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-grade 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 (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-grade 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, 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-grade 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-grade 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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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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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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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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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:

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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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

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.

The post Enter the Dragonfish: TrueNAS Brings Performance Gains and Tightens Security appeared first on TrueNAS - Welcome to the Open Storage Era.

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 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!

The post The Future of the TrueNAS Community: Shaping Our Destiny Together appeared first on TrueNAS - Welcome to the Open Storage Era.

*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:

1. 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.
2. Minimum 8 GB of RAM: Use more if you’re installing virtual machines or plugins.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. Ethernet cord: To connect your system to the network, through a router or modem. There is no wireless support in TrueNAS.
6. 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/
7. Monitor & keyboard: After the setup is complete and you’ve written down your TrueNAS system’s IP address, the monitor can be disconnected.
8. 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.

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.

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.

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?

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.

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.

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

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 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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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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