Hyper-converged Infrastructure, and much more. Since the founding of iXsystems in 2002, thousands of companies, universities, and government organizations have come to rely on the company’s enterprise servers, TrueNAS Open Storage, and consultative approach to building IT infrastructure and Private Clouds with Open Source economics

The post iXsystems Expands TrueNAS Product Line with R-Series Systems and Scale-out HCI Software appeared first on TrueNAS - Welcome to the Open Storage Era.

Manage TrueNAS From the Cloud – Issue #86

iX Team — Thu, 08 Oct 2020 18:00:48 +0000

NOTE: This is historical content that may contain outdated information.

New TrueCommand Release Brings Early Access to Cloud Service and New Logo

TrueCommand was launched in 2019 as a single pane of glass management system for FreeNAS and TrueNAS fleets. Since then, it has been adopted by over fifteen hundred organizations to manage their NAS fleets. TrueCommand can be deployed as a VM or as a Docker container, and is available for Early Access as a Cloud service. Today, we are releasing the TrueCommand 1.3.2 minor update with a brand new logo that compliments the new TrueNAS CORE, Enterprise, and SCALE logo set.

Learn more here

84 TB TRUENAS® X10-HA $13.9K

1.5 PB TRUENAS® M40-HA $99.9K

Latest Releases

TrueNAS CORE	12.0-RC1	Release Notes
FreeNAS	11.3-U5	Release Notes
TrueNAS	11.3-U4.1	Release Notes
TrueCommand	1.3.1	Release Notes

Download the full report here

TrueNAS Community Store

We’re excited to announce the opening of the TrueNAS Community Store! We’ll be adding additional items over Q4 2020 so be on the lookout to score new TrueNAS gear.

Shop TrueNAS Store

Watch here now

More videos

TrueNAS CORE 12.0-RC1 Review by Lawrence Systems
Thomas Lawrence of Lawrence Systems reviews the first release candidate of TrueNAS 12.0, and discusses features such as Zstandard compression, enclosure management, and replication tasks.

Watch here now

TrueNAS FreeNAS LAGG & LACP Setup by Lawrence Systems
Thomas Lawrence walks us through setting up Link Aggregation (LAGG) and Link Aggregation Control Protocol (LACP) on the latest TrueNAS CORE 12.0.

Watch here now

Download it here

On-Demand FreeNAS Training
Online training modules from iXsystems are designed to quickly get you up to speed for getting the most out of your FreeNAS system. Each training module is 30 minutes long and cuts to the core information you need to become an expert in FreeNAS and OpenZFS.

Sign up here

Tech-Tip #83
To check which interface is attached to a Virtual Machine, start the VM and go to the Shell. Type “ifconfig” and find the tap interface that shows the name of the VM in the description.

Links of the Month

TrueNAS CORE 12 Install and Basic Setup via Everything Smart Home
Economics of Open Storage via Enterprise IT World
OpenZFS Developer Summit 2020

Quote of the Month
“The migration of massive amounts of terabytes wouldn’t have happened without the support of iXsystems.”

– Steven M. Rothstein, Executive Director, John F. Kennedy Library Foundation

The post Manage TrueNAS From the Cloud – Issue #86 appeared first on TrueNAS - Welcome to the Open Storage Era.

In-Depth Look at TrueNAS Mini X | Cross-Site Disaster Recovery with TrueNAS – Issue #85

iX Team — Thu, 17 Sep 2020 18:00:30 +0000

NOTE: This is historical content that may contain outdated information.

iXsystems Unveils Industry’s Fastest OpenZFS Storage System with Launch of TrueNAS M60

As part of our unification of FreeNAS and TrueNAS, the FreeNAS Minis have been reborn as the TrueNAS Minis, joining the lineup of the much-anticipated third generation of our TrueNAS Mini products, the Mini E and Mini XL+ models! After reviewing customer feedback and requests, we developed the TrueNAS Mini X and added higher capacity drive options (14 TB) to the entire TrueNAS Mini lineup!

Learn more here
Order TrueNAS Mini X

Cross-Site Disaster Recovery with TrueNAS

As part of our unification of FreeNAS and TrueNAS, the FreeNAS Minis have been reborn as the TrueNAS Minis, joining the lineup of the much-anticipated third generation of our TrueNAS Mini products, the Mini E and Mini XL+ models! After reviewing customer feedback and requests, we developed the TrueNAS Mini X and added higher capacity drive options (14 TB) to the entire TrueNAS Mini lineup!

Learn more here

Recession-proof System Specials on High Availability TrueNAS Systems (While Supplies Last)

We’ve put together two specials to help you keep your TCO low and your budget in check during these challenging times. Choose between a 154 TB TrueNAS X10-HA that offers a fully redundant infrastructure that can fit any budget and our All-Flash TrueNAS M40-HA, the powerhouse TrueNAS M-Series system that offers an incredible amount of storage to expand capacity combined with an incredibly economical TCO that beats virtually any cloud infrastructure. These systems are pre-built and ready to ship to help you keep things moving at your company. Order yours today to get highly redundant enterprise-class storage and performance at the lowest TCO in the industry.

154 TB TRUENAS® X10-HA $14.9K

40 TB ALL-FLASH TRUENAS® M40-HA $29.9K

TrueNAS CORE is Ready for Deployment — Dive In!
TrueNAS 12.0 RC1 features minor fixes from BETA and several performance improvements to ZFS, SMB, iSCSI, and NFS have been integrated. Snapshot your pool, backup your data, and try it out!

Learn more here
Download TrueNAS CORE

TrueNAS SCALE Release Plan
While TrueNAS 12.0 (CORE and Enterprise editions) continues its release march, we’re also busy getting the first version of TrueNAS SCALE into the hands of many tech-savvy users. TrueNAS SCALE 20.10-ALPHA is planned for October and will be codenamed “Angelfish”.

Learn more here

Latest Releases

TrueNAS CORE	12.0-RC1	Release Notes
FreeNAS	11.3-U4.1	Release Notes
TrueNAS	11.3-U4.1	Release Notes
TrueCommand	1.3.1	Release Notes

Download the full report here

iXsystems Appoints Chin-Fah Heoh as TrueNAS APAC General Manager to Address Regional Demand for Open Storage
iXsystems announced the appointment of Chin-Fah Heoh as General Manager for the APAC region. In his new position, Mr. Heoh will be tasked with expanding the company’s partner ecosystem and presence as demand for Enterprise-class Open Storage accelerates among Asia Pacific businesses and governmental organizations.

Read more here

TrueNAS 12.0 & TrueNAS M60 Announced by StorageReview
Adam Armstrong of StorageReview gives us a preview of the new hardware features in the latest addition to the TrueNAS M-Series.

Learn more here

FreeBSD Based FreeNAS Becomes TrueNAS Interview with TFiR
Swapnil Bhartiya, host of TFiR, recently sat down with iXsystems Executive Vice President Brett Davis to discuss what’s in store for the future of FreeNAS and TrueNAS, and other enterprise products in the works.

Watch here now

More webinars

The TrueNAS Stickers & T-Shirt Giveaway
Enter our very first TrueNAS giveaway for a chance to win TrueNAS Stickers and a T-shirt of your size! The more entries you have increases your chances of becoming a winner!

Enter the TrueNAS Stickers Giveaway

How to Install TrueNAS CORE
Check out our first entry in the new TrueNAS how-to tutorial series. This video will show you the basic requirements on getting started and installing TrueNAS CORE on a new system.

Watch here now

TrueNAS Mini X Plus Review by Lawrence Systems
Thomas Lawrence of Lawrence Systems reviews the latest TrueNAS Mini X+ and demonstrates its hardware features, drive enclosures, network ports, and iKVM/HTML5 IPMI, as well as performing some benchmark tests.

Watch here now

Download it here

Sign up here

We’re Hiring!
We’re looking for people that are as passionate as we are about Open Source technology. Check out the link below to see what open positions we have and to send us your resume! We’d love to chat with you more about the opportunities here at iXsystems. View open positions here

Tech-Tip #82
SSH keys are not stored in the configuration database and must be backed up separately. System host keys are files with names beginning with ssh_host_ in /usr/local/etc/ssh/. The root user keys are stored in /root/.ssh.

Links of the Month

iXsystems TrueNAS Mini X and Mini X+ Launched via StorageReview
(Video) How to install TrueNAS CORE on VMWare ESXi 7.0 via Nhan Nguyen
(Video) Customize TrueNAS dashboard with Grafana and influxDB via Di-Ai-Why

Quote of the Month
“TrueNAS reduced our downtime dramatically. We have never had a single second of unscheduled downtime due to a TrueNAS software or hardware issue across all six devices over more than 18 months of continuous 24/7 production use”

– Justin Higgins, Squiz Hosting Manager

The post In-Depth Look at TrueNAS Mini X | Cross-Site Disaster Recovery with TrueNAS – Issue #85 appeared first on TrueNAS - Welcome to the Open Storage Era.

The TrueNAS Mini X and Mini X+ are here!

iX Team — Thu, 17 Sep 2020 17:02:10 +0000

Wait a minute… TrueNAS Mini? Yes, you read that correctly! As part of our unification of FreeNAS and TrueNAS, the compact yet powerful FreeNAS Mini storage systems, known for bringing professional grade storage to the home, office, and edge, have been reborn as the TrueNAS Minis. So, the FreeNAS Mini E and Mini XL+ are now the TrueNAS Mini E and TrueNAS Mini XL+. But, what’s even more exciting than the name change is the new model joining the current lineup of Minis! After reviewing customer feedback and requests, we developed the TrueNAS Mini X and Mini X+ while also adding higher capacity drive options (14TB) to the entire TrueNAS Mini lineup!

Quick Specs
The TrueNAS Mini X case is a completely new design, featuring five 3.5 inch hot-swappable bays and two 2.5 inch hot-swappable bays for a total of seven hot-swappable bays in this mini-but-mighty case!
The base Mini X model has four 1GbE ports and four CPU cores. The high-performance Mini X+ model has two 10GbE ports and 8 cores. Below is a reference chart for comparison between the entire TrueNAS Mini Family. For a full specification table, please visit our Mini page on TrueNAS.com.

The TrueNAS Unification
FreeNAS and TrueNAS are uniting as one software with a common brand name. A blog and video featuring iXsystems Engineering VP and TrueNAS Project Lead, Kris Moore, details the unification of FreeNAS and TrueNAS and the significant benefits to software quality and release schedules. To find out more information regarding TrueNAS 12.0, and why it’s a big deal, please visit this blog.
So, what does this entail for the newly rebranded TrueNAS Minis? Well, new door badges for one! More importantly, we improve the user experience by adding capabilities like visual enclosure management within the UI.
The Breakdown of the Mini X
Building on the success of the Mini E, the TrueNAS Mini X adds some significant performance improvements, as well as increased overall capacity. For those who need even more performance and 10GbE networking but want a smaller form factor than the Mini XL+, look no further — the TrueNAS Mini X+ is the sweet spot!
Form Factor

The TrueNAS Mini X is actually slightly smaller in size than the four bay Mini E; however, we designed the Mini X to hold an additional 3.5” hot-swappable drive bay, and convert the two internal 2.5” drive bays to external 2.5” hot-swappable bays. This makes for easy cache and SSD upgrades for Fusion Pools.

Despite the entry-level price, all components are server-grade.

Motherboards & Processors
The TrueNAS Mini X includes an integrated quad core Intel® Atom CPU with a base frequency of 2.20 GHz. This highly-efficient processor is powerful enough to perform two simultaneous 1080p transcodes in applications like Plex.
Its motherboard includes four gigabit RJ45 data ports with full LACP support, four ECC DDR4 DIMM slots , one rear USB 3.0 port, two front-mounted USB 2.0 ports, gigabit IPMI remote management port, UID switch, an RS232 serial port, and a VGA port. Although the motherboard has a PCIe slot, it is disabled to allow for maximal SATA device connectivity.

The TrueNAS Mini X+ is powered by an eight-core Intel® Atom CPU with a base frequency of 2.20 GHz. This 32 GB workhorse is recommended for multiple Plex transcodes, up to 16 Plugins, and 6 VMs!
Its motherboard includes two 10GbE RJ45 ports, four ECC DDR4 DIMM slots, one front-mounted USB 2.0 port, one front-mounted USB 3.0 port, two rear USB 2.0 ports, gigabit IPMI remote management port, and a VGA port. The Mini X+ is also upgradeable with a dual 10G SFP+ NIC option, using the available PCIe slot.

Power Efficient NAS Workhorse
The Mini X uses a C3558 Intel® Atom processor that is powerful and highly efficient with a thermal design power (TDP) of only 16 W. It allows the entire system to achieve a baseline idle power consumption of less than 26 W! The Mini X+ uses a C3758 Intel® Atom Processor, which has 8 cores and a 25 W TDP, doubling the compute horsepower while still keeping power consumption low.
Hard drives play a significant role in overall system power utilization. We build all TrueNAS Minis with NAS-grade hard drives (the Western Digital Red Plus drives) to provide the best balance of power efficiency, acoustic performance, reliability, and price per TB. Fully populated with five 14 TB NAS drives and two cache devices, idle power consumption is less than 45 W and less than 85 W under maximum load for the Mini X. The Mini X+, with its eight cores, memory maximized at 64 GB, and an additional dual port 10G SFP+ card, will consume less than 30 W more at maximum load.

ECC Memory & Caching
All TrueNAS Minis come standard with Error Correcting Code (ECC) memory that is the front line defense against data corruption and is one of the major features that sets the TrueNAS Mini apart from cheaper consumer-grade NAS systems. With ECC memory, single-bit errors are corrected on the fly before they are written to disk, and if multiple bit errors are detected, the memory will halt the system before any data corruption is committed to the disk.
The TrueNAS Mini X comes standard with 16 GB DDR4 ECC memory and can be upgraded to 32 GB RAM using 8 GB DIMMs. The TrueNAS Mini X+ comes standard with 32 GB DDR4 ECC memory and can be upgraded to 64 GB RAM using 16 GB DIMMs. Other configurable performance upgrades include optional Read (L2ARC) and Write Cache (SLOG) SATA SSDs.
True Silence
The TrueNAS Mini X/X+ is also whisper-quiet with one of the quietest 120 mm fans available, making it a perfect match for a sensitive work environment that requires near-silence.
Drive selection matters for maintaining low noise in a NAS system. When buying a Mini X/X+ without hard drives, pay attention to the acoustic specifications of the hard drives you select. For reference, the NAS-grade hard drives that come with our pre-populated systems idle around 20-21 dBA, and peak at 24-29 dBA, which is quiet by spinning disk standards. SSDs are silent and cooler, reducing fan speed and sound levels even further.
HTML5-Based Remote Management
Another “server-class” feature unique to systems in its class is the ability to manage and administer the TrueNAS Mini X/X+ hardware from a remote location via the Intelligent Platform Management Interface (IPMI) console. The IPMI web interface uses HTML5, which provides remote console access without requiring Java or connecting a physical monitor and keyboard to the Mini.

The HTML5 IPMI interface provides remote management from any laptop.

True Capacity
The TrueNAS Mini product family can also now support 14 TB hard drives! This brings storage capacity of the Mini E up to 56 TB, the Mini X and X+ up to 70 TB, and the Mini XL+ up to 112 TB! If you need even more storage, the SSD bays are available for the new Fusion Pools, bringing the Mini X and X+ up to 85 TB and the Mini XL+ up to 120 TB.
A TrueNAS Mini X+ with dual 10 GbE, 5 x 14 TB HDDs, and 2 x Cache SSDs packs a lot of performance and capacity in its small footprint, and the TrueNAS web configurator price for this 70 TB system is under $3700.
When adding drives to all Minis, we recommend the highly reliable WD Red Plus drives. Other Conventional Magnetic Recording (CMR) drives with a max wattage of less than 7 W can also be supported.

World’s #1 Open Source Storage Software

TrueNAS Minis can run FreeNAS, TrueNAS CORE, and also the previews of TrueNAS SCALE software. There are several options to easily backup your data to another FreeNAS or TrueNAS system, or to a public cloud provider like AWS S3, Google Cloud, Microsoft Azure, or Backblaze B2, among others. TrueNAS 12.0 provides many wizards to simplify setup of ZFS pools, iSCSI extents, and SMB shares.

TrueNAS 12.0 BETA is also available to try out.

TrueNAS CORE 12.0-RC1 also provides enclosure management for the TrueNAS Minis (and the FreeNAS Certified line). Enclosure management simplifies operations of a Mini by providing the visual status of drives, names, and temperatures. It makes it easier to identify and replace failed drives.

The TrueNAS Mini X includes enclosure management with TrueNAS CORE.

TrueNAS Minis can also be managed using the new TrueCommand multi-system management application. TrueCommand provides a “single pane of glass” for managing and monitoring groups of TrueNAS systems with automated alerts and customized reports.

Get yours today!
If you’re looking for a compact storage system that provides professional-grade features and data protection beyond typical consumer-grade NAS systems, the TrueNAS Mini line is available through Amazon, starting at $699 without hard drives. The TrueNAS Mini X starts at $899. The 16TB (4 x 4TB) Mini X is $1499 and the 50TB Mini X+ (5 x 10TB + 2 Cache SSDs) is $2949. You can also have a Mini custom-configured to your specifications and ordered through the iXsystems online Mini Configurator. For additional technical information, visit https://www.TrueNAS.com/TrueNAS-Mini/. In-depth product reviews have been conducted by Lawrence Systems and ServeTheHome.
Please be aware that early units will ship with the latest STABLE version of FreeNAS until TrueNAS 12.0 STABLE is released. For those who want to try the latest features, TrueNAS 12.0-RC1 is available. Once TrueNAS 12.0 CORE is released, there will be an upgrade path from the latest version of FreeNAS STABLE. All FreeNAS features will be retained, and although the name is changing to TrueNAS, this upgrade will not cost you a single penny (now or ever)!

The post The TrueNAS Mini X and Mini X+ are here! appeared first on TrueNAS - Welcome to the Open Storage Era.

TrueNAS CORE is Ready for Deployment — Dive In!

iX Team — Wed, 16 Sep 2020 20:14:33 +0000

NOTE: This is historical content that may contain outdated information.

TrueNAS 12.0 RC1 was released yesterday and with it, TrueNAS CORE is ready for deployment. The merger of FreeNAS and TrueNAS into a unified software image can now begin its path into mainstream use. TrueNAS CORE is the new FreeNAS and is on schedule.

The TrueNAS 12.0 BETA process started in June and has been the most successful BETA release ever with more than 3,000 users and only minor issues. Ars Technica provided a detailed technical walkthrough of the original BETA. There is a long list of features and performance improvements. During the BETA process, TrueNAS 12.0 demonstrated over 1.2 Million IOPS and over 23GB/s on a TrueNAS M60.
TrueNAS 12.0 RC1 is suitable for less complex or other non-mission critical environments. Minor BETA issues have been fixed and several performance improvements to ZFS, SMB, iSCSI, and NFS have been integrated. Snapshot your pool, backup your data, and try it out! You can download it here.
In addition to the previously listed features, there are some other major additions:

Zstandard Compression: A modern compression algorithm has been introduced in OpenZFS. This enables configuration of the compression level. It can provide gzip-like higher compression ratios, but closer to the read/write performance of the default LZ4 algorithm. We’ll be doing more performance testing to confirm the benefits.
Enclosure Management for Minis: The TrueNAS Minis (fka FreeNAS Minis) have well-defined motherboards, wiring, and enclosures, which enables a graphical enclosure management function. Previously this was only available for the TrueNAS X and M-Series, but is now also available on the Minis. The Enclosure management function simplifies remote management by providing a graphical view of the drives, their status, and temperatures.

TrueCommand Cloud Connections: TrueCommand Cloud is a SaaS offering of TrueCommand that leverages an integrated WireGuard VPN to connect to each TrueNAS system through firewalls. TrueNAS 12.0 RC1 is the first official release to support the TrueCommand Cloud functionality and enables us to begin offering TrueCommand Cloud trials to interested users and organizations. The TrueCommand icon that you see in the “action bar” at the top right of the WebUI can be used to easily establish a connection to your TrueCommand Cloud instance. TrueCommand Cloud is based on the current version, TrueCommand 1.3.1.

TrueNAS 12.0 RELEASE in October

TrueNAS 12.0 Documentation is Maturing

The new TrueNAS 12.0 documentation is more modular and expandable. The Community is invited to edit and contribute. Please check out the documentation even if you don’t upgrade today.

TrueNAS CORE: Still the Best Free NAS

We hope these TrueNAS 12.0 performance improvements have a positive impact on your systems. If you have any questions or comments, we’d love to hear them on the community forums, on the TrueNAS subreddit, or in response to this blog. If you need additional information on how TrueNAS can streamline, accelerate, and unify data management for your business, please email us.
For those with FreeNAS 11.3 installed on your system, you can upgrade to TrueNAS 12.0 RC1 with a single click! Otherwise, download TrueNAS 12.0 RC1 and get started.

The post TrueNAS CORE is Ready for Deployment — Dive In! appeared first on TrueNAS - Welcome to the Open Storage Era.

Cross-Site Disaster Recovery with TrueNAS

iX Team — Tue, 08 Sep 2020 16:09:49 +0000

This is historic content that may contain outdated information. For the newest information on FreeNAS and TrueNAS, please visit TrueNAS.com or read our latest Blogs.

TrueNAS has long supported disaster recovery (DR) scenarios. This blog attempts to address the various types of supported DR scenarios and their related workflows.
Point-in-Time Recovery – ZFS Replication
Of the native ways to replicate data, ZFS replication is the most efficient and reliable method for asynchronously replicating data from one TrueNAS system to another. Replication is based on snapshots of datasets or zvols and synchronizes the snapshots of the first system to the second system. There are numerous advantages to using ZFS replication. One of those is that a snapshot is a point-in-time, read-only copy of the data. This ensures that the contents of the snapshot cannot be altered.

Replicate in a single direction for DR

Replicate bi-directionally for dual-site DR

ZFS replication is commonly used for disaster recovery. Should the first system or site go down, the remote system can be brought back by cloning the snapshot to a new dataset and restoring the share. This recovery does require some work on the side of the admin, but it’s incredibly quick and ensures that whatever was transferred is retained. Snapshots and replications can be scheduled to run every few minutes.

Another benefit of ZFS replication is the capability for the snapshots and referenced data to be stored on systems and pools of different specs or pool configuration. All-flash, high-performance pools can be backed up to lower performance pools with traditional drives and different RAID configurations. Smaller systems can also be backed up to larger central repositories. Companies such as FirstLink and others use this to help clone edge devices like the TrueNAS Mini systems to a central core TrueNAS in their data center. ZFS replication on TrueNAS ensures data protection regardless of system complexity, size, or location.
File-based Recovery – Rsync
Rsync is a file-level migration that’s the same as rsync in the Linux/FreeBSD command line. It’s handy for semi-live sync of data if you need just the same files between sites each shared over a local share.

Rsync is useful for file transfer, but it’s not recommended if files are being modified. For example, if an rsync task starts while 100 GB is being written and the data is changed before the file is written, it will cause issues with versioning and data integrity. Rsync should never be used to copy active VM data stores, block-level data (iSCSI or fibre channel shares), or other data that could constantly be in use. Rsync is slower than ZFS replication, particularly for large datasets, so it’s recommended for convenience over data integrity. It can be used between TrueNAS and many other systems.
More information about setting rsync tasks in TrueNAS is located here.
File Recovery To or From the Cloud – Cloud Sync
TrueNAS can copy, pull, and sync data to a variety of cloud-based data storage systems, including Amazon AWS, Microsoft Azure, Google GCP, Google Drive, Backblaze B2, Dropbox, Box, and more. By integrating rclone sync for file transfers, this feature can copy files on TrueNAS into a cloud repository of a user’s choosing.

For larger datasets, TrueNAS systems are more cost-effective long-term than cloud offerings, including Amazon AWS. For this reason, using TrueNAS as a backup target for protecting cloud-based data, e.g., from AWS, Dropbox, or Google Drive, is ideal because data stored in TrueNAS will get scrubbed, checked, and retained with an unlimited number of snapshots available.

Automatic Site-to-Site failover – DNS, Load-Balancing, Proprietary Tools
Automatic failover between sites is beyond the scope of TrueNAS systems alone. TrueNAS is a storage system, and while it handles data replication well in a variety of ways, automatic failover to a remote site requires knowledge of the services themselves. For environments with web or video streaming services, DNS round-robin with failover might be feasible. Several web servers, like NGINX, also feature load-balancing services which could help mitigate service overload or downtime. TrueNAS systems provide a stable backend in this topology, with the option of also running ZFS replication for additional safety. Contact iXsystems if you need assistance with designing a storage system for your business.

TrueNAS is a storage platform with powerful ways to ensure data integrity and consistency between local and remote sites. ZFS replication is the fastest and best way to ensure the data transferred is intact. Rsync is useful for file sync but cannot be used for live data or block-level data that could change during transfer. Cloud sync supports user workloads that archive to or from mainstream cloud providers. Beyond these tools, TrueNAS works with other systems, such as Asigra Backup and iconik smart media management, to provide an ultra-scalable backend with robust performance and a strong emphasis on data protection. The tools that TrueNAS provides combined with the flexibility to work with nearly any IT environment make it a robust system for cross-site and DR workloads.

The post Cross-Site Disaster Recovery with TrueNAS appeared first on TrueNAS - Welcome to the Open Storage Era.

TrueNAS SCALE Release Plan

iX Team — Fri, 04 Sep 2020 15:31:08 +0000

While TrueNAS 12.0 (CORE and Enterprise editions) continues its release march, we’re also busy getting the first version of TrueNAS SCALE into the hands of many tech-savvy users. TrueNAS SCALE 20.10-ALPHA is planned for October and will be codenamed “Angelfish”.
As our initial community post on SCALE indicated, TrueNAS SCALE is defined by its acronym:

TrueNAS starts from the TrueNAS 12.0 base which includes OpenZFS, all the storage services, the middleware to coordinate these, and the web UI to present a user-oriented view of the system. This base has been tested by hundreds of thousands of users over the last few years.
The good news is that nearly all of this base has been preserved with relatively small software changes. For Enterprise users, it has also been possible to port over the High Availability (HA) software, enclosure management, and other Enterprise features. This means that SCALE will be able to run on TrueNAS M-Series and X-Series systems in the future and take advantage of the redundancy.
Being similar to TrueNAS 12.0 is awesome because it means it will be a similar UX, which minimizes the training necessary to get up-to-speed on TrueNAS SCALE, but it’s what you can do with TrueNAS SCALE that’s most exciting. The new capabilities being added define the new opportunities for SCALE:

KVM Virtualization: Mature Hypervisor with good reliability, Guest OS support, and enterprise features.
Kubernetes: Applications can be single (docker) containers or pods of containers.
Scale-out ZFS: SCALE will enable datasets to be defined as ZFS datasets or cluster datasets which span multiple nodes and ZFS pools. Cluster datasets will have a variety of redundancy properties and still support ZFS snapshots.

Unlike other Hyperconverged Infrastructure solutions, TrueNAS SCALE will have deployment benefits as a single node, an HA system, or as a cluster of multiple nodes. Start with a single node system and in the future, you will be able to scale-out.
Given the amount of existing software and new software, we have a release plan that lets the community confidently test and deploy SCALE as it becomes available. The high level plan follows this process.

“ANGELFISH”

Release numbering will be based on Year and Month. The first numbered release will come out in October and will be called TrueNAS SCALE 20.10 (Angelfish). The codenames will be alphabetically sequential and will be associated with aquatic animals that have scales or swim in schools (clusters).
The focus is on characterizing “feature groups” as either PREVIEW, ALPHA, BETA, RC, or RELEASE quality. Users should read the release notes to confirm support for their particular use case. Angelfish is almost feature complete in the NIGHTLY releases and includes the following feature groups: It should be noted that KVM has little testing by this community but is widely used elsewhere. Kubernetes will also be based on stable, released code, but the WebUI and Middleware are expected to be PREVIEW quality.
Clustered datasets require some additional TrueCommand features (expected in November) to provide an easy-to-use WebUI. In the meantime, the CLI and APIs can be tested and this feature group is classified as PREVIEW status.
We appreciate the community feedback and bug reports and hope to get all those features to RELEASE quality faster.

Is TrueNAS SCALE for Users or Developers?

Right now, TrueNAS SCALE is for developers and bug hunters and can be downloaded here. For Linux developers, there are many opportunities to contribute to the Open Source TrueNAS SCALE project. We have made it a very well coordinated and managed environment to develop the best Open Hyperconverged Infrastructure. For more information, see this Community post.
The TrueNAS SCALE Angelfish releases in Q4 will be good for tech-savvy enthusiasts and testers. We’ll let you know when TrueNAS SCALE 20.10 is ready.
In 2021, TrueNAS SCALE is expected to get to full RELEASE quality for a clustered system.
If you have any additional questions or need advice on a new project, please email us at info@iXsystems.com. We are standing by to help.

The post TrueNAS SCALE Release Plan appeared first on TrueNAS - Welcome to the Open Storage Era.

Fastest ZFS Platform Unveiled & Brand New Mini-X Launched – Issue #84

iX Team — Tue, 25 Aug 2020 18:00:16 +0000

iXsystems Unveils Industry’s Fastest OpenZFS Storage System with Launch of TrueNAS M60

TrueNAS Open Storage added a new flagship to the enterprise product line with the M60, a unified storage system powered by the significantly faster TrueNAS 12.0 operating system (OS). Delivering on today’s demands for affordable capacity, security, and performance, the TrueNAS M60 represents a leap forward in OpenZFS storage performance to meet demanding virtualization, multimedia, and backup applications.

Learn more here

154 TB TRUENAS® X10-HA $14.9K

40 TB ALL-FLASH TRUENAS® M40-HA $29.9K

iXsystems Launches Professional-Grade Storage for the Edge with TrueNAS Mini X

iXsystems expands their TrueNAS Open Storage portfolio with the TrueNAS Mini X/X+ storage appliance. This new appliance utilizes TrueNAS CORE and the latest OpenZFS software which includes business-class security and management with compelling features and performance.

Learn more here
Order TrueNAS Mini X

TrueNAS 12.0 BETA2 Showcases Performance Improvements

iXsystems is pleased to announce the general availability of TrueNAS 12.0-BETA2! More than 175 bugs have been fixed since the release of BETA1, including multiple performance improvements to ZFS, SMB, iSCSI, and NFS, representing a significant step toward the full TrueNAS 12.0-Release.

Learn more here
Download TrueNAS CORE

Latest Releases

TrueNAS CORE 12.0-BETA2 Release Notes

FreeNAS 11.3-U4.1 Release Notes

TrueNAS 11.3-U4.1 Release Notes

TrueCommand 1.3 Release Notes

TrueNAS CORE	12.0-BETA2	Release Notes
FreeNAS	11.3-U4.1	Release Notes
TrueNAS	11.3-U4.1	Release Notes
TrueCommand	1.3	Release Notes

Download the full report here

iXsystems General Manager for APAC Region Discusses the Essentials of TrueNAS Unification and Open Source Storage
Chin-Fah Heoh, iXsystems General Manager for the Asia Pacific Japan region, speaks about the unification of FreeNAS and TrueNAS, and why an Open Source approach matters in the storage world.

Watch here now

iXsystems Launches M60 High-Availability Storage Appliance by ServeTheHome
Cliff Robinson of ServeTheHome discusses the new features of the TrueNAS M60, such as 8x 100GbE ports, 64 cores, 20 GB/s of performance and over 1 million IOPS.

Learn more here

More webinars

Upgrading FreeNAS to TrueNAS CORE BETA2 and Discussing New ZFS Features & Performance by Lawrence Systems
Thomas Lawrence of Lawrence Systems walks us through upgrading from original FreeNAS to the latest TrueNAS 12.0-BETA2, and discusses new ZFS features such as metadata on flash, fusion pools, and persistent L2ARC.

Watch here now

TrueNAS Data Migration Tutorial by Craft Computing
Jeff from Craft Computing shows us how to migrate data from his FreeNAS over to a TrueNAS CORE system via the Replication Tasks.

Watch here now

Download it here

Sign up here

Tech-Tip #81
Mounting a dataset does not automatically mount any child datasets inside it. Each dataset is a separate filesystem, so child datasets must each have separate mount points.

Links of the Month

iXsystems TrueNAS Mini X and X Plus Launched via ServeTheHome
How to Upgrade FreeNAS to TrueNAS via Techno Tim
How To Setup TrueNAS Core As A VM in XCP-NG via Lawrence Systems

Quote of the Month
“When I had an issue or a question on TrueNAS I was put on the phone with a person very experienced with TrueNAS to answer my oddball and left field questions about highly unlikely use cases. This was before I had actually bought anything from iXsystems and was still shopping around. It’s hard to find that kind of support up front.”

– – Daniel Weiss, Standard Calibrations Inc. LAN Support

The post Fastest ZFS Platform Unveiled & Brand New Mini-X Launched – Issue #84 appeared first on TrueNAS - Welcome to the Open Storage Era.

iXsystems Launches Professional-Grade Storage for the Edge with TrueNAS Mini X

iX Team — Thu, 20 Aug 2020 12:07:45 +0000

Compact office storage system provides up to 85TB of whisper-quiet HDD and flash via 10 Gigabit Networking

SAN JOSE, CA – August 20, 2020 — The TrueNAS Open Storage portfolio expanded today with the TrueNAS Mini X storage appliance – optimized for storage at the edge. Designed for remote, branch, and other office environments, the new appliance utilizes TrueNAS CORE, the latest generation Open Storage software featuring OpenZFS, business-class security and management with compelling features and performance.
“The volume of data stored globally continues to rise, driven by data generation at endpoints and processing at the edge, is putting pressure on IT professionals who manage this data,” said Tom Coughlin, President, Coughlin Associates. “Even with the tightened economic situation, businesses need to enable cost-effective storage solutions that can help them meet this challenge. The TrueNAS Mini X is a good option for storage in these edge environments.”

All TrueNAS Minis are built with professional-grade capabilities including error correcting (ECC) memory, IPMI remote management, and the OpenZFS file system. These features are not found in consumer-grade systems whose designs typically favor minimum cost over data integrity. By contrast, the entire Mini line’s primary focus is keeping data intact and protected from corruption and bitrot.
The two new storage systems (Mini X+ and Mini X) provide up to 85TB of storage in a compact (13.5L) chassis with seven hot swap drive bays (5 x 3.5” and 2 x 2.5”), which allow for a variety of RAID layout choices and caching configurations. The Mini X and X+ are designed to address a broad range of office/edge requirements for block, file, video, and unstructured data storage. Hard Disk Drives (HDDs) and Solid State Drives (SSDs) can be mixed into fusion pools, which provide the performance of flash and the economics of disk drives.

The TrueNAS Mini X+ includes 2 x RJ45 10GbE ports, 8 cores, between 32-64GB of DDR4 ECC memory, USB 3.1 connectivity, and 1 x RJ45 IPMI remote management interface. With high bandwidth networking and optional flash capacity, this system is capable of supporting video editing, data backup, and file sharing applications with up to 2GB/s of bandwidth at less than 100W per unit, fully-loaded with drives.
The TrueNAS Mini X includes 4 x RJ45 GbE ports, 4 cores, between 16-32GB of DDR4 ECC memory, USB 3.1 connectivity, and 1 x RJ45 IPMI remote management interface. The system uses less than 80W of power.

For offices or remote storage at the edge, the TrueNAS Mini family supports a wide range of unique operating environments with a compact, quiet, and flexible system. The ready-to-deploy TrueNAS Mini includes enclosure management that provides visual management of all drives from the UI, and applications such as Plex, NextCloud, Asigra, Iconik, and many others are deployable as either plugins or VMs.
Additionally, organizations managing multiple systems spread across multiple sites can utilize TrueCommand single-pane-of-glass management to simplify 24×7 operations. TrueCommand management offers performance monitoring, custom reports, predictive analytics for capacity/health, and system audits for businesses of any size.

“The TrueNAS Mini X provides a fast, high capacity, and easily manageable option for today’s more distributed workgroups,” said Tim Neary, Founder, Strategic Storage Solutions, an iXsystems partner focusing on media and entertainment. “Another important feature for us was the ability to protect against data loss caused by human error or hardware failures. With built-in ZFS RAID and snapshots, the Mini X maintains access to data even in the event of drive failure, disk corruption, file deletion, and even malware attacks, offering high levels of resiliency for a more productive work environment.”

“Powered by TrueNAS, the world’s most popular Open Storage software, the Mini X is the next generation of TrueNAS systems for storage at the edge,” said Morgan Littlewood, SVP, Products for iXsystems. “Supporting a growing demand for storage and faster access to data with management ease and affordability, the Mini X is ideally suited to office storage needs today.”

The TrueNAS Mini family starts at $699 and can be purchased in fixed configurations at Amazon, custom configured at truenas.com, or via any TrueNAS partner. iXsystems chose the highly reliable Western Digital Red Plus drives, ranging from 1TB to 14TB, to be used in the TrueNAS Minis. A 70TB TrueNAS Mini X+ retails for under $3500 and SSDs can be added for extra performance. All-flash configurations up to 50TB are also available at affordable prices.
_

“TrueNAS Minis are highly innovative, professional-grade NAS systems and we are delighted that iXsystems chose our WD Red Plus drives,” said Ziv Paz, Senior Director, Compute Segment Marketing, Western Digital.

To learn more about how TrueNAS can help your organization, contact us at https://www.ixsystems.com/contact-us/, or give us a call at 1-855-GREP-4-IX.

Tweet This: @iXsystems Launches Professional-Grade Storage for the Edge with TrueNAS Mini X – https://www.ixsystems.com/press-releases/

Additional Resources:

To learn more about TrueNAS Open Storage, visit: https://www.truenas.com/
Follow TrueNAS News on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/iXsystems

About iXsystems and TrueNAS
Through decades of expertise in system design and development of Open Source software (FreeNAS, FreeBSD, OpenZFS, and TrueNAS), iXsystems has become an innovation leader in high availability storage and servers powered by Open Source solutions. With over one million deployments and backed by the legendary ZFS file system, TrueNAS systems offer the stability and reliability required for Backup, Multimedia, Cloud Hosting, Virtualization, Hyper-converged Infrastructure, and much more. Since the founding of iXsystems in 2002, thousands of companies, universities, and government organizations have come to rely on the company’s enterprise servers, TrueNAS Open Storage, and consultative approach to building IT infrastructure and Private Clouds with Open Source economics.

The post iXsystems Launches Professional-Grade Storage for the Edge with TrueNAS Mini X appeared first on TrueNAS - Welcome to the Open Storage Era.

iXsystems Unveils Industry’s Fastest OpenZFS Storage System with Launch of TrueNAS M60

iX Team — Tue, 18 Aug 2020 13:38:22 +0000

New Open Storage System Delivers over 20GB/s Performance with Advanced Security

SAN JOSE, CA – August 18, 2020 — TrueNAS Open Storage today added a new flagship to the enterprise product line with the M60, a unified storage system powered by the significantly faster TrueNAS 12.0 operating system (OS). Delivering on today’s demands for affordable capacity, security, and performance, the TrueNAS M60 represents a leap forward in OpenZFS storage performance to meet demanding virtualization, multimedia, and backup applications.
“Businesses are under pressure to evolve with changing market conditions. Computing infrastructure and the data storage platforms that underpin IT environments must be flexible enough to support these new challenges,” said Scott Sinclair, Senior Analyst, Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG). “The M60 is built for application environments that require multi-functional file, block, and/or object storage provided in a high availability configuration. The latest TrueNAS offering promises both productivity and open source economic advantages for both midsize and enterprise organizations.”
TrueNAS 12.0, the newest version of the industry’s most widely used Open Source storage OS, is significant because it is the first TrueNAS release that officially merges the FreeNAS and TrueNAS brands while also unifying the software and documentation. FreeNAS is now known as TrueNAS CORE; still Open Source and freely available as an edition of the TrueNAS Open Storage software, which also encompasses TrueNAS Enterprise and TrueNAS SCALE editions, each designed for different use cases. TrueNAS 12.0 can be used with existing customer hardware or with a broad range of storage solutions available through TrueNAS resellers.

New features available in TrueNAS 12.0 include advanced security and performance enhancements for Enterprise users:
Multi-layer Enterprise Security

Dataset encryption for ultra-secure remote replication
Key Management Interoperability Protocol (KMIP) for drives and datasets
Two-factor administrator authentication
API Keys for TrueCommand, vSphere, and other REST API systems
OpenVPN Client and Server integration

Performance Improvements of up to 30%

Fusion pools with mixed SSDs and HDDs (metadata on flash)
NVMe SSDs with High Availability and Persistent Read Cache
ZFS improvements: Async ops and Vectorization
iSCSI, SMB, and NFS improvements (>20%)

Leading the TrueNAS product line and leveraging TrueNAS 12.0 is the TrueNAS M60 Unified Storage System. Now available, the M60 joins the M-Series flagship line of unified storage systems and is built for enterprise environments where maximum performance is a mandate. The M60 can be configured with single or dual-controller and hybrid, fusion, or all-flash storage.
The TrueNAS M60 achieves over 20GB/s and 1 Million IOPS through improved software and the latest hardware technology including:

20 Petabyte hybrid or 4 PB affordable all-flash capacity
1.5TB RAM, 64 CPU Cores, 128GB of NVDIMM fast write cache
8 x 100Gbe and 12.8 TB NVMe flash tier

”Our use case is large amounts of unstructured research data. The performance, scalability, and built-in data integrity of the TrueNAS M-Series provides our research group the ability to quickly store and process this data with the assurance that the data at rest is exactly as they left it and always available,” said Scott Dungan, Senior Systems Administrator, CalTech.
“There has been increasing demand from midsize and enterprise organizations for higher performance storage solutions that also have the needed flexibility, functionality, and reliability to keep pace with data growth while still keeping budgets under control,” said Brett Davis, Executive Vice President for iXsystems. “With TrueNAS 12.0 and the M60, we are leading the Open Storage revolution and improving Open Source economics for channel partners and customer organizations globally.”
To learn more about how TrueNAS can help your organization, contact us via https://www.truenas.com/contact-us/, or give us a call at 1-855-GREP-4-IX.
Tweet This: @iXsystems Unveils Industry’s Fastest OpenZFS Storage System with Launch of TrueNAS M60 – https://www.ixsystems.com/press-releases/
Additional Resources:

To learn more about TrueNAS Open Storage, visit: https://www.truenas.com
Follow TrueNAS News on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/iXsystems

About iXsystems and TrueNAS
Through decades of expertise in system design and development of Open Source software (FreeNAS, FreeBSD, OpenZFS, and TrueNAS), iXsystems has become an innovation leader in high availability storage and servers powered by Open Source solutions. With over one million deployments and backed by the legendary ZFS file system, TrueNAS offers the stability and reliability required for Backup, Multimedia, Cloud Hosting, Virtualization, Hyper-converged Infrastructure, and much more. Since the founding of iXsystems in 2002, thousands of companies, universities, and government organizations have come to rely on the company’s enterprise servers, TrueNAS Open Storage, and consultative approach to building IT infrastructure and Private Clouds with Open Source economics.

The post iXsystems Unveils Industry’s Fastest OpenZFS Storage System with Launch of TrueNAS M60 appeared first on TrueNAS - Welcome to the Open Storage Era.

TrueNAS 12.0 BETA2 Showcases Performance Improvements

iX Team — Wed, 12 Aug 2020 16:49:21 +0000

The merger of FreeNAS and TrueNAS into a unified software image and the new naming convention is well underway, including the new truenas.com website. FreeNAS is becoming TrueNAS CORE. TrueNAS is becoming TrueNAS Enterprise. TrueNAS 12.0 will be the first release to unveil these changes officially, and the schedule was made available on the forums. The TrueNAS 12.0 BETA1 version released in June was very successful with more than 2,000 users and only minor issues. Ars Technica provided a detailed technical walkthrough.
TrueNAS 12.0 BETA2 is now available for testing with almost no functional changes, but it is up to 30% faster for many use cases! Minor BETA1 issues have been fixed and several performance improvements to ZFS, SMB, iSCSI, and NFS have been integrated. Given the number and importance of those performance improvements, this release was called BETA2. Snapshot your pool, backup your data, and try it out! You can download it here.
For the first time, TrueNAS demonstrated over 1 Million IOPS and over 15GB/s on a single node! We’ll share more about that system and its configuration soon. This release has been stress tested in both TrueNAS CORE and Enterprise forms on all the X-Series (X10 and X20) and M-Series (M40 and M50) platforms. Below are all the performance improvements in TrueNAS 12.0 so you can see which ones are most relevant to your use case.

TrueNAS 12.0 and OpenZFS 2.0 improvements include:

NUMA Improvements: With multiple CPUs in a system, there is a need to manage Non Uniform Memory Access (NUMA). TrueNAS 12.0 does a better job of assigning cores and memory, providing performance improvements for the M50 and other dual socket architectures.
ZFS Metadata on Flash: Special SSD vdevs can be used for Metadata acceleration. This can include both file systems metadata and dedupe tables. This is one of the core features of OpenZFS 2.0.
ZFS Fusion Pools: The special SSD vdevs can also be used for data based on I/O write size. This is configurable on a per dataset basis. Users can accelerate database datasets by configuring a higher I/O size.
ZFS Persistent L2ARC: L2ARC (flash-based read cache) is typically cleared on a controller reboot or failover. For smaller systems with less than a TB of L2ARC, that can be ok. For larger systems with 10TB of L2ARC, it may take hours or even days to rehydrate the L2ARC. The persistent L2ARC option avoids clearing the cache allowing performance sensitive systems to get back to full speed without delay.
ZFS async DMU and CoW: Within ZFS is a Data Management Unit (DMU) and an algorithm for Copy-on-Write (CoW). These algorithms were implemented in a synchronous manner which required a transaction to wait until another transaction was completed. iXsystems contributed to the conversion of these algorithms to an asynchronous approach which reduces the amount of wait time and increases parallelism in OpenZFS 2.0. An added benefit is that fewer disk I/Os are needed for sequential writes. This increases drive efficiency and reduces latency in heavy workloads.
ZFS Record Size Increases: One benefit of async CoW is that larger ZFS record sizes will perform better with fewer Read-Modify-Write activities. Instead of operating with 128KB record size, a 256KB or 512KB record size may be OK for some workloads. This will increase the bandwidth of many RAIDZ1/2/3 VDEVs.
ZFS Checksum Vectorization: ZFS protects data by writing a Checksum into metadata for each block of data written to disk. These checksums are then used for scrubbing the data and verifying every READ. The calculation of these checksums can be compute intensive. Vectorization uses the accelerated instructions found in many Intel processors to reduce compute overhead and free up valuable compute cycles for other tasks.
ZFS Asynchronous TRIM: OpenZFS 2.0 includes asynchronous automatic and manual trim capabilities. Manual Trims can be scheduled overnight or each weekend to provide more performance during business hours.
Faster ZFS Boot: OpenZFS 2.0 includes a more parallel process for importing a ZFS pool with many drives. This reduces boot and failover times by over 50% for larger systems.
ZFS Dedupe: ZFS deduplication performs well if all the dedupe metadata is in DRAM, but is painfully slow if the dedupe metadata ends up on HDDs. With the addition of Fusion Pools, the dedupe metadata can be assigned to the flash VDEVs and performance is improved. There is some ongoing testing to see how much faster it will be, but we expect significant progress.
In addition to the ZFS improvements, there have been some dramatic improvements in the performance of some key services:
iSCSI Reads: iXsystems has enhanced the iSCSI target software so that a memory copy between the Ethernet NIC and ZFS is removed. This improves the high end performance limits and allows greater than 1 Million IOPS and over 15GB/s to be achieved with the right hardware.
SMB Single Client Speed: The speed of a single SMB client is important for many applications including multimedia editing where the upload and download speeds for 4K and 8K video files is important. These speeds have been increased by >20% to over 2 Gigabytes per second.
SMB Multi-Client Capacity: The number of SMB clients that can be supported is important to large organizations. The number of SMB clients that can be supported on a high-end system has been increased by more than 50%.
NFS Single Client: The NFS target has been improved to reduce latency and increase the bandwidth of a single NFS client from less than 2GB/s to over 3GB/s.
On the TrueNAS Enterprise side with the M-Series platforms, we have been testing for a high-performance system and have added support for:
Multiple NVDIMMs: Each NVDIMM can be assigned as a Write SLOG for different pools. A single system can have an All-flash pool and a Fusion or Hybrid Pool with HDDs.
20GB/s PCIe Interconnect: For High Availability (HA) systems with dual controllers, we use a high-speed PCIe interconnect to provide low latency synchronization of WRITES. This high bandwidth interconnect reduces latency and increases WRITE bandwidth by 100%.
All of these performance improvements, plus advances in processor performance, contribute to the ability to build and support larger systems well beyond 10PB in size.

Progress toward TrueNAS 12.0 RELEASE!

TrueNAS 12.0 is going through the same NIGHTLY, BETA1, BETA2, RC1, RELEASE, and UPDATE stages that FreeNAS has gone through. There is a TrueNAS 12.0 sub-forum on the Community forums for this unification process and Community feedback.
We appreciated the Community testing of the TrueNAS 12.0 BETA1 release. TrueNAS 12.0 BETA2 has also been tested on Enterprise HA systems within our labs. Please update to BETA2 and provide your feedback. Let us know whether you see the expected performance improvements. Bugs that are caught and reported early are going to have less impact on the final schedule.
TrueNAS 12.0 Documentation is Maturing
The new TrueNAS 12.0 documentation is more modular and expandable. The Community is invited to edit and contribute. Please check out the documentation even if you don’t upgrade today.
TrueNAS CORE: Still the Best Free NAS
We hope these TrueNAS 12.0 performance improvements have a positive impact on your systems. If you have any questions or comments, we’d love to hear them on the community forums, on the TrueNAS subreddit, or in response to this blog. If you need additional information on how TrueNAS can streamline, accelerate, and unify data management for your business, email us.
For those with FreeNAS 11.3 installed on your system, you can upgrade to TrueNAS 12.0 BETA with a single click! Otherwise, download TrueNAS 12.0 BETA2 and get started.

The post TrueNAS 12.0 BETA2 Showcases Performance Improvements appeared first on TrueNAS - Welcome to the Open Storage Era.

Ars Technica: “TrueNAS CORE makes ZFS Easy” – Issue #83

iX Team — Tue, 04 Aug 2020 18:00:23 +0000

NOTE: This is historical content that may contain outdated information.

TrueNAS CORE makes ZFS Easy

Jim Salter of Ars Technica reviews TrueNAS CORE and documents the installation process, configuring Access Control List, as well as CORE’s ZFS features.

Read more here
Download TrueNAS CORE 12 BETA (Not Production Ready)

154 TB TRUENAS® X10-HA $14.9K

40 TB ALL-FLASH TRUENAS® M40-HA $29.9K

FreeNAS 11.3-U4.1 is now available
The FreeNAS Team has made available the fourth update to FreeNAS 11.3, a maintenance release featuring over 130 bug fixes and upgrades including Samba, Google Team Drive with Cloud Sync, unlocking Self-Encrypting Drives, Recursive Replication, and more. This release includes a hotfix addressing a middleware replication and permissions issue.

Release Notes

Latest Releases

TrueNAS CORE 12.0-BETA1 Release Notes

TrueNAS 11.3-U4.1 Release Notes

TrueCommand 1.3 Release Notes

TrueNAS CORE	12.0-BETA1	Release Notes
TrueNAS	11.3-U4.1	Release Notes
TrueCommand	1.3	Release Notes

TrueNAS CORE 12.0 Install Tutorial by Craft Computing

Craft Computing walks us through the installation process of TrueNAS CORE, setting up a pool, shares, users, and permissions.

Watch here now

Download the full report here

iXsystems FreeNAS Mini XL+ Review: 8-bay ZFS Power for Pros
Jon Jacobi of ITEnterpriser reviews the FreeNAS Mini XL+ model, an 8-bay ZFS powered system designed for serious storage for the small and home office.

Learn more here

What is TrueNAS SCALE and How Does it Compare to TrueNAS CORE? by Lawrence Systems
Thomas Lawrence of Lawrence Systems discusses the upcoming TrueNAS SCALE, its cluster and container features, and what differentiates it from the new TrueNAS CORE.

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My biggest server build yet! 88TB TrueNAS CORE Build by Craft Computing
Craft Computing is back again with another TrueNAS video, this time walking us through an 88TB server build with Xeon E5 CPUs, NVMe, and 128 GB ECC memory.

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TrueNAS CORE 12 Plex Setup & ACL Permissions by Lawrence Systems
Thomas walks us through setting up Plex Media Server from the TrueNAS CORE plugins, explaining how jails work, and configuring the Access Control List permissions options.

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Download it here

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Tech-Tip #80
Reporting data is frequently written and should not be stored on the boot pool or operating system device.

Links of the Month

TrueNAS CORE will soon replace FreeNAS—and we test the beta via Ars Technica
Lawrence Systems & Craft Computing Talking Heads Episode 141
An Introduction to ZFS A Place to Start via ServeTheHome

Quote of the Month
“Our previous solution made expansion very difficult, and would have required multiple servers, splitting up storage between them. With the TrueNAS, we can very easily extend our volume as much as needed by adding drives and expansion shelves.”

– Ben Diger, Broadcast Engineer at Children’s Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota

The post Ars Technica: “TrueNAS CORE makes ZFS Easy” – Issue #83 appeared first on TrueNAS - Welcome to the Open Storage Era.

TrueNAS CORE makes ZFS Easy

iX Team — Mon, 20 Jul 2020 21:32:41 +0000

The merger of FreeNAS and TrueNAS into a unified software image and new naming convention is well under way. FreeNAS is becoming TrueNAS CORE. TrueNAS is becoming TrueNAS Enterprise. The schedule for TrueNAS 12.0 was made available on the forums and we released the BETA1 version on June 30. There are already over 1,500 TrueNAS CORE users and testers.
We were very fortunate to have Jim Salter of Ars Technica review the TrueNAS 12.0 BETA1 release as the “easy mode for ZFS”. Jim is a prolific reviewer of IT technology, a podcast host (2.5 Admins), and a serious ZFS developer in his own right. We expected a tough and thorough review of TrueNAS CORE and that’s what we got. It’s also a very educational review, so we heartily recommend it to both existing FreeNAS and new TrueNAS users who are looking to use TrueNAS CORE.
Some of the highlights of the review identified areas where TrueNAS has improved significantly over the years:

- The first-boot phase of a TrueNAS CORE installation is the simplest OS installation we’ve ever seen.

- Assuming you have all those things, the [Active Directory] domain join process in TrueNAS Core works lightning fast; it’s enormously faster than joining an actual Windows PC to the domain.

- Creating a new share mapped to our dataset exposes some of TrueNAS’s best “easy mode” functionality—Windows ACLs (Access Control Lists) work right out of the box, meaning that adjusting file and folder permissions from File Explorer on Windows Clients will just work. Trying to get this right on a Linux system is just plain painful, so this is an important feature and a positive differentiator for TrueNAS and other systems which offer it.

- FreeNAS, and now TrueNAS CORE, have come a long way in the past several years. TrueNAS CORE is an easy way for a home admin or hobbyist who’s a little nervous about the command line to maintain a truly robust, feature-rich ZFS storage server. It’s also good for potential TrueNAS Enterprise customers to get their feet wet with a free edition that looks just like what they’ll be working with if they pull the trigger on a commercial license.

TrueNAS CORE is still BETA

While the general quality of TrueNAS 12.0 BETA relative to 11.3 is still good, it is still BETA. Jim identified two bugs (NAS-106638, NAS-106665 – both have been resolved in the NIGHTLY images) and suggested several places where we could improve the web UI. We’ll be incorporating that feedback. He also highlighted that we added the new ZFS pool feature flag called log_spacemap.
There were some ACL challenges identified: “it’s not entirely clear which parts of the dialog apply to the global Unix permissions and which side apply to the inside of the actual ACLs—the two are entirely separate in reality but are jumbled together in a single dialog here.” On review, this happened because the dataset was set up as “generic” type which is Unix-style and not “SMB”. To avoid the issue, make sure datasets are created as “SMB”.
Pointing out the log_spacemap addition is very useful to the community. TrueNAS uses this feature to ensure performance is relatively stable as a ZFS pool fills up. The log_spacemap makes it easier for ZFS to find free disk space for new writes in a full and fragmented pool. As with any new ZFS feature, enabling this feature flag does not cause any replication issues, but may restrict the ability to import the pool on an older ZFS environment. The feature is optionally enabled on upgrade to 12.0 and should only be enabled once you’ve determined you will not be rolling back to a previous version of ZFS.
Some slight performance issues were identified which could be improved. Again, being BETA, we plan to address performance more systematically in the next version of TrueNAS 12.0 (BETA2) with some significant SMB and ZFS improvements.

Progress toward TrueNAS 12.0 RELEASE!

TrueNAS 12.0 is still on schedule. The TrueNAS 12.0 BETA1 stage has had relatively few and minor issues and almost 10X more testing than 11.3 BETA. However, there are some significant ZFS and SMB performance changes being made that deserve another test cycle and so the next version will be called TrueNAS 12.0 BETA2 and will be available in mid-August.
The TrueNAS 12.0 sub-forum on the Community forums is the best place for Community information and feedback.
The new TrueNAS 12.0 documentation is more modular and expandable. The Community is invited to edit and contribute. Please check out the documentation even if you don’t upgrade today.
TrueNAS CORE, formerly “FreeNAS”, will still be the Best Free NAS. If you need additional information on how TrueNAS can streamline, accelerate, and unify data management for your business, email us.
For those with FreeNAS 11.3 installed on your system, you can upgrade to TrueNAS 12.0 BETA with a single click! Otherwise, download TrueNAS 12.0 BETA and get started. Onward to BETA2!

The post TrueNAS CORE makes ZFS Easy appeared first on TrueNAS - Welcome to the Open Storage Era.

TrueNAS 12.0 BETA is Ready for Testing! | TrueCommand 1.3 Adds TrueNAS & Cloud Operation Support – Issue #82

iX Team — Tue, 14 Jul 2020 18:00:14 +0000

NOTE: This is historical content that may contain outdated information.

Be One of the First to Test Drive TrueNAS 12.0 BETA

We are excited to announce that TrueNAS 12.0 BETA has hit both the target date and our quality goals. The BETA release has completed two full cycles of QA (the same as FreeNAS 11.3 RC1) and testing from almost 1,000 users. As the official release is near, we invite you to test it out and browse around the new documentation hub.

Learn more here
Download TrueNAS CORE 12 BETA (Not Production Ready)

Recession-proof System Specials on High Availability TrueNAS Systems (While Supplies Last)

We’ve put together two specials to help you keep your TCO low and your budget in check during these challenging times. Choose between an 11 TB All-Flash TrueNAS X10-HA that offers a fully redundant infrastructure that can fit any budget and our TrueNAS M40-HA, the powerhouse TrueNAS M-Series system that offers an incredible amount of storage to expand capacity combined with an incredibly economical TCO that beats virtually any cloud infrastructure. These systems are pre-built and ready to ship to help you keep things moving at your company. Order yours today to get highly redundant enterprise-class storage and performance at the lowest TCO in the industry.

11 TB TRUENAS® X10-HA $9.9K

1 PB TRUENAS® M40-HA $69.9K

TrueCommand 1.3 Provides Seamless Management of TrueNAS CORE, Enterprise, and SCALE
TrueCommand 1.3 extends TrueCommand to TrueNAS CORE, Enterprise, and SCALE and enables hybrid cloud operations. Many other improvements such as a smarter dashboard, scrub and replication monitoring, and datasets monitoring, significantly simplify storage operations.

Learn more here

Latest Releases

TrueNAS CORE 12.0-BETA1 Release Notes

TrueNAS 11.3-U3.2 Release Notes

TrueCommand 1.3 Release Notes

TrueNAS CORE	12.0-BETA1	Release Notes
TrueNAS	11.3-U3.2	Release Notes
TrueCommand	1.3	Release Notes

TrueNAS 12.0 BETA & The New Release Schedule by Lawrence Systems

Thomas Lawrence of Lawrence Systems tries out the first BETA of TrueNAS CORE 12.0 and discusses the upcoming release schedule.

Watch here now

Download the full report here

More webinars

Building a Lab Part 1 Planning with TrueNAS and VMWare ESXi
In Part 1 of their Building a Lab series, Nick Fusco of ServeTheHome shares why they chose to build a lab with TrueNAS, VMware, and Pfsense, highlighting ZFS and native support for iSCSI.

Read more here

Download it here

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Tech-Tip #79
Before creating a pool, determine the level of required redundancy, how many disks will be added, and if any data exists on those disks. Creating a pool overwrites disk data, so save any required data to different media before adding disks to a pool.

Links of the Month

TrueNAS Core 12 Nightly: New Features and Differences From FreeNAS & TrueNAS via Lawrence Systems
How to install Nextcloud on FreeNAS in an iocage jail with hardened security via Samuel Dowling
TrueNAS CORE Key Features Overview via StorageReview
TrueNAS CORE 12 on HPE MicroServer Gen10 Plus via StorageReview
The RMC Retro Sleeper Server – Tour and FreeNAS Setup via RetroManCave

Quote of the Month
“We use Veeam for straight backups and recovery. The two systems work great together. After implementing Veeam and my TrueNAS, I was getting backups within 30 minutes. The setup was super easy and the TrueNAS is much more stable than my old backup solution.”

– Jeff Carroll, IT Manager, Sudenga Industries

The post TrueNAS 12.0 BETA is Ready for Testing! | TrueCommand 1.3 Adds TrueNAS & Cloud Operation Support – Issue #82 appeared first on TrueNAS - Welcome to the Open Storage Era.

Be One of the First to Test Drive TrueNAS 12.0 BETA

iX Team — Wed, 01 Jul 2020 01:46:54 +0000

We are excited to announce that TrueNAS 12.0 BETA has hit both the target date and our quality goals. The BETA release has completed two full cycles of QA (the same as FreeNAS 11.3 RC1) and testing from almost 1,000 users. There are no high priority issues and we can now recommend that the Community can upgrade their FreeNAS 11.3 systems and start their TrueNAS 12.0 testing. Snapshot your pool, backup your data, and try it out. You can also download the TrueNAS 12.0 BETA if you’d prefer.

Along the way, we have refined the logos for TrueNAS. These logos are now in use for TrueNAS 12.0. There is also the option to use the classic FreeNAS icon in the web user interface.

TrueNAS 12.0 BETA is the 1st major deliverable of the FreeNAS/TrueNAS Unification process. This process has already brought several of the major expected benefits to life:

Rapid Development: Unified images have accelerated software development.
Improved Quality: Reduced development redundancy and unified QA has increased software quality.
Earlier Hardware Enablement: TrueNAS 12.0 brings improved support for AMD EPYC / Ryzen platforms and enhanced NUMA support for more efficient CPU core handling. Tell us your stories!
Simplified Documentation: The 1st release of the unified TrueNAS 12.0 documentation is now available and includes the capability for user contributions.
Reduced Redundancy: We are now starting to produce unified web content and videos which refer to one software family without the need for duplication.
Flexibility: Unified images enable simpler transitions or upgrades between editions.
Resource efficiency: Software developers are freed to work on new features and related projects like TrueNAS SCALE.
OpenZFS 2.0: The major investment in the development and integration of “OpenZFS 2.0” is paying off with advances like dataset encryption, major performance improvements, and compatibility with Linux ZFS pools which was needed for TrueNAS SCALE.

TrueNAS 12.0 Features

The master feature list for TrueNAS 12.0 is below. The features in black existed in FreeNAS 11.3 and are shared by both TrueNAS CORE and TrueNAS Enterprise. The features in blue have been added to TrueNAS 12.0. The column to the right displays features that are available in TrueNAS Enterprise only. TrueNAS 12.0 CORE has a superset of FreeNAS 11.3 features.

The feature additions for TrueNAS 12.0 have been summarized as:

Metadata on Flash: Special SSD vdevs can be used for Metadata acceleration. This can include both file systems metadata and dedupe tables. This is one of the core features of OpenZFS 2.0.
Fusion Pools: The special SSD vdevs can also be used for data based on I/O write size. This is configurable on a per dataset basis. Users can accelerate database datasets or special VMs.
SSD Wear Monitoring: Any SSD (Boot, L2ARC, slog or vdev) can be monitored for wear and alerts created.
Dataset Encryption: Specific datasets can be selected or deselected for encryption with a user-provided key. When replicating the dataset to another TrueNAS, the key does not have to be provided and so the data can be transmitted and stored in the original encrypted state.
Asynchronous ZFS Trim: Trim commands free up space, particularly within SSDs. By making these Trim commands asynchronous, they scale and perform better. This is particularly useful for deduplication of flash storage and can significantly reduce costs.
Faster ZFS Boot: OpenZFS 2.0 includes a more parallel process for importing a ZFS pool with many drives. This reduces boot and failover times.
ZFS Linux Compatibility: Linux and FreeBSD are peer operating systems for OpenZFS 2.0. Compressed, deduplicated, and encrypted data can be efficiently replicated from a Linux host to a TrueNAS system for backup and archive. It is also possible to import a pool (drive set) from Linux to TrueNAS. This is being used to start the TrueNAS SCALE project which supports scale-out storage and hyperconvergence.
Accelerated ZFS: Several performance improvements have been made to reduce both drive IOPS and the CPU cycles required.
User Quota Support: Allows setting per-user storage quotas which are enforced by ZFS for both NFS and SMB shares. Users can be local or AD/LDAP.
OpenVPN Client and Server: VPNs provide security for remotely accessing storage services, such as SMB or NFS, across the Internet. This feature enables the OpenVPN Client or Server to be included in the NAS for simpler administration and lower costs. The other end of the VPN connection can be any OpenVPN client, such as another NAS, Firewall Device, or Personal Desktop/Laptop.
Two Factor Authentication: This ensures that a compromised root password cannot be used by itself to gain access to the administrator interface.
API Keys: Access to the REST / WebSockets API can now be done via API keys which can be created and revoked directly via the WebUI for additional security.
KMIP Support: Key Management Interoperability Protocol (KMIP) is an Enterprise feature for securing drives or datasets through a centralized key management system.
TrueCommand Dataset Management: TrueCommand and TrueNAS are joined at the hip and will provide dataset monitoring in TrueCommand 1.3 (to be released in July).

Progress toward TrueNAS 12.0 RELEASE!

TrueNAS 12.0 is scheduled to go through the same NIGHTLY, BETA, RC1, RELEASE, and UPDATE states that FreeNAS has gone through. There will be no changes to the software update process or the information available. There is a TrueNAS 12.0 sub-forum on the Community forums for this unification process and Community feedback. Over 700 users have been testing the NIGHTLY release with some great feedback.
We appreciate the Community testing of the TrueNAS 12.0 BETA release. Bugs that are caught and reported early are going to have less impact on the final schedule. TrueNAS 12.0 BETA will also be tested on Enterprise HA systems within our labs

.
New and Improved Documentation
The new TrueNAS 12.0 documentation is more modular and expandable. The Community is invited to edit and contribute. Please check out the documentation even if you don’t upgrade today. Below is a snapshot of the documentation site and its new user-friendly organization.

TrueNAS CORE: Still the Best Free NAS

But, don’t take it from us. StorageReview explained how many of the TrueNAS 12.0 features are integrated into the user interface. Ars Technica also reviewed TrueNAS 12.0 and the OpenZFS 2.0 improvements.
TrueNAS CORE 12.0 has the new logos included but will have the option to use a throwback FreeNAS theme. Below is the new TrueNAS theme.

TrueNAS CORE pictured with the new TrueNAS logo

We hope you are sharing our excitement for TrueNAS 12.0. If you have any questions or comments, we’d love to hear them on the forums, or in response to this blog. If you need additional information on how TrueNAS can streamline, accelerate, and unify data management for your business, email us.
For those with FreeNAS 11.3 installed on your system, you can upgrade to TrueNAS 12.0 BETA with a single click! Otherwise, download TrueNAS 12.0 BETA and get started.

The post Be One of the First to Test Drive TrueNAS 12.0 BETA appeared first on TrueNAS - Welcome to the Open Storage Era.

WD Red Plus drives are “Coke Classic”

iX Team — Mon, 29 Jun 2020 17:02:36 +0000

Previously, the community and iXsystems found incompatibilities between ZFS and the new WD Red SMR (Shingled Magnetic Recording) based drives (2 to 6TB), as we documented in a previous announcement. In response, Western Digital has just made a major product announcement via a June 23rd blog about its plans to introduce the WD Red Plus product line and reposition its previous WD Red product line.

What’s Old is New Again

Remember Coke Classic?
The tried-and-true CMR (Conventional Magnetic Recording) technology, that provides the solid performance and reliability on which the WD Red line was built, is back and here to stay in all capacities from 1 to 14TB! It just has a new name now to make it easy to identify as “not SMR”: WD Red Plus. No more checking model numbers and product codes when purchasing. When you buy a WD Red Plus drive, it will be guaranteed CMR technology in all capacities and function harmoniously with your ZFS NAS.

What’s New is Now Old

And, what of the 2, 3, 4, and 6TB SMR drives that were slipped into the WD Red product line and caused problems with NAS systems? Like “New Coke”, the market has spoken: most prefer the original flavor.
These SMR drives are now going to inherit the “WD Red” brand. We would have preferred “WD Red-SMR” just to be as crystal clear to customers as possible, but this works. iXsystems and some other major NAS vendors have taken these off their qualified hard drive lists, so these should be avoided or used only in NAS systems with very light workloads (and long periods of inactivity), or where data isn’t important, especially if using ZFS.

Confused yet?

You’re not alone. This is a complex judo marketing move that WD is making. While there will be confusion in the short term, the resulting product line is more clearly differentiated and better for it. The WD Red Plus will be a solid drive family for the FreeNAS Minis and will span all sizes from 1TB to 14TB each, and there are no expected cost increases from today’s WD Red prices. The new WD Red (SMR) line will come in at a lower price.

Western Digital has maintained the same model numbers for each of the drives and then sorted the drives into their “new” product families.

What about the FreeNAS Minis?

Our Mini systems will be delivered only with the CMR-based WD Red Plus drives. However, some of those drives are currently labeled “WD Red”, but they are not SMR drives. This labeling should be fixed in a few months, but we may have to add a sticker or use a sharpie to add a “plus” to those existing WD RED CMR drives! Or, who knows, maybe these drives will become collectors’ items some day?? Kidding about the sharpie, by the way.

And, the “Red SMR” Drives? Will those ever be compatible?

Can TrueNAS CORE or FreeNAS run on the SMR drives, the “new” WD Red drives? At this stage, both iXsystems and Western Digital cannot recommend running ZFS on these drives. The incompatibility that has been found still exists and under some conditions could result in low performance or even data loss. Western Digital and iXsystems are still investigating whether this risk can be reduced or alleviated. In the meantime, if you have WD Red drives with SMR (again, only 2 through 6TB with “EFAX” in the Product Code) in your NAS and are concerned about your data, contact iXsystems Support if you purchased from us, or WD Support if you bought them elsewhere.

Some upside!

The good news is that the WD Red Plus product line will re-enable the Minis with 2TB and 6TB CMR drives. During this SMR investigation, the Minis have continued to ship with CMR drives in all capacities except 2TB and 6TB, since we had exhausted CMR stock and placed a stop shipment on the SMR drives. We expect to enable the full range of sizes from 2TB to 14TB CMR drives during Q3 2020. This will enable the Mini lineup to support raw capacities from 4TB to over 100TB.
If you need one or more smaller NAS systems for a project, you can get a preconfigured Mini system from Amazon or custom spec your own using the online Mini configurator. Our sales team and partners can also provide a proposal for a fleet of Minis and other large systems like the X-Series and M-Series. All of these systems can run TrueNAS 12.0 and be managed via TrueCommand and its single-pane-of-glass interface.

The post WD Red Plus drives are “Coke Classic” appeared first on TrueNAS - Welcome to the Open Storage Era.

TrueNAS CORE Demo & TrueNAS SCALE Revealed – Issue #81

iX Team — Thu, 18 Jun 2020 18:00:01 +0000

NOTE: This is historical content that may contain outdated information.

TrueNAS is Multi-OS
With the introduction of TrueNAS SCALE it’s official! TrueNAS is officially becoming a multiple operating system platform built on both FreeBSD and Linux. TrueNAS CORE will focus on continuing the FreeNAS legacy under the TrueNAS Open Storage family, TrueNAS Enterprise will focus on providing scale-up infrastructure with high availability and enterprise support, and SCALE will become a new Open Source project, focusing on expanding TrueNAS to allow a scale-out infrastructure on a Debian and Gluster base.

Learn more here

Recession-proof System Specials on High Availability TrueNAS Systems (While Supplies Last)

We’ve put together two specials to help you keep your TCO low and your budget in check during these challenging times. Choose between an 11 TB All-Flash TrueNAS X10-HA that offers a fully redundant infrastructure that can fit any budget and our TrueNAS M40-HA, the powerhouse TrueNAS M-Series system that offers an incredible amount of storage to expand capacity combined with an incredibly economical TCO that beats virtually any cloud infrastructure. These systems are pre-built and ready to ship to help you keep things moving at your company. Order yours today to get highly redundant enterprise-class storage and performance at the lowest TCO in the industry.

11 TB TRUENAS® X10-HA $9.9K | 1 PB TRUENAS® M40-HA $69.9K

TrueNAS CORE 12.0 Demo by Kris Moore

Want to learn more about TrueNAS CORE? Kris Moore, our VP of Engineering at iXsystems, gave a presentation to Storage Review detailing the new features you can expect from the upcoming TrueNAS CORE 12.0 release. TrueNAS CORE 12.0 will be the first TrueNAS release under the new unified TrueNAS Open Storage family, and features many changes such as enhanced ZFS pools management, improved API functionality, TrueCommand Cloud integration, and much more.

Watch here now | Download TrueNAS CORE (Nightly)

Latest Releases

FreeNAS	11.3-U3.2	Release Notes
TrueNAS	11.3-U2.2	Release Notes
TrueCommand	1.2.3	Release Notes

The New TrueNAS Logo Unveiled

Without further ado, we’re proud to unveil our new TrueNAS CORE (and Open Storage), TrueNAS Enterprise, and TrueNAS SCALE logos, dubbed “the shark tanks” or “shark boxes”.

Learn more here

Download the full report here

More webinars

TrueNAS CORE 12 Nightly: New Features and Differences From FreeNAS & TrueNAS by Lawrence Systems

Thomas Lawrence of Lawrence Systems tries out a preview of TrueNAS CORE, and breaks down some of the differences from the original FreeNAS and TrueNAS in his latest video.

Learn more here

Setting Up Windows iSCSI Block Shares on TrueNAS & FreeNAS
In this tutorial, we’ll cover the basics of iSCSI, configuring iSCSI on TrueNAS, and setting up access from a Windows machine. Designating a Zvol as an iSCSI drive on Windows allows you to utilize the ZFS rollback feature and protect your system from ransomware or data loss.

Learn more here

Download it here

Sign up here

Tech-Tip #78
Overprovisioning SSDs can be done using the disk_resize command in the Shell. This can be useful for many different scenarios. Perhaps the most useful benefit of overprovisioning is that it can extend the life of an SSD greatly.

Links of the Month

iXsystems TrueNAS SCALE revealed via StorageReview
StorageReview Podcast #50: Kris Moore, iXsystems
Q30 Storinator, Control4 Home Automation with FreeNAS and PLEX via r/homelab
What is ZFS? The File System other File Systems Aspire to via ITEnterpriser

Quote of the Month
“The migration of massive amounts of terabytes wouldn’t have happened without the support of iXsystems.”

– Steven M. Rothstein, John F Kennedy Library Foundation, Executive Director

The post TrueNAS CORE Demo & TrueNAS SCALE Revealed – Issue #81 appeared first on TrueNAS - Welcome to the Open Storage Era.

TrueNAS is Multi-OS

iX Team — Tue, 09 Jun 2020 17:32:38 +0000

Welcome to the post-OS Era

There was a time in history where all that mattered was an Operating System (OS) and the hardware it ran on — the “pre-software era”, if you will. Your hardware dictated the OS you used.
Once software applications became prominent, your hardware’s OS determined the applications you could run. Application vendors were forced to juggle the burden of “portability” between OS platforms, choosing carefully the operating systems they’d develop their software to. Then, there were the great OS Wars of the 1990s, replete with the rampant competition, licensing battles, and nasty lawsuits, which more or less gave birth to the “open source OS” era.
The advent of the hypervisor simultaneously gave way to the “virtual era” which set us on a path of agnosticism toward the OS. Instead of choosing from the applications available for your chosen OS, you could simply install another OS on the same hardware for your chosen application. The OS became nothing but a necessary cog in the stack.
TrueNAS open storage enables this “post-OS era” with support for storage clients of all UNIX flavors, Linux, FreeBSD, Windows, MacOS, VMware, Citrix, and many others. Containerization has carried that mentality even further. An operating system, like the hardware that runs it, is now just thought of as part of the “infrastructure”.
So, which OS should TrueNAS use? There have been some comments in the press about our plans, so we thought it best to share a fuller picture.

Most are aware by now that we have decided to unify FreeNAS & TrueNAS into a single software image and brand: TrueNAS Open Storage. With the release of Version 12.0, what was previously called FreeNAS will now be TrueNAS CORE. What was formerly TrueNAS will now be TrueNAS Enterprise. Both of these TrueNAS editions use FreeBSD 12.0 as the base OS and it has been performing very well. Future development for these editions will continue on FreeBSD.

We also announced the start of a new Open Source project, called TrueNAS SCALE. The goals of this project include running Linux containers and building scale-out clustered storage. Because of these project goals, we chose Linux (Debian) as the base OS so that we had access to all of these container and clustering tools and could deliver a well-integrated user experience in a reasonable timeframe.
So, TrueNAS is now officially multi-OS. As ComputerWorld once said, “Welcome to the post-OS Era”.

Why Multi-OS?

The history of TrueNAS is FreeNAS and FreeBSD. FreeBSD is a well-structured OS with our preferred BSD license. It integrates well with ZFS and is well suited to the Open Storage business model that TrueNAS uses. The modularity, stability, and simplicity of FreeBSD are well known. This translates into simpler and easier to use software, particularly for a storage platform. Who doesn’t love that?

However, the marketplace winner for new applications is the Linux OS and Containers. Even Microsoft is embracing this reality. Whether you prefer Docker, LXC, or Kubernetes, the primary application platform for the next decade is containers and scale-out infrastructure. If application platforms will be simpler and cheaper by integrating Linux containers with ZFS storage, then who would not want that option?
The iXsystems Engineering Team looked at the choices and decided that being multi-OS was the right solution. It was better than picking one OS for all products and having to make major tradeoffs with respect to stability, continuity, market reach, and innovation. We also wanted to be more inclusive, broadening our community by inviting users and developers that are familiar with Linux. Therefore, being “multi-OS” gives our users and developers the best of both worlds:

Stability and reliability of our current TrueNAS CORE/Enterprise products by continuing to deliver them on FreeBSD.
Faster access to the foundational technologies required to make TrueNAS SCALE (containers, scale-out) into a best-in-class hyperconverged infrastructure.

The critical element of the system common to all TrueNAS editions is ZFS which has to secure, store, and manage data over many years and even decades. We also needed to invest in enabling TrueNAS as a multi-OS capable platform.

How did we enable Multi-OS?

Starting with the FreeNAS 11.1 code base from a couple of years ago, we have invested in the multi-OS transition with a few key initiatives:

Middleware was updated to be OS independent and have clean REST and Web sockets APIs.
Web user interface was modernized using Angular and the new APIs. It is also OS independent.
Collaboration with Open Source component projects like Samba and rclone to ensure we would have portability of key components.
Minimize use and exposure of Linux’s systemd and FreeBSD’s rc.d.
OpenZFS 2.0 integration of FreeBSD and Linux so that data and pools could be migrated easily between OSes.
QA/testing infrastructure built so that we could test all editions with the same tests.

What developers will find is that apart from the OS, over 90% of TrueNAS software is shared between the CORE, Enterprise, and SCALE editions. More importantly for users, improvements to one edition will generally be shared and available for the other editions.

What is the impact on TrueNAS users?

For users, nothing… except for more rapid development of new features and solutions. There will be more choices in the future, but we assume there are no objections to that!
For Linux developers, there will be new opportunities to contribute to the Open Source TrueNAS SCALE project. We aim to make it a very well coordinated and managed environment to develop the best Open Hyperconverged Infrastructure. We’ll be calling for contributors soon.
If you have any additional questions or need advice on a new project, please email us at info@iXsystems.com. We are standing by to help.

The post TrueNAS is Multi-OS appeared first on TrueNAS - Welcome to the Open Storage Era.

New-New TrueNAS Logo Unveiled

iX Team — Tue, 02 Jun 2020 20:58:42 +0000

Most are aware by now that we have decided to unify FreeNAS & TrueNAS into a single software image and brand: TrueNAS Open Storage. With the release of version 12.0, what was previously called FreeNAS will now be TrueNAS CORE. What was formerly TrueNAS will now be TrueNAS Enterprise.
Along with the announcement, we also unveiled a new “shark fin” logo that paid homage to the shark that had been the FreeNAS logomark for just over a decade. We liked it well enough, and user feedback was mostly positive, but some unexpected community feedback gave us second thoughts…

Thank you for removing ‘Free’ from the name

Specifically, there were a number of comments from community members thanking us for removing “Free” from the name, because it removed a stigma held by their peers, colleagues, or bosses that a product with “Free” in the name couldn’t also be of high quality or fit for business use. “I can finally look my boss in the eye when he asks what storage we are using in the lab” is a paraphrase of one such comment. Of course, comments like this were a little tough to hear about a name we held so dearly for so long, but it was awesome feedback to receive because it reinforced one of the major reasons we decided to unify the brands as TrueNAS in the first place.
If you’re reading this, you likely already know that FreeNAS is far more than just a free NAS. You likely already know that it is powerful, enterprise software defined storage. Since many of us use it in homelabs, you know that it automatically gets lumped in with low-end NAS systems and you might take offense when it gets compared to Synology or QNAP systems instead of Netapp or EMC. You know these things already, but it’s clear that not everybody does…yet. And, if you think back, it probably took you a while to get there, and the name “FreeNAS” likely didn’t help the cause. And, if we’re totally honest with ourselves, the shark didn’t make things any easier.
We want all users, old and new, to have full confidence in deploying TrueNAS CORE. It’s important to us that you can look your boss in the eye when he asks what storage you’re using in the lab. And, when you prove how successful that’s been, we want you to have that same confidence when you recommend TrueNAS Enterprise once it’s time to replace those overpriced Netapp or EMC arrays. And, we want to make sure everything we do down to our logo helps you make that case.

We’ve Gone Full Corporate

We say that in jest, of course. iXsystems was founded on the principles of “being different”. We embraced open source long before it was ever cool or mainstream. We develop in the open. We try to be as transparent as we can in all we do. We built an enterprise storage product and made it free when everyone else thought we were crazy, and now FreeNAS is the world’s most popular storage software. We have fought hard to keep this identity of being different from the rest of the industry.
Of course, behind that philosophy also exists a very serious company focused on building innovating, high-quality products, world class customer support, and outstanding customer experience. We understand that our desire to be different can’t ever get in the way of you getting your job done, and this extends to the impression our brand makes.

The Abstract Shark Fin?

So, we solicited the help of an outside design agency and started looking at other logomark designs entirely but ultimately came back to playing around with the shark fin: refining it, tweaking it, making it abstract. After all, we couldn’t lose that soul of the product entirely, right? So, during that part of the process, we ended up creating two sharks that were vertical mirror images of one another that once put together sort of formed a cool looking box (some said “shark tank” or “aquarium”). After initially chuckling at the similarity to the box references in the show “Silicon Valley”, we thought, “Ok, this does look pretty cool….box….storage, container…what if the box was open to represent the concept of “open storage”? That looks cool! What if we stacked the boxes for the TrueNAS Enterprise logo to represent the extra protection that comes with high-availability? And, what if we put four boxes side by side to represent TrueNAS SCALE? Wait…..what’s TrueNAS SCALE you ask? Oh, just a little thing we’re working on in the background 🙂 More to come on that soon!
Ok, ok, enough blabbing. Without further ado, we’re proud to unveil the monochrome version of the new TrueNAS CORE, TrueNAS Enterprise, and TrueNAS SCALE logos, we’ve lovingly dubbed “the shark tanks” or “shark boxes”.

Color is in the works, but we couldn’t wait any longer to show you since it’s going to start appearing in TrueNAS 12 nightlies as soon as this week!
We’re excited with what’s coming in TrueNAS 12, not least of which is this sharp new logo, that will hopefully send you marching into your boss’s office first thing tomorrow morning, look her dead in the eye and say, “we’re replacing all of our storage with TrueNAS.”
If you ever need our assistance in doing that, simply fill out a brief questionnaire or email us at info@iXsystems.com. We are standing by to help.

The post New-New TrueNAS Logo Unveiled appeared first on TrueNAS - Welcome to the Open Storage Era.

Recession Proof Storage | FreeNAS 11.3-U3.1 Now Available – Issue #80

iX Team — Thu, 28 May 2020 18:00:37 +0000

NOTE: This is historical content that may contain outdated information.

FreeNAS 11.3-U3.1 is now available
We are pleased to announce that FreeNAS 11.3-U3.1 is now available! Version 11.3-U3 is a maintenance release that includes over 100 bug fixes and improvements, with U3.1 as an added hotfix release for an SMB share issue. Please be sure to read the list of changes before updating.

Download Now | Release Notes

More Releases

FreeNAS	11.3-U3	Release Notes
TrueNAS	11.3-U2.2	Release Notes
TrueCommand	1.2.3	Release Notes

Special Pricing on TrueNAS X10 and M40 Systems

We have 11 TB All-Flash TrueNAS X10-HA and 1 PB TrueNAS M40-HA systems pre-built and ready to ship! Order yours now to get enterprise-class storage and performance at the lowest TCO in the industry.

11 TB TRUENAS® X10-HA $9.9K | 1 PB TRUENAS® M40-HA $69.9K

Open Source Infrastructure is Recession-Proof
Whether your business is growing or contracting during this challenging time, see how Open Source solutions can offer a lifeline to your projects and budgets in times of economic uncertainty.

Read more here

Understanding How OpenZFS Keeps Your Data Safe
Veteran technology writer Jim Salter wrote an excellent guide on the ZFS file system’s features and performance that we absolutely had to share.

Learn more here

Download the full report here

FreeNAS 11 Rsync Server Setup by Lawrence Systems

Thomas Lawrence of Lawrence Systems dives into the Rsync file transfer service on FreeNAS. In this demonstration he shows us how to Rsync between FreeNAS systems and to a Linux system.

Watch here now

More webinars

Setting Up Windows iSCSI Block Shares on TrueNAS & FreeNAS
In this tutorial, we’ll cover the basics of iSCSI, configuring iSCSI on TrueNAS, and setting up access from a Windows machine.

Learn more here

Self-Hosted S3 Object Storage on FreeNAS with Minio by Lawrence Systems
Thomas Lawrence walks us through configuring Minio S3 Object Storage on a TrueNAS or FreeNAS system.

Watch here now

Download it here

Sign up here

We’re Hiring!
Open Source technology is our passion, and we’re looking for more people to join the iXsystems Team! View open positions here

Tech-Tip #77
The task manager shows a list of tasks performed by the FreeNAS system starting with the most recent. Click a task name to display its start time, progress, finish time, and whether the task succeeded. If a task fails, the error status is shown.

Links of the Month

ZFS 101—Understanding ZFS storage and performance via Ars Technica
FreeNAS 11.3 – How to create Dataset and mount via Nhan Nguyen
VR Game Storage by SaberKitten (FreeNAS Build) via Knights Of The Awesomeness
Creating iSCSI Storage with FreeNAS v11.3 | TSR via BTNHD

The post Recession Proof Storage | FreeNAS 11.3-U3.1 Now Available – Issue #80 appeared first on TrueNAS - Welcome to the Open Storage Era.

Setting Up Windows iSCSI Block Shares on TrueNAS & FreeNAS

iX Team — Thu, 21 May 2020 20:03:58 +0000

In this tutorial, we’ll cover the basics of iSCSI, configuring iSCSI on FreeNAS (soon to be TrueNAS CORE), and setting up access from a Windows machine. A ZVOL, which is another type of dataset, is required to connect with iSCSI for block storage. One benefit of using iSCSI on TrueNAS is that Windows systems backed up with iSCSI get the ZFS rollback feature to quickly recover from CryptoLocker, ransomware, and data loss. This tutorial assumes that you have configured a ZFS Pool.

What is iSCSI?

iSCSI is a protocol standard that allows the consolidation of storage data. iSCSI is implemented in TrueNAS to act like a Storage Area Network (SAN) over an existing Ethernet network.

Specifically, iSCSI exports disk devices or “targets” over an Ethernet network that iSCSI clients or “initiators” can attach to and mount.
iSCSI can be used over an existing Ethernet network, although dedicated networks can be built for iSCSI traffic for higher performance.
Interestingly, SAN environments built on Fibre Channel can be expanded using iSCSI. iSCSI was designed with Ethernet in mind, but it works just as well with fiber. So it can be a cost-effective alternative add-on for existing fiber setups.
iSCSI also provides an advantage in an environment that uses Windows shell programs; these programs tend to filter “Network Location” but iSCSI mounts are not filtered.

Basic Information

Before configuring iSCSI on your TrueNAS system, you should be familiar with the following iSCSI terminology:

Initiator is a client that has authorized access to the storage data on the TrueNAS system. The client requires initiator software in order to initiate the connection to the iSCSI share–TARGET. ** Note that not all connections are authorized.
Target is a storage resource on the TrueNAS system that is shared with an initiator. Every target has a unique name known as an iSCSI Qualified Name (IQN).
Extent is the storage unit to be shared. It can be in the form of a file or a device EXTENT, that is provided as an iSCSI target.
CHAP, or Challenge-Handshake Authentication Protocol, is an authentication method that uses a shared secret and three-way authentication to determine if a system is authorized to access the storage device and to periodically confirm that the session has not been hijacked by another system. In iSCSI, the initiator (client) performs the CHAP authentication.
Mutual CHAP is a superset of CHAP in that both ends of the communication authenticate to each other.

Creating a ZVOL

The first step to configure iSCSI is to create a ZVOL for our device extent. A ZVOL is a type of dataset available in our ZFS pool. The iSCSI Wizard also allows you to create a ZVOL or dataset, which we will talk about later.
Go to “Storage” → “Pools”, open the Pool options by clicking the three dots on the right of your pool, then “Add Zvol”.

Enter a name and size for the ZVOL then click “SAVE“.

Configuring iSCSI

Now we will go ahead and configure iSCSI on a TrueNAS system.
On your TrueNAS machine, from the left side menu, select “Sharing” → Block Shares (iSCSI) → “Target Global Configuration”.

Review the target global configuration parameters.
You do not have to modify this, but remember that this is the base name that your targets will be associated with.

The iSCSI Wizard will help you easily create the block share with its step by step configuration. Let’s go ahead and click “Wizard”.
Give your iSCSI share a name.

For “Type”, select this based on your dataset type. If you have configured a normal dataset from your pool, choose “File”.
Otherwise, choose “Device” and you will be able to choose the ZVOL you created earlier, or create a ZVOL if you didn’t already. Click “Create New”, then browse to the path of your Pool.
Set the device size limit. We recommend not using more than 80% of available capacity. * More information can be found in the documentation.
Under “What are you using this for”, choose the entry that matches your use case. Since we’ll be connecting with Windows Server, we’ll choose “Modern OS”.

Click “NEXT” to move into the Portal section. Since you don’t have a Portal created yet, the default option is “Create New”.
If you want to enable security authentication, choose “CHAP” for “Discovery Auth Method” and fill out the Group ID, User, and Secret fields. The Secret must be between 12 and 16 characters.
You can leave the IP as “0.0.0.0” which is the wildcard address of the interface.

Click “NEXT” to move on to the Initiator section. You can leave the Initiators and Authorized Networks field blank, unless you want to limit access to specific initiator clients or IPs on your network.

Click “NEXT” and review your Wizard settings, then “SUBMIT”. The wizard should automatically associate your Extent with your Target.

Enable iSCSI Service

Click “Services” from the left menu and make sure iSCSI service is “Running”. Check the “Start Automatically” box to start iSCSI after every reboot.

Access Data on iSCSI share from Windows

In order to access the data on the iSCSI share, clients will need to use iSCSI Initiator software. An iSCSI Initiator client is pre-installed in Windows 7 to 10 Pro, and Windows Server 2008, 2012, and 2019. Please note that Windows Professional Edition is typically required.

Click the Start Menu and search for the “iSCSI Initiator”.
Go to the “Configuration” tab and click “Change” to change the iSCSI initiator to the same name you created earlier, which was “iscsishare”.

Go to the “Discovery Tab”, proceed to “Discover Portal”, and type in your FreeNAS or TrueNAS IP address. Leave the port at 3260.

If you set up CHAP earlier, click “Advanced Settings”, and then check “Enable CHAP log on”, then enter your initiator name and the same target/secret you set earlier on TrueNAS; otherwise, move to the next step.
Go back to “Targets” and click “Connect” on your iSCSI target, then click “OK”.

Search for and open the “Disk Management” app in your Control Panel.
A new window will ask you to format the drive. Your drive should currently be ”unallocated”. Complete the Wizard to format it and assign it a drive letter and name.

Go to This PC or My Computer and your new iSCSI volume should show up under the list of drives. You should now be able to add, delete, and modify files and folders on your iSCSI drive.

Thank you for reading through this tutorial! Be sure to check out our other tutorial videos on our YouTube channel, and don’t forget to comment, like, and subscribe. Don’t forget to click the “notification bell” to receive alerts on new videos.

The post Setting Up Windows iSCSI Block Shares on TrueNAS & FreeNAS appeared first on TrueNAS - Welcome to the Open Storage Era.

Open Source Infrastructure is Recession-Proof

iX Team — Mon, 11 May 2020 20:15:07 +0000

We are all living through a difficult time with the COVID-19 pandemic. At a personal level, our hearts go out to all those impacted. Let’s all do our bit to reduce spreading, save lives, and help those in distress. There will be better days ahead, but in the short term, the experts are predicting there could be a period of economic recession.

The Shelter-in-Place restrictions are hugely impactful on many businesses and employees. Many of our clients are facing severe downturns and will have to fight through it. Retaining employees, customer relationships, and supply chains is not a simple process. As with many recessions, budgets will be cut, and there will be huge pressure to do more with less. Thankfully, one of the major benefits of Open Source infrastructure is that it provides these impacted organizations with an avenue to keep budgets under control.

Some of our clients are facing a different problem, instead seeing a sudden increase in demand as their products or services are critical to the response to COVID-19 or the basic functioning of our cities and countries. These businesses need to be able to scale cost-effectively knowing that the demand will drop when COVID-19 is defeated. Open Source also enables faster and more economic scaling as a lifeline for these organizations.

In both cases, Open Source enables businesses to be agile and control costs, whether they are growing or shrinking through an economic downturn. It is our mission at iXsystems to empower our customers to face either challenge through Open Source infrastructure and economics.

Open Source Economics

Open Source software has been part of our history for decades and has progressively been embedded within the industry over time. Proprietary Unix has given way to Linux and FreeBSD. Amazon, the company notorious for stretching a dime into a dollar, could never have built its cloud empire without Open Source tools and software. Apple helped turn its business around a decade and a half ago by leveraging Open Source. Even industry pioneers in proprietary and closed software such as Microsoft, Oracle, and IBM have had to come to terms with the fact that they too must embrace Open Source or eventually go the way of the dinosaur. The advantage that Open Source users have is that they get to choose how much software and support they wish to pay for. We call this “Open Source Economics.” If the industry giants mentioned above can use it to their advantage, so can you. And, iXsystems is here to help you access it.

When building infrastructure and applications, Open Source solutions shift negotiating power and let users decide whether the “free” version is acceptable (e.g., FreeNAS) or whether it’s worth having professional support (e.g., TrueNAS) to reduce the number and duration of issues.
If a supplier or partner underperforms, Open Source makes it easier to shift business to another partner that can use similar software. It avoids vendor lockup with exorbitant software and support contracts. Have you seen the standard licensing prices for the largest storage, virtualization, and database vendors?
Open Source puts the power back into the hands of the user/buyer/customer, where it belongs.

Choose your own Destiny

Many businesses may not be as immersed in Open Source software as iXsystems, but every business can benefit from an Open Source strategy. Open Source strategies let you choose your destiny and where you should invest your limited budgets.

In a recession, there are huge savings to be made from shifting projects toward an Open Source model. Typically, you can get all the features you need and at a fraction of the total price of proprietary software from enterprise vendors. In the future, you’ll be able to scale more cost-effectively and control your own destiny.

iXsystems is an Open Source partner for tough times

We have built our business model on providing Open Source software with professionally supported solutions using industry-standard hardware. We also use and contribute to Open Source software from the FreeBSD, OpenZFS, and SAMBA communities. This business model has successfully allowed us to not only survive but grow through the last recession and will help carry us through this next recession while still making great technical progress with our products. We are already seeing increases in FreeNAS downloads and inquiries since the pandemic began, which we take as a sign that many organizations are already leveraging the power of Open Source economics as a means to help them through this difficult period. At iXsystems, we couldn’t be more proud to be able to offer a lifeline to these organizations.
If your budgets are limited and you need to invest more in your own applications or staff, we can surely identify with that challenge. Our goal is to give you a set of choices from “free” to Enterprise with Gold Support. Start with “free” today, and if budgets improve, we can help you upgrade your infrastructure and support as required.

Whether it’s server or storage infrastructure, iXsystems will give you the benefits of Open Source economics. You get to choose whether to use FreeNAS or TrueNAS. Soon, we’ll make it even easier with TrueNAS CORE or TrueNAS Enterprise.
To address the immediate needs of our customers during this global crisis, we hand-selected and pre-configured two high-availability TrueNAS systems at special discounts for this quarter: 11TB of All-Flash TrueNAS for under $10K, and 1PB of powerful hybrid storage for under $70K. If you’d like access to special deals like this in the future, simply sign up for our newsletter.
Wishing you all the best during this time. If we can help you keep your business ticking through this recession, please contact us.

The post Open Source Infrastructure is Recession-Proof appeared first on TrueNAS - Welcome to the Open Storage Era.

Understanding How OpenZFS Keeps Your Data Safe

iX Team — Mon, 11 May 2020 16:20:59 +0000

Veteran technology writer Jim Salter wrote an excellent guide on the ZFS file system’s features and performance that we absolutely had to share. There’s plenty of information in the article for ZFS newbies and advanced users alike. Be sure to check out the article over at Ars Technica to learn more about ZFS concepts including pools, vdevs, datasets, snapshots, and replication, just to name a few.

For his testing, Jim Salter used OpenZFS 2.0 software that is in TrueNAS 12.0. One of the more interesting data points in the article was the major performance advantage of ZFS replication over standard rsync (which can also be used between ZFS and other file systems). ZFS replication (which is labeled “syncoid” – Open Source software that sets up ZFS replications) is more than 1,000 times faster at finding and sending the deltas between files.

TrueNAS systems are built on the legendary stability of FreeNAS and the OpenZFS (ZFS) file system, leveraging the underlying ZFS technology to easily recover from ransomware and other active data threats. For more information, reach out to an iXsystems Solution Architect and get your completely free and no-pressure quote on the complete line of TrueNAS storage systems.

For more information on ZFS (or if you just need some pointers for your next FreeNAS or TrueNAS CORE build), check out these additional resources and let us know what articles or how-to videos you’d like to see next in the comments below.

ZFS 101—Understanding ZFS storage and performance >> Read the Article (Credit Jim Salter for Ars Technica)
Introduction to ZFS >> Read the Article
ZFS Drive Size and Cost Comparison Spreadsheet >> Read the Article
iXsystems, FreeNAS, TrueNAS, and OpenZFS Videos >> Visit the Channel

The post Understanding How OpenZFS Keeps Your Data Safe appeared first on TrueNAS - Welcome to the Open Storage Era.

TrueNAS CORE Will be the Best Free NAS Ever – Issue #79

iX Team — Thu, 07 May 2020 18:00:35 +0000

NOTE: This is historical content that may contain outdated information.

TrueNAS CORE is the new FreeNAS

Introducing TrueNAS CORE, the next generation in Open Source storage technology. TrueNAS CORE inherits everything you know and love about FreeNAS, while bringing FreeNAS into the TrueNAS Open Storage family of products. Read our blog post to get all the latest information on TrueNAS Open Storage and to hear about all of the great new features to expect in TrueNAS CORE.

>> Read more here
>> Download the TrueNAS CORE Preview Image (Not for Production Use)

You Can Influence the TrueNAS CORE Roadmap!
Now that you know TrueNAS CORE is on the way, we need your help with submitting suggestions and any bugs encountered. This is your chance to help contribute and democratize enterprise storage! Find out how to submit a ticket at the link below.

Help us improve TrueNAS CORE

FreeNAS 11.3-U2.1 is available
This is a hotfix release which addresses a critical issue when exporting and destroying ZFS pools. The second update to 11.3 also includes 150 updates, bug fixes, and improvements.

Learn more here

TrueNAS 11.3-U2 is Generally Available

TrueNAS 11.3 represents another major advancement in the quality and functionality of the leading Open Storage platform. TrueNAS 11.3 supports the very popular API and Web UI improvements of the previous FreeNAS release. It also introduces easy-setup wizards, major replication improvements, and over 500 other enhancements.

Learn more here

FreeNAS Spare Parts Build: Testing ZFS With Imbalanced VDEVs and Mismatched Drives

Thomas Lawrence of Lawrence Systems shows off a FreeNAS build with various spare parts, and does ZFS testing with vdevs and mismatched drives.

Watch here now

Download the full report here

Setting Up Users, Permissions, and ACLs on FreeNAS
In this tutorial, we’ll show you how to set up Users, Permissions, and ACLs in FreeNAS. ACL stands for Access Control List, which designates access control entries for users and administrators on FreeNAS systems, specifically for Windows SMB shares.

Learn more here

More webinars

Building a TrueNAS CORE 8-bay mATX ZFS NAS
Patrick Kennedy of ServeTheHome walks us through his TrueNAS CORE mATX build with a Silverstone chassis and 8 drive bays.

Read more here

FreeNAS Odroid-H2 Home Build
User LifeNetEng installs FreeNAS onto an Odroid-H2 system to back up his home video files and walks us through the configuration process of link aggregation, NFS file sharing, and running a VM.

Watch here now

Moving, Backing Up, & Restoring FreeNAS iocage Jails
Thomas of Lawrence Systems shows us how to manage iocage jails via command line on FreeNAS 11.3.

Watch here now

eBook on Open Source Storage
This free eBook explains how proprietary and cloud storage falls short and why Open Source is a better development model for storage systems. Learn about the advantages of NVMe/NVDIMM storage for the modern enterprise and why businesses need a unified data platform.

Download it here

Sign up here

We’re Hiring!
Open Source technology is our passion, and we’re looking for more people to join the iXsystems Team! View open positions here

Tech-Tip #76
Making changes to the network interface the web interface uses can result in losing connection to the FreeNAS system! Misconfigured network settings may require command line knowledge or physical access to the FreeNAS system to fix. Be very careful when configuring Interfaces and Link Aggregations. More info in documentation.

Links of the Month

Still using FreeNAS and TrueCommand as my storage solution via JayAreTV
TrueNAS CORE ZFS NAS Build Walkthrough in a SilverStone CS381 Chassis via ServeTheHome
How to Install Nextcloud Plugin on FreeNAS 11.3 & Enforce HTTPS via Nhan Nguyen
FreeNAS on Odyssey X86 SBC via ExplainingComputers

Quote of the Month
“The most compelling extra feature we found with TrueNAS was that it’s based on OpenZFS. Unlike traditional RAID systems, when TrueNAS detects an error from a hard drive it not only corrects it but simultaneously writes the correction back to the hard disk. This is a valuable feature that mostly goes unnoticed but is critically important in large storage systems.”

– Alan Brown, Networking and Unix Systems Manager, Mullard Space Science Laboratory at UCL

The post TrueNAS CORE Will be the Best Free NAS Ever – Issue #79 appeared first on TrueNAS - Welcome to the Open Storage Era.

You Can Influence the TrueNAS CORE Roadmap!

iX Team — Mon, 04 May 2020 22:04:58 +0000

Dear FreeNAS (and soon to be TrueNAS) Community,

We are making some changes to the FreeNAS and TrueNAS bug tracker that’ll give you yet another way to help contribute and democratize enterprise storage!

As many of you know, we’ve historically had three ticket types available in our tracker: Bugs, Features, and Improvements, which are all fairly self-explanatory. After some discussion internally, we’ve decided to implement a new type of ticket, a “Suggestion”. These will be replacing Feature and Improvement requests for the TrueNAS Community, simplifying things down to two options: Bugs and Suggestions. This change also introduces a slightly different workflow than before.

One issue we’ve had in the past with Features and Improvements is that just about all the ideas submitted have been “good” ideas. The challenge was determining which ideas were “best” or most desired by the community, which at times made it difficult for engineers to determine which ought to be integrated into our development roadmap.

Just because we think something is a “good” idea, or a community member submits a well-laid out feature request, we didn’t have a great way of determining how many people are interested. This made the process of picking and choosing too arbitrary. To address this, the Suggestion ticket has been created to help us better gauge interest in particular requests by implementing the concept of “voting” into the workflow:

As demonstrated above, we’re going to be looking to the community to help “Vote” on issues to provide an indication to our team what kind of interest there is for any particular idea. Once a Suggestion has reached the vote threshold (10 votes for the time being), we will then put it into a Review state, and then make a determination of if/when it should land on our TrueNAS roadmap.

So, how do you vote for a Suggestion? Easy! Simply login to our ticket system, find your issue, and click the “Vote for this issue” link on the top right of each ticket. If you can’t find a Suggestion that addresses your issue, create a Suggestion and let us know why it’s important to you.

The rest is up to you! To help create interest or garner more support for your own suggestions, you can solicit your Suggestion requests here on the community forums, social media, Reddit, email campaigns to friends and colleagues, etc.

Democratizing storage requires collaboration, and we’re expecting that this new process will allow us to be more responsive to the needs and wants of our community and prioritize changes to the product accordingly.
Thanks for reading, and as always, feedback is welcome!

The post You Can Influence the TrueNAS CORE Roadmap! appeared first on TrueNAS - Welcome to the Open Storage Era.

TrueNAS 11.3-U2 is Generally Available

iX Team — Fri, 24 Apr 2020 15:36:31 +0000

The latest version of the #1 Open Source Storage OS is on TrueNAS Enterprise Platforms

Monitoring TrueNAS High-Availability is simpler than ever

TrueNAS 11.3-U2.1 is generally available as of 4/22/2020. This update is based on FreeNAS 11.3-U2 which has had over 50k deployments and received excellent community and third party reviews. The Release Notes are available on the iXsystems.com website.
TrueNAS 11.3 represents another major advancement in the quality and functionality of the leading Open Storage platform. TrueNAS 11.3 supports the very popular API and Web UI improvements of the previous FreeNAS release. It also introduces easy-setup wizards, major replication improvements, and over 500 other enhancements.
This new TrueNAS version also inherits an abundance of vetted FreeNAS features from previous releases, including the ability to use and manage jails, plugins, and VMs. All of these features have now been integrated with the TrueNAS platform’s high-availability and enclosure management features. TrueNAS 11.3 is available on the X-Series and M-Series platforms which scale from 10TB to over 10PB with hybrid or all-flash media. It is also available for prior Z-Series models as well.

New TrueNAS enclosure management provides visual drive and pool status

The TrueNAS 11.3 User Guide has been published. Key Features of TrueNAS 11.3 include the following major improvements:

ZFS Replication: >8X performance (5TB/hr), Parallel tasks, Auto-resume
Simplified Setup with Wizards: iSCSI, SMB, Pools, Networking, Replication
SMB improvements: User quotas via AD, Shadow copies, ACL manager
Easier Plugins: UI redesign, Categories, NAT reduces IP addresses
Dashboard and Reporting: Faster response, more relevant data
Configuration Management: API enables config save and audits
Graphical enclosure and High-Availability management

The TrueNAS 11.3 series also resolves issues related to changes that Microsoft has made in Active Directory security defaults. These changes may cause major issues with older FreeNAS and TrueNAS releases when used in Active Directory environments. Please read this related Technical Note for more details.
With TrueNAS 11.3, the TrueCommand unified management interface can now also provide configuration save/restore functionality as well as auditing of configuration changes. TrueCommand also provides sophisticated reporting and Role-Based Access Control (RBAC).
TrueNAS 11.3 has been optimized for both high-performance SSDs and (Read Intensive) RI-SSDs based on lower cost QLC technology. Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG) validated the performance and cost benefits of TrueNAS 11.3 with extensive testing. ESG concluded that “The combination of ZFS, Open Source, and a lean sales force provides efficiencies that enable iXsystems to offer high performance, feature-rich solutions at high-value price points. We calculated a significant delta. Based on our testing and analysis, we found that iXsystems can typically offer up to double the performance at half the cost of their major competitors.”
A major investment in automated testing over the past 18 months has ensured significant improvements in software quality and ease of use, confirmed by FreeNAS 11.3 being the smoothest release in the history of the software. Customers should contact support@ixsystems.com if they are interested in the TrueNAS 11.3 upgrade. The upgrade is available from the 11.2 web interface.

TrueNAS 11.3 Screenshots

The Replication Wizard simplifies backup between two NAS systems

The Pool Manager makes it easier to set up larger pools

The post TrueNAS 11.3-U2 is Generally Available appeared first on TrueNAS - Welcome to the Open Storage Era.

TrueNAS CORE is the new FreeNAS

iX Team — Wed, 15 Apr 2020 15:39:44 +0000

TrueNAS CORE is the New FreeNAS

We have previously announced the merger of FreeNAS and TrueNAS into a unified software image and new naming convention. FreeNAS is becoming TrueNAS CORE. TrueNAS is becoming TrueNAS Enterprise. We’ve appreciated all of the positive feedback tremendously but noticed there were a few common questions from some of our more skeptical community members or ones that haven’t yet worked closely with iXsystems:
Will TrueNAS CORE still be open source and free?
The answer is 100% yes.
Will TrueNAS CORE have fewer features than FreeNAS?
The answer is 100% no. In fact, TrueNAS CORE will have MORE features than FreeNAS does today.
Will any “free” features now only be made available in TrueNAS Enterprise?
Nope. We have no intention of removing features from TrueNAS CORE. Hopefully, we’ve eased your minds. 🙂

Before we dive in and illustrate further the points above by comparing the features of FreeNAS, TrueNAS CORE, and TrueNAS Enterprise, let’s first do a quick recap of the benefits the FreeNAS/TrueNAS Unification plan delivers for all users and contributors:

Rapid Development: Unified images accelerate software development and releases (for example, 12.0 is a major release that would normally have taken 9-12 months to release, and with these new efficiencies, we are bringing that closer to six months)
Improved Quality: Reduced development redundancy and unified QA increases software quality and allows us to streamline testing
Earlier Hardware Enablement: Staying in-sync with upstream OS versions will be easier, allowing earlier access to newer hardware drivers. For instance, 12.0 brings improved support for AMD EPYC / Ryzen platforms and enhanced NUMA support for more efficient CPU core handling.
Simplified Documentation: Unified documentation eliminates redundancy such as separate user guides
Reduced Redundancy: Unified web content and videos refer to one software family without the need for duplication
Flexibility: Unified images enable simpler transitions or upgrades between editions
Resource efficiency: Frees up developers to work on new features and related products
OpenZFS 2.0: The planning for the “unified” 12.0 release began over a year ago and included the major investment in the development and integration of what will soon be released as “OpenZFS 2.0”. This effort is fast-forwarding delivery of advances like dataset encryption, major performance improvements, and compatibility with Linux ZFS pools.

In a nutshell: huge efficiency gains equal higher quality software, released faster.

TrueNAS CORE Features

FreeNAS 11.3 has a very rich set of features, and TrueNAS CORE adds incrementally and significantly to that list. Again, no features are being harmed in the transition to TrueNAS CORE :-). In fact, “CORE” is an acronym that makes a commitment to our community that all the core functionality that FreeNAS users love will always be included in TrueNAS CORE, the best free NAS software (see what we did there?).

The comprehensive feature list for TrueNAS 12.0 is actually quite enormous. To make it manageable, we’ve created a master feature list below. The features in black were existent in FreeNAS 11.3 and are shared by both TrueNAS CORE and TrueNAS Enterprise. The features in blue are new features being added with TrueNAS 12.0. The column to the right displays features that are available in TrueNAS Enterprise only. As you can see, no existing FreeNAS features have been moved over to the Enterprise column.

TrueNAS Enterprise has additional features that are needed for deployment in production applications. Many of these features are tied to the ability to support High Availability (HA) systems.
By default, all new TrueNAS 12.0 features are included in both TrueNAS CORE and Enterprise. The feature additions for TrueNAS 12.0 can be summarized as:

Metadata on Flash: Special SSD vdevs can be used for Metadata acceleration. This can include both file systems metadata and dedupe tables. This is one of the core features of OpenZFS 2.0.
Fusion Pools: The special SSD vdevs can also be used for data based on I/O write size. This is configurable on a per dataset basis. Users can accelerate database datasets or special VMs.
SSD Wear Monitoring: Any SSD (Boot, L2ARC, slog or vdev) can be monitored for wear and alerts created.
Dataset Encryption: Specific datasets can be selected or deselected for encryption with a user-provided key. When replicating the dataset to another TrueNAS, the key does not have to be provided and so the data can be transmitted and stored in the original encrypted state.
Asynchronous ZFS Trim: Trim commands free up space, particularly within SSDs. By making these Trim commands asynchronous, they scale and perform better. This is particularly useful for deduplication of flash storage and can significantly reduce costs.
Faster ZFS Boot: OpenZFS 2.0 includes a more parallel process for importing a ZFS pool with many drives. This reduces boot and failover times.
ZFS Linux Compatibility: Linux and FreeBSD are peer operating systems for OpenZFS 2.0. Compressed, deduplicated, and encrypted data can be efficiently replicated from a Linux host to a TrueNAS system for backup and archive. It is also possible to import a pool (drive set) from Linux to TrueNAS.
Accelerated ZFS: Several performance improvements have been made to reduce both drive IOPS and the CPU cycles required. More features and higher performance together is a big win for ZFS users :-).
OpenVPN Client and Server: VPNs provide security for remotely accessing storage services, such as SMB or NFS, across the Internet. This feature enables the OpenVPN Client or Server to be included in the NAS for simpler administration and lower costs. The other end of the VPN connection can be any OpenVPN client, such as another NAS, Firewall Device, or Personal Desktop/Laptop.
Two Factor Authentication: For increased security, two factor authentication is highly desirable. TrueNAS ensures that a compromised root password cannot be used by itself to gain access to the administrator interface.
API Keys: Access to the REST / WebSockets API can now be done by API key. Keys can be created and revoked directly via the WebUI for additional security.
KMIP Support: Key Management Interoperability Protocol (KMIP) is an enterprise approach to securing systems and data through a centralized key management system. This feature will be available in TrueNAS Enterprise to secure drives or datasets.
TrueCommand Dataset Management: TrueCommand is joined at the hip with TrueNAS and will provide some exciting features, including snapshotting, replicating, and migrating datasets between systems.
There should be something for everybody in this list. We hope you’re as excited by the increase in productivity as our devs are!

Onward to TrueNAS CORE!

TrueNAS 12.0 will go through the same NIGHTLY, ALPHA (Internal), BETA, RC1, RELEASE, UPDATE states that FreeNAS has gone through. There will be no changes to the software update process or the information available. There is a TrueNAS 12.0 sub-forum on the community forums for this unification process and community feedback.
The TrueNAS CORE 12.0 nightly builds have reached a stage where they are largely “feature complete”. Some UI polish and a lot of testing is needed to get to RELEASE deployment quality. We appreciate developers and testers who work with these early images. Bugs that are caught and reported early are going to have less impact on the final schedule.

**Still the Best Free NAS**

Still open, still free, just with more features and a new brand. Nothing much will change in the UI dashboard. However, TrueNAS CORE will have the option to use a FreeNAS theme for those as attached to the FreeNAS name as we are!

TrueNAS CORE pictured with the “FreeNAS theme” for diehards and nostalgists alike!
We hope you are sharing in the excitement for TrueNAS CORE & Enterprise as we move closer to our release date. If you have any questions or comments, we’d love to hear them on the forums or in response to this blog. If you need additional information on how TrueNAS can streamline, accelerate, and unify data management for your business, email us. In the meantime, download FreeNAS 11.3 today in preparation, and you can later upgrade to TrueNAS CORE 12.0 with a single click!

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Setting Up Users, Permissions, and ACLs on FreeNAS

iX Team — Tue, 14 Apr 2020 16:25:56 +0000

In this tutorial, we’re going to talk about setting up Users, Permissions, and ACLs in FreeNAS. ACL stands for Access Control List, which designates access control entries for users and administrators on FreeNAS systems, specifically for Windows SMB shares. This tutorial assumes you already have your pool configured. If you need help getting started with configuring a pool, we recommend you watch our ZFS Pools Overview video first.

Setting up a FreeNAS group and user account

First, you’ll want to set up a FreeNAS user account and configure specific permissions.

To do this, click “Groups” under the left side menu under “Accounts”.

Click “ADD”
You can leave the Group ID as is, it will be unique to this group.
Give it a name, In this how-to, we’ll call it “officegroup”
Sudo is a root command, leave this unchecked to avoid giving root access to the group on this system.
Click “SAVE” when you’ve finished typing in your settings.

Next, go to “Accounts”, “Users”, then “ADD” a User

Fill in the required fields of Full Name, I’ll name it “Office User”
- Give the user a name. For this tutorial, we’ll name this “officeuser”.
- Give it a unique password
For Primary Group, choose the group you created earlier (officegroup) from the drop-down list. You can also check New Primary Group and it will create a group along with the user with the same name
Then click “SAVE” when you’re finished choosing your settings.

Setting up Permissions (for non-SMB datasets)

Permissions are generally used for non-SMB or Generic datasets, so that means any dataset using AFP or NFS shares. SMB datasets for Windows clients will utilize ACLs which we’ll talk about in the next section.
If you haven’t already, go ahead and create a Generic share-type dataset by clicking the three dots on your pool and then choosing “Add Dataset”. Name your dataset and click “SAVE”.

From the Pools window, open the Permissions options by clicking the three dots on the right of your target dataset, and “Edit Permissions”.

You can set the Owner to the user you created earlier, which was “officeuser” and the group to “officegroup”. On the right side under Access, this is where you can set the Read and Write permissions. Go ahead and check “Write” to give editing permissions when you assign this Group to the dataset.

Check “Apply Permissions Recursively” if you want to set these permissions to all directories and files that are currently in the dataset. Check “Traverse” to apply permissions to any child datasets, or datasets within the dataset. Click “SAVE” when done.

Setting up ACLs (for SMB datasets)

Next, we’ll talk about ACLs, or “Access Control List”. ACL is a security feature used in Microsoft Windows, which designates access control entries for users and administrators on a system. FreeNAS interacts with it through the SMB protocol. Note that the “Edit ACL” feature was recently introduced in FreeNAS 11.3.
If you haven’t already, go ahead and create an SMB dataset by clicking the three dots on your pool and “Add Dataset”. Name your dataset, and choose “SMB” under the Share Type. Lastly, click “SAVE” to proceed.

You can create a share for this SMB dataset as well, by going to “Sharing“, choosing “Windows Shares”, and then selecting “ADD”. Browse to the path of your SMB dataset. You’ll notice it says ACL next to the folder because you set the Share type as SMB earlier. In this tutorial, let’s call this “smbshare” and click “SAVE” to continue.

From the SMB window, open the share options by clicking the three dots on the right, and “Edit ACL”. On the left side, leave “root” and “wheel” as the original owners of the dataset.

To give another user ownership permissions, click “Add ACL Item”, then choose “User” for the Who field, and “officeuser” for the User field. You may copy the same settings as the ACL items above on the right side. Do the same for the group, and choose “officegroup” for the Group field. Note: to set open permissions or guest access, you can choose “OPEN” from the “Default ACL Options” dropdown list.

The settings on the right side under “Group” allow you to configure the dataset’s ACL settings according to your network and security needs. Note that when you set the Share Type to “SMB”, the ACL options will default to that specific configuration, which is shown here. Lastly, click “SAVE” when you’re finished choosing your settings.
If you want to read more about configuration and recommendations for ACLs, make sure to check out the FreeNAS Documentation.
Now you have properly set up Permissions and ACLs for your datasets. Repeat the process above each time you need to give a User specific permissions to access a shared dataset on your network or simply use the same group with a new user. To learn how to access a share on Windows with the specific user, make sure to check out our Windows SMB Shares tutorial.
Thank you for reading this tutorial! Be sure to watch our other tutorial videos on our YouTube channel.

The post Setting Up Users, Permissions, and ACLs on FreeNAS appeared first on TrueNAS - Welcome to the Open Storage Era.

FreeNAS 11.3 U2 Release | New TrueNAS vCenter Plugin – Issue #78

iX Team — Thu, 09 Apr 2020 18:00:15 +0000

NOTE: This is historical content that may contain outdated information.

FreeNAS 11.3-U2 Review by Lawrence Systems

Thomas Lawrence of Lawrence Systems reviews the latest FreeNAS 11.3 update.

FreeNAS 11.3-U2 Release Notes

TrueNAS Updates for VMware vSphere 7

We’re happy to announce the availability of TrueNAS vCenter Plugin 3.2 with support for the newly released vSphere 7!

Learn more here

11 TB TRUENAS® X10-HA $9.9K | 1 PB TRUENAS® M40-HA $69.9K

iXsystems FreeNAS Certified Server with Asigra Hardware Review

Storage Review takes a look at the hardware inside a 2U FreeNAS Certified Server designed for Asigra Backup solution.

Watch here now

Download the full report here

iXsystems Donates KN95 Masks to Local Hospital
iXsystems donated one thousand KN95 masks to the El Camino Foundation in Northern California to support medical personnel in the fight against COVID-19.

More webinars

Setting Up FreeNAS Users, Permissions, and ACLs
This tutorial will guide you through setting up users, permissions, and Access Control List options on FreeNAS 11.3.

Learn more here

Video: TrueNAS & FreeNAS – iSCSI Shares Overview
Our latest YouTube video will walk you through setting up iSCSI shares with the wizard, as well as an overview of ZVOL datasets.

Watch here now

Distributed Computing on FreeNAS for COVID-19 Research
User Jamey will show us how FreeNAS users can help aid COVID-19 research by utilizing Rosetta@Home on a FreeBSD jail.

Learn more here

eBook on Open Source Storage
This free eBook explains how proprietary and cloud storage falls short and why Open Source is a better development model for storage systems. Learn about the advantages of NVMe/NVDIMM storage for the modern enterprise and why businesses need a unified data platform.

Download it here

Sign up here

We’re Hiring!
Open Source technology is our passion, and we’re looking for more people to join the iXsystems Team! View open positions here

Tech-Tip #75
Here’s a FreeNAS Tech Tip regarding Virtual Machines: To check which interface is attached to a VM, start the VM and go to the Shell. Type “ifconfig” and find the tap interface that shows the name of the VM in the description. More info in Documentation

Links of the Month

A Thank you to FreeNAS (and TrueNAS CORE) by RoboNuggie
Building a Low Energy Storage Server for your Office/Homelab by LearnLinuxTV
Iconik Content Management Solutions with FreeNAS via StorageGaga
Set up NGINX Reverse-Proxy, Cloudflare Let’s Encrypt SSL for NextCloud, DDNS on FreeNAS via Fahad Usman

Quote of the Month
“Before we moved to TrueNAS we used two different SAN solutions. Workflow performance between those two solutions and our single TrueNAS is like night & day; we found that protecting our data became something we could do four times each hour, instead of once each night. Implementing TrueNAS allowed me to sleep well at night knowing my data is safe.”

– Sang-Jin Bae, Hornet Inc. Chief Technology Officer

The post FreeNAS 11.3 U2 Release | New TrueNAS vCenter Plugin – Issue #78 appeared first on TrueNAS - Welcome to the Open Storage Era.

iXsystems Introduces New TrueNAS Security Hub

iX Team — Wed, 08 Apr 2020 17:28:52 +0000

This is historic content that may contain outdated information. For the newest information on FreeNAS and TrueNAS, please visit TrueNAS.com or read our latest Blogs.

Data and systems security is important to every business. The cost of security breaches can be extremely high and consumes IT administration resources. The best strategy is to avoid and minimize those breaches.
TrueNAS and FreeNAS provide many features to assist with security issues. Unlike other storage systems, the software is Open Source and enables anyone to audit the source code and report back to iXsystems about any potential vulnerabilities. iXsystems will then privately investigate, fix any vulnerabilities, and make our community aware how to best address the issues.
The new TrueNAS Security Hub empowers you with the information you need to maintain the security, integrity, and availability of your data in the midst of possible threats to your IT infrastructure such as vulnerabilities, malware, and ransomware.

The hub includes CVEs (“Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures”: publicly known information on security vulnerabilities and mitigations), errata (technical descriptions of unintended faults in hardware and/or software components), and articles (notices and best practices for security issues regarding TrueNAS and TrueCommand).

The hub also includes security information for FreeNAS and the upcoming release of TrueNAS CORE 12.0. For home and small business users, the goal is to make the latest software robust enough that using the hub is unnecessary.

For Security Officers, there is also a security white paper which details how security and privacy practices have been applied to TrueNAS. To obtain a copy of the white paper, please send an email to security-info@ixsystems.com.

We hope these newly available resources are beneficial to the community and provide System Administrators with the tools to operate their storage systems in a safe and secure manner. iXsystems is constantly improving the TrueNAS software, and there are already several more security features slated to be included in TrueNAS 12.0. To report a potential product-related privacy or security issue (incident, breach or vulnerability), please contact our Security Team at security[at]ixsystems.com.

Visit the TrueNAS Security Hub today for the latest in TrueNAS and FreeNAS security info.

The post iXsystems Introduces New TrueNAS Security Hub appeared first on TrueNAS - Welcome to the Open Storage Era.

TrueNAS Updates for VMware vSphere 7

iX Team — Mon, 30 Mar 2020 19:36:15 +0000

TrueNAS Unified Storage is always improving its support of virtualization and private clouds. Pairing the reliable and scalable performance of ZFS with all-flash and hybrid-flash configurations, TrueNAS is a natural fit for the virtual storage backends of VMware ESXi®, Microsoft® Hyper-V®, XenServer®, or KVM hypervisors. Today, we announce the availability of TrueNAS vCenter Plugin 3.2 with support for the newly released vSphere 7.
Unlike most virtualization storage solutions, TrueNAS is flexible enough to provide file, block, and object protocols with the performance to work as both a VM datastore and file share in mixed environments.
TrueNAS versions 11.1-U7, 11.2, 11.3, and onward support VMware VAAI protocol for iSCSI and Fibre Channel and enable an enhanced TrueNAS vCenter plugin for easier management. With the TrueNAS vCenter Plugin 3.2, TrueNAS now supports vSphere7 as well as all 6.5 and 6.7 releases.

TrueNAS Optimized for VMware vSphere 6.5, 6.7, and 7.0

In a vSphere environment, TrueNAS acts as a high performance ESXi datastore using either iSCSI, Fibre Channel (FC), or NFS. Storage capacity and performance can be independently scaled, and the appliance can be managed natively in vCenter, via the TrueNAS vCenter plugin.
Key TrueNAS optimizations for VMware include:

“VMware Ready” Storage Certification with vSphere for TrueNAS High Availability configurations. Details are available in the VMware Compatibility Guide.
Enhanced Integration of VMware vSphere Storage APIs – Array Integration (VAAI) for efficient performance on iSCSI or FC block storage.
Updated TrueNAS vCenter Plugin 3.2 supports the new APIs in vSphere 6.5, 6.7-U2, 6.7-U3 (a,b), and 7.0. The plugin enables admins to setup and monitor VMs and storage from within the vCenter web interface. Existing customers can contact support@ixsystems.com to gain access to the plugin.

The TrueNAS vCenter Plugin is described in this video. Technical highlights of Plugin 3.2 include:

Simpler deployment in vCenter 6.7U3 (a,b) builds
Improved security through encrypted API
Management of scheduled periodic tasks
Improved Capacity and Snapshot management
Asynchronous updates to datastore status
Improved management of NFS volumes

Kubernetes on TrueNAS

With vSphere 7, VMs and Containers (Kubernetes) are supported on the same physical infrastructure with TrueNAS. TrueNAS systems start with capacities as low as 10 TB and scale to 10 PB and 800K IOPS. Organizations of any size can configure one or more platforms to fit their capacity, performance, and budgetary needs.

TrueNAS Virtualization

Whether you are using vSphere 7.0, 6.7, or another stack and hypervisor, TrueNAS provides virtualization solutions that stretch your budget further. The utilization of Open Source economics reduces the costs of all-flash performance solutions and hybrid backup solutions.
For organizations with tens of thousands of VMs, multiple TrueNAS M50s can be logically configured via vCenter and managed as a single infrastructure via TrueCommand, a single-pane-of-glass management system. The ability to scale compute and storage independently can save significant costs in virtual environments.

Additional Resources & Information

Find out more information on integrating TrueNAS into your VMware environment:

Talk to iX

For any questions, please schedule a call with one of our TrueNAS experts or email sales@iXsystems.com, and we can help configure, size, and price a system that meets (and exceeds) the needs of your virtual environment.

The post TrueNAS Updates for VMware vSphere 7 appeared first on TrueNAS - Welcome to the Open Storage Era.

FreeNAS and TrueNAS are Merging – Issue #77

iX Team — Thu, 19 Mar 2020 18:00:48 +0000

NOTE: This is historical content that may contain outdated information.

iXsystems is proud to announce the next phase of evolution for TrueNAS and FreeNAS. Later this year, we will unify both products into a single software image and brand name. Introducing the two editions of TrueNAS Open Storage: TrueNAS CORE and TrueNAS Enterprise.

Learn more here

Update from iXsystems CEO on COVID-19 Response
iXsystems CEO, Mike Lauth, reaches out to iXsystems customers, partners, friends, and the FreeNAS Community at-large with an update on the iXsystems response to the Novel Coronavirus pandemic.

Read more here

Special Pricing on TrueNAS X10 and M40 Systems

Until the end of March, we have 120 TB TrueNAS X10 and 800 TB TrueNAS M40 systems pre-built and ready to ship! Order yours now to get enterprise-class storage and performance at the lowest TCO in the industry.

120 TB TRUENAS® X10-HA $15K | 800 TB TRUENAS® M40-HA $100K

Introducing FreeNAS Mini E+ and All-Flash Minis

The FreeNAS Mini E+ is built off of the same whisper-quiet enclosure as the FreeNAS Mini E; however, the Mini E+ has double the cores and threads, a higher CPU base frequency, and increased memory capacity and speed. In addition, the FreeNAS Mini product family can now be configured with SSDs in the All-Flash model.

Learn more here

Download the full report here

TrueNAS M50 High Availability Demo by Lawrence Systems

Thomas Lawrence of Lawrence Systems continues his review of the TrueNAS M50 storage appliance, this time demonstrating the high-availability (HA) and failover feature.

Watch here now

More webinars

Microsoft Active Directory Security Changes Require TrueNAS & FreeNAS Updates
FreeNAS and TrueNAS users that utilize Active Directory should update to version 11.3 (or 11.2-U8) to avoid potential disruption of their networks when updating to the latest versions of Windows software.

Read more here

Latest Releases

FreeNAS	11.3-U1	Release Notes
TrueNAS	11.2-U8	Release Notes
TrueNAS	11.3-RC1	Release Notes

Video: FreeNAS Users, Permissions, ACLs

Our latest YouTube video will show you how to configure users/groups, permissions, and ACLs properly on the latest version of FreeNAS, 11.3.

Watch here now

How to Set Up Windows SMB Shares on FreeNAS

In this tutorial, we are going to show you how to set up an SMB share on your FreeNAS machine and connect with a Windows client.

Learn more here

eBook on Open Source Storage
This free eBook explains how proprietary and cloud storage falls short and why Open Source is a better development model for storage systems. Learn about the advantages of NVMe/NVDIMM storage for the modern enterprise and why businesses need a unified data platform.

Download it here

Sign up here

We’re Hiring!
Open Source technology is our passion, and we’re looking for more people to join the iXsystems Team! View open positions here

Tech-Tip #74
When connecting to the system 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 typing /etc/netcli. The Console Setup menu can be disabled by unchecking Enable Console Menu in System ➞ Advanced. More info in Documentation

Links of the Month

(Video) FreeNAS 11.3-U1 Updates and Jails via Lawrence Systems
(Video) How to Configure Jail VLANs with FreeNAS 11.3 via Lawrence Systems
FreeBSD Around the World, and Why You Should Get Involved!
FuryBSD reviewed by It’s FOSS and DistroWatch

Quote of the Month
“TrueNAS allows us to virtualize everything we do in our manufacturing operations from just a single storage unit. We are running VMware instances to multiple client systems on the production floor and throughout our entire operation as fast as our network allows. TrueNAS gives us an edge.”

– John Konc, Head of Computing and Information Systems, A&C Mold

The post FreeNAS and TrueNAS are Merging – Issue #77 appeared first on TrueNAS - Welcome to the Open Storage Era.

How to Set Up Windows SMB Shares on FreeNAS

iX Team — Wed, 11 Mar 2020 19:40:21 +0000

In this tutorial, we are going to show you how to set up an SMB share on your FreeNAS machine. To share data with Windows clients, FreeNAS uses CIFS, also known as SMB or Samba. SMB shares are also compatible with macOS offering great flexibility for client operating systems. Before you get started, you should already have a pool configured in FreeNAS. To learn how to configure a pool, see our FreeNAS ZFS Pools Overview tutorial.

Setting up a FreeNAS User Account
First, we will go ahead and set up a FreeNAS user account, which allows you to securely access your shares. Go to “Accounts” then “Users” on the left menu. I’ll be creating a new user called “homeuser” and adding a new primary group with it. I’ll be configuring the new share to use this user and group, but be sure to substitute your own users and groups as needed.

Setting up a Windows (SMB) Share
Go to “Storage” then “Pools” on the left hand side. Open the pool options by clicking the 3 dots on the right of the pool then, “Add Dataset”

I’m calling this ‘windowset’ and setting the share type to ‘SMB’. Click “SAVE” when done.

Next, we’ll create the Windows Share. Go to “Sharing”, and “Windows Shares (SMB)”.

Click “ADD”
Click the folder icon, and browse to the path of the dataset you want to share, which was “windowset”
Give your share a name. Let’s call this one “windowshare”
Select Allow Guest Access if you would like guests to view your files without a password *Note that some Windows 10 and Server systems have Guest Access disabled by default, and on MacOS you will need to set the “Connect as:” option to “Guest”.
Click “SAVE” when done. It will ask you to “Enable Service” for the SMB protocol.

Editing ACLs
For this next step, we’ll need to assign the user we created earlier with the Share. From the SMB window, open the share options by clicking the 3 dots on the right, and “Edit ACL”.

On the left side, leave “root” and “wheel” as the original owners of the dataset. To give another user ownership permissions, click “Add ACL Item”, then choose “User” for the “Who” field, and “homeuser” for the “User” field. You may copy the same settings as the ACL items above.

These settings on the right side allow you to configure the dataset’s Access Control List according to your network and security needs. Note that when we set the Share Type to “SMB” earlier, the ACL options will default to that specific configuration, which is shown there. Refer to the FreeNAS documentation for configuration recommendations for ACLs.

Click “SAVE” when that is done.

Enabling SMB Services
Go to the Services page, and make sure “Running” is enabled next to SMB. To ensure that SMB is always running after FreeNAS reboots, check “Start Automatically”. For additional options to configure the SMB service, you can click the “Edit” icon here. More information about these options can be found in the documentation, but the default values will work fine.

Accessing SMB Share from Windows

Head on over to your Windows machine.

Open up File Explorer, and type in “\\” followed by your FreeNAS IP address
You should be able to see your share here.
Right click that shared folder and click “Map Network Drive”.
Check the box “Connect using different credentials” then click “Finish”.
Enter the login details of the account you created in the beginning, which was “homeuser”.
You should now be able to add, delete, and create files or folders.

Thank you for reading this tutorial! Be sure to check out our other tutorials and videos on our YouTube channel.

The post How to Set Up Windows SMB Shares on FreeNAS appeared first on TrueNAS - Welcome to the Open Storage Era.

FreeNAS and TrueNAS are Unifying

iX Team — Thu, 05 Mar 2020 15:47:59 +0000

FreeNAS and TrueNAS have been separate-but-related members of the #1 Open Source storage software family since 2012. FreeNAS is the free Open Source version with an expert community and has led the pursuit of innovations like Plugins and VMs. TrueNAS is the enterprise version for organizations of all sizes that need additional uptime and performance, as well as the enterprise-grade support necessary for critical data and applications.
From the beginning at iXsystems, we’ve developed, tested, documented, and released both as separate products, even though the vast majority of code is shared. This was a deliberate technical decision in the beginning but over time became less of a necessity and more of “just how we’ve always done it”. Furthermore, to change it was going to require a serious overhaul to how we build and package both products, among other things, so we continued to kick the can down the road. As we made systematic improvements to development and QA efficiency over the past few years, the redundant release process became almost impossible to ignore as our next major efficiency roadblock to overcome. So, we’ve finally rolled up our sleeves.
With the recent 11.3 release, TrueNAS gained parity with FreeNAS on features like VMs and Plugins, further homogenizing the code. Today, we announce the next phase of evolution for FreeNAS and TrueNAS.
With the 12.0 release coming in the latter half of the year, we will not only bring more features and improvements than any release that has come before it, we will also unify both products into a single software image and name! This shift will have a great many benefits for users, but before we go into further detail, we’d like to first reassure you that there are no plans to stop releasing a free version, close the source or limit features. Just want to make sure that’s out of the way before we go on! 🙂

The Benefits

This isn’t just a union of convenience, there are major technical benefits for all users and contributors:

Rapid Development: Unified images accelerate software development and releases (for example, 12.0 is a major release that would normally have taken 9-12 months to release, and with these new efficiencies, we are bringing that closer to six months)
Improved Quality: Reduced development redundancy and unified QA increases software quality and allows us to streamline testing
Earlier Hardware Enablement: Staying in-sync with upstream OS versions will be easier, allowing earlier access to newer hardware drivers. For instance, 12.0 brings improved support for AMD EPYC / Ryzen platforms and enhanced NUMA support for more efficient CPU core handling.
Simplified Documentation: Unified documentation eliminates redundancy such as separate user guides
Deduplication of Effort: Unified web content and videos refer to one software family without the need for duplication
Flexibility: Unified images enable simpler transitions or upgrades between editions
Resource Efficiency: frees up developers to work on new features and related products
Open ZFS 2.0: The planning for the “unified” 12.0 release began over a year ago and included the major investment in the development and integration of what will soon be released as “OpenZFS 2.0”. This effort is fast-forwarding delivery of advances like dataset encryption, major performance improvements, and compatibility with Linux ZFS pools.

Overall, this union provides a solid foundation for a more feature-rich future.

What to Expect

In the 11.3 release, FreeNAS and TrueNAS share over 95% of the same source code but are built into separate images, each with their own name. The Version 12.0 release will change this process by moving to one unified image with two different editions: a free, Open Source edition (this will never change!) and an enterprise edition.
Both editions will have common Open Source code, unified documentation, and a shared product name. The web interface and REST APIs will be relatively unchanged from version 11.3 with only additions for new features. Our VP Engineering, Kris Moore, describes the change in process in this video blog.

Two Names Become One

For years we’ve talked longingly about unifying the images, documentation, and web content due to all of the efficiency gains and benefits to be had. The one thing that always held us back was the question of what to do with the name: after all, unification of the software meant that two distinct product names were no longer workable, and we’ve grown as attached to both names as have our Community and customers (and perhaps even more!).
On the one hand, we have the FreeNAS brand that everyone has come to know and love; it lets users know immediately the product doesn’t cost anything to use and also hints at the fact that it’s Open Source. On the other hand, TrueNAS is a better name for an enterprise product. Some may remember that TrueNAS was originally released as “FreeNAS Pro”, but the feedback received was that many companies didn’t take it seriously. They felt a product with “Free” in the name didn’t inspire the necessary confidence for critical infrastructure and data. Hence, the name TrueNAS was born to overcome that stigma, and the enterprise side of our business has grown reliably since then.
So, after many months of analysis, weighing pros and cons, and spirited debate, we’ve decided that the technical benefits and efficiencies from unifying the products are too significant to ignore and now overwhelmingly outweigh our attachment to names. Therefore, we’ve decided to merge the names to share the stronger enterprise brand, TrueNAS. By doing so, we continue to give all users the confidence to use the product in important and mission-critical applications, while still paying homage to FreeNAS through the use of a shark-themed icon in the logo. We also continue to emphasize the benefits of Open Source through the sub-moniker “Open Storage”.
We now present to you:

There will be two different editions: TrueNAS CORE and TrueNAS Enterprise. Without any license keys, TrueNAS CORE provides all the same, unrestricted FreeNAS functionality you know and love, while the source code will still be Open Source and forever free to use. TrueNAS Enterprise will enable an extended feature set using a license key on supported platforms. This move elevates FreeNAS to the enterprise-grade quality levels of TrueNAS to further cement its position as the world’s #1 Open Storage OS.

TrueNAS CORE: always open, always Free NAS

The only thing changing is the name. FreeNAS will take on the name of “TrueNAS CORE”. More than just a “Free-NAS”, TrueNAS CORE is enterprise-quality software-defined storage that can be used without restrictions or cost. It is also the core of the full-fledged enterprise edition, TrueNAS Enterprise, which provides the additional fault-tolerance, performance, and support that businesses and critical applications require.
CORE is a commitment that all the core functionality that FreeNAS users love will be included in the best free NAS software. CORE also defines itself with the acronym:

We’re immensely proud of FreeNAS and its community. The change in name does not change the underlying FreeBSD OS, the FreeBSD-based license, or our commitment to free and Open Source software. Long-time FreeNAS diehards will have the option to use the existing FreeNAS name and logo in the banner of the web interface by simply selecting a FreeNAS theme from the dropdown in the upper right-hand action bar, if they so choose.
Web visitors will eventually be forwarded to the new TrueNAS web pages, but that’s still a little while away. The freenas.org domain will remain in place, but over time we will use a TrueNAS domain to provide a common source of information. There will be no changes to community logins or newsletters.
TrueNAS CORE 12.0 will have some major advances over FreeNAS 11.3. These include support for Fusion Pools (mixing SSD and HDD vdevs) and encrypted datasets. A more complete list of the hundreds of improvements will be made with the 12.0 BETA release announcement.

TrueNAS Enterprise: the best value in enterprise storage

TrueNAS customers will see a smaller name change with the move to version 12.0 but will see a change to the new shark fin icon. The FreeNAS shark icon is well known, but this modernized icon represents the stealthy but mighty storage competitor that TrueNAS has become.

The new name is “TrueNAS Enterprise” and it inherits all the same enclosure management, high availability, and support that TrueNAS 11.3 benefits from. TrueNAS Enterprise systems will automatically inherit the TrueNAS CORE features and a pre-installed key unlocks enterprise features.

The TrueNAS 12.0 Preview

Everyone is invited to experience an early preview of TrueNAS 12.0. Nightly images will be available March 11th for anyone that has a spare system to test and develop with, and we would love to hear your feedback. Be sure to check out Fusion Pools and dataset encryption and let us know what you think.

We’ve started a TrueNAS 12.0 sub-forum on the community forums for this blog and community feedback. In general, we’re always looking for opinions and ideas on how we can improve TrueNAS products.

Next Steps

TrueNAS CORE 12.0 will go through the same ALPHA, BETA, RC1, RELEASE states that FreeNAS has gone through. There will be no changes to the software update process or the information available. The process will be more efficient within iXsystems, and we expect to deliver our users more with the same resources we have today. TrueNAS CORE 12.0 is planned for release in Q3 2020, which will be a much shorter development cycle for a release of this magnitude, thanks to this change.
Some users have asked us whether there will be a paid option to upgrade a system running TrueNAS CORE to Enterprise? The change in the release process makes that upgrade more possible, and we will be investigating options to enable this. There will also be opportunities to develop more radical improvements to TrueNAS functionality. Please contact us if your organization needs something that isn’t yet available.
As always, a huge thanks goes out to our community and customers for your continued support in helping us democratize enterprise storage. We are excited to work side by side with you on this next phase of the FreeNAS and TrueNAS journey. Many more great things to come!
For more information on TrueNAS 12.0, please check out our new blog about the features coming in TrueNAS CORE and TrueNAS Enterprise.

The post FreeNAS and TrueNAS are Unifying appeared first on TrueNAS - Welcome to the Open Storage Era.

Warning! Active Directory Security Changes Require TrueNAS and FreeNAS Updates

iX Team — Thu, 27 Feb 2020 23:45:26 +0000

Critical Information for Current FreeNAS and TrueNAS Users

Microsoft is changing the security defaults for Active Directory to eliminate some security vulnerabilities in its protocols. Unfortunately, these new security defaults may disrupt existing FreeNAS/TrueNAS deployments once Windows systems are updated. The Windows updates may appear sometime in March 2020; no official date has been announced as of yet.
FreeNAS and TrueNAS users that utilize Active Directory should update to version 11.3 (or 11.2-U8) to avoid potential disruption of their networks when updating to the latest versions of Windows software after March 1, 2020. Version 11.3 has been released and version 11.2-U8 will be available in early March.
Full details are available in this iXsystems Technical Note about LDAP channel binding and LDAP signing.
Users not using Active Directory are unaffected by these Microsoft updates and therefore can update their FreeNAS and TrueNAS systems at their leisure.
SMB Sharing on FreeNAS and TrueNAS
FreeNAS and TrueNAS are used to provide SMB shares in over 80% of deployments. Windows, Mac, and now Linux clients use SMB to share files. In many cases, SMB3 is preferred to NFSv3 and includes some file integrity advantages because the client behavior is well defined. SMB clients gain the advantages of the highly robust OpenZFS file system and all the replication and administration tools that FreeNAS and TrueNAS provide.
SMB3 is usually deployed in organizations with Active Directory to manage user authentication and permissions. All Windows Servers and FreeNAS/TrueNAS units can be configured to use the same security control.

FreeNAS and TrueNAS Release 11.3
The good news is that version 11.3 includes many improvements to SMB and Active Directory support beyond the compatibility with the new Microsoft security patches:

The methods of communicating with the Active Directory Domain Controller now use strong authentication. The strong authentication methods are either SSL-encrypted transport or signed sasl_gssapi bind (Kerberos). This is the additional feature needed to avoid disruption with the change in security defaults.
Setup wizards for SMB and Active Directory have been added. The user feedback on ease of deployment has been excellent.
SMB and OpenZFS snapshots have been better integrated. Now ZFS snapshots are automatically visible to clients’ systems as Shadow Copies with all the previous versions of files. A file from an old snapshot can be copied and restored to a current share without any help from a storage administrator. More impressively, only snapshots with file changes are visible to the client so it’s much easier to find the right snapshot.
Tools and best practices have been added to improve the ability to share the same files with NFS and SMB clients. NFSv3 has some weaknesses where clients can be configured to ignore network locking, but as long as best practices are followed, mixed protocol shares can be safely operated.
ACL manager has been added to provide an easy-to-use web UI to set permissions on an SMB share. This greatly simplifies SMB setup and reduces the setup time.
ZFS Replication between SMB datasets to a backup system has been greatly improved. The speed of replication on high bandwidth links has been increased by 8X to over 10Gbit/s (5 TB per hour). For large datasets, these replication tasks now support a suspend and resume model that can withstand a network outage. This is probably the most efficient SMB share replication available.
ZFS user quotas are now exposed as NT quotas to SMB clients. Windows users can manage these quotas using File Explorer, and Linux and FreeBSD users can use the smbcquotas utility for quota management.

Please contact us if we can help you with your next SMB server deployments.

The post Warning! Active Directory Security Changes Require TrueNAS and FreeNAS Updates appeared first on TrueNAS - Welcome to the Open Storage Era.

Introducing the FreeNAS Mini E+ and All-Flash Minis

iX Team — Tue, 25 Feb 2020 21:34:04 +0000

NOTE: This is historical content that may contain outdated information.

The much-anticipated 3rd generation of our FreeNAS Mini products (the FreeNAS Mini E and XL+ models) was introduced in Q3 2019. After reviewing customer feedback and requests, we added the FreeNAS Mini E+ along with the option for all-flash configurations to the entire Mini lineup!

The FreeNAS Mini E+ is built off of the same whisper-quiet enclosure as the FreeNAS Mini E, however, the Mini E+ has double the cores and threads, a higher CPU base frequency, and increased memory capacity and speed. Below is a reference chart for comparison between the FreeNAS Mini E and the new FreeNAS Mini E+. The extra CPU and memory of the FreeNAS Mini E+ makes it well suited for running multiple Plugins and VMs.

The Breakdown of the Mini E+
Building on the success of the FreeNAS Mini E, the FreeNAS Mini E+ adds some significant performance improvements.

Despite the entry-level price, all components are server-grade.

Quad Port Motherboard & Processor
The FreeNAS Mini E+ includes an integrated quad core Intel® Atom CPU with a base frequency of 2.20 GHz. This highly-efficient processor can perform two simultaneous 1080p transcodes in applications like Plex.
The motherboard includes four gigabit RJ45 data ports with full LACP support, two ECC-capable DDR4 DIMM slots, one USB 3.0 port, two front-mounted USB 2.0 ports, gigabit IPMI remote management port, UID switch, an RS232 serial port, and a VGA port. Although the motherboard has a PCIe slot, it is disabled by the CPU/chipset to maximize SATA device connectivity.

Rear-view highlights: Quad gigabit ethernet ports, whisper-quiet fan, and a dedicated management port

Power Efficient NAS Workhorse
The new C3558 Atom processors are powerful and highly efficient with a thermal design power (TDP) of only 16W. This allows the Mini E to achieve a baseline idle power consumption of less than 26W!
Hard drives play a significant role in overall power consumption. We build all FreeNAS Minis with NAS-grade hard drives (Western Digital Red to be specific) to get the highest power efficiency, best acoustic performance, best reliability, and lowest price per TB. For a system fully populated with four 10 TB NAS drives and two cache devices, idle power consumption is less than 45W, and less than 65W under maximum load.

ECC Memory & Caching
Error Correcting Code (ECC) memory is the front line defense against data corruption and is one of the major features that sets the FreeNAS Mini apart from lower cost consumer-grade NAS systems. With ECC memory, single bit errors are corrected on the fly before they are written to disk, and if multiple bit errors are detected, the memory will halt the system before any data corruption is committed to disk.
The FreeNAS Mini E+ comes standard with 16GB DDR4 ECC memory. The motherboard has four DIMM Slots and can be upgraded to 32GB RAM using 8GB DIMMs. Other configurable performance upgrades include Read (L2ARC) and Write Cache (SLOG) SATA SSDs.

Whisper Quiet
The FreeNAS Mini E+ is also whisper quiet, and uses one of the quietest 120mm fans available, making it a perfect match for a sensitive work environment that requires near-silence.
Drive selection matters for maintaining low noise in a NAS system. If users buy a Mini E+ without hard drives, pay attention to the acoustic specifications of the hard drives you select. For reference, the NAS-grade hard drives that come with our pre-built systems idle around 20-21 dBA, and Seek from 24-29 dBA, which is quiet by spinning disk standards. SSDs are effectively silent and cooler, which reduces fan speed and reduces sound levels even further.\

HTML5-Based Remote Management
Another feature unique to systems in its class is the ability to manage and administer the FreeNAS Mini E+’s hardware from a remote location, via the Intelligent Platform Management Interface (IPMI) console.The IPMI web interface uses HTML5, providing remote console access without Java, or the need for a physical monitor or keyboard.

The FreeNAS Mini E+ always ships with the latest version of FreeNAS.

All-Flash Minis
In addition, the FreeNAS Mini product family can now be configured with SSDs. The Mini E and Mini E+ models can be equipped with up to six SSDs and up to ten for the Mini XL+! The FreeNAS Mini Configurator provides SSDs at 960 GB, 1.9 TB, 3.8 TB, and 7.6 TB capacities. These cost effective QLC SSDs have been verified to operate and perform well with FreeNAS and provide power-loss safe operation. They are ideal for applications that need a performance boost over HDDs.
A FreeNAS Mini XL+ with dual 10Gbe and 9 x 3.8TB QLC SSDs is a QUIET, high performance workhorse with performance that would typically require high-end server configurations that sound like a small jet engine. The web configurator price for this all-flash 34 TB system is under $7000.

World’s #1 Open Source Storage Software
Of course, the FreeNAS Mini E+ comes installed with the latest version of FreeNAS. The new FreeNAS 11.3 web interface offers improved usability, easier system management, and better responsiveness. FreeNAS also provides several options to easily back up your data to another FreeNAS or TrueNAS system, Asigra, or to a public cloud provider like AWS S3, Google Cloud, Microsoft Azure, or Backblaze B2, among others. FreeNAS 11.3 provides many wizards to simplify setup of ZFS pools, iSCSI extents, and SMB shares.
FreeNAS Minis can also be managed using the new TrueCommand multi-system management application. TrueCommand provides a “single pane of glass” for managing and monitoring groups of FreeNAS and TrueNAS systems with automated alerts and customized reports.

Get yours today!
The FreeNAS Mini line is available through Amazon, starting at $699 without hard drives, or $999 for a ready-to-deploy 8TB configuration. The FreeNAS Mini E+ starts at $849. Any FreeNAS Mini can be custom-configured to your specifications and ordered through the iXsystems online Mini Configurator. Visit www.ixsystems.com/freenas-mini/ for full FreeNAS Mini technical and use case information.
With the introduction of the FreeNAS Mini E+, the 2nd generation FreeNAS Minis are also being officially retired. For more information about the FreeNAS Mini 2.0, and FreeNAS Mini XL, please click here!

The post Introducing the FreeNAS Mini E+ and All-Flash Minis appeared first on TrueNAS - Welcome to the Open Storage Era.

TrueNAS & FreeNAS 11.3 Release Delivers Wizards, Plugins, and Accelerated Replication – Issue #76

iX Team — Thu, 20 Feb 2020 19:00:07 +0000

This is historic content that may contain outdated information. For the newest information on FreeNAS and TrueNAS, please visit TrueNAS.com or read our latest Blogs.

TrueNAS & FreeNAS 11.3 Release Delivers Wizards, Plugins, and Accelerated Replication

Building upon the very popular API and Web UI improvements of the previous release, 11.3 introduces easy-setup wizards, major replication improvements, and over 500 other enhancements.

Learn more here

TrueCommand Gets Dockerized with v1.2 Release

TrueCommand 1.2 has been released and is now available as a VM or a Docker image, and will soon be available as a cloud service.

Learn more here

iXsystems Enters 2020 with Sustained Growth in TrueNAS Revenues
iXsystems starts 2020 strongly after four years of more than 50% compound annual revenue growth in its TrueNAS® product family. This momentum reflects the steady adoption of Open Source storage, the cutting-edge TrueNAS M-Series, and power-efficient TrueNAS X-Series storage appliances.

Read more here

Download the full report here

TrueNAS M50 Software Review by Lawrence Systems

Thomas Lawrence continues his review of the TrueNAS M50 by highlighting its robust software capabilities and demonstrating high availability, enclosure management, and more.

Watch here now

More webinars

FreeNAS Plugins Development
Plugins are a technology for easily and securely deploying 3rd party applications directly on FreeNAS and TrueNAS storage systems. Users can use the web interface to deploy, start, stop, and update applications, along with configuration tasks such as assigning storage to them.

Learn more here

Plex Permissions in FreeNAS 11.3
Plex Media Server is a popular Plugin available for FreeNAS, allowing the user to stream media directly from their FreeNAS system. Learn how to configure your permissions properly for Plex with the latest FreeNAS release.

Learn more here

TrueNAS Quick Overview
A quick and straightforward overview of everything TrueNAS has to offer in 2 minutes.

Watch here now

eBook on Open Source Storage
This free eBook explains how proprietary and cloud storage falls short and why Open Source is a better development model for storage systems. Learn about the advantages of NVMe/NVDIMM storage for the modern enterprise and why businesses need a unified data platform.

Download it here

Sign up here

We’re Hiring!
Open Source technology is our passion, and we’re looking for more people to join the iXsystems Team! View open positions here

Tech-Tip #73
The encryption key file and passphrase are required to decrypt the pool. If the pool can’t be decrypted, it cannot be re-imported after a failed upgrade or lost config. So, save a copy of the key and remember the passphrase! More info at FreeNAS Documentation

Links of the Month

VFX Artist Builds: Lightning Fast Freenas Server via Tim van Helsdingen
FreeNAS 11.3 Overview via Lawrence Systems
Is anyone using FreeNAS in production? via r/freenas
FreeNAS ZFS Pools RAIDZ Capacity, Integrity, and Performance

Quote of the Month
“We liked the built-in snapshots and data integrity features that ZFS had to offer. We are very familiar with FreeBSD, which we used as a diskless platform for all of our teaching workstations. The fact that TrueNAS is rooted in those technologies was a very big selling point for us in regard to administration and stability.”

– Ron Simpson, Operations Supervisor at McGill University

The post TrueNAS & FreeNAS 11.3 Release Delivers Wizards, Plugins, and Accelerated Replication – Issue #76 appeared first on TrueNAS - Welcome to the Open Storage Era.

Plex Permissions in FreeNAS 11.3

iX Team — Tue, 18 Feb 2020 21:05:51 +0000

NOTE: This is historical content that may contain outdated information.

Plex Media Server is a popular Plugin available for FreeNAS, allowing the user to stream media directly from their FreeNAS system. Because Plugins reside inside a jail, Plex must have access to the media files to be shared which are generally stored in a separate dataset that is mounted inside the Plex Plugin jail. A media dataset can also be mounted in multiple jails to allow access to other Plugins like Radarr, Sonarr, or Sabnzbd to manage and share the centralized media.
Once Plex is installed, its permissions will be in a default state set during the initial creation of a dataset on FreeNAS. Unless otherwise modified, this means the dataset will be owned by the user “root” and group “wheel”. Because Plex Media Server runs as the user “plex” in the default configuration, Plex will not be able to read or write to the media dataset and thus not be able to access the media files stored there. To create an ACL for the media dataset with the correct Plex user ID, first verify that user ID by running id plex in the Plugin Jail’s shell. This should be 972; with that information, launch the FreeNAS 11.3 ACL manager:

1. 1. Click the three dots next to the media dataset; in this example, it is called “media”
  2. Select “Edit ACL”
  3. Click the “Add ACL Item” button. A new section will appear at the bottom of the list of existing ACL items.
  4. Fill in the following:
    Who: User User: 972 (Don't worry if it says "Could not find a username for this ID") ACL Type: Allow Permissions Type: Basic Permissions: Full Control Flags Type: Basic Flags: Inherit
  5. If files already exist in the dataset, select the “Apply permissions recursively” checkbox.
  6. Click “Save”
  7. Add media in Plex Media Server through its web interface as normal

Other popular Plugin user ID’s include:

Radarr = 352
Sonarr = 351
Transmission = 921
Sabnzbd = 350

Visit the General Plugin Discussion in the FreeNAS Forums for more information and enjoy your media serving with FreeNAS!

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iXsystems Enters 2020 with Sustained Growth in TrueNAS Revenues

iX Team — Thu, 13 Feb 2020 16:00:02 +0000

TrueCommand and Flash Storage Options Drove Adoption in 2019

San Jose, CA – February 13th, 2020. iXsystems®, the leader in Open Source storage, starts 2020 strongly after four years of >50% compound annual revenue growth in its TrueNAS® product family. This momentum reflects the steady adoption of Open Source storage, the cutting-edge TrueNAS M-Series, and power-efficient TrueNAS X-Series storage appliances. Unlike other storage “startups”, iXsystems is self-funded and was cash flow positive for 2019.
Drivers of 2019 TrueNAS Growth
The introduction of the TrueCommand single pane of glass storage management system and TrueNAS price-leadership in flash systems contributed to a strong Q4 2019. The expansion of the iXsystems international sales team and channel resulted in the doubling of international revenues. iXsystems also added 24×7 TrueNAS support in Europe to service the needs of this important market.
The significant software enhancements and overall high quality of the TrueNAS software and support stimulated the highest ever TrueNAS annual growth in revenue and units shipped. Key 2019 TrueNAS statistics include:

44% growth in TrueNAS sales in 2019
> 70% growth in support revenues
> 100% growth in all-flash system revenues
> 100% growth in international revenues
> 250 new enterprise customers
Record revenues in Q4 2019

“After a soft Q1 2019 in the storage market, TrueNAS resumed its steady 50% growth rate. Our focus on software quality, data protection, and Enterprise support provides our clients with compelling economics in comparison to cloud and traditional storage vendors. We’d like to thank our customers, partners, and the TrueNAS community for their ongoing support.”

– Brett Davis, Executive Vice President

2019 TrueNAS Product Milestones
The TrueNAS M-Series unified file, block, and object storage appliances are proving to be the go-to storage solution for businesses, schools, and government agencies that need Open Source economics and the flexibility to choose all-flash or hybrid systems using the same platforms and management. The M-Series provides high availability and 100Gb/s performance using best-of-breed technologies including NVDIMMs, NVMe, SSDs, and the ZFS file system.
Enterprise Storage Group (ESG) reviewed the TrueNAS M-Series, configured with Hybrid or All-Flash storage, and provided a compelling report outlining the industry-leading price-performance for both virtualization and video production workloads.

“The combination of ZFS, open source, and a lean sales force provides efficiencies that enable iXsystems to offer high performance, feature-rich solutions at high value price points. We calculated a significant delta. Based on our testing and analysis, we found that iXsystems can typically offer up to double the performance at half the cost of their major competitors.”

– Enterprise Storage Group

Both the TrueNAS X-Series and M-Series are also being used in partner solutions. The Asigra TrueNAS backup appliance was the winner in SearchStorage’s Backup Products of the Year. Growth in multi-PB backup systems was strong in 2019.
FreeNAS®, the world’s #1 Open Source storage operating system, is integral to the success of the TrueNAS platforms. Version 11.3 of FreeNAS became available in Q4 2019 and features many enhancements that are now available in TrueNAS. With over 1 million deployments and a rapidly-growing community, hundreds of thousands strong, FreeNAS can be found in organizations around the world of every size and industry, including Fortune 100 companies.
The entry-level FreeNAS Mini and FreeNAS Certified appliances from iXsystems are widely used in offices and development labs. The introduction of the 10GbE FreeNAS Mini XL+ with ultra quiet fans increased the unit and revenue growth in professional-grade FreeNAS systems.
TrueCommand, released in Q2 2019 for use with TrueNAS and FreeNAS systems, has proven to be a major accelerator of growth in larger multi-systems TrueNAS deployments. This single pane of glass management system simplifies operations and increases the security and reliability of the infrastructure. A $1M+ defense contract for TrueNAS was awarded based on TrueCommand features.

“TrueNAS combines Open Source economics with unrivaled flexibility. Whether a client needs 10TB all-flash or 10PB of HDDs, we have a solution using the same software, enterprise support, and single pane of glass management capability.”

– Morgan Littlewood, Senior Vice President, Product Management

2020 TrueNAS Plans
Continued growth in partnerships and the TrueNAS Family (which includes FreeNAS products) product line is key to iXsystems’ revenue growth. iXsystems is making a significant investment to help channels compete, deliver, and improve their bottom line.
The introduction of TrueNAS 11.3 is expected to accelerate TrueNAS adoption. TrueNAS 12.0 with many new features and ZFS enhancements will also be released in 2020. iXsystems has a few surprises planned, so look out for new announcements at https://www.ixsystems.com/blog/.
To learn more about iXsystems and how TrueNAS can help your organization, contact us via https://www.ixsystems.com/contact-us/, or give us a call at 1-855-GREP-4-IX.
About iXsystems
Through decades of expertise in system design and development of Open Source software (FreeNAS, FreeBSD, OpenZFS, and TrueOS), iXsystems has become an innovation leader in a global marketplace that relies on Open Source solutions, high availability storage and servers, technology partnerships, and expert support. Since its founding in 2002, thousands of companies, universities, and government organizations have come to rely on iXsystems’ enterprise servers, TrueNAS Unified Storage, and consultative approach to building IT infrastructure and Private Clouds with Open Source economics. Millions of tech-savvy users also download and deploy our Open Source software each year.

The post iXsystems Enters 2020 with Sustained Growth in TrueNAS Revenues appeared first on TrueNAS - Welcome to the Open Storage Era.

FreeNAS Plugins Development

iX Team — Mon, 03 Feb 2020 21:40:19 +0000

Plugins are a technology for easily and securely deploying 3rd party applications directly on FreeNAS and TrueNAS storage systems. Users can use the web interface to deploy, start, stop, and update applications, along with configuration tasks such as assigning storage to them. Plugins are popular for content, security, development, collaboration, and backup applications for home and business use. FreeNAS and TrueNAS both support Plugins, with TrueNAS adding High Availability (HA) for business use.
Jails are the basis of Plugins. Jails are FreeBSD’s container technology and are highly efficient in their use of resources, are secure, and provide flexible network infrastructure to applications. iocage is the FreeBSD Jail container management framework in FreeNAS.

This tutorial will walk through the creation of a SABnzbd newsreader Plugin using iocage based on the news/sabnzbdplus port to help users get involved in FreeNAS development and leverage FreeNAS as an application platform.
Each of the most popular FreeNAS Plugins such as Plex Media Server, NextCloud, and SyncThing begin as FreeBSD ports: multimedia/plexmediaserver/, deskutils/nextcloudclient/, and net/syncthing/ respectively. These can each be installed on a FreeBSD system with the pkg package manager, i.e. pkg install plexmediaserver and configured manually. A Plugin adds metadata that provides an installation source, reasonable defaults, and user interface elements such as an icon. The metadata components for the sabnzbd Plugin are:

README.md: A popular convention for a file in markdown format for describing the project
sabnzbd.json: The JSON “Artifact” file containing various Plugin properties including an inventory of all other metadata components which may be in the same or a remote repo
overlay: An optional directory containing the files to be copied into the Jail
ui.json: A file containing the Plugin management interface URL and port number
settings.json: An optional JSON file that contains variables used during Plugin startup and for its configuration
sabnzbd.png: A .png image such as sabnzbd.png that will appear in the FreeNAS Plugins Index
post_install.sh: A shell script ran after jail creation to perform necessary configuration steps. It runs only once.

Requirements

FreeNAS provides everything necessary for Plugin development but a FreeBSD system is also a good choice. The requirements are:

A FreeNAS or FreeBSD system running iocage
An internet connection and at least 1GB of available disk space
A publically-accessible Git repo, self-hosted or on a service like GitHub, Gitia or GitLab, or you can run GitLab as a Plugin itself
A text editor such as vi, ee, or nano, all of which are available in FreeNAS
Basic knowledge of FreeBSD and shell scripting

Creating Each Component

Note that // and # comments are not supported in JSON. Copy any examples from the Git repo in “raw” mode.
The Artifact file sabnzbd.json

{
  "name": "sabnzbd",		//The name of the Plugin and resulting Jail
  "plugin_schema": "2",		//The Plugin schema version
  "release": "11.3-RELEASE",	//FreeBSD version (not significantly newer than host)
  "artifact": "https://github.com/ConorBeh/iocage-plugin-sabnzbd.git",
				//The Git repo containing the Plugin
  "properties": {		//Jail properties that can be overridden by the user
    "nat": 1,
    "nat_forwards": "tcp(8080:8080)"
  },
  "pkgs": [			//FreeBSD packages to be installed, one per line
    "sabnzbdplus",
  ],
  "packagesite": "http://pkg.FreeBSD.org/FreeBSD:11:amd64/latest",
				//The package site, latest, quarterly, or self-hosted
  "fingerprints": {
    "iocage-plugins": [
      {
        "function": "sha256",
        "fingerprint": "b0170035af3acc5f3f3ae1859dc717101b4e6c1d0a794ad554928ca0cbb2f438"
      }				//The checksum of the FreeBSD port
    ]
  },
  "revision": "0"		//Internal version number
}

The artifact file properties
These are commonly-used properties specified in the artifact file. Any supported iocage property can be specified.
nat: Enables Network Address Translation to utilize the host’s IP address
nat_forwards: Required when NAT is enabled. Syntax:
< protocol >(< jailport >:< hostport >)
dhcp: Enables DHCP on the jail to allow it to automatically obtain an IP address
allow_tun: Allows the creation of a tun network device inside the jail, required for VPN connections
allow_raw_sockets: Allows the jail to create raw sockets
The artifact repository options
The official FreeBSD repository provides “latest” and “quarterly” branches. The “latest” branch contains binary packages that are updated immediately, while the “quarterly” branch binaries are only updated every quarter, and are the default of FreeBSD releases. The fingerprint remains the same for all official FreeBSD repositories. If custom port build options are required, the preferred solution is to set up a custom Poudriere build server.
The overlay Directory
The “overlay” is a directory of files that are copied into the jail after creation and before the execution of post_install.sh. The layout of these files should follow the same paths as they should have in the root filesystem of the jail. For example, a file placed in /overlay/usr/local/www/lighttpd/ inside the Git repo will be placed in /usr/local/www/lighttpd/ in the jail. This is very useful for providing pre-made configuration files, additional scripts, or even binaries that may not be available in the pkg repository.
The ui.json file
A small JSON file containing the address of the WebUI and port. Use the variable %%IP%% to automatically display the correct IP address. Make sure to include any extra components in the URL following the domain name or IP address, for example “/admin” or “/web/index”.
The settings.json file
A JSON file that is used when working with generated or user-specified data such as passwords or database names. These variables can be used in the post_install.sh. In addition to these variables the servicerestart command must also be set. This is the command that is run when a setting is changed or the jail is restarted, such as restarting a web server.
The sabnzbd.png Icon file
A link to a .png file that will be displayed in the FreeNAS Plugins Index. The image requires a transparent background and should be 128 pixel by 128 pixel square in size to produce quality results when automatically resized.
The post_install.sh script
A POSIX shell script that leverages all the other files to automate installation of the Plugin. In simple Plugins, it may only contain a few lines enabling and starting a few services. It is important to note that iocage executes the file all at once, not line by line, and to give the file execute permissions before uploading it to the Git repository.
To enable execute permissions on a FreeNAS or FreeBSD system run:
chmod +x post_install.sh
Common post-installation steps include:

Setting file and directory permissions
Moving, copying, and editing configuration files
Generating random passwords
Adding a user and/or group
Creating a database

The /root/PLUGIN_INFO file
A text file that stores easily accessible information which can be recalled again from the web interface by clicking the “Post Install Notes” button. Information can be entered into this file via echo “relevant information” >> /root/PLUGIN_INFO in post_install.sh.

Git Repo Initialization

Create and initialize a Git repository and Readme for the Plugin with a name following the format as “iocage-plugin-“. The name iocage-plugin-sabnzbd and GitHub through the web are used in this example.

Once initialized, clone the project at the command line:

mkdir Plugins && cd Plugins git clone "https://github.com/ConorBeh/iocage-plugin-sabnzbd.git" cd iocage-plugin-sabnzbd
Create a new artifact file or use a template, containing the Git URL of the project. The NextCloud and Asigra Plugins offer a good example of more complex syntax.
Create and populate an overlay directory as appropriate.

mkdir overlay

Create the post_install.sh shell script with a text editor:

#!/bin/sh
# Enable and start the service which will generate the config file
sysrc sabnzbd_enable="YES"
service sabnzbd start
# Sleep is needed to ensure that the service starts in time for the next command
sleep 5
# Edit config to allow outside access
sed -i '' 's/127.0.0.1/0.0.0.0/g' /usr/local/sabnzbd/sabnzbd.ini
# Restart the service for config change to take
service sabnzbd restart

Save any Plugin info such as options, credentials, or other information to /root/PLUGIN_INFO inside the jail.
Make the post_install.sh script executable. These permissions will be preserved in the Git repository.
chmod +x post_install.sh
Create a settings.json file if needed. This example does not require one. Consider enabling JSON syntax highlighting and checking in the text editor to continuously validate it.
Create a ui.json file

{
"adminportal": "http://%%IP%%"
}
Append any additional URL components or ports after the %%IP%% such as:
{
"adminportal": "http://%%IP%%:32400/web"
}

Upload the Files to the Git Repo

The following commands will authenticate with GitHub:
git config user.name
git config user.email
git config user.password

Commit the changes to the repository:
git add .
git commit -m "descriptive message"
git push origin master

Test the Plugin via the CLI

Change to the Plugins parent directory with:
cd ..
Run the following commands to fetch and install the Plugin:
iocage fetch -P iocage-plugin-sabnzbd/iocage-plugin-sabnzbd.json

Test the Plugin via Web Interface

Edit the INDEX file located at: /mnt/iocage/.plugins/github_com_ix-plugin-hub_iocage-plugin-index_git/INDEX
Add a new section alphabetically containing the following:

"sabnzbd": { 			//The name of the plugin
"MANIFEST": "sabnzbd.json", 	//The plugin artifact file
"name": "Sabnzbd",		//The name of the plugin in the web UI
"icon": "https://icons.freenas.org/community-icons/sabnzbd.png",
				//The direct link to the icon image
"description": "Sabnzbd is a newsgroup reader.",
//A one-sentence description for the web UI
"official": false,		//Leave this false
"primary_pkg": "sabnzbd"	//The primary package to be installed,
					//version will be displayed in the web UI
},

Place your Plugin artifact JSON file in the following directory:
/mnt/iocage/.plugins/github_com_ix-plugin-hub_iocage-plugin-index_git/INDEX
Open the FreeNAS web interface and click Plugins, then select the Community option under the drop down. Click the Refresh button, then select the newly created Plugin from the list and install it.

Adding the Plugin to the Community Repository

The Community Plugin repository resides on GitHub. To submit a Plugin to the Community repository, first fork the GitHub repository. Modify the forked version of the repository by adding the artifact file for the new Plugin, modifying the INDEX file, and adding a Plugin icon if needed. When everything is satisfactory, submit a Pull Request to the original repository. Include a short description of the content and why it should be included. Be prepared to make modifications or improvements. If the Pull Request is approved the Plugin will appear in the Community repository in FreeNAS.

Resolving Common Issues

The Plugin may not work on the first try. Some common issues you may encounter are:

No internet connectivity in the jail. The jail likely had problems getting a DHCP lease or a NAT option was specified incorrectly.
Permission is denied on “post_install.sh“. Ensure the proper permissions were set by running “chmod +x post_install.sh” before committing the file to the Git repo

Plugin Maintenance

When future modifications to the Plugin arise such as when the upstream port is updated, the Community repository will need to be cloned, modified, and a pull request issued. Follow the commands in “Adding the Plugin to the Community Repository” above to accomplish this. This will update the JSON artifact file present in the Community repository. For updates to post_install.sh, settings.json, or ui.json, the Plugin’s repository itself must be updated. To do this, clone the repository again and make any modifications. When finished, commit those changes following the commands in “Upload the files to the Git Repo” above.
While most community plugins are best suited to live inside the community repo, there may be some that should be considered by iX to become officially supported. If you believe a plugin should be considered, please let us know by opening a ticket in our bug-tracker, with details about the plugin and why it would be a good candidate for official inclusion.

Visit the General Plugin Discussion in the FreeNAS Forums for more information and welcome to the world of FreeNAS Plugins Development!

The post FreeNAS Plugins Development appeared first on TrueNAS - Welcome to the Open Storage Era.

Latest TrueNAS and FreeNAS Release Delivers Wizards, Plugins, and Accelerated Replication

iX Team — Tue, 28 Jan 2020 16:05:44 +0000

TrueNAS and FreeNAS 11.3 Release includes hundreds of improvements to the #1 Open Source Storage OS

Jan 28, 2020 – San Jose, CA, US – iXsystems® has released FreeNAS 11.3 and has also begun taking orders for TrueNAS X-Series and M-Series systems with TrueNAS 11.3. Version 11.3 represents another major advancement in the quality and functionality of the leading Open Storage platform. Building upon the very popular API and Web UI improvements of the previous release, 11.3 introduces easy-setup wizards, major replication improvements, and over 500 other enhancements.
FreeNAS provides the Open Source foundation of TrueNAS which is sold and supported via Enterprise appliances. TrueNAS 11.3 also inherits an abundance of vetted FreeNAS features from previous releases, including the modernized web UI as well as the ability to use and manage jails, plugins, and VMs. All of these features have now been integrated with TrueNAS high-availability and hardware management features. TrueNAS is available on the X-Series and M-Series platforms which scale from 10TB to over 10PB with hybrid or all-flash media.
Key Features of FreeNAS and TrueNAS 11.3 include the following major improvements:

ZFS Replication: >8X performance, Parallel tasks, Auto-resume
Simplified Setup with Wizards: iSCSI, SMB, Pools, Networking, Replication
SMB improvements: User quotas via AD, Shadow copies, ACL manager
Easier Plugins: UI redesign, Categories, NAT reduces IP addresses
Dashboard and Reporting: Faster response, more relevant data
Configuration Management: API enables config save and audits
WireGuard VPNs: Secure networking to remote systems
TrueNAS: Graphical enclosure and High-Availability management

TrueNAS 11.3 has been validated with both high-performance SSDs and (Read Intensive) RI-SSDs based on lower-cost QLC technology. The ZFS technology of TrueNAS aggregates small random writes into larger sequential writes resulting in higher IOPS (I/O per second) and greater flash endurance. TrueNAS can be configured with many different storage media pools, including both hybrid and all-flash options, even in the same system. This flexibility allows TrueNAS to be configured for the capacity and performance that is needed and with a TCO (Total Cost of Ownership) that is considerably less.
Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG) validated the performance and cost benefits of TrueNAS with extensive testing. ESG concluded that “The combination of ZFS, Open Source, and a lean sales force provides efficiencies that enable iXsystems to offer high performance, feature-rich solutions at high value price points. We calculated a significant delta. Based on our testing and analysis, we found that iXsystems can typically offer up to double the performance at half the cost of their major competitors.”
A major investment in quality assurance and automated testing over the past 18 months has ensured significant improvements in software quality and ease of use relative to previous releases. FreeNAS is benefiting from the large investment in software QA for TrueNAS products. With thousands of systems already running FreeNAS 11.3 pre-release, this quality improvement is already evident.

“TrueNAS 11.2 was our highest quality release to date and has enabled our clients to achieve the five 9’s of availability they expect. The 11.3 release accelerates and improves ZFS replication so that clients can handle disasters and site outages more easily.”

– Morgan Littlewood, VP Product Management, iXsystems

TrueCommand Multi-System Management
TrueCommand is the single pane of glass management system that lets users manage multiple FreeNAS and TrueNAS systems. With Version 11.3, it can also provide configuration save/restore functionality as well as auditing of configuration changes. TrueCommand reduces TCO (Total Cost of Ownership) through improved resource utilization and the unique embrace of Open Source economics. Users can deploy and manage FreeNAS systems for minimum cost and TrueNAS systems where support and HA are needed. View the TrueCommand datasheet and documentation to find out more.

“Our goal is to make the TrueNAS family of products as manageable as it is secure. Powered with the OpenZFS file system, data has always been as persistent as a user requires. With TrueNAS 11.3 and TrueCommand, users can better manage how that data is stored onsite, cross site, or in the cloud. Many thanks to more than a thousand users that participated in the Beta testing.”

– Kris Moore, VP Engineering, iXsystems

To learn more about iXsystems and how TrueNAS can help your organization, contact us via https://www.ixsystems.com/contact-us/, or give us a call at 1-855-GREP-4-IX.
11.3 Screenshots of the UI

About iXsystems
Through decades of expertise in system design and development of Open Source software (FreeNAS, FreeBSD, OpenZFS, and TrueOS), iXsystems has become an innovation leader in a global marketplace that relies on Open Source solutions, high availability storage and servers, technology partnerships, and expert support. Since its founding in 2002, thousands of companies, universities, and government organizations have come to rely on iXsystems’ enterprise servers, TrueNAS Unified Storage, and consultative approach to building IT infrastructure and Private Clouds with Open Source economics. Millions of tech-savvy users also download and deploy our Open Source software each year.

The post Latest TrueNAS and FreeNAS Release Delivers Wizards, Plugins, and Accelerated Replication appeared first on TrueNAS - Welcome to the Open Storage Era.

TrueNAS Performance Earns ESG Praise – Issue #75

iX Team — Thu, 23 Jan 2020 19:00:07 +0000

TrueNAS Performance Earns Praise from ESG

The Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG) provides independent validation of the TrueNAS M50’s incredible cost-optimized performance and features in this new report.

Read more here

TrueNAS M50 Hardware Review

Thomas Lawrence takes a look at what makes the TrueNAS M50 such a rock-solid unified storage appliance, highlighting its modular features, high-availability, as well as the internal design.

Watch here now

FreeNAS 11.3-RC2 is Now Available
We’ve been hard at work polishing the newest edition of FreeNAS and are happy to announce the second release candidate for FreeNAS 11.3. FreeNAS 11.3-RC2 features a completely re-implemented Replication Engine for higher speed transfers, ACL Manager, SMB Shadow Copies enabled by default, and a repository of community plugins.

Learn more here

FreeNAS YouTube Video – How to Set Up Windows SMB Shares
Check out our newest video to learn how to easily set up Windows (SMB) shares on your FreeNAS 11.3 system. Don’t forget to like, subscribe, and comment to let us know what videos you want to see in the newsletter next!

Watch here now

More webinars

Contributing Language Translations to FreeNAS
Calling all multilingual FreeNAS fans! Translating FreeNAS is a great way to get involved and help contribute to FreeNAS and Open Source.

Learn more here

How to Enable WireGuard on FreeNAS 11.3
WireGuard is quickly gaining popularity in the VPN marketplace due to its speed, simplicity, and modern cryptography standards. Starting with FreeNAS 11.3-RC1, we’ve made it possible to connect your NAS directly to a WireGuard network with only a few easy steps.

Read more here

How to Back Up Google Drive to FreeNAS
FreeNAS and TrueNAS offer the ability to back up Google Drive easily, using built-in cloud sync. This blog explains how to set up Google Drive sync with FreeNAS 11.3, as well as a few pro tips when backing up Google Docs and other Google created content.

Read more here

eBook on Open Source Storage by iXsystems and ActualTech Media
This free eBook explains how proprietary and cloud storage falls short and why Open Source is a better development model for storage systems. Learn about the advantages of NVMe/NVDIMM storage for the modern enterprise and why businesses need a unified data platform.

Download it here

Sign up here

Tech-Tip #72
If the list of available plugins is not displayed, open Shell and verify that the FreeNAS system can ping an address on the Internet. If it cannot, add a default gateway address and DNS server address in Network ➞ Global Configuration. More about plugins here.

Links of the Month

How to Install and Configure FreeNAS via OS Radar
FreeNAS: Backup Jails Automatically Using iocage via digiMoot
Proxmox and FreeNAS Combo Server (video) via Craft Computing
Plex Media Server on FreeNAS via Plex.TV

Quote of the Month
“FreeNAS/TrueNAS has all the features that everyone wants; It’s the ‘Brawndo’ of the storage world. It natively supports features like; block storage, deduplication, snapshots, mirroring, and support for multiple virtualization platforms. All of this with no extra licenses to purchase. You can’t beat that at all.”

– Rob C, Information Technology

The post TrueNAS Performance Earns ESG Praise – Issue #75 appeared first on TrueNAS - Welcome to the Open Storage Era.

TrueNAS Performance Gets Praise from ESG

iX Team — Wed, 22 Jan 2020 18:16:43 +0000

Everyone knows that performance matters. The trouble is that it can be complex to quantify. For example, everyone wants to know the horsepower of their car, but that number isn’t meaningful unless it’s accompanied by 0-60 times or top speeds. After all, most 250 horsepower cars will run circles around a 600 horsepower semi-trailer truck! Similarly, top speeds are also very sexy numbers, but not super useful to determine the duration of your bumper-to-bumper commute in your new Lamborghini. Knowing your dad’s top sprinting speed, downhill with the wind at his back, would also make it difficult to ascertain how long it took him to walk five miles to school every morning (through the snow and uphill both ways!).
It’s a universal principle that performance measurement requires an understanding of several variables and the task at hand. At iXsystems, we are always very careful when discussing performance, focusing less on “best case” measurements and more on the needs of a customer’s application and how we can design or tune a system to best meet them. TrueNAS and ZFS storage is designed to perform well with a broad range of workloads and with many features enabled by default; thin provisioning, compression, encryption, and snapshots are not optional features in many environments. The performance you get with real-world workloads and features enabled is much more important.
So how fast is TrueNAS? Well, a TrueNAS M50 can deliver more than 800,000 IOPS… if the workload is designed to showcase the M50 performance. However, most users aren’t running workloads that are based on 4K I/O sizes.
To take an honest look at performance and assist our users in sizing and selecting their TrueNAS systems, we collaborated with ESG to provide independent validation of the TrueNAS M50 in a comprehensive report. Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG) is a well known IT Technology industry analyst with deep experience and knowledge of how storage is actually used in real-world enterprise environments. ESG’s review concluded that iXsystems can typically offer up to double the performance at half the cost of its major competitors.

The ESG tests were performed with a reference configuration of a TrueNAS M50 with 24 SSDs. The typical cost of one of these mid-range flash systems would be $60K – $130K. Larger systems with 72 SSDs would actually perform better but would be less representative of a typical system configuration of less than 200TB.

The performance graphs, workloads, and testing methodologies are in the report, but some of the key results for this TrueNAS M50 configuration with only 24 SSDs were:

In a virtualization environment, the system could sustain over 100K IOPS averaging 24KB in size. This is around 2,600 MB/s with 70% writes and over 4,000 IOPS per SSD.
Typical latency under 1ms below 60,000 IOPS. This workload would be typical for systems with over 3000 VMs and 50 hosts.
In a file-sharing environment with large files, the system could provide over 4,000 MB/s with any mix of Reads and Writes.
The impact of enabling compression and snapshots was near zero. Encryption, using SEDs, can also be provided with no performance impact.
NFS, SMB, and iSCSI demonstrated high bandwidth. Each could deliver performance that was appropriate for their respective applications.

The same TrueNAS can simultaneously deliver NFS, SMB, and iSCSI services to many clients. When one protocol is less active, the performance is available for the other protocols. This is a major performance and cost advantage of TrueNAS unified storage.
The performance of TrueNAS depends heavily on the workload and the specific network and storage configuration that is being used, which is also why TrueNAS systems can all be easily configured and tuned based on the application performance need. Reports like these help us gain more insight into performance characteristics and how we can both estimate and improve them.
The TrueNAS combination of flexible performance and Open Source economics helps our customers meet performance targets with lower capital costs, less complexity, and technical support they need for reliable infrastructure.
If you have a performance workload, let us know what its characteristics are, and our team can help design a TrueNAS system that delivers the performance you need so that we make sure you don’t mistakenly buy a Peterbilt to run a quarter mile or a Lambo to drive in LA traffic.
To read more about ESG’s technical performance report on the TrueNAS M50, download the full technical review here.

The post TrueNAS Performance Gets Praise from ESG appeared first on TrueNAS - Welcome to the Open Storage Era.

How To Back Up Google Drive to FreeNAS

iX Team — Tue, 21 Jan 2020 22:27:07 +0000

NOTE: This is historical content that may contain outdated information.

Google Drive and G Suite are widely used tools for creating and sharing documents, spreadsheets, and presentations with team members. While cloud-based tools have inherent backups and replications included by the cloud provider, certain users may require additional backup or archive capabilities. For example, companies using G Suite for important work may be required to keep records for years, potentially beyond the scope of the G Suite subscription. FreeNAS and TrueNAS offer the ability to back up Google Drive easily, using the built-in cloud sync.
This blog will explain how to set up Google Drive sync with FreeNAS 11.3, as well as provide a few caveats and workarounds when backing up Google Docs and other Google created content.

Setting up Google Drive credentials
Set up the credentials under System ➞ Cloud Credentials.

Click LOGIN TO PROVIDER and login with the appropriate Google user account. Google will request to allow access to all the Google Drive files for the FreeNAS device.

Allow access and the appropriate access key will be inserted to the FreeNAS access token. Assign a Team ID if required, but it is not necessary in all cases.
Click VERIFY CREDENTIAL. Once successful, click SAVE. The new cloud credentials will be visible in the web interface.

Set the cloud sync task

Go to Tasks ➞ Cloud Sync Tasks and set the backup time frame, frequency, and folders – both the cloud-based folder and FreeNAS dataset. Set whether the synchronization should sync all changes, just copy new files, or move files. Remove files from the cloud source or FreeNAS source depending on push or pull.
Add a description for the task and select the cloud credentials.

Choose the appropriate cloud folder target and FreeNAS storage location.

Select the file transfer mode:

Sync: Keep files newly created or deleted the same.
Copy: Copy new files to the appropriate target (i.e., FreeNAS pulls files from Google Drive or pushes files to Google Drive).
Move: Copies files to the target and then delete files from the source. Using Move, users can set a folder in Google Drive for archival, and move older documents to that folder from their Drive account. Those files would then automatically get backed up to their FreeNAS storage.

Once created the Task will run during the designated period of time. Edits can be made by clicking the down arrow on the right-hand side.

Clicking RUN NOW will prompt the task to start immediately and the web interface will show the status as RUNNING and SUCCESS upon completion. Details can be accessed via the Task Manager icon in the upper right-hand corner.

To verify success, SSH to the FreeNAS or use the built-in Shell Terminal to verify that the files are visible.

If file access to a client PC or other device is needed, create a share to the same dataset that was set to store the cloud sync. An SMB share is used as an example.
Go to Sharing ➞ Windows Shares (SMB) and click ADD. Choose the appropriate dataset, permissions, and settings to create a new SMB share.

Once mounted to the client, the files should all be visible.

Working with Google created content
One caveat is that Google Docs and other files created with Google tools will have their own proprietary set of permissions and their read/write characteristics will be unknown to the system over a standard file share. Files are unreadable as a result.

To allow Google created files to become readable, allow link sharing to access the files before the backup. Doing so will ensure that other users will be able to open the files with read access, make changes, and then save as another file should further edits be needed. Note that this is only necessary if the file was created using Google Docs, Google Sheets, or Google Slides; other files should not require modification of their share settings.

TrueNAS and FreeNAS are perfect for storing content, including cloud-based content, for the long-term. Not only is it simple to sync and backup from the cloud, but users can rest assured that their data is safe, with unlimited snapshots, copy-on-write, and built-in replication functionality.
Please contact us at https://www.ixsystems.com/contact-us/ for more information on what iXsystems can do for your organization.

The post How To Back Up Google Drive to FreeNAS appeared first on TrueNAS - Welcome to the Open Storage Era.

How To Enable Wireguard on FreeNAS 11.3

iX Team — Mon, 20 Jan 2020 22:44:00 +0000

WireGuard is quickly gaining popularity in the VPN marketplace due to its speed, simplicity, and modern cryptography standards. Starting with FreeNAS version 11.3-RC1, it is possible to connect your NAS directly to a WireGuard network with a few easy steps.
We get started on this by creating some custom tunables to enable the WireGuard service and give it a default interface. To do this you must first navigate to System -> Tunables -> Add.
Enable the WireGuard service by adding “wireguard_enable” -> “YES” in rc.conf.

Next, create another tunable and add “wireguard_interfaces” -> “wg0” in rc.conf.

When finished, you should have the following two variables set and enabled.

Next, we will need to create a post-init script that will place the WireGuard config into the correct location at startup. Navigate to Tasks -> Init/Shutdown Scripts -> Add.
Create the following command and set it to run at post-init:
“mkdir /usr/local/etc/wireguard && cp /root/wg0.conf /usr/local/etc/wireguard/wg0.conf && /usr/local/etc/rc.d/wireguard start”
You can configure the /root/wg0.conf file and apply a WireGuard configuration to attach to whatever WireGuard network you define. It can be a single point-to-point to anything running WG, or even with full routing. Example use cases are:

Access data on a NAS from your Remote Laptop
Linking NAS to NAS for replication
Attaching a managed NAS to a remote network
Access to your NAS from your smartphone

We need to create the /root/wg0.conf which will contain the specific WireGuard configuration to apply at boot. This configuration is beyond the scope of this article, but there are quickstart guides and tutorials available online as well as the built-in ‘wg-quick’manpage.
Once you have a valid /root/wg0.conf, rebooting the system should bring up the WireGuard interface, and you’ll see a ‘wg0’ device in the output of ‘ifconfig’.

Congratulations, you have successfully linked your FreeNAS system to a secure WireGuard tunnel!

The post How To Enable Wireguard on FreeNAS 11.3 appeared first on TrueNAS - Welcome to the Open Storage Era.

New FreeNAS Hardware Guide and Plans for 2020 – Issue #74

iX Team — Mon, 23 Dec 2019 11:00:10 +0000

NOTE: This is historical content that may contain outdated information.

FreeNAS Plans – 2020 and Beyond!
We have some exciting news to share with you! Kris Moore, VP of Engineering, breaks down what’s on the horizon for FreeNAS in 2020. It includes major updates to ZFS, performance improvements, and much more.

Read more here

FreeNAS Hardware Guide
In celebration of the upcoming FreeNAS 11.3 release, we have brought together the knowledge of in-house FreeNAS experts and top blog posts to produce the first comprehensive FreeNAS Hardware Guide. The Guide complements existing documentation from both the community and FreeNAS.

Access the Guide here

FreeNAS 11.2-U7 is now available
The FreeNAS development team is pleased to announce the availability of the seventh update to FreeNAS 11.2. This is a bug fix release which addresses Windows ACL, OAuth, UI issues, and several others.

Learn more here

Lawrence Systems Review: 40TB FreeNAS Mini-E NAS

Thomas Lawrence reviews the new FreeNAS Mini-E and sets up a Plex Server.

Watch here now

More webinars

FreeNAS with iSCSI for Steam Games Library
Thomas Lawrence tries out iSCSI on FreeNAS to store his library of Steam PC games.

Watch here now

FreeNAS Centralised Management – TrueCommand 1.1 release overview
User Lewis Barclay reviews the latest version of TrueCommand with a walkthrough of the installation process and adding a FreeNAS system.

Learn more here

Download it here

Sign up here

Tech-Tip #71
It is important to use the web interface or the Console Setup menu for all configuration changes. FreeNAS uses a configuration database to store its settings. While it is possible to use the command line to modify the configuration, changes made at the command line are not written to the configuration database. This means that any changes made at the command line will not persist after a reboot and will be overwritten by the values in the configuration database during an upgrade

Links of the Month

FreeNAS 11.3-BETA1 Review via Lawrence Systems
The Future of OpenZFS and FreeBSD via Allan Jude at EuroBSDcon
FreeBSD Journal Sept/Oct 2019 via FreeBSD Foundation
Free Flicks on your FreeNAS Plex Server

Quote of the Month
“The migration of massive amounts of terabytes wouldn’t have happened without the support of iXsystems.”

– Steven M. Rothstein, JFK Library Foundation, Executive Director

The post New FreeNAS Hardware Guide and Plans for 2020 – Issue #74 appeared first on TrueNAS - Welcome to the Open Storage Era.

The Official FreeNAS Hardware Guide

iX Team — Tue, 17 Dec 2019 23:27:40 +0000

This is historic content that may contain outdated information. For the newest information on FreeNAS and TrueNAS, please visit TrueNAS.com or read our latest Blogs.

Long-time FreeNAS users will never forget the FreeNAS 8.0 days when flashing an IBM M1015 controller card with LSI firmware was a right of passage, 3TB drives were the largest you could buy, and floods in Thailand would soon turn every hard drive into a valuable asset.
Fast-forward to the amazing new FreeNAS Mini XL+ and a vastly improved user experience through the new web interface to see just how much has changed in the FreeNAS ecosystem. While FreeNAS Mini and FreeNAS certified are excellent turn-key systems, we appreciate that do-it-yourself users have always played a critical role in the growth and success of FreeNAS around the world. From repurposed systems to highly-custom builds, fundamental freedom of FreeNAS is the ability to run it on nearly any x86 computer.
In celebration of the upcoming FreeNAS 11.3 release, we have brought together the wisdom of our engineering staff and top blog posts to produce the first comprehensive FreeNAS Hardware Guide to complement the official hardware requirements and the community’s highly-detailed Hardware Recommendations Guide. Have something to add? Please submit it in this forum thread!
Here’s to building your best NAS ever in 2020!
The FreeNAS Team

Introduction
Storage Device Considerations

Spinning Disks
SATA NAS Disks
Nearline SAS Disks
SAS Disks
SATA and SAS Flash Storage SSDs
NVMe
Hybrid Storage & Flash Cache (SLOG/ZIL/L2ARC)
Self Encrypting Drives
USB Hard Disks
Boot Devices
Hot Swapability
Storage Device Sizing
Storage Device Burn-In
Storage Controllers
SAS Expanders
Storage Device Cooling

Memory, CPU, and Network Considerations

Memory Sizing
Error Correcting Code Memory
Central Processing Unit (CPU) Selection
Remote Management: IPMI
Power Supply Units
Uninterruptible Power Supplies
Ethernet Networking

Virtualized FreeNAS

Introduction

The FreeNAS community has a rich ecosystem of advice when it comes to the art and science of choosing the ideal hardware for their favorite storage operating system. From the official Hardware Requirements to the Hardware Recommendations Guide maintained by the community, to countless blog posts, users have a comprehensive, if not overwhelming choice of answers to the simple question, “What hardware should I buy?” The FreeNAS Mini and FreeNAS Certified lines of purpose-built FreeNAS systems from iXsystems are the official answers to this question, but they also serve to provide templates for users that want to build their own systems or repurpose existing ones. Therefore, this guide will use the FreeNAS Mini and FreeNAS Certified systems as points of reference to all of the criteria to consider when building FreeNAS-compatible systems of any size.

Storage Device Considerations

At the heart of any storage system is the symbiotic pairing of its file system and its physical storage devices. The ZFS file system in FreeNAS provides the best available data protection of any filesystem at any cost and makes very effective use of both spinning disk and all-flash storage, or a mix of the two. ZFS is fully 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 FreeNAS system can tolerate the failure of multiple storage devices and even its boot media which can be quickly re-created with a copy of the configuration file. Choosing storage media is the first step in designing the storage system to meet immediate objectives and prepare for future capacity expansion.

Spinning Disks

Until the next unforeseen scientific breakthrough in storage media, spinning hard disks are here to stay, thanks to their balance of capacity and cost. The arrival of double-digit terabyte consumer and enterprise drives has provided more choices to FreeNAS users than ever. FreeNAS Mini and Certified systems ship with Western Digital NAS and NL-SAS respectively for good reason, and understanding the alternatives will explain this decision.

SATA NAS Disks

Serial Advanced Technology Attachment (SATA) is still the de facto standard disk interface and can be found in many desktop/laptop computers, servers, and some non-enterprise storage arrays. SATA disks first arrived offering double-digit gigabyte capacities and have since been produced to meet a myriad of capacity, reliability, and performance goals. While consumer desktop SATA disks are not as problematic as they used to be in terms of overall reliability, they are still not designed or warrantied for continuous operation or use in RAID groups. Therefore, Enterprise SATA disks were introduced to address both the “always-on” factor, vibration tolerance, and drive error handling required in storage systems. However, the price delta between desktop and enterprise SATA drives was (and still is) vast enough that it drove users to push their consumer drives into 24/7 service in pursuit of cost savings.
Drive vendors responded to this gap in the market (and likely grew tired of honoring warranties for failed desktop drives used in incorrect applications) by producing “NAS” drives, made famous by the original Western Digital (WD) Red™ drives with CMR/PMR technology (now called WD Red Plus). WD Red™ Plus NAS drives (non-SMR) are designed for use in systems with up to eight hard drives, up to 16 drives in the case of the WD Red™ Pro drives, and WD UltraStar™ drives for systems beyond 16 drives.
WD drives are known among the iXsystems Community Forum as the preferred hard drives for FreeNAS builds due to their exceptional quality and reliability. All FreeNAS Minis ship with WD Red™ Plus drives unless requested otherwise.

Nearline SAS Disks

“Nearline” SAS (NL-SAS) disks are essentially 7200 RPM enterprise SATA disks with the industry-standard SAS interface found in the majority of enterprise storage systems. SAS stands for “Serial-Attached SCSI”, the traditional SCSI disk interface in serial form. SAS systems are designed for data center storage applications and therefore have accurate, verbose error handling, predictable failure behavior, reliable hot swapping, and have the added feature of multipath support. Multipath access means that each drive has two interfaces and can be connected to either two storage controllers, or one controller over two cables. This redundancy protects against cable failure, controller card failure, or complete system failure in the case of the TrueNAS high-availability architecture in which each “controller” is in fact an independent server that accesses the same set of NL-SAS drives. NL-SAS drives are also robust enough to handle the rigors of systems with more than 16 disks. Therefore, capacity-oriented TrueNAS and certain FreeNAS Certified systems ship with Western Digital UltraStar NL-SAS disks thanks to the all-around perfect balance of capacity, reliability, performance, and flexibility that NL-SAS drives offer.

SAS Disks

Enterprise SAS disks were the traditional heavy-lifters of the enterprise storage industry and are built for maximum performance and reliability that a spinning platter can provide. SAS disk capacities are surprisingly low compared to NL-SAS or NAS drives, due to the speed at which the platters spin, reaching as high as 15,000 RPMs. While SAS drives may sound like the ultimate answer for high-performance storage, the many consumer and enterprise flash-based options that have come onto the market have significantly reduced the competitiveness of SAS drives. For example, Enterprise SAS drives were discontinued from the FreeNAS and TrueNAS product lines, and replaced almost entirely by flash drives (SSDs or NVMe) in 2016 due to their superior performance/cost ratio.

SATA and SAS Flash Storage SSDs

Flash storage technology has made significant progress in recent years, enabling a revolution in mobile devices and the rise of flash storage in general-purpose PCs and servers. Unlike hard disks, flash storage is not sensitive to vibration and can be significantly faster with comparable reliability. Flash storage remains more expensive per gigabyte but is finding many ways into FreeNAS systems as that price gap continually narrows.
The shortest path for the introduction of flash storage into the mainstream market was for vendors to use standard SATA/SAS hard disk interfaces and form factors, effectively emulating standard hard disks but with no moving parts. For this reason, flash storage Solid State Disks (SSDs) have SATA interfaces and are the size of 2.5” laptop hard disks, allowing them to be drop-in replacements for traditional hard disks. Flash storage SSDs can be used in place of HDDs for primary storage on a FreeNAS system, resulting in a faster, though either smaller or more expensive storage solution. If going “all-flash”, buy the highest-quality flash storage SSDs the budget allows with a focus on power safety and write endurance that matches your expected write workload.

NVMe

While it made sense for SSDs to pretend they were HDDs for rapid adoption, the Non-Volatile Memory Express (NVMe) standard is a “native” flash protocol that takes full advantage of the non-linear and parallel nature of flash storage. The key advantage of NVMe is generally its low-latency performance and it’s quickly becoming a mainstream option for boot and other tasks. While it was originally limited to expansion-card form factors such as PCIe and M.2, the new U.2 interface offers a rather universal solution that includes the 2.5” drive form factor and an externally-accessible (but generally not hot-swappable) NVMe interface. Note that NVMe devices can run quite hot and may require dedicated heat sinks.

Hybrid Storage & Flash Cache (SLOG/ZIL/L2ARC)

With hard disk providing double-digit terabyte capacities and flash-based options providing significantly higher performance, a “best of both worlds” option is available. With FreeNAS and OpenZFS, you can merge both flash and disk to create “hybrid storage”, which makes the most of both storage types. In a hybrid configuration, large-capacity spinning disks store the data, while DRAM and flash act as hyper-fast read and write caching. The technologies work in conjunction with a flash-based separate write log (SLOG), which can be thought of as a write cache that keeps what’s called the ZFS-intent log (ZIL), used to accelerate writes. On the read side, flash can be used as a level two adaptive replacement (read) cache (L2ARC) to keep the hottest data sets on the faster flash media. Workloads with synchronous writes such as NFS and databases consistently benefit from SLOG devices, while workloads with frequently-accessed data may benefit from an L2ARC device. The reason that an L2ARC device is not always the best choice is because the level one ARC in RAM will always provide a faster cache; also, some RAM will be used by the L2ARC table.
A SLOG device need not be large as it only needs to service five seconds of data writes delivered by the network or a local application. A high-endurance, low-latency device between 8 GB and 32 GB in size is adequate for most modern networks, and multiple devices can be striped or mirrored for either performance or redundancy. Paying attention to the published endurance claims of the device is imperative, since a SLOG will be the funnel point for a majority of the writes made to the system.
It is also vital that a SLOG device has power protection. The purpose of the ZFS intent log (ZIL), and thus the SLOG, is to keep sync writes safe in the event of a crash or power failure. If the SLOG isn’t power protected and its data is lost after a power failure, it defeats the purpose of using a SLOG in the first place! Check the manufacturer’s specifications to ensure the SLOG device is power safe or has power loss/failure protection.
Random read performance is the most important quality to look for in an L2ARC device, as it needs to be able to support more IOPS than the primary storage media it is caching. For example, a single SSD as an L2ARC is not effective in front of a pool of 40 SSDs; the 40 SSDs will be able to handle far more IOPS than the single L2ARC drive. As for capacity, 5x to 20x larger than RAM size is a good guideline. High-end TrueNAS systems can have NVMe-based L2ARC in the double digit terabytes in size, as an example.
Keep in mind that for every data block in the L2ARC, the primary ARC needs an 88 byte entry; this can cause the ARC to fill up unexpectedly and actually reduce performance in a poorly-designed system. For example, a 480GB L2ARC filled with 4KiB blocks will need more than 10GiB of metadata storage in the primary ARC!

Self Encrypting Drives

FreeNAS supports two forms of data encryption at rest to achieve privacy and compliance objectives: GELI software partition encryption and Self Encrypting Drives (SEDs). SEDs do not experience the performance overhead introduced by software partition encryption but aren’t as readily-available as non-SED drives (and thus can cost a little bit more).

USB Hard Disks

USB-connected hard disks should be avoided for primary storage with FreeNAS but can be used for very basic backups in a pinch. While FreeNAS does not automate this process, a USB HDD can be connected, replicated at the command line, and ideally taken off-site for safe keeping.

Boot Devices

It was once very popular to boot FreeNAS systems from 8 GB or larger USB flash drives, but with the wide variance in USB drive quality and the increased drive writes done to the boot pool by modern FreeNAS versions, it’s advisable to look at other options. For this reason, all FreeNAS Mini and Certified systems ship with either M.2 drives or SATA DOMs. SATA DOMs, or “disk-on-modules”, offer close to the reliability of consumer 2.5” SSDs with a smaller form factor that mounts to an internal SATA port and therefore doesn’t consume a drive bay. Because SATA DOMs and motherboards with m.2 slots are not as common as the other storage devices mentioned here, it is popular to boot FreeNAS systems from 2.5” SSDs and HDDs (often mirrored for added redundancy). 8 GB is the recommended minimum size for the FreeNAS boot volume, but using 16 or 32 GB (or a 120 GB 2.5” SATA SSD) provides room for more boot environments.

Hot Swapability

FreeNAS systems come in all shapes and sizes, but it is highly desirable to have external access to all storage devices for efficient replacement if issues occur. Most “hot swap” drive bays require a proprietary drive tray into which each drive is installed. These bay and tray combinations also often include convenient features like activity and identification lights to both visualize activity and illuminate a failed drive with sesutil(8). FreeNAS Mini systems ship with four or more hot swap bays and FreeNAS Certified systems can support dozens of drives in their head units and external expansion shelves. Because pre-owned or repurposed hardware is popular among FreeNAS users, pay attention to the maximum performance offered by the hot swap backplanes of a given system, watching for at least 6 Gbps SATA III support. Note that hot-swapping PCIe NVMe devices is not supported at this time.

Storage Device Sizing

While zpool layout (the organization of LUNs and volumes, in FreeNAS/ZFS parlance) is beyond the scope of this guide, the availability of double-digit terabyte drives raises a question that FreeNAS users have not traditionally had the luxury of asking: how many drives should I use to achieve my desired capacity? Just because one can mirror two 16TB drives to achieve 16TB of available capacity, it doesn’t necessarily mean that one should. Mirroring two large drives offers the advantage of redundancy and balancing reads between the two devices, potentially lowering power draw, but little else. The write performance of two large drives will be at most that of a single drive. By contrast, an array of eight 4TB drives would offer 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 similar total capacity. You may also consider adding a “hot spare” drive with any zpool configuration to allow for the zpool to automatically rebuild itself in the event a primary drive fails in the zpool.

Storage Device Burn-In

Spinning disk hard drives have moving parts, by definition. These parts are highly-sensitive to shock and vibration, and will eventually wear out with use. Consider pre-flighting every storage device before putting it into production, paying attention to:

Start a long HDD self test (smartctl -t long /dev/)
After the test is done (could take 12+ hours), check the results (smartctl -a /dev/)
Pending sector reallocations (smartctl -a /dev/ | grep Current_Pending_Sector)
Reallocated sector count (smartctl -a /dev/ | grep Reallocated_Sector_Ct)
UDMA CRC errors (smartctl -a /dev/ | grep UDMA_CRC_Error_Count)
HDD and SSD write latency consistency (diskinfo -wS ) Unformatted drives only!
HDD and SSD hours (smartctl -a /dev/ | grep Power_On_Hours)
NVMe percentage used (nvmecontrol logpage -p 2 nvme0 | grep “Percentage used”)

Take time before deploying the system to create a pool and subject it to as close to the real-world workload as possible. This may reveal individual drive issues but also can help determine if an alternative pool layout is better suited to that workload. Be cautious of used drives as vendors may not be honest or informed about the age and health of any given drive. Check the number of hours on all “new” drives using smartctl(8)as they may in fact be “recertified” or simply untruthfully advertised. A drive vendor may also zero the hours of a drive during recertification, masking its true age. All storage devices sold by iXsystems are tested for a minimum of 48 hours prior to shipment.

Storage Controllers

The uncontested most popular storage controllers used with FreeNAS are the 6 and 12 Gbps (“Gigabits per second”, sometimes expressed as “Gb/s”) Broadcom (formerly Avago, formerly LSI) SAS host bus adapters (HBA). These occasionally ship as embedded controllers on some motherboards but are generally PCIe cards with four or more internal or external SATA/SAS ports. The 6 Gbps LSI 9211 and its rebranded siblings that also use the LSI SAS2008 chip, such as the IBM M1015 and Dell H200 are legendary among FreeNAS users who are building systems using parts from the second hand market. Broadcom controllers should be flashed with the latest IT or Target Mode firmware to disable the optional RAID functionality found in the “IR” firmware. 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. FreeNAS includes the sas2flash, sas3flash, and storcli commands to flash to perform reflashing operations on 9200, 9300, and 9400 series cards respectively. The FreeNAS Certified line ships with Broadcom 12 Gbps controllers.
Onboard SATA controllers are popular with smaller builds, but motherboard vendors have been 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 may remove some SATA functionality, depending on the motherboard. Fortunately, most SATA compatibility-related issues are immediately obvious.
In addition, there are countless warnings against using hardware RAID cards with FreeNAS, but it’s really not as cut and dry as that. ZFS and FreeNAS provide built-in RAID that protects your data better than any hardware RAID card, eliminating the need for one entirely. However, they can be used if it’s all you have, but like life, there are rules. First and foremost, do not use their RAID facility (there is one caveat in the bullets below). Ideally, the chosen hardware RAID card supports HBA mode, also known as “passthrough” or “JBOD” mode, which will allow it to perform indistinguishably from a standard HBA. If your RAID card does not have this mode, you can configure a RAID0 for every single disk in your system. It’s not ideal, but it works in a pinch.
If repurposing hardware RAID cards with FreeNAS, be aware that some hardware RAID cards:

Mask disk serial number and S.M.A.R.T. health information
May perform slower than their HBA equivalents
Can cause data loss if a write cache is used with a dead battery backup unit (BBU)

SAS Expanders

A direct-attached system where every disk is connected to an interface on the controller card is optimal but not always feasible. A SAS expander is essentially a port multiplier or splitter that enables each SAS port on a controller card to service multiple disks. They typically only reside on the drive backplane of servers or JBODs that have more than twelve drive bays. For example, there are TrueNAS JBODs that eclipse 90 drives in only four rack units of space! This wouldn’t be possible without the miracle of SAS expanders. Otherwise, imagine how many eight port HBAs would be required to access 90 drives!
While SAS expanders are designed for SAS disks, they can often support SATA disks via the SATA Tunneling Protocol or STP. SAS disks are still preferred for reasons mentioned in the NL-SAS section above but SATA disks will function on a SAS-based backplane. Note that the opposite is not true: you can’t use a SAS drive in a port designed for SATA drives.

Storage Device Cooling

There is a much-cited study floating around that asserts that drive temperature has little impact on drive reliability. That makes for a great headline or conversation starter but when reading the report carefully, it is clear that the drives were all tested under optimal environmental conditions. The average temperature that a well-cooled spinning hard disk will reach 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. While additional drive cooling often comes with additional noise, especially on older systems, there is always a risk of throwing money away by running a server in a data center or closet without noticing that the fans are set to 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 will have certain areas that are warmer for whatever reason but do watch for fan failures and the tendency for some models of 8TB drives to run hotter than other capacities. In general, try to keep drive temperatures below the drive vendor’s specification.

Memory, CPU, and Network Considerations

Memory Sizing

FreeNAS has higher memory requirements than many Network Attached Storage solutions but 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 will rarely go unused on a FreeNAS system and sufficient RAM is key to maintaining peak performance. A minimum of 8 GB of RAM is required for basic FreeNAS operations with up to eight drives. Beyond that, there are use cases that each have distinct RAM requirements:

An additional 1GB per additional drive after eight will benefit most use cases.
In general, if there are more clients connecting to the FreeNAS system, it will need more RAM. A 20 TB pool backing lots of high-performance VMs over iSCSI might need more RAM than a 200 TB pool storing archival data. If using iSCSI to back VMs, plan to use at least 16 GB of RAM for reasonable performance and 32 GB or more for optimal performance.
Directory Services require an additional 2 GB of RAM for the winbind internal cache
Plugins and Jails each have specific application RAM requirements
Virtual machines have specific guest operating system and application RAM requirements
Deduplication depends on an in-RAM deduplication table with a suggestion of 5 GB per TB of storage.
Attaching an L2ARC drive to a pool will actually use some RAM, too. ZFS needs metadata in ARC to know what data is in L2ARC. As a conservative estimate, plan to add about 1 GB of RAM for every 50 GB of L2ARC in your pool.

Consult the RAM section of the Hardware Recommendations section of the FreeNAS User Guide for detailed guidelines for each of these applications.

Error Correcting Code Memory

Electrical or magnetic interference inside a computer system can cause a single bit of RAM to spontaneously flip to the opposite state, resulting in what’s known as a memory error. Memory errors can cause security vulnerabilities, crashes, transcription errors, lost transactions, and corrupted or lost data. Therefore, one of the most vital areas for preventing data loss is where data is temporarily stored: RAM.
Error Correcting Code or ECC RAM detects and corrects in-memory bit errors as they occur. If the errors are severe enough to be uncorrectable, ECC memory will cause the system to “hang” (become unresponsive) rather than continue with errored bits. For ZFS and FreeNAS, this behavior virtually eliminates any chances that RAM errors will be passed to the drives and cause corruption of the ZFS pools or errors in the files.
The lengthy, Internet-wide debate on whether or not to use Error Correcting Code (ECC) system memory with OpenZFS and FreeNAS can be summarized as:

Using ECC RAM is strongly recommended as another data integrity defense

However:

Not all CPUs or motherboards support ECC RAM
Many FreeNAS systems operate every day without ECC RAM
Any type or grade of RAM can fail and cause data loss
Test all RAM before deployment as it is most likely to fail in the first three months

Central Processing Unit (CPU) Selection

Choosing ECC RAM will significantly reduce the available CPU and motherboard options, but this is actually a good thing. Intel® makes a point of limiting ECC RAM support to their lowest and highest-end CPUs, cutting out the mid-range i5 and i7 models. All FreeNAS Mini systems ship with either Intel Avoton C2000 or Intel Denverton C3000 series CPUs, and all FreeNAS Certified and TrueNAS systems ship with Intel Xeon® CPUs.
Exactly what CPU to choose can come down to a short list of key factors:

An underpowered CPU can be a performance bottleneck due to the way OpenZFS checksums, compresses, and (optionally) encrypts data.
Samba, the FreeNAS SMB daemon is lightly-threaded, so a higher-frequency CPU with fewer cores will usually perform best for SMB-only workloads.
A higher-core-count CPU is better suited for parallel encryption and virtualization.
AES-NI encryption acceleration support will improve the speed of file system and network encryption.
Server-class CPUs are recommended for their power and ECC memory support.
A Xeon E5 (or similar) CPU is recommended for use with software-encrypted pools.
Intel Ivy Bridge or later CPUs are strongly recommended for virtual machine use.
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 making a comeback thanks to the Ryzen and EPYC (Naples/Rome) lines but support for these platforms has been relatively limited on FreeBSD and, by extension, FreeNAS. They will work, but there has been less run time and performance tuning.

Remote Management: IPMI

As a courtesy to further limit the motherboard choices, the Intelligent Platform Management Interface or IPMI, a.k.a. Baseboard Management Controller (or BMC, iLo, iDrac, and other names depending on the vendor) should be considered if you need:

Remote power control and monitoring of remote systems
Remote console shell access for configuration or data recovery
Remote virtual media for FreeNAS installation or reinstallation

Because FreeNAS relies heavily on its web-based user interface (UI), console access can occasionally be needed to make network configuration changes. FreeNAS administration and sharing default to a single network interface, and this becomes a challenge when it comes time to upgrade, for example, LACP aggregated networking. The ideal solution is to have a dedicated subnet for access to the FreeNAS web UI, but this luxury is not available to all users. This is why the occasional visit to the hardware console is necessary for global configuration and, possibly, system recovery. The latest FreeNAS Mini and Certified systems ship with full-featured, HTML5-based IPMI support on a dedicated gigabit network interface.

Power Supply Units

The top criteria to consider for a power supply unit or PSU on a FreeNAS system are its:

Power capacity (in watts) for the motherboard and number of drives it must support
Reliability
Efficiency Rating
Relative noise
Optional redundancy to keep an important system running if one power supply fails

It is critical that PSU(s) are rated for the initial and future load that will be placed on them. If the plan is to gradually populate a large storage chassis, be sure to have adequate power for the 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 is fully integrated into the IPMI management system to provide real time fan, temperature, and load information.
Most power supplies are certified with an efficiency rating known as an “80 Plus” rating. This rating indicates how much power drawn from the wall will be lost as heat, noise, and vibrations, instead of doing useful work like 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’s operating at 500/600 = ~83% efficiency. The other 100 watts gets lost as heat, noise, and vibration. Power supplies with higher ratings will be more efficient, but can also be far more expensive. Do some return-on-investment calculations if you’re unsure what efficiency to purchase. For example, if an 80 Plus Platinum PSU costs $50 more than the comparable 80 Plus Gold, it would need to save you at least $10 per year on your power bill for that investment to pay off over 5 years. You can read more about 80 Plus ratings in this post.

Uninterruptible Power Supplies

FreeNAS provides the ability to communicate 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. FreeNAS is known to work well with APC brand UPSs, followed by CyberPower, and consider budgeting for a UPS with pure sine wave output. Some models of SSD can experience data corruption on power loss. If multiple SSDs experience this simultaneously, this could cause total pool failure, making a UPS a critical investment.

Ethernet Networking

The “Network” in “Network Attached Storage” is obviously just as important as Storage but the topic can be reduced to a few key points:

Simplicity is often the secret to reliability with network configurations.
Faster individual interfaces such as 10/25/40/100GbE are preferred to aggregating slower interfaces.
Intel and Chelsio interfaces are the best supported options.
Only consider a “jumbo frames” MTU with dedicated connections such as between servers or video editors and FreeNAS that are not likely to experience packet fragmentation.
Interfaces with LRO and LSO offload features will generally alleviate the need for jumbo frames and their use can result in lower CPU overhead.

Virtualized FreeNAS

Finally, the ultimate FreeNAS hardware question is whether to use actual hardware at all or go with a virtualization solution. The FreeNAS developers virtualize FreeNAS every day as part of their work, and cloud services are obviously popular among users of all sizes. The fact remains, however, that OpenZFS at the heart of FreeNAS has been designed from day one to work directly with physical storage devices, fully aware of their strengths and compensating for their weaknesses. Also, at the heart of FreeNAS is FreeBSD, which offers exemplary hardware performance and health reporting. When the need arises to virtualize FreeNAS:

Pass hardware disks or the entire storage controller to the FreeNAS VM if possible (requires VT-d/AMD-Vi support)
Disable automatic scrub pools on virtualized storage such as VMFS, and never scrub a pool while storage repair tasks are taking place on another layer
Use a minimum of three vdevs to provide adequate metadata redundancy, even with a striped pool
Remember to provide one or more 8GB or larger boot devices
Provide the FreeNAS VM with adequate RAM, as per its usual requirements
Consider “jumbo frame” networking if supported by all devices
Be prepared that the “guest tools” in FreeBSD may lack features found in other guest operating systems
Enable MAC address spoofing on virtual interfaces, and enable “promiscuous mode” to use VNET Jail and Plugins

Follow these rules when buying or building your next FreeNAS system to achieve maximum reliability, performance, and manageability. The FreeNAS Mini and FreeNAS Certified systems are tailor made for FreeNAS and take each of these best practices into consideration for the very best FreeNAS experience.

The post The Official FreeNAS Hardware Guide appeared first on TrueNAS - Welcome to the Open Storage Era.

December 11 Plugins Update

iX Team — Wed, 11 Dec 2019 20:43:31 +0000

Today’s plugins update addresses a ClamAV security advisory, updates a few plugins to their latest available versions, and introduces the Cloudstack plugin as ready for testing. The latest plugins versions should appear in Plugins ⇾ Available. To update an existing plugin, click its 3-dot action item and select Update.
Before updating a plugin, review its Release Notes in the table below to determine if the update will impact your configuration.
It is recommended to make a snapshot of your current plugin version before updating. To make a snapshot, determine the jail_name for the plugin: go to Plugins ⇾ Installed and note the name of the plugin in the Jails column. Then, run this command from Shell:
iocage snapshot -n snap_name jail_name
Substitute snap_name with a useful name (such as plugin name, version, and date) and jail_name with the name of the plugin from the Jails column of the UI. Repeat for each plugin you wish to update.
Updated Plugins

Plugin	from	to	Release Notes	Notes
bitcoin-daemon	0.18.1_7	0.19.0.1	Changelog
ClamAV	0.101.4,1	0.102.1,1	Changelog	CVE-2019-15961
Jenkins	2.201	2.207	Changelog
Nextcloud	17.0.0	17.0.1	Changelog
Plex Media Server	1.18.1.1973	1.18.2.2058	Changelog
Plex Media Server (PlexPass)	1.18.1.1973_1	1.18.3.2129	Changelog
qbittorrent	4.1.8	4.1.9.1	Changelog
Redmine	3.4.11	3.4.11_2	Changelog
UniFi Controller	5.11.50	5.12.35	Changelog
WeeChat	2.5_1	2.7	Changelog

Call for Testing

Apache CloudStack is an open source infrastructure as a service (IaaS) platform that allows IT service providers to offer public cloud services. More information is available from http://docs.cloudstack.apache.org/en/4.11.3.0/. To install this plugin for testing, replacing the Xs with the IP address and default gateway to use for the plugin:
git clone https://github.com/freenas/iocage-plugin-cloudstack.git
cd iocage-plugin-cloudstack
iocage fetch -P ./cloudstack.json ip4_addr="xxxx" defaultrouter="xxx"

The post December 11 Plugins Update appeared first on TrueNAS - Welcome to the Open Storage Era.

FreeNAS Mini Black Friday Sale Starts Now! – Issue #73

iX Team — Thu, 14 Nov 2019 19:00:53 +0000

NOTE: This is historical content that may contain outdated information.

Black Friday FreeNAS Mini Special Starts Today!

Black Friday savings start early this year! From today through Cyber Monday (12/2), Save 10% on all FreeNAS Mini orders on iXsystems.com with Promo Code: ZFS10. There’s never been a better time to upgrade to the power-efficient Mini E or the powerhouse Mini XL+ with 10GbE.

Build your custom FreeNAS Mini here

TrueCommand Shifts to Prime Time

TrueCommand is an essential piece of IT infrastructure management for anyone deploying FreeNAS and TrueNAS systems and simplifies IT operations with its single pane of glass management of NAS fleets. Last week’s release of TrueCommand 1.1 introduces significant enhancements for production users and is now ready for prime time, scaling support for up to 500 NAS systems and new LDAP integration.

Learn more here

FreeNAS and TrueNAS 11.3 Make Their Debuts

FreeNAS 11.3 represents another major advancement in the quality and functionality of the leading Open Storage platform, such as upgrades to ZFS Replication and SMB sharing. TrueNAS 11.3 is also inheriting an abundance of FreeNAS features from previous releases including the upgraded web UI as well as the ability to use and manage jails, plugins, and VMs.

Learn more here

Breaking Down the FreeNAS Mini E!

The FreeNAS Mini E is a recent addition to the FreeNAS Mini series of storage appliances by iXsystems. The Mini E’s design makes it our most compact, cost-effective, and power-efficient NAS system in the FreeNAS Mini family.

Learn more here

More webinars

OpenZFS Developer Summit
The seventh annual OpenZFS Developer Summit took place on November 4th and 5th in San Francisco, bringing together familiar faces and new community participants alike. Unification, Refinement, and Ecosystem Tooling were all important parts of the discussion and focus of this year’s OpenZFS summit.

Read more here

iXsystems Serves You

For over twenty years, iXsystems has been dedicated to providing server solutions for thousands of customers around the world, helping design everything from small IT closets to some of the largest web services and data centers around the world. Our team of knowledgeable Solution Engineers is here to be your trusted advisors, guiding you through an easy and painless design process.

Server Solutions

AMD Rome Scalability is EPYC
After more than a year of success and traction with the first generation AMD EPYC 7000 CPUs, iXsystems is introducing AMD’s second generation EPYC 7002 processor family into its line of iX servers.

Read more here

Download it here

iXsystems Supports the Iozone Benchmarking Lab with a FreeNAS Certified System

This year, iXsystems donated a FreeNAS Certified storage array to the Iozone test lab in support of its important benchmarking research and development activities.

Read more here

Veeam Configuration Recommendations for TrueNAS
For users looking to deploy Veeam, or to update their storage repositories, TrueNAS is the ideal data target.

Learn more here

October 30 Plugins Update
The latest plugins update addresses several security advisories and updates a few plugins such as Gitlab Runner, NextCloud, and Jenkins to their latest available versions.

Learn more here

Sign up here

Tech-Tip #70
After configuring SSH in FreeNAS, remember to start it in Services by clicking the sliding button in the SSH (Secure Shell) row. The sliding button moves to the right when the service is running.

Links of the Month

The Compelling Economic Benefits of OpenZFS Storage via DCIG
SNIA SDC 2019: SMB, NVMe, Persistent Memory, Performance, and More! via iXsystems
FreeBSD 12.1-RELEASE Now Available via FreeBSD-Announce
GhostBSD 19.10 Now Available via GhostBSD.org
Unix 50 via Nokia Bell Labs

Quote of the Month
“Being in the cloud backup business we needed enterprise storage, but given the competitive nature of our service, we needed enterprise capabilities without the associated costs. iXsystems definitely provided that balance and then some. We had a great experience in the setup and configuration and iXsystems was very helpful from start to finish. We have since expanded our storage systems several times due to business growth, which was very effortless. The systems have been very reliable and we are very satisfied with the value we received. iXsystems has provided great support and are always helpful. We would not hesitate to make future purchases as our needs grow.”

– Nathan G, Information Technology

The post FreeNAS Mini Black Friday Sale Starts Now! – Issue #73 appeared first on TrueNAS - Welcome to the Open Storage Era.

Breaking Down the FreeNAS Mini E!

iX Team — Thu, 14 Nov 2019 17:00:41 +0000

The FreeNAS Mini E is a recent addition to the FreeNAS Mini series. As the entry to the product line, it’s designed to be our most compact, cost-effective, and power-efficient NAS system. Powered by FreeNAS, the world’s #1 Open Source storage operating system, and protected by the self-healing ZFS filesystem, the Mini E is an excellent storage system for small and home offices. Its big brother, the FreeNAS Mini XL+, was released at the same time and has since received rave reviews from ServeTheHome.
The Mini E is ideal for file sharing and media streaming. Built-in ZFS-based RAID keeps data safe and available, error-protection keeps it free from corruption, and unlimited snapshots and replication protect it from ransomware attacks and human error.
Complete with server-grade hardware, including ECC RAM and IPMI, the Mini E minimizes the chances of data loss and simplifies remote administration.
Base Configuration:

Intel® Dual-Core Atom (C3338) CPU (8.5W)
8GB DDR4 1866MHz ECC RAM
4x 3.5” Hot-Swap SATA Drive Bays
2x 2.5” Internal SATA SSD Bays
4x 1 Gigabit Ethernet Ports
IPMI Remote Management
2x USB 2.0 Ports (Front)
1x USB 3.0 Port (Rear)
1x 16GB SataDOM Boot Device

Despite the entry-level price, the sub-components are all server-grade

Motherboard & Processor
The FreeNAS Mini E is based on a specially-built motherboard from ASRock which uses Intel’s Atom Denverton C3000 Series technology. It includes an integrated two core Intel® Atom CPU with a base frequency of 1.50 GHz and a maximum frequency of 2.20 GHz. This highly-efficient processor can still perform a 1080p transcode in applications like Plex.
The ASRock motherboard includes four gigabit RJ45 data ports (with full LACP support), a USB 3.0 port, two front-side USB 2.0 ports, a gigabit IPMI remote management port, UID switch, an RS232 serial port, and a VGA port. Although the motherboard has a PCIe slot, it is disabled by the CPU/chipset to maximize SATA device connectivity.

Rear-view highlights: Quad gigabit ethernet ports, whisper-quiet fans, and dedicated management port

Power Efficiency
The new C3338 Atom processors are powerful and highly efficient with a thermal design power (TDP) of only 8.5W. This allows the Mini E to achieve a baseline idle power consumption of less than 18W!
Hard drives play a significant role in overall power consumption. We build our Minis with NAS-grade hard drives to get the highest power efficiency, best acoustic performance, and best reliability. For a system fully populated with four 2TB NAS drives and two cache devices, idle power consumption is less than 36W, and under load less than 50W. With four 12TB NAS drives and two cache devices, idle power consumption is less than 38W and full-throttle power consumption is less than 56W.

Memory & Caching
Error Correcting Code (ECC) memory is the front line defense against data corruption and is one of the major features that sets the FreeNAS Mini apart from lower cost consumer-grade NAS systems. With ECC memory, single bit errors are corrected on the fly before they are written to disk, and if multiple bit errors are detected, the memory will halt the system before any data corruption is committed to disk.
The FreeNAS Mini E comes standard with 8GB DDR4 ECC memory. The motherboard has two DIMM slots and can be upgraded to 16GB RAM by adding another 8GB DIMM. Other configurable upgrades to improve performance include Read (L2ARC) and Write Cache (SLOG) SATA SSDs.

Shhhhhhhh
The FreeNAS Mini E is whisper quiet! We constantly gather customer feedback, and we found that low fan noise was a major need in many deployments where users were producing audio and video content. In designing this new product, we tested many fans to find the quietest 120mm fan on the market. If you have a sensitive work environment that requires near-silence, the FreeNAS Mini E will be a perfect match!

Drive selection matters for maintaining low noise in a NAS system! If users buy a Mini E without hard drives, pay attention to the acoustic specifications of the hard drives you select. For reference, the NAS-grade hard drives that come with our pre-built systems idle around 20-21 dBA, and Seek from 24-29 dBA, which is quiet by most spinning disk standards.

Remote Management & Administration
Another feature unique to systems in its class is the ability to manage and administer the FreeNAS Mini E’s hardware from a remote location, via the Intelligent Platform Management Interface (IPMI) console. This is especially ideal when managing FreeNAS Mini E systems at remote offices or sites. Additionally, the iKVM now uses HTML5, providing remote console access without the Java maintenance headaches (version compatibility, security, etc) or the need for a physical monitor or keyboard.

The FreeNAS Mini E always ships with the latest version of FreeNAS software.

Software
And, of course, the FreeNAS Mini E comes installed with the latest version of FreeNAS and all software features enabled. The new FreeNAS 11.2 web interface offers improved usability, easier system management, and better responsiveness. FreeNAS 11.2 also supports the new TrueCommand management interface. TrueCommand provides a “single pane of glass” for managing and monitoring groups of FreeNAS and TrueNAS systems with automated alerts and customized reports. FreeNAS also provides several options to back up your data to another FreeNAS or TrueNAS system, or to a public cloud provider like AWS S3 or Backblaze B2. The upcoming FreeNAS 11.3 will provide many wizards to simplify the setup of ZFS pools, iSCSI extents, and SMB shares.

Get yours today!
The FreeNAS Mini E is available through Amazon, starting at $749 without hard drives, or $999 for a ready-to-deploy 8TB configuration. Any FreeNAS Mini can be custom-configured to your specifications and ordered through the online Mini configurator. To learn more about the FreeNAS Mini product line, visit www.ixsystems.com/freenas-mini/.

The post Breaking Down the FreeNAS Mini E! appeared first on TrueNAS - Welcome to the Open Storage Era.

TrueCommand Shifts to Prime Time

iX Team — Tue, 12 Nov 2019 17:06:16 +0000

NOTE: This is historical content that may contain outdated information.

The first iteration of TrueCommand was released in June 2019 as a single pane of glass management system for FreeNAS and TrueNAS fleets. Since then, it has been downloaded thousands of times and adopted by hundreds of organizations to manage their NAS fleets. TrueCommand 1.1 introduces significant enhancements for production users and is now ready for prime time.
Scalability was a core requirement of TrueCommand 1.1. During the initial rollout of TrueCommand, we were contacted by several companies running hundreds of FreeNAS systems with thousands of drives. After some optimization of the data collection and database frameworks, TrueCommand can now support over 500 systems.
Managed Services have also been enabled. TrueCommand provides a web proxy service to FreeNAS and TrueNAS systems that are on a private network. Admins can be provided access to the TrueCommand VM from any location and then access the FreeNAS and TrueNAS systems to monitor, administer, and troubleshoot. For example, the iXsystems support team can be temporarily granted access to your TrueCommand instance and then indirectly access each TrueNAS and FreeNAS system. With integrated Role Based Access Control (RBAC), the web proxy controls which users can access specific NAS systems.
More than a hundred other improvements have been made to TrueCommand 1.1 with details in the release notes. Other key features of TrueCommand 1.1 include:

Improved Alerts: More notification services and multi-variable alerting
Custom reports: Save reports that suit your organization
NAS updates: Initiate and monitor updates to many NAS systems
LDAP Integration: Authenticate and authorize users via AD or LDAP
Configuration Audits: FreeNAS 11.3 API enables config save and audits
Configuration Backup and Restore: Recover from disasters more easily

Statistics and alerts can also be collected from external systems via an http API to TrueCommand 1.1. API documentation and sample code are available to build monitoring and reporting capabilities for integrated solutions. For example, we plan to provide an Open Source virtualization solution, but more on that later! Contact us, if there are opportunities to collaborate in your business.
We’re looking forward to the community feedback on TrueCommand 1.1 and making it an extremely useful tool. It’s free for systems with fewer than 50 drives. For systems with more drives, there are free trial licenses or enterprise licenses with support for serious deployments. Let us know if we can assist you.
The team is now working on the next version of TrueCommand and the ability to provide TrueCommand as a service. Report any issues and suggest features via the community dashboard. For advice on installation and usage, please use the Community forum.
TrueCommand Screenshots

The dashboard provides instant access to high-level system status

Custom reports provide a single screen snapshot of the important metrics

Alerts can be systematically managed across all FreeNAS and TrueNAS systems

LDAP integration simplifies user administration

The post TrueCommand Shifts to Prime Time appeared first on TrueNAS - Welcome to the Open Storage Era.

OpenZFS Developer Summit 2019

iX Team — Mon, 11 Nov 2019 21:35:37 +0000

The seventh annual OpenZFS Developer Summit took place on November 4th and 5th in San Francisco and brought together a healthy mix of familiar faces and new community participants. Several folks from iXsystems took part in the talks, hacking, and socializing at this amazing annual event. The messages of the event can be summed up as Unification, Refinement, and Ecosystem Tooling.
OpenZFS Unification

The much-discussed hope to unify the OpenZFS code bases across the supported operating systems went from dialog to action item with the bold declaration by OpenZFS co-founder Matt Ahrens that the ZFS on Linux repo will be renamed simply “OpenZFS” and that the next milestone release will be “OpenZFS 2.0”. “As far as I’m concerned, this can’t come too soon,” said one attendee. Remarkably, there has been zero public objection to this effort. OpenZFS developer on macOS and Windows Jörgen Lundman supported this point with Michael Dexter in their talk “OpenZFS Everywhere”, in which they reported on the status of OpenZFS on the obvious platforms: Illumos, FreeBSD, and GNU/Linux, but also macOS, NetBSD, and Windows.
The iXsystems Engineering Team has been driving FreeBSD’s integration with OpenZFS 2.0 to guarantee that FreeNAS and TrueNAS offer the most up-to-date OpenZFS experience available. This integration will be part of release 12.0.
Refinement
Three talks drove home the point of just how much continuous refinement OpenZFS is experiencing over the years, beginning with “Metaslab Allocation Performance” by Paul Dagnelie of Delphix. Paul described how his team used DTrace to identify a performance issue that was impacting several clients whose workloads included synchronous writes of small records to all-flash storage pools. They addressed the issue with a move from B-Tree to range tree data structures, an “Embedded SLOG”, and a number of adjustments to the metaslab size parameters.
This was joined by Brian Behlendorf’s talk “ZFS TRIM Explained” in which he described how OpenZFS has received both a manual TRIM for flash devices, and a continuous TRIM similar to the one implemented on FreeBSD.
Finally, Allan Jude gave a work-in-progress report on his “VDEV Properties” work that allows the user to obtain detailed information about individual VDEVs just like they would with a pool or dataset. VDEVs have only offered rudimentary information reporting and this work sheds light on what was one of the darkest corners of a zpool.

An original iXsystems logo can be spotted as the future of OpenZFS is shaped during one of the “Hallway Tracks” in-between official sessions

Ecosystem Tooling
While OpenZFS is central to a robust storage stack, the stack itself is an ecosystem in which a number of components work together to produce a solution. The journey of developers between different OpenZFS operating systems has produced palpable frustration over the various tools that are absent on any given platform. The status reports “libshare on Linux is Broken”, “A Device by Any Other Name: Common Pitfalls in Device Naming for ZFS on Linux“, and “Illumos Brings the SAS” all helped vocalize this frustration and offered pragmatic solutions to the issues encountered. Users and developers should rightfully ask, “Why can’t this be as simple as it is on that other OS?” The two talks on debugging by Tom Caputi of Datto and Serapheim Dimitropoulos of Delphix gave great overviews of various debugging strategies for what may as well be searches for digital needles in digital haystacks.
The presentations on the second day wrapped up with an eye-opening report on Multi Actuator hard drives by Muhammad Ahmad of Seagate who sat down with Matt Ahrens to explore the performance characteristics of OpenZFS on this exciting new technology. “MA HDDs” can act as either a single drive with the promise of double the performance or two independent drives. Alexander Motin of iXsystems is currently evaluating these drives on FreeBSD to ensure that FreeBSD and FreeNAS are ready for their arrival on the market.
On a humorous note, Don Brady of Delphix used his hackathon time to work on a “metaslab worst-fit allocator” that would introduce data fragmentation for testing. This report won first place among the hackathon reports.

The road to OpenZFS 2.0 will be an exciting one and we have the diverse OpenZFS team from around the world to thank for navigating us through it!

The post OpenZFS Developer Summit 2019 appeared first on TrueNAS - Welcome to the Open Storage Era.

DCIG: The Compelling Economic Benefits of OpenZFS Storage

iX Team — Fri, 08 Nov 2019 18:14:33 +0000

Have you had a key software vendor go from support increases of 3-5% to more than 20% annually? Have you had your key software vendor acquired and the acquirer then end development of the product? Have you had a key technology vendor exit your region at a time you were planning to expand your facilities? As an IT Director, I endured all these untimely and costly outcomes of vendor decisions. And then I discovered how to mitigate these risks through Open Source software such as OpenZFS, which solves these problems for software-defined storage.

OpenZFS Avoids the Costs of Proprietary Storage Systems

Many enterprises have endured the pain of having proprietary storage systems abandoned in one way or another by the vendor. At that point, feature enhancements stop and support ends or begins to lag. Data security can even become an issue. As a result, many enterprises have been forced into costly and time-consuming migrations or into paying punitive maintenance and support costs.
OpenZFS storage shifts power away from the vendor to the customer. OpenZFS has multiple vendors competing to provide the best value without vendor lock-in. Businesses can gain access to a complete solution with professional support, access to the community, complete documentation and source code, and an ability to migrate data easily. This competition reduces total storage costs both in terms of initial investment and long-term cost of ownership.

OpenZFS has a Rich History and an Active Ecosystem

A team of talented engineers at Sun Microsystems created ZFS in 2001. In 2005, Sun released ZFS as Open Source software as part of OpenSolaris. Consequently, ZFS was ported to multiple operating systems. In 2010, Oracle purchased Sun and stopped releasing enhancements to OpenSolaris, effectively reverting ZFS to closed source.
Development of Open Source ZFS continued, but without the coordination that Sun had provided. In 2013, OpenZFS was founded as a multivendor initiative to promote awareness of Open Source ZFS and to facilitate easier sharing of code among operating system platforms. This collaboration will ensure consistent reliability, functionality, and performance of all ZFS systems, regardless of their base Operating System (OS).
Matt Ahrens, one of the original authors of ZFS, continues to be actively involved with OpenZFS. In a recent presentation, he highlighted the degree of active open development that continues under the OpenZFS banner.

The OpenZFS website currently includes the logos of 33 companies delivering products with OpenZFS as an integral part. These include iXsystems, Datto, Delphix, Intel, Nexenta by DDN, and others. iXsystems FreeNAS and TrueNAS are the most widely deployed ZFS-based solutions, with more than one million deployed TrueNAS and FreeNAS storage systems.

OpenZFS is Scalable Open Source Enterprise Storage

ZFS is a proven file system suitable for enterprise storage. OpenZFS storage is a best-in-class open storage technology that is widely deployed in enterprises. ZFS provides a rich set of data services. These include snapshots, clones, replication, compression, and encryption.
The reliability of ZFS is very well known. Integrated into the file system is a RAID algorithm capable of single, dual, and even triple parity. All data is committed via a Redirect-on-Write model that avoids any overwrites of existing data. A Write log is maintained to ensure integrity during unexpected power events or hardware failures.
ZFS can deliver enterprise-class high availability when implemented as a dual-controller storage system. This scale-up design is familiar to, and well understood by, enterprise technology professionals.
Its multi-tiered ZFS caching architecture is both efficient and scalable. ZFS can take full advantage of ongoing advances in persistent memory. This includes the option to use low-latency NVDIMMs and NVMe SSDs, as represented in this diagram of the iXsystems TrueNAS M50 storage system. The efficiency of ZFS translates into lower costs for both storage capacity and performance.

Consequently, OpenZFS-based systems can be built to suit a wide variety of storage use cases. These include high-performance all-flash arrays for critical business applications, general-purpose storage, and secondary storage. Storage clients can use industry-standard protocols such as iSCSI, NFS, SMB, and in some cases even Fibre Channel and S3 object storage APIs to access the ZFS-based storage.

OpenZFS Delivers Compelling Economic Benefits

Enterprises can trust business-critical data to OpenZFS running on highly available dual-controller storage systems with enterprise-class commercial support. These are available as pre-configured appliances at very affordable prices. For example, iXsystems recently offered pre-configured dual-controller TrueNAS systems for purchase with raw capacities of 40 TB for $9,900 and 6 PB for $450,000. Put in public cloud terms, that is 6PB of enterprise-class storage for a one-time acquisition cost of $0.075 per GB.
Even less expensive options bring ZFS to non-HA servers for non-critical workloads. Businesses can build their own software-defined storage system by installing free OpenZFS software such as FreeNAS on servers already owned by the business. FreeNAS storage systems are also available as pre-configured appliances. These inexpensive systems can even serve as replication targets for commercially supported systems.
Organizations can further reduce operating costs by using management applications to automate administrative tasks. These include managing disk failures, updating software, analyzing capacity needs, and creating new data shares. ZFS-aware unified management systems such as TrueCommand can operate across both HA appliances and off-the-shelf servers simultaneously.

OpenZFS Gives Enterprises Control and Long-Term Cost Savings

The flexibility of OpenZFS to provide new features, services, platforms, and vendors on top of an enterprise-proven Open Source file system is a powerful proposition. OpenZFS-based storage systems empower enterprises to take control of their budgets and destinies without sacrificing data services or commercial support. When any organization is considering a new storage solution, it should give strong consideration to open storage for long-term cost savings.
*This article was written by Ken Clipperton, Lead Analyst for Storage at DCIG. The original article can be found here: https://dcig.com/2019/11/the-compelling-economic-benefits-of-openzfs-storage.html

The post DCIG: The Compelling Economic Benefits of OpenZFS Storage appeared first on TrueNAS - Welcome to the Open Storage Era.

AMD Rome Scalability is EPYC

iX Team — Thu, 07 Nov 2019 18:26:23 +0000

NOTE: This is historical content that may contain outdated information.

After more than a year of success and traction with the first generation AMD EPYC 7000 CPUs (formerly known as “Naples”), iXsystems has introduced AMD’s second generation EPYC 7002 processor family (formerly known as “Rome”) into its line of iX servers. AMD Rome brings exciting possibilities and truly “EPYC” value to the table with incredible scalability, increased memory speeds and bandwidth, bountiful next-gen I/O capability, and cost efficiency leadership.
EPYC 7002 is uniquely scalable from 8 to 64 cores in both single and dual socket versions. More importantly, pricing per core scales linearly, making high core count processors predictably priced and affordable at less than $80 per core. As an example, a system with a single 64-core processor has lower cost, power and space requirements than a system with two 32-core processors.

Rome Wasn’t Built in a Day

The architecture for EPYC processors is a major change with processor chiplets and an IO Hub. The second generation EPYC 7002 uses a 7nm process for its processors to get lower costs and improved power efficiency. Scalability is provided with more chiplets and more cores per chiplet.
The IO Hub uses a 14nm process and is the first to support PCI Gen4 with 20Gb/s per lane. This will enable 200Gb networking capabilities per NIC. With more than 128 PCIe lanes on a single socket processor, there is phenomenal bandwidth of over 250 GB/s.
The additional PCIe lanes make EPYC very well suited to NVMe drives. Each NVMe drive can support >2GB/s of bandwidth and accelerate I/O sensitive applications. You can run FreeNAS or ZFS on these NVMe drives and replicate to a TrueNAS hybrid storage system.
Initial validation and deliveries of EPYC 7002 systems have gone very well. Newer motherboards with Gen4 support have been validated with Gen4 NICs. Broadcom has a dual 100GbE NIC that can run at line rate on both ports. Our friends at Liqid have developed a stunning 32TB SSD with 24 GB/s of bandwidth using 16 lanes of PCIe Gen4.
For an in depth review of the EPYC 7002, we recommend this excellent article from ServeTheHome.

Why go to Rome?

Apart from the unique architecture, EPYC’s high core counts at lower costs are very useful in applications where cost per socket and cost per core are critical.
Virtualization software and many database applications are licensed per socket. The 64 core sockets can reduce software costs by more than 60%.
High performance compute workloads like EDA, simulation, and analytics can benefit from the higher core count per socket.
Single socket servers with high I/O requirements can also benefit from the additional PCIe lanes. Some AI/ML workloads can now use a single EPYC CPU with multiple GPUs.

These Servers are EPYC

There are many server options that can utilize AMD EPYC 7002 processors. Examples of servers that are recommended include servers for Virtualization, Analytics, and Machine Learning.
Virtualization: 2U 4Node
Each dual socket node supports 128 Cores, 1TB RAM, 6 x low cost SATA or NVMe SSDs, and 2 or more 100GbE ports. With over 500 Cores in 2U, this system delivers more than 500 VMs with a very low TCO. It’s an ideal compute node for a high performance private cloud.

Analytics: 1U Single socket
With 10 x U.2 NVMe bays and dual 100GbE ports, this system delivers extreme storage bandwidth for analytics and big data applications. Select the core count to match the application and then build out a powerful cluster.

Machine Learning: 1U with 4 GPUs
This single socket system delivers 64GB/s of bandwidth for GPUs and dual 100Gbe. It is ideally suited as the building block for an AI/ML GPU farm.

EPYC Servers Need 100GbE Storage

To get the most of 100GbE servers, there will be an increasing need for high bandwidth and cost-effective storage. The TrueNAS M-Series provides the high bandwidth iSCSI, NFS, and SMB capabilities needed to satisfy these EPYC servers. For example, ten of the 2U 4Node Virtualization Servers paired with a TrueNAS M50 (150+TB SSD storage) would deliver up to 5,000 VMs in a little over half a rack.
Contact iXsystems if you would like more information on these EPYC platforms!

The post AMD Rome Scalability is EPYC appeared first on TrueNAS - Welcome to the Open Storage Era.

FreeNAS and TrueNAS 11.3 make their Debuts

iX Team — Tue, 05 Nov 2019 20:47:36 +0000

NOTE: This is historical content that may contain outdated information.

FreeNAS 11.3 will represent another major advancement in the quality and functionality of the leading Open Storage platform. Building upon the very popular API and Web UI improvements of FreeNAS 11.2, FreeNAS 11.3 introduces easy-setup wizards, major replication improvements, and over 500 other enhancements.
FreeNAS 11.3 has now reached the important milestone of a public BETA release. Release notes with full feature descriptions and download instructions are provided in the FreeNAS Library. As with any pre-release software, we recommend against using it in production environments and make sure your data is backed up before trying it out. Please report any bugs or issues.
TrueNAS 11.3 is also inheriting an abundance of FreeNAS features from previous releases including the upgraded web UI as well as the ability to use and manage jails, plugins, and VMs. All of these features have now been integrated with TrueNAS high-availability and hardware management features. TrueNAS 11.3 is in a Preview release form and will be released after further software quality validation. TrueNAS is available on the X-Series and M-Series platforms which scale from 10TB to over 10PB with hybrid or all-flash media.
Key Features of FreeNAS and TrueNAS 11.3 include the following:

Improved ZFS Replication: 8x performance, Parallel tasks, Auto-resume, Setup wizard
New Wizards for faster setup: iSCSI, SMB, Pools, Networking
SMB Improvements: User quotas via AD, Shadow copies, ACL manager
Plugin improvements: UI redesign, Categories, NAT reduces IP addresses
Dashboard and Reporting Improvements: Faster response, more relevant data
Configuration Management: API enables config save and audits in TrueCommand
TrueNAS Features: Web UI, HA Jails/Plugins/VMs, Graphical enclosure management

Due to a major investment in quality assurance and automated testing over the past 18 months, we are confident that there will be significant improvements in software quality and ease of use relative to Beta versions of previous releases. FreeNAS is benefiting from the large investment in software QA for TrueNAS products. TrueNAS 11.2 has been the highest quality release we have ever deployed and FreeNAS 11.2 has benefited.
In addition, a new TrueCommand release is on the way. For the uninitiated, TrueCommand is a unified management system that monitors and controls both FreeNAS and TrueNAS systems from a “single pane of glass”. TrueCommand 1.1 will be available on November 12, and chief among its new features are the ability to save system configurations and provide audit logging of any changes made to FreeNAS and TrueNAS 11.3 systems under management.
Rest assured the iXsystems team is working around the clock to get FreeNAS and TrueNAS 11.3 to its release phase during Q1 of 2020. Thanks to all the community members and clients who provided extensive feedback on FreeNAS 11.2. That feedback has significantly helped create a more powerful and simpler environment for managing your data. We look forward to receiving your feedback on FreeNAS 11.3.

11.3 Screenshots

The Dashboard provides an intuitive view of system status

The Replication Wizard simplifies backup between two NAS systems

The Pool Manager makes it easier to set up larger pools

TrueNAS enclosure management provides visual confirmation of drive and pool status

Plugin selection and installation is greatly simplified

About FreeNAS
FreeNAS is the leading Open Source software-defined storage operating system. With its proven OpenZFS filesystem, powerful web interface, and full suite of data protection features, FreeNAS can be installed on virtually any x86 hardware platform to create a highly-reliable and efficient storage system that is accessible over block, file, or object protocols. To optimize FreeNAS for specific solutions, an ecosystem of plugins and VMs provide media server, backup management, cloud collaboration and a variety of other network applications.
iXsystems proudly develops and maintains FreeNAS as the Community Edition of the TrueNAS Family. It has been deployed on over a million systems, from homes to Fortune 100 enterprises, and is supported by a vibrant, technical community at www.freenas.org. For organizations that need high-availability, Enterprise support, or best-in-class performance, TrueNAS appliances are available at www.ixsystems.com/TrueNAS.

The post FreeNAS and TrueNAS 11.3 make their Debuts appeared first on TrueNAS - Welcome to the Open Storage Era.

October 30 Plugins Update

iX Team — Wed, 30 Oct 2019 21:09:41 +0000

Today’s plugins update addresses several security advisories and updates a few plugins to their latest available versions. The latest plugins versions should appear in Plugins ⇾ Available and existing plugin installations can be updated to the new versions using the instructions below.
Before updating a plugin, review its Release Notes in the table below to determine if the update will impact your configuration. Then, determine the jail_name for the plugin: go to Plugins ⇾ Installed and note the name of the plugin in the Jails column.
To update the plugin, type this command, replacing jail_name with the actual name shown in Plugins ⇾ Installed:
iocage update jail_name
Note that you will need to restart the plugin once the update is finished.
It is recommended to make a snapshot of your current plugin version before updating. Detailed instructions for creating a plugins snapshot and rolling back to a previous snapshot are available in this post.
Updated Plugins

Plugin	from	to	Release Notes	Notes
Dnsmasq	2.80_3,1	2.80_4,1	Changelog
Emby-server	4.2.1.0	4.2.1.0_1	Changelog
GitLab Runner	12.1.0	12.4.0	Changelog
irssi	1.2.1_1,1	1.2.2,1	Changelog	CVE-2019-15717
Jenkins (LTS)	2.176.3	2.176.4	Changelog	CVE-2019-10401 CVE-2019-10402 CVE-2019-10403 CVE-2019-10404 CVE-2019-10405 CVE-2019-10406
Jenkins	2.194	2.201	Changelog	CVE-2019-10401 CVE-2019-10402 CVE-2019-10403 CVE-2019-10404 CVE-2019-10405 CVE-2019-10406
Nextcloud	16.0.4	17.0.0	Changelog
Plex Media Server	1.16.5.1554	1.18.1.1973_1	Changelog
Plex Media Server (PlexPass)	1.16.6.1592	1.18.1.1973_1	Changelog
qbittorrent	4.1.7_1	4.1.8	Changelog
Syncthing	1.2.0	1.3.0	Changelog
unificontroller	5.10.25	5.11.50	Changelog
XMRig	3.1.1	3.2.0	Changelog

The post October 30 Plugins Update appeared first on TrueNAS - Welcome to the Open Storage Era.

Veeam Configuration Recommendations for TrueNAS

iX Team — Tue, 22 Oct 2019 20:07:41 +0000

TrueNAS® is well suited to back up and archive storage workloads. Offering incredible scalability in a single share, TrueNAS systems can continuously extend storage pools to grow to several petabytes in size without the need for clustering. For users looking to deploy Veeam, or to update their storage repositories, TrueNAS is the ideal data target.

Data integrity first
Checksums, copy-on-write, unlimited snapshots, and replication are all native to TrueNAS. The OpenZFS file system is designed for data integrity first to ensure files saved to the storage pool are kept intact as long as needed. Any changes are recorded and checked, while the snapshots can be cloned and replicated to separate systems. Deploying multiple TrueNAS or FreeNAS systems allows for easy disaster recovery at no extra cost. For backup and archival, no storage helps protect against corruption more than TrueNAS.

Updated guidelines for Veeam
Certified on release, iXsystems has updated its recommendations for sizing and optimizing performance for Veeam workloads. The quick reference guide is designed to help explain the features and optimum configurations used when benchmarking Veeam backup. For more information view the guide at the link here.
Key highlights:

TrueNAS is Veeam certified and scales to over 7.5 PB in a single share.
Increasing proxies and using a scale-out repository dramatically improve performance.
Capacity must also take into account storage snapshots; plan for more than the current online systems use for optimal data recovery and recovery.
More information about setting an iSCSI or SMB share, and links to Veeam Best Practices all included.

Contact Us
For more information, you can visit our page to learn more about backups, replication, and disaster recovery with TrueNAS. We’ve conducted countless backup deployments and have decades of experience in providing storage and server solutions driven by Open Source for thousands of clients, many which have been with us for over a decade. Learn more about TrueNAS by emailing info@ixsystems.com, or calling 1.855.GREP.4.IX.

The post Veeam Configuration Recommendations for TrueNAS appeared first on TrueNAS - Welcome to the Open Storage Era.

iXsystems Supports the Iozone Benchmarking Lab with a FreeNAS Certified System

iX Team — Thu, 17 Oct 2019 17:40:32 +0000

This year, iXsystems donated a FreeNAS Certified storage array to the Iozone test lab in support of its important benchmarking research and development activities. The FreeNAS Certified system provides an ideal mix of open standard protocol support, consistent performance, 10 GbE networking, performance monitoring, and ease of administration to bring a new level of efficiency to the project.
Developing a storage performance benchmark can be done with as little as one computer, but validating the behavior of that benchmark takes an entire high-performance test lab. Don Capps, maintainer of the Iozone benchmark and primary developer of netmist, the load generator used by the SPEC SFS® 2014 benchmark, maintains an extensive performance test lab. This lab serves many functions:

Development of new benchmark features
Regression testing of new benchmark releases
Evaluation of new storage technologies and protocols

“Iozone.org develops and distributes file system benchmarking software for a vast array of different platforms and operating systems. SPEC and Iozone.org collaboratively develop the SPEC SFS 2014 benchmark, which is an industry standard benchmark used by vendors and customers to measure the performance of their network storage file servers. The SPEC SFS 2014 benchmark is also used by SNIA and the EPA in its Energy Star for Data Center Storage certification.”

– Don Capps

All of the benchmarking software that SPEC produces is vendor-neutral, and the SPEC SFS benchmark has been protocol-agnostic since the release of SPEC SFS 2014. Systems running NFS, SMB, Lustre, GPFS, or even iSCSI can use these software benchmarking products, and this testing can be done from a wide variety of client platform types. These client nodes can be homogeneous or heterogeneous platform types such as a mix of Windows and Unix operating systems. The benchmarks may also generate activity over multiple protocols within a single test including NFS, SMB, and iSCSI over any network interconnect.
Because of the popularity of the Iozone and SPEC SFS benchmarks with industry partners around the globe, it is critical that these software products are tested for correctness, neutrality, portability, integrity, and reliability. All platforms undergo this testing and certification process inside what’s known as the Iozone.org “test ring”. While there are numerous types of clients that run this benchmarking software, including Windows, AIX, BSD, MacOS, Linux, and Solaris, the one thing they can all leverage is a sturdy, high-performance, and flexible storage system that can be used to validate that the protocols, clients, and software are all working correctly.

This is where the iXsystems FreeNAS Certified server steps in. It provides the backbone of Iozone.org’s testing and validation for SMB, NFS, and iSCSI for all of the various vendor clients that are in the test ring.

“I use the FreeNAS for testing while developing industry standard benchmarks. It’s quite nimble, and easy to use while providing excellent performance for all of my benchmark development and testing.”

– Don Capps

This donation will play a key behind-the-scenes role for the important work that Don and his team do on behalf of vendors, SPEC members, companies, and users around the world who are all committed to consistent storage benchmarking.
Nick Principe, Performance Engineering Supervisor

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TrueNAS Preserves Scalable Archives for the JFK Library – Issue #72

iX Team — Thu, 17 Oct 2019 17:00:02 +0000

JFK Presidential Library Chooses iXsystems TrueNAS to Preserve Precious Digital Archives

iXsystems is honored to have the TrueNAS® M-Series unified storage selected to store, serve, and protect the entire digital archive for the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation.

Read more here

iXsystems Serves You

For over twenty years, iXsystems has been dedicated to providing server solutions for thousands of customers, helping design everything from small IT closets to some of the largest data centers in the world. See how iXsystems can equip you with the latest in server technology and save time and money in the process.

Server Solutions

All-Flash TrueNAS X10-HA and TrueNAS M40-HA Ready-to-Ship @ Unbeatable Prices!
Until December 31st, we have all-flash 20 TB TrueNAS X10 and 75 TB TrueNAS M40 systems pre-built and ready to ship! Order yours now and get enterprise-class storage and performance at the lowest TCO in the industry before the year ends.

20 TB ALL FLASH TRUENAS® X10-HA $16K | 75 TB ALL FLASH TRUENAS® M40-HA $45K

More webinars

Overview of Datasets and Snapshots in FreeNAS
In this tutorial, we are going to cover creating datasets and configuring snapshots after you’ve already set up pools on FreeNAS.

Learn more here

The New FreeNAS Mini XL+ and E

The original FreeNAS Mini has now been joined by the Mini E, for power efficiency, and the Mini XL+, providing maximum performance for intensive workloads. The FreeNAS Mini XL+ and Mini E provide professional-grade Network Attached Storage for home and office and are powered by FreeNAS, the world’s most popular Open Source storage OS.

Order here

Download it here

September 13 FreeNAS Plugins Update

This plugins update addresses a PHP security advisory, updates a few plugins to their latest available versions, and introduces the iconik plugin. More information about iconik, a getting started guide, and an offer for 300 free credits is available here.

Learn more here

Sign up here

Tech-Tip #69
Sometimes network users do not appear in the drop-down menu of a Permissions screen but the wbinfo commands display these users. This is typically due to the FreeNAS system taking longer than the default ten seconds to join Active Directory. Increase the value of AD timeout to 60 seconds to make sure all users are visible in FreeNAS.

Links of the Month

Simulate SAN Storage with FreeNAS 11.2 via Virtualization Howto
Setting up a new AM4 based Storage/FreeNAS server via /r/homelab
Real-world Performance Advantages of NVDIMM and NVMe: A Case Study with OpenZFS via SDC2019

Quote of the Month
“We have worked with iXsystems over the years both for our internal systems as well as a supplier of custom-specified hardware for our on-prem SaaS deployments to our customer sites. This has made for an interesting sales channel, but something iXsystems has truly made easier. Working together, we have been able to ensure the right hardware and preloaded and tested software is delivered. iXsystems has even gone so far as working with us to deliver install guides with serial numbers and pictures of the actual hardware being shipped out. We default to iX not only due to cost but also TCO. All of our internal and on-prem deployments continue to run with little operational issues, outliving our planned failure rate. I attribute this to iX’s quality control and focus on long term part compatibility more than anything else. With remote deployments globally, this is a big benefit to us.”

– Craig Y, Solutions Architect

The post TrueNAS Preserves Scalable Archives for the JFK Library – Issue #72 appeared first on TrueNAS - Welcome to the Open Storage Era.

Overview of Datasets and Snapshots in FreeNAS

iX Team — Tue, 01 Oct 2019 18:37:10 +0000

In this blog, we are going to cover creating datasets and configuring snapshots after you’ve already set up pools on FreeNAS.

A dataset is like a directory or a folder in your storage pool. When a user or application accesses the dataset, they will only be able to view or modify files that are in that dataset. Users can view or edit files depending on the permissions of the dataset and of the files and folders therein. We will talk about dataset permissions in the next section.

A dataset gives you a bit more control over how its data is stored than a traditional folder would. For example, each dataset can have different compression, deduplication, or quota settings. These settings can be applied separately from the rest of the file systems. Just like with folders, datasets can be nested within one another. Nested datasets can either inherit properties from their “parent” dataset or be set with their own, unique properties.

First, go to “Storage” then “Pools”. Click the arrow to expand the pool. This will show a list of datasets on that pool. It will also show any ZVOLs that you may have created for iSCSI shares. Both zvols and iSCSI will be covered in a later video. Click the three dots on the right then click “Add Dataset”. Give the dataset a name; we will call it “mydataset”. We recommend that you leave the compression level as lz4, which is both capacity efficient and performs well. Choose the Share Type that matches the type of system you will access the share from. If you click “ADVANCED MODE”, you can define a quota for this specific dataset. When you are done, click “SAVE”.

Next, we are going to make a ZFS snapshot. A snapshot preserves your data exactly as it was the instant it was created.

Go back to “Storage”, then “Pools”. Expand the pool to show a list of the datasets. Click the three dots on the right for the pool or dataset you want to create a snapshot for, then click “Create Snapshot”. Give it a name. Checking the Recursive box will set it to include child datasets of the chosen dataset. Then click “Create Snapshot”.

Once the snapshot is created, the filesystem state at that time is preserved. As the live filesystem data is changed, the snapshot will remain static. The snapshot will only consume disk space equal to the amount of data that has changed since the snapshot was taken. For example, if you snapshot a dataset with 100TB of data, the snapshot initially takes up only a few kilobytes for its metadata. If you then change 1GB of data from the live dataset by deleting it or modifying it, the snapshot will take up 1GB of disk space.

Now let’s look at how to restore your volume to that snapshot. Before performing this step, note that doing so permanently deletes all data added after that snapshot. Go to “Storage”, then “Snapshots”. Here you will see a list of the manual and automatic snapshots. Select the snapshot you want to rollback to and click the three dots, then click “Rollback”. It will ask you if you want to continue with the rollback. Click “Yes”.

Cloning a Snapshot
An alternative to rolling back to a previous snapshot is to clone the snapshot. You might do this if you need to retrieve old data, but do not want to undo all changes since the snapshot. The cloned dataset can be deleted once you are done retrieving data.

Select the snapshot you want to clone and click the three dots, then click “Clone”. It will generate the name of the original snapshot with “clone” added. Click “Save” to continue. You’ll now be taken to the “Pools” window. When you clone the snapshot, it creates a dataset with a copy of what the snapshot of the dataset contained. Note that this clone is writable, too! Cloned snapshots are also a great way to create test environments with existing data.

Periodic Snapshot Tasks
If you don’t want to manually create snapshots every time you want to preserve your dataset’s state, you can take snapshots automatically. Go to “Tasks” then “Periodic Snapshot Tasks”. Click “Add”. You can choose a Pool or Dataset from the drop-down list that you want to create an automatic snapshot for. Choose the lifetime and frequency of the snapshots.

Make sure the “Enabled” box is checked. When you are done click “SAVE”. You should now see an entry under the Periodic Snapshot Tasks. In this example, they will be created every hour from 9AM to 6PM Monday through Friday. They have a lifetime of 2 weeks before they are deleted automatically.

Thank you for reading this tutorial! Be sure to check out our other tutorial videos on our YouTube channel.

The post Overview of Datasets and Snapshots in FreeNAS appeared first on TrueNAS - Welcome to the Open Storage Era.

IBC 2019 Conference Recap

iX Team — Thu, 19 Sep 2019 19:32:30 +0000

The International Broadcasters Convention has grown since 1967 to over 1700 exhibitors and over 50,000 attendees. Taking place in Amsterdam RAI each September, the event is a perfect place for organizations around the world to meet up with their European partners, customers, and advocates. iXsystems attended with our partner Cantemo iconik to announce the release of the iconik storage gateway plugin for FreeNAS®. The same plugin will be available for TrueNAS in version 11.3.

The conference was fantastic, as we met up with old and new friends alike. Users from all corners of the EMEA region who had been using either iconik or FreeNAS/TrueNAS were interested in the joint solution.

Running the iconik storage gateway on FreeNAS helps users automate file uploads to a media asset manager (MAM), but also allows cloud accessibility with the performance and economics of on-premise storage. Iconik’s media asset management platform hosts proxy files in the cloud that are auto-generated and only use a minimal amount of space, while RAW or source files remain safe on the FreeNAS system with all the protection OpenZFS provides. The same benefits will apply to the entire TrueNAS family.

New advances in data management, recording, and augmented reality were in prime view at the show. Right across from our shared booth, other vendors were demonstrating tracking technology that imposes 3D objects on top of set objects with a dynamic green screen producing real time graphics both interactive and photo-realistic. File sizes are exploding, and it’s up to storage vendors to keep up and adjust. The TrueNAS family, which is scalable to petabytes in size is perfect for nearline or tier 2 storage, with the performance of tier 1 for smaller teams of editors. It’s perfect for the space.
Several new partners and customers came to our booth 7.D67, and it was truly a pleasure to meet every one of them. We’re sincerely looking forward to better serving the EMEA market, particularly the media and entertainment industry, in the coming months and years.
To find out more about the iconik storage gateway plugin click here. As always feel free to contact us for any further questions or inquiries.

The post IBC 2019 Conference Recap appeared first on TrueNAS - Welcome to the Open Storage Era.

JFK Presidential Library Chooses iXsystems TrueNAS to Preserve Precious Digital Archives

iX Team — Tue, 17 Sep 2019 15:00:58 +0000

TrueNAS storage infrastructure to gradually scale to accommodate 25 million documents upon project completion

San Jose, CA – September 17, 2019 – iXsystems is honored to have the TrueNAS® M-Series unified storage selected to store, serve, and protect the entire digital archive for the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation. This is in support of the collection at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum (JFK Library). Over the next several years, the Foundation hopes to grow the digital collection from hundreds of terabytes today to cover much more of the Archives at the Kennedy Library. Overall there is a total of 25 million documents, audio recordings, photos, and videos once the project is complete.
Having first deployed the TrueNAS M50-HA earlier in 2019, the JFK Library has now completed the migration of its existing digital collection and is now in the process of digitizing much of the rest of its vast collection.

“The migration of massive amounts of terabytes wouldn’t have happened without the support of iXsystems.”

– Steven M. Rothstein, JFK Library Executive Director

Not only is the catalog of material vast, it is also diverse, with files being copied to the storage system from a variety of sources in numerous file types. To achieve this ambitious goal, the library required a high-end NAS system capable of sharing with a variety of systems throughout the digitization process. The digital archive will be served from the TrueNAS M50 and made available to both in-person and online visitors.
With precious material and information comes robust demands. The highly-available TrueNAS M-Series has multiple layers of protection to help keep data safe, including data scrubs, checksums, unlimited snapshots, replication, and more. TrueNAS is also inherently scalable with data shares only limited by the number of drives connected to the pool. Perfect for archival storage, the deployed TrueNAS M50 will grow with the library’s content, easily expanding its storage capacity over time as needed. Supporting a variety of protocols, multi-petabyte scalability in a single share, and anytime, uninterrupted capacity expansion, the TrueNAS M-Series ticked all the right boxes.

“The library’s mission of opening up the information to the public really aligns with the Open Source ethic and open flow of information on which iXsystems itself is built.”

– Brett Davis, Executive VP of iXsystems

To find out more, read our case study.

To learn more about iXsystems and how TrueNAS can help your organization, visit www.iXsystems.com, contact us via https://www.ixsystems.com/contact-us/, or give us a call at 1-855-GREP-4-IX.

About iXsystems
Through decades of expertise in system design and development of Open Source software (FreeNAS, FreeBSD, OpenZFS and TrueOS), iXsystems has become an innovation leader in a global marketplace that relies on Open Source solutions, high availability storage and servers, technology partnerships, and expert support. Since its founding in 2002, thousands of companies, universities, and government organizations have come to rely on iXsystems’ enterprise servers, TrueNAS Unified Storage, and consultative approach to building IT infrastructure and Private Clouds with Open Source economics. Millions of tech-savvy users also download and deploy our Open Source software each year. More information can be found at www.iXsystems.com.

About John F. Kennedy Jr Presidential Library and Museum
The John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum is one of 14 presidential libraries administered by the National Archives and Records Administration. The Library seeks to advance the study and understanding of President Kennedy’s life and career and the times in which he lived; and to promote a greater appreciation of America’s political and cultural heritage, the process of governing and the importance of public service.
The John F. Kennedy Library Foundation is a 501(c)(3), non-profit organization founded in 1984 to provide financial support, staffing, and creative resources for the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, a presidential library administered by the National Archives and Records Administration. The Kennedy Presidential Library and the Kennedy Library Foundation seek to promote, through educational and community programs, a greater appreciation and understanding of American politics, history, and culture, the process of governing and the importance of public service.

The post JFK Presidential Library Chooses iXsystems TrueNAS to Preserve Precious Digital Archives appeared first on TrueNAS - Welcome to the Open Storage Era.

September 13 Plugins Update

iX Team — Fri, 13 Sep 2019 09:05:57 +0000

Today’s plugins update addresses a PHP security advisory, updates a few plugins to their latest available versions, and introduces the iconik plugin. More information about iconik, a getting started guide, and an offer for 300 free credits is available in the press release. The latest plugins versions should appear in Plugins ⇾ Available and existing plugin installations can be updated to the new versions using the instructions below.
Note: During testing we discovered an issue with the new version of GitLab and temporarily disabled GitLab from appearing in Plugins ⇾ Available. GitLab version 12.0.6 should now appear as available. We are working with the GitLab maintainer to resolve a Ruby issue needed for the newer version of GitLab.
Tip: if the iconik plugin does not appear under Plugins ⇾ Available, type this command from Shell to refresh the Plugins index:
midclt call jail.list_resource 'PLUGIN' 'true' 'false'
Before updating a plugin, review its Release Notes in the table below to determine if the update will impact your configuration. Then, determine the jail_name for the plugin: go to Plugins ⇾ Installed and note the name of the plugin in the Jails column.
To update the plugin, type this command, replacing jail_name with the actual name shown in Plugins ⇾ Installed:
iocage update jail_name
Note that you will need to restart the plugin once the update is finished.
It is recommended to make a snapshot of your current plugin version before updating. Detailed instructions for creating a plugins snapshot and rolling back to a previous snapshot are available in this post.
Security Advisory

Package	Description	CVE	Plugin Impact
php7.1	Don’t allow different encodings for onig_new_deluxe.	CVE-2019-13224	Nextcloud, Zoneminder

Updated Plugins

Plugin	from	to	Release Notes
Emby	4.1.1.0_3	4.2.1.0	Changelog
Jenkins	2.192	2.194	Changelog
Plex Media Server	1.16.4.1469	1.16.5.1554	Changelog
Plex Media Server (plexpass)	1.16.5.1488	1.16.6.1592	Changelog
XMRig	2.14.4	3.1.1	Changelog

The post September 13 Plugins Update appeared first on TrueNAS - Welcome to the Open Storage Era.

$10K for 40TB of Enterprise HA Storage | New iconik Plugin & More – Issue #71

iX Team — Thu, 12 Sep 2019 18:00:04 +0000

NOTE: This is historical content that may contain outdated information.

Special Price Preconfigured TrueNAS X10-HA and TrueNAS M50-HA

Less than three weeks left to take advantage of special pricing on the 40TB X10-HA and 6PB M50 high-availability TrueNAS systems, pre-built and ready-to-ship! Order yours now and get enterprise-class storage and performance at the lowest Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) in the industry. More info in the links below.

40TB TRUENAS® X10-HA $9,900 | 6PB TRUENAS® M50-HA $450K

Reduce Virtualization Costs with TrueNAS

Enterprise users need their IT infrastructure to be simple, reliable, and cost-effective. When they encounter performance issues, they need to rapidly deploy the hardware resources needed to address the issues, without hidden software or support costs. This is the core of the iXsystems approach to building virtualization infrastructure and private clouds.

Read more here

iconik Hybrid Cloud Media Management Now Native on FreeNAS
iXsystems and iconik are pleased to announce that FreeNAS can now natively act as a storage repository on the iconik smart media management platform. The new iconik storage gateway plugin is now available in the “Available Plugins” section. Once installed and setup with an iconik account, it allows for easy, always available access to shared files in FreeNAS from the cloud.

Learn more here

All-Flash FreeNAS w/ 100TB Available at a Special Price for a Limited Time!

For a limited time, we have 100 TB All-Flash FreeNAS “Centurion” systems pre-built and ready-to-ship! Order yours now and get high-performance storage for media editing at the lowest TCO in the industry. Click below for price!

Learn more here

More webinars

August 27 FreeNAS Plugins Update
The latest plugins update addresses ClamAV, GitLab, and Jenkins security advisories and updates a few plugins to their latest available versions.

Watch here now

How to Set Up NextCloud on FreeNAS 11.2
Thomas of Lawrence Systems shows us how to set up the NextCloud plugin on your FreeNAS system.

Watch here now

Download it here

Configure SyncThing in a FreeNAS Jail

Thomas is back with another video, this time he shows us how to configure the self-hosted file synchronization tool, SyncThing, inside a FreeNAS Jail.

Watch here now

Geekazine: iXsystems Showing the FreeNAS Mini XL Plus
Jeffrey Powers from Geekazine stopped by the iXsystems booth at VMworld to interview Exec VP Brett Davis and check out the new FreeNAS Mini XL+ in action!

Watch here now

Sign up here

Tech-Tip #68
FreeNAS 11.2 added support for encrypting data synced to the cloud via Cloud Sync.

Links of the Month

Can The FreeNAS Mini XL+ Run Plex With 4K Video? via Lawrence Systems
Install UniFi Controller on FreeNAS 11.2-U5 via CEO S3C
My High Performance Low Cost Video Production Storage Solution via JayAreTV
Initial installation and configuration of FreeNAS 11.x as VM within vSphere via Jorge de la Cruz
How to backup and restore config file on FreeNAS via Pureinfotech

Quote of the Month
“From the sales process through delivery and setup, the experience was perfect and what you would expect from a seasoned company like iXsystems. They simply outperform name brand OEMs at every level.”

– Steven M, Health, Wellness & Fitness

The post $10K for 40TB of Enterprise HA Storage | New iconik Plugin & More – Issue #71 appeared first on TrueNAS - Welcome to the Open Storage Era.