This guide introduces TrueNAS and walks you through installing and accessing TrueNAS, storing and backing up data, sharing data over a network, and expanding TrueNAS with different applications solutions.
For more detailed interface reference articles, configuration tutorials, and tuning recommendations, see the remaining sections in the CORE topic.
Each major section of TrueNAS CORE/Enterprise documentation is organized as a standalone book:
The Getting Started Guide provides the first steps for your experience with TrueNAS CORE/Enterprise:
Recommendations and considerations when selecting hardware for CORE.
Software Licensing information.
Installation tutorials.
First-time software configuration instructions.
Configuration Tutorials have many community and iXsystems -provided procedural how-tos for specific software use-cases.
The UI Reference Guide describes each section of the CORE web interface, including descriptions for each configuration option.
API Reference describes how to access the API documentation on a live system and includes a static copy of the API documentation.
CORE Security Reports links to the TrueNAS Security Hub and also contains any additional security-related notices.
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1 - User Agreements
This section has different User agreement statements related to using TrueNAS.
PLEASE CAREFULLY READ THIS END USER LICENSE AGREEMENT (EULA) BEFORE CLICKING THE AGREE BUTTON. THIS AGREEMENT SERVES AS A LEGALLY BINDING DOCUMENT BETWEEN YOU AND IXSYSTEMS, INC. BY CLICKING THE AGREE BUTTON, DOWNLOADING, INSTALLING, OR OTHERWISE USING TRUENAS CORE SOFTWARE, YOU AGREE TO BE BOUND BY THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF THIS AGREEMENT). IF YOU DO NOT AGREE TO THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS IN THIS AGREEMENT, DO NOT USE OR INSTALL TRUENAS CORE SOFTWARE.
This agreement is provided in accordance with the Commercial Arbitration Rules of the American Arbitration Association (the “AAA Rules”) under confidential binding arbitration held in Santa Clara County, California. To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, no arbitration under this EULA will be joined to an arbitration involving any other party subject to this EULA, whether through class arbitration proceedings or otherwise. Any litigation relating to this EULA shall be subject to the jurisdiction of the Federal Courts of the Northern District of California and the state courts of the State of California, with venue lying in Santa Clara County, California. All matters arising out of or relating to this agreement shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the internal laws of the State of California without giving effect to any choice or conflict of law provision or rule.
1.0 Definitions
1.1 “Company”, “iXsystems” and “iX” means iXsystems, Inc., on behalf of themselves, subsidiaries, and affiliates under common control.
1.2 “TrueNAS CORE Software” means the TrueNAS CORE storage management software.
1.3 “TrueNAS Device” means the TrueNAS storage appliances and peripheral equipment provided by iXsystems or a third party.
1.4 “Product” means, individually and collectively, the TrueNAS CORE Software and the TrueNAS Device provided by iXsystems.
1.5 “Open Source Software” means various open source software components licensed under the terms of applicable open source license agreements, each of which has its own copyright and its own applicable license terms.
1.6 “Licensee”, “You” and “Your” refers to the person, organization, or entity that has agreed to be bound by this EULA including any employees, affiliates, and third party contractors that provide services to You.
1.7 “Agreement” refers to this document, the TrueNAS End User License Agreement.
2.0 License
Subject to the terms set forth in this Agreement, iXsystems grants You a non-exclusive, non-transferable, perpetual, limited license without the option to sublicense, to use TrueNAS CORE Software on Your TrueNAS Device(s). This use includes but is not limited to using or viewing the instructions, specifications, and documentation provided with the Product.
TrueNAS CORE software is made available as Open Source Software, subject to the license conditions contained within that Open Source Software.
3.0 License Restrictions
TrueNAS CORE Software is authorized for use on any TrueNAS Device. TrueNAS Devices can include hardware provided by iXsystems or third parties. TrueNAS Devices may also include virtual machines and cloud instances. TrueNAS CORE software may not be commercially distributed or sold without an addendum license agreement and express written consent from iXsystems.
The TrueNAS CORE Software is protected by copyright laws and international treaties, as well as other intellectual property laws, statutes, and treaties. The TrueNAS CORE Software is licensed, not sold to You, the end user. You do not acquire any ownership interest in the TrueNAS CORE Software, or any other rights to the TrueNAS CORE Software, other than to use the TrueNAS CORE Software in accordance with the license granted under this Agreement, subject to all terms, conditions, and restrictions. iXsystems reserves and shall retain its entire right, title, and interest in and to the TrueNAS CORE Software, and all intellectual property rights arising out of or relating to the TrueNAS CORE Software, subject to the license expressly granted to You in this Agreement.
The TrueNAS CORE Software may contain iXsystems’ proprietary trademarks and collateral. By agreeing to this license agreement for TrueNAS CORE, You agree to use reasonable efforts to safeguard iXsystems’ intellectual property and hereby agree to not use or distribute iXsystems’ proprietary intellectual property and collateral commercially without the express written consent of iXsystems. Official iXsystems Channel Partners are authorized to use and distribute iXsystems’ intellectual property through an addendum to this license agreement.
By accepting this Agreement, You are responsible and liable for all uses of the Product through access thereto provided by You, directly or indirectly.
The TrueNAS CORE software includes Open Source components and some proprietary extensions which are available through additional licences You agree to not alter the source code to take advantage of the proprietary extensions without a license to those proprietary extensions, including the TrueNAS Enterprise features sets.
4.0 General
4.1 Entire Agreement - This Agreement, together with any associated purchase order, service level agreement, and all other documents and policies referenced herein, constitutes the entire and only agreement between You and iXsystems for use of the TrueNAS CORE Software and all other prior negotiations, representations, agreements, and understandings are superseded hereby. No agreements altering or supplementing the terms hereof may be made except by means of a written document signed by Your duly authorized representatives and those of iXsystems.
4.2 Waiver and Modification - No failure of either party to exercise or enforce any of its rights under this EULA will act as a waiver of those rights. This EULA may only be modified, or any rights under it waived, by a written document executed by the party against which it is asserted.
4.3. Severability - If any provision of this EULA is found illegal or unenforceable, it will be enforced to the maximum extent permissible, and the legality and enforceability of the other provisions of this EULA will not be affected.
4.4 United States Government End Users - For any TrueNAS CORE Software licensed directly or indirectly on behalf of a unit or agency of the United States Government, this paragraph applies. Company’s proprietary software embodied in the Product: (a) was developed at private expense and is in all respects Company’s proprietary information; (b) was not developed with government funds; (c) is Company’s trade secret for all purposes of the Freedom of Information Act; (d) is a commercial item and thus, pursuant to Section 12.212 of the Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) and DFAR Supplement Section 227.7202, Government’s use, duplication or disclosure of such software is subject to the restrictions set forth by the Company and Licensee shall receive only those rights with respect to the Product as are granted to all other end users.
4.5 Title - iXsystems retains all rights, titles, and interest in TrueNAS CORE Software and all related copyrights, trade secrets, patents, trademarks, and any other intellectual and industrial property and proprietary rights, including registrations, applications, registration keys, renewals, and extensions of such rights.
Contact Information - If You have any questions about this Agreement, or if You want to contact iXsystems for any reason, please email legal@ixsystems.com.
4.6 Maintenance and Support - You may be entitled to support services from iXsystems after purchasing a Product or a support contract. iXsystems will provide these support services based on the length of time of the purchased support contract. This maintenance and support is only valid for the length of time that You have purchased with Your Product. iXsystems may from time to time and at their sole discretion vary the terms and conditions of the maintenance and support agreement based on different business environmental and personnel factors. Any variations will be notified via email and the support portal. For more information on our Maintenance and Support contract, refer to https://www.ixsystems.com/support/.
4.7 Force Majeure - iXsystems will not be deemed to be in default of any of the provisions of this Agreement or be liable for any delay or failure in performance due to Force Majeure, which shall include without limitation acts of God, earthquake, weather conditions, labor disputes, changes in law, regulation or government policy, riots, war, fire, epidemics, acts or omissions of vendors or suppliers, equipment failures, transportation difficulties, malicious or criminal acts of third parties, or other occurrences which are beyond iXsystems’ reasonable control.
4.8 Termination - iXsystems may cease any and all support, services, or maintenance under this Agreement without prior notice, or liability, and for any reason whatsoever, without limitation, if any of the terms and conditions of this Agreement are breached. Other provisions of this Agreement will survive termination including, without limitation, ownership provisions, warranty disclaimers, indemnity, and limitations of liability.
4.9 Open Source Software Components - iXsystems uses Open Source Software components in the development of the TrueNAS CORE Software. Open Source Software components that are used in the TrueNAS CORE Software are composed of separate components each having their own trademarks, copyrights, and license conditions.
4.10 Assignment - Licensee shall not assign or otherwise transfer any of its rights, or delegate or otherwise transfer any of its obligations or performance, under this Agreement, in each case whether voluntarily, involuntarily, by operation of law, or otherwise, without iXsystems’ prior written consent. No delegation or other transfer will relieve Licensee of any of its obligations or performance under this Agreement. Any purported assignment, delegation, or transfer in violation of this Section is void. iXsystems may freely assign or otherwise transfer all or any of its rights, or delegate or otherwise transfer all or any of its obligations or performance, under this Agreement without Licensee’s consent. This Agreement is binding upon and inures to the benefit of the parties hereto and their respective permitted successors and assigns.
5.0 Export Control Regulations
“The Product may be subject to export control laws. You shall not, directly or indirectly, export, re-export, or release the Product to, or make the Product accessible from, any jurisdiction or country to which export, re-export, or release is prohibited by law, rule, or regulation. You shall comply with all applicable laws, regulations, and rules, and complete all required undertakings (including obtaining any necessary export license or other governmental approval).”
6.0 Data Collection and Privacy
TrueNAS CORE Software may collect non-sensitive system information relating to Your use of the Product, including information that has been provided directly or indirectly through automated means. Usage of TrueNAS CORE Software, device status and system configuration are allowed according to iXsystems’ privacy policy.
TrueNAS CORE Software will not collect sensitive User information including email addresses, names of systems, pools, datasets, folders, files, credentials.
By accepting this Agreement and continuing to use the Product, you agree that iXsystems may use any information provided through direct or indirect means in accordance with our privacy policy and as permitted by applicable law, for purposes relating to management, compliance, marketing, support, security, update delivery, and product improvement.
7.0 Limitation of Liability and Disclaimer of Warranty
THE PRODUCT IS PROVIDED “AS IS” AND WITH ALL FAULTS AND DEFECTS WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND. TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED UNDER APPLICABLE LAW, IXSYSTEMS, ON ITS OWN BEHALF AND ON BEHALF OF ITS AFFILIATES AND ITS AND THEIR RESPECTIVE LICENSORS AND SERVICE PROVIDERS, EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, WHETHER EXPRESS, IMPLIED, STATUTORY, OR OTHERWISE, WITH RESPECT TO THE PRODUCT, INCLUDING ALL IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, TITLE, AND NON-INFRINGEMENT, AND WARRANTIES THAT MAY ARISE OUT OF COURSE OF DEALING, COURSE OF PERFORMANCE, USAGE, OR TRADE PRACTICE. WITHOUT LIMITATION TO THE FOREGOING, IXSYSTEMS PROVIDES NO WARRANTY OR UNDERTAKING, AND MAKES NO REPRESENTATION OF ANY KIND THAT THE PRODUCT WILL MEET THE LICENSEE’S REQUIREMENTS, ACHIEVE ANY INTENDED RESULTS, BE COMPATIBLE, OR WORK WITH ANY OTHER SOFTWARE, APPLICATIONS, SYSTEMS, OR SERVICES, OPERATE WITHOUT INTERRUPTION, MEET ANY PERFORMANCE OR RELIABILITY STANDARDS OR BE ERROR FREE, OR THAT ANY ERRORS OR DEFECTS CAN OR WILL BE CORRECTED.
TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED UNDER APPLICABLE LAW: (A) IN NO EVENT WILL IXSYSTEMS OR ITS AFFILIATES, OR ANY OF ITS OR THEIR RESPECTIVE LICENSORS OR SERVICE PROVIDERS, BE LIABLE TO LICENSEE, LICENSEE’S AFFILIATES, OR ANY THIRD PARTY FOR ANY USE, INTERRUPTION, DELAY, OR INABILITY TO USE THE PRODUCT; LOST REVENUES OR PROFITS; DELAYS, INTERRUPTION, OR LOSS OF SERVICES, BUSINESS, OR GOODWILL; LOSS OR CORRUPTION OF DATA; LOSS RESULTING FROM SYSTEM OR SYSTEM SERVICE FAILURE, MALFUNCTION, OR SHUTDOWN; FAILURE TO ACCURATELY TRANSFER, READ, OR TRANSMIT INFORMATION; FAILURE TO UPDATE OR PROVIDE CORRECT INFORMATION; SYSTEM INCOMPATIBILITY OR PROVISION OF INCORRECT COMPATIBILITY INFORMATION; OR BREACHES IN SYSTEM SECURITY; OR FOR ANY CONSEQUENTIAL, INCIDENTAL, INDIRECT, EXEMPLARY, SPECIAL, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, WHETHER ARISING OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THIS AGREEMENT, BREACH OF CONTRACT, TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE), OR OTHERWISE, REGARDLESS OF WHETHER SUCH DAMAGES WERE FORESEEABLE AND WHETHER OR NOT IXSYSTEMS WAS ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES; (B) IN NO EVENT WILL IXSYSTEMS’ AND ITS AFFILIATES', INCLUDING ANY OF ITS OR THEIR RESPECTIVE LICENSORS' AND SERVICE PROVIDERS', COLLECTIVE AGGREGATE LIABILITY UNDER OR IN CONNECTION WITH THIS AGREEMENT OR ITS SUBJECT MATTER, UNDER ANY LEGAL OR EQUITABLE THEORY, INCLUDING BREACH OF CONTRACT, TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE), STRICT LIABILITY, AND OTHERWISE, EXCEED THE TOTAL AMOUNT PAID TO IXSYSTEMS PURSUANT TO THIS AGREEMENT FOR THE PRODUCT THAT IS THE SUBJECT OF THE CLAIM; (C) THE LIMITATIONS SET FORTH IN THIS SECTION SHALL APPLY EVEN IF THE LICENSEE’S REMEDIES UNDER THIS AGREEMENT FAIL OF THEIR ESSENTIAL PURPOSE.
You hereby acknowledge that you have read and understand this Agreement and voluntarily accept the duties and obligations set forth herein by clicking accept on this Agreement.
1.2 - TrueNAS Enterprise EULA
TrueNAS Enterprise End User License Agreement
TrueNAS Enterprise End User License Agreement
Important - Please Read This EULA Carefully
PLEASE CAREFULLY READ THIS END USER LICENSE AGREEMENT (EULA) BEFORE CLICKING THE AGREE BUTTON.
THIS AGREEMENT SERVES AS A LEGALLY BINDING DOCUMENT BETWEEN YOU AND IXSYSTEMS, INC.
BY CLICKING THE AGREE BUTTON, DOWNLOADING, INSTALLING, OR OTHERWISE USING TRUENAS SOFTWARE, YOU AGREE TO BE BOUND BY THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF THIS AGREEMENT).
IF YOU DO NOT AGREE TO THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS IN THIS AGREEMENT, DO NOT USE OR INSTALL TRUENAS SOFTWARE.
This agreement is provided in accordance with the Commercial Arbitration Rules of the American Arbitration Association (the “AAA Rules”) under confidential binding arbitration held in Santa Clara County, California.
To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, no arbitration under this EULA will be joined to an arbitration involving any other party subject to this EULA, whether through class arbitration proceedings or otherwise. Any litigation relating to this EULA shall be subject to the jurisdiction of the Federal Courts of the Northern District of California and the state courts of the State of California, with venue lying in Santa Clara County, California.
All matters arising out of or relating to this agreement shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the internal laws of the State of California without giving effect to any choice or conflict of law provision or rule.
1.0 Definitions
1.1 “Company”, “iXsystems” and “iX” means iXsystems, Inc., on behalf of themselves, subsidiaries, and affiliates under common control.
1.2 “TrueNAS Software” means the TrueNAS Enterprise storage management software.
1.3 “TrueNAS Device” means the TrueNAS hardware storage appliances and peripheral equipment.
1.4 “Product” means, individually and collectively, the TrueNAS Software and the TrueNAS Device.
1.5 “Open Source Software” means various open source software components licensed under the terms of applicable open source license agreements, each of which has its own copyright and its own applicable license terms.
1.6 “Licensee”, “You” and “Your” refers to the person, organization, or entity that has agreed to be bound by this EULA including any employees, affiliates, and third party contractors that provide services to You.
1.7 “Agreement” refers to this document, the TrueNAS End User License Agreement.
2.0 License
Subject to the terms set forth in this Agreement, iXsystems grants You a non-exclusive, non-transferable, perpetual, limited license without the option to sublicense, to use TrueNAS Software on Your TrueNAS Device(s) in accordance with Your authorized purchase and use of a TrueNAS Device(s) for Your internal business purposes.
This use includes but is not limited to using or viewing the instructions, specifications, and documentation provided with the Product.
3.0 License Restrictions
TrueNAS Software is only authorized for use with a TrueNAS Device identified by a specific serial number and manufactured by iXsystems.
This license may be extended to a second TrueNAS Device if an additional TrueNAS Device was purchased for high availability data protection.
The license is provided as a digital license key that is installed on the TrueNAS Device.
The TrueNAS Software is protected by copyright laws and international treaties, as well as other intellectual property laws, statutes, and treaties.
The TrueNAS Software is licensed, not sold to You, the end user.
You do not acquire any ownership interest in the TrueNAS Software, or any other rights to the TrueNAS Software, other than to use the TrueNAS Software in accordance with the license granted under this Agreement, subject to all terms, conditions, and restrictions.
iXsystems reserves and shall retain its entire right, title, and interest in and to the TrueNAS Software, and all intellectual property rights arising out of or relating to the TrueNAS Software, subject to the license expressly granted to You in this Agreement.
The TrueNAS Software may contain iXsystems’ trademarks, trade secrets, and proprietary collateral.
iXsystems strictly prohibits the acts of decompiling, reverse engineering, or disassembly of the TrueNAS Software.
You agree to use commercially reasonable efforts to safeguard iXsystems’ intellectual property, trade secrets, or other proprietary information You may have access to, from infringement, misappropriation, theft, misuse, or unauthorized access.
You will promptly notify iXsystems if You become aware of any infringement of the TrueNAS Software and cooperate with iXsystems in any legal action taken by iXsystems to enforce its intellectual property rights.
By accepting this Agreement, You agree You will not disclose, copy, transfer, or publish benchmark results relating to the Product without the express written consent of iXsystems.
You agree not to use, or permit others to use, the TrueNAS Software beyond the scope of the license granted under Section 2, unless otherwise permitted by iXsystems, or in violation of any law, regulation or rule, and you will not modify, adapt, or otherwise create derivative works or improvements of the TrueNAS Software.
You are responsible and liable for all uses of the Product through access thereto provided by You, directly or indirectly.
4.0 General
4.1 Entire Agreement - This Agreement, together with any associated purchase order, service level agreement, and all other documents and policies referenced herein, constitutes the entire and only agreement between You and iXsystems for use of the TrueNAS Software and all other prior negotiations, representations, agreements, and understandings are superseded hereby.
No agreements altering or supplementing the terms hereof may be made except by means of a written document signed by Your duly authorized representatives and those of iXsystems.
4.2 Waiver and Modification - No failure of either party to exercise or enforce any of its rights under this EULA will act as a waiver of those rights.
This EULA may only be modified, or any rights under it waived, by a written document executed by the party against which it is asserted.
4.3 Severability - If any provision of this EULA is found illegal or unenforceable, it will be enforced to the maximum extent permissible, and the legality and enforceability of the other provisions of this EULA will not be affected.
4.4 United States Government End Users - For any TrueNAS Software licensed directly or indirectly on behalf of a unit or agency of the United States Government, this paragraph applies.
Company’s proprietary software embodied in the Product: (a) was developed at private expense and is in all respects Company’s proprietary information; (b) was not developed with government funds; (c) is Company’s trade secret for all purposes of the Freedom of Information Act; (d) is a commercial item and thus, pursuant to Section 12.212 of the Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) and DFAR Supplement Section 227.7202, Government’s use, duplication or disclosure of such software is subject to the restrictions set forth by the Company and Licensee shall receive only those rights with respect to the Product as are granted to all other end users.
4.5 Foreign Corrupt Practices Act - You will comply with the requirements of the United States Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (the “FCPA”) and will refrain from making, directly or indirectly, any payments to third parties which constitute a breach of the FCPA.
You will notify Company immediately upon Your becoming aware that such a payment has been made.
You will indemnify and hold harmless Company from any breach of this provision.
4.6 Title - iXsystems retains all rights, titles, and interest in TrueNAS Software and all related copyrights, trade secrets, patents, trademarks, and any other intellectual and industrial property and proprietary rights, including registrations, applications, registration keys, renewals, and extensions of such rights.
4.7 Contact Information - If You have any questions about this Agreement, or if You want to contact iXsystems for any reason, please email legal@ixsystems.com.
4.8 Maintenance and Support - You may be entitled to support services from iXsystems after purchasing a TrueNAS Device or a support contract.
iXsystems will provide these support services based on the length of time of the purchased support contract.
This maintenance and support is only valid for the length of time that You have purchased with Your TrueNAS Device.
iXsystems may from time to time and at their sole discretion vary the terms and conditions of the maintenance and support agreement based on different business environmental and personnel factors.
Any variations will be notified via email and the support portal.
For more information on our Maintenance and Support contract, refer to https://www.ixsystems.com/support/.
4.9 Force Majeure - iXsystems will not be deemed to be in default of any of the provisions of this Agreement or be liable for any delay or failure in performance due to Force Majeure, which shall include without limitation acts of God, earthquake, weather conditions, labor disputes, changes in law, regulation or government policy, riots, war, fire, epidemics, acts or omissions of vendors or suppliers, equipment failures, transportation difficulties, malicious or criminal acts of third parties, or other occurrences which are beyond iXsystems’ reasonable control.
4.10 Termination - iXsystems may terminate or suspend Your license to use the TrueNAS Software and cease any and all support, services, or maintenance under this Agreement without prior notice, or liability, and for any reason whatsoever, without limitation, if any of the terms and conditions of this Agreement are breached.
Upon termination, rights to use the TrueNAS Software will immediately cease.
Other provisions of this Agreement will survive termination including, without limitation, ownership provisions, warranty disclaimers, indemnity, and limitations of liability.
4.11 Open Source Software Components - iXsystems uses Open Source Software components in the development of the TrueNAS Software.
Open Source Software components that are used in the TrueNAS Software are composed of separate components each having their own trademarks, copyrights, and license conditions.
4.12 Assignment - Licensee shall not assign or otherwise transfer any of its rights, or delegate or otherwise transfer any of its obligations or performance, under this Agreement, in each case whether voluntarily, involuntarily, by operation of law, or otherwise, without iXsystems’ prior written consent.
No delegation or other transfer will relieve Licensee of any of its obligations or performance under this Agreement.
Any purported assignment, delegation, or transfer in violation of this Section is void.
iXsystems may freely assign or otherwise transfer all or any of its rights, or delegate or otherwise transfer all or any of its obligations or performance, under this Agreement without Licensee’s consent.
This Agreement is binding upon and inures to the benefit of the parties hereto and their respective permitted successors and assigns.
5.0 Export Control Regulations
The Product may be subject to US export control laws, including the US Export Administration Act and its associated regulations.
You shall not, directly or indirectly, export, re-export, or release the Product to, or make the Product accessible from, any jurisdiction or country to which export, re-export, or release is prohibited by law, rule, or regulation.
You shall comply with all applicable federal laws, regulations, and rules, and complete all required undertakings (including obtaining any necessary export license or other governmental approval), prior to exporting, re-exporting, releasing, or otherwise making the Product available outside the US.
6.0 Data Collection and Privacy
TrueNAS Software may collect non-sensitive system information relating to Your use of the Product, including information that has been provided directly or indirectly through automated means.
Usage of TrueNAS Software, device status and system configuration are allowed according to iXsystems’ privacy policy.
TrueNAS Software will not collect sensitive User information including email addresses, names of systems, pools, datasets, folders, files, credentials.
By accepting this Agreement and continuing to use the Product, you agree that iXsystems may use any information provided through direct or indirect means in accordance with our privacy policy and as permitted by applicable law, for purposes relating to management, compliance, marketing, support, security, update delivery, and product improvement.
7.0 Limitation of Liability and Disclaimer of Warranty
THE PRODUCT IS PROVIDED “AS IS” AND WITH ALL FAULTS AND DEFECTS WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND.
TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED UNDER APPLICABLE LAW, IXSYSTEMS, ON ITS OWN BEHALF AND ON BEHALF OF ITS AFFILIATES AND ITS AND THEIR RESPECTIVE LICENSORS AND SERVICE PROVIDERS, EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, WHETHER EXPRESS, IMPLIED, STATUTORY, OR OTHERWISE, WITH RESPECT TO THE PRODUCT, INCLUDING ALL IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, TITLE, AND NON-INFRINGEMENT, AND WARRANTIES THAT MAY ARISE OUT OF COURSE OF DEALING, COURSE OF PERFORMANCE, USAGE, OR TRADE PRACTICE.
WITHOUT LIMITATION TO THE FOREGOING, IXSYSTEMS PROVIDES NO WARRANTY OR UNDERTAKING, AND MAKES NO REPRESENTATION OF ANY KIND THAT THE PRODUCT WILL MEET THE LICENSEE’S REQUIREMENTS, ACHIEVE ANY INTENDED RESULTS, BE COMPATIBLE, OR WORK WITH ANY OTHER SOFTWARE, APPLICATIONS, SYSTEMS, OR SERVICES, OPERATE WITHOUT INTERRUPTION, MEET ANY PERFORMANCE OR RELIABILITY STANDARDS OR BE ERROR FREE, OR THAT ANY ERRORS OR DEFECTS CAN OR WILL BE CORRECTED.
TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED UNDER APPLICABLE LAW: (A) IN NO EVENT WILL IXSYSTEMS OR ITS AFFILIATES, OR ANY OF ITS OR THEIR RESPECTIVE LICENSORS OR SERVICE PROVIDERS, BE LIABLE TO LICENSEE, LICENSEE’S AFFILIATES, OR ANY THIRD PARTY FOR ANY USE, INTERRUPTION, DELAY, OR INABILITY TO USE THE PRODUCT; LOST REVENUES OR PROFITS; DELAYS, INTERRUPTION, OR LOSS OF SERVICES, BUSINESS, OR GOODWILL; LOSS OR CORRUPTION OF DATA; LOSS RESULTING FROM SYSTEM OR SYSTEM SERVICE FAILURE, MALFUNCTION, OR SHUTDOWN; FAILURE TO ACCURATELY TRANSFER, READ, OR TRANSMIT INFORMATION; FAILURE TO UPDATE OR PROVIDE CORRECT INFORMATION; SYSTEM INCOMPATIBILITY OR PROVISION OF INCORRECT COMPATIBILITY INFORMATION; OR BREACHES IN SYSTEM SECURITY; OR FOR ANY CONSEQUENTIAL, INCIDENTAL, INDIRECT, EXEMPLARY, SPECIAL, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, WHETHER ARISING OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THIS AGREEMENT, BREACH OF CONTRACT, TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE), OR OTHERWISE, REGARDLESS OF WHETHER SUCH DAMAGES WERE FORESEEABLE AND WHETHER OR NOT IXSYSTEMS WAS ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES; (B) IN NO EVENT WILL IXSYSTEMS’ AND ITS AFFILIATES', INCLUDING ANY OF ITS OR THEIR RESPECTIVE LICENSORS' AND SERVICE PROVIDERS', COLLECTIVE AGGREGATE LIABILITY UNDER OR IN CONNECTION WITH THIS AGREEMENT OR ITS SUBJECT MATTER, UNDER ANY LEGAL OR EQUITABLE THEORY, INCLUDING BREACH OF CONTRACT, TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE), STRICT LIABILITY, AND OTHERWISE, EXCEED THE TOTAL AMOUNT PAID TO IXSYSTEMS PURSUANT TO THIS AGREEMENT FOR THE PRODUCT THAT IS THE SUBJECT OF THE CLAIM; (C) THE LIMITATIONS SET FORTH IN THIS SECTION SHALL APPLY EVEN IF THE LICENSEE’S REMEDIES UNDER THIS AGREEMENT FAIL OF THEIR ESSENTIAL PURPOSE.
You hereby acknowledge that you have read and understand this Agreement and voluntarily accept the duties and obligations set forth herein by clicking accept on this Agreement.
1.3 - Software Development Life Cycle
Description of the general process of development, release, and patching of TrueNAS CORE versions.
The TrueNAS Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) is the process of planning, creating, testing, deploying, and maintaining TrueNAS releases.
Determine the objectives, nature, and scope of future versions of the software.
Requirement Analysis involves gathering feedback and interpreting customer needs and requirements, diagnosing existing problems, and weighing the pros and cons of potential solutions.
The end result is a list of recommended improvements to be integrated into future versions of TrueNAS.
Required and planned changes are investigated in detail and development steps are determined.
Proposed alterations are reviewed by peers for completeness, correctness, and proper coding style.
TrueNAS developers then begin altering the software to include new features, resolve software bugs, or implement security improvements.
Code is integrated into the existing TrueNAS source tree, then built and tested by the Release Engineering (RE) department.
RE verifies that all requirements and objectives are properly met and the updated software is reliable and fault-tolerant according to the determined requirements.
If issues are found, code is reworked to meet the development requirements.
Simultaneously, a security evaluation of the TrueNAS code is completed, with any discovered issues sent to the engineering team for resolution.
The Validation and Documentation Team audits all development changes to the software and resolves any inconsistencies with the current software documentation.
This is to verify that end user documentation is as accurate as possible.
Any security notices, errata, or best practices are also drafted for inclusion on the TrueNAS Security website.
The new release of TrueNAS is evaluated to determine further feature development, bug fixes, or security vulnerability patches.
During this stage, security patches and software erratum are corrected, updated versions of existing branches are pushed, and feedback is solicited for future versions of the software.
SDLC Application
The TrueNAS SDLC applies to the latest two release branches.
As new releases are created for TrueNAS, the oldest TrueNAS release branch is dropped out of the SDLC and labeled as End of Life (EoL).
For example, TrueNAS/FreeNAS 11.3 and TrueNAS 12.0 were in active development under the SDLC in August 2020.
In early 2021, TrueNAS Core/Enterprise 12.0 and 13.0 branches were in active development under the SDLC.
These versions of the software are in active development and maintenance.
We encourage users to actively keep their software updated to an active development version to continue to receive security patches and other software improvements.
The Software Status page shows the latest recommendations for using the various TrueNAS software releases.
TrueNAS Quality Lifecycle
TrueNAS releases follow a general adoption guideline for their lifetime.
Starting with the NIGHTLY builds, each stage of a major release incorporates more testing cycles and bug fixes that represent a maturation of the release.
With each version release stage, users are encouraged to install, upgrade, or otherwise begin using the major version, depending on the specific TrueNAS deployment and use case:
Release Stage
Completed QA Cycles
Typical Use-case
Description
NIGHTLY
0
Developers
Incomplete
ALPHA
1
Testers
Not much field testing
BETA
2
Enthusiasts
Major Feature Complete, but expect some bugs
RC
3
Home Users
Suitable for non-critical deployments
RELEASE
4
General Use
Suitable for less complex deployments
U1
5
Business Use
Suitable for more complex deployments
U2+
6+
Mission Critical
Suitable for critical uptime deployments
1.4 - TrueNAS Data Collection Statement
TrueNAS CORE Data Collection Statement.
TrueNAS collects non-sensitive system data and relays the data to a collector managed by iXsystems.
This system data collection is enabled by default and can be disabled in the web interface under System > General > Usage collection.
When disabled, no information about system configuration and usage is collected.
The system capacity and software version is still collected.
The protocol for system data collection uses the same TCP ports as HTTPS (443) and passes through most firewalls as an outgoing web connection.
If a firewall blocks the data collection or the data collection is disabled, there is no adverse impact to the TrueNAS system.
Non-sensitive system data is used to identify the quality and operational trends in the fleet of TrueNAS systems used by the entire community.
The collected data helps iXsystems identify issues, plan for new features, and determine where to invest resources for future software enhancements.
The non-sensitive system data collected is clearly differentiated from sensitive user data that is explicitly not collected by TrueNAS.
This table describes the differences:
Sensitive User Data (NOT COLLECTED)
Non-Sensitive System Data (Optionally Collected)
Description
Any data that includes user identity or business information
Data that only includes information about the TrueNAS system and its operation
Frequency
NEVER
Daily
Examples
Usernames, passwords, email addresses
Anonymous hardware inventory, faults, statistics, Pool configuration
User-created System and dataset names
Software versions, firmware versions
Directory, files names, user data
Services and features enabled, Usage and Performance statistics
2 - CORE Hardware Guide
This article describes the hardware specifications for TrueNAS CORE.
From repurposed systems to highly-custom builds, the fundamental freedom of TrueNAS is the ability to run it on almost any x86 computer.
Minimum Hardware Requirements
The recommended system requirements to install TrueNAS:
Processor
Memory
Boot Device
Storage
2-Core Intel 64-Bit or AMD x86_64 processor
8 GB Memory
16 GB SSD boot device
Two identically-sized devices for a single storage pool
The TrueNAS installer recommends 8 GB of RAM. TrueNAS installs, runs, operates jails, hosts SMB shares, and replicates TBs of data with less. iXsystems recommends the above for better performance and fewer issues.
You do not need an SSD boot device, but we discourage using a spinner or a USB stick for obvious reasons.
We do not recommend installing TrueNAS on a single disk or striped pool unless you have a good reason to do so. You can install and run TrueNAS without any data device, but we strongly discourage it.
TrueNAS does not require two cores, as most halfway-modern 64-bit CPUs likely already have at least two.
For help building a system according to your unique performance, storage, and networking requirements, read on!
Storage Considerations
The heart of any storage system is the symbiotic pairing of its file system and physical storage devices.
The ZFS file system in TrueNAS provides the best available data protection of any file system at any cost and makes very effective use of both spinning-disk and all-flash storage or a mix of the two.
ZFS is prepared for the eventual failure of storage devices. It is highly configurable to achieve the perfect balance of redundancy and performance to meet any storage goal.
A properly-configured TrueNAS system can tolerate the failure of multiple storage devices and even recreate its boot media with a copy of the configuration file.
Storage Device Quantities
TrueNAS is capable of managing large quantities of storage devices as part of a single storage array.
The community-focused TrueNAS SCALE Angelfish release can manage as many as 400 drives in a single storage array; a significant level of flexibility for home users to larger business deployments.
With more Enterprise-level tuning in the mature 13.0 release and similar tuning in the upcoming SCALE Bluefin release, TrueNAS can expand even further and manage as many as 1,250 drives in a single storage array!
Storage Media
Choosing storage media is the first step in designing the storage system to meet immediate objectives and prepare for future capacity expansion.
Until the next 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 provides more choices to TrueNAS users than ever.
TrueNAS Mini systems ship with Western Digital NAS and NL-SAS for good reason. Understanding the alternatives explains this decision.
Serial Advanced Technology Attachment (SATA) is still the de facto standard disk interface found in many desktop/laptop computers, servers, and some non-enterprise storage arrays.
SATA disks first arrived offering double-digit gigabyte capacities and are now produced to meet many capacity, reliability, and performance goals.
While consumer desktop SATA disks do not have the problematic overall reliability issues they once had, they are still not designed or warrantied for continuous operation or use in RAID groups.
Enterprise SATA disks address the always-on factor, vibration tolerance, and drive error handling required in storage systems. However, the price gap between desktop and enterprise SATA drives is vast enough that it forces users to push their consumer drives into 24/7 service to pursue cost savings.
Drive vendors, likely tired of honoring warranties for failed desktop drives used in incorrect applications, responded to this gap in the market by producing NAS drives. NAS drives achieved fame from the original Western Digital (WD) Red™ drives with CMR/PMR technology (now called WD Red Plus).
Western Digital Designed the WD Red™ Plus NAS drives (non-SMR) for systems with up to 8 hard drives, the WD Red™ Pro for systems with up to 16 drives, and the WD UltraStar™ for systems beyond 16 drives.
The iXsystems Community Forum regards WD drives as the preferred hard drives for TrueNAS builds due to their exceptional quality and reliability.
All TrueNAS Minis ship with WD Red™ Plus drives unless requested otherwise.
Nearline SAS (NL-SAS) disks are 7200 RPM enterprise SATA disks with the industry-standard SAS interface found in most enterprise storage systems.
SAS stands for Serial Attached SCSI, with the traditional SCSI disk interface in serial form.
SAS systems, designed for data center storage applications, have accurate, verbose error handling, predictable failure behavior, reliable hot swapping, and the added feature of multipath support.
Multipath access means that each drive has two interfaces and can connect to two storage controllers or one controller over two cables.
This redundancy protects against cable, controller card, or complete system failure in the case of the TrueNAS high-availability architecture in which each controller is 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.
So, capacity-oriented TrueNAS 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.
Enterprise SAS disks, built for the maximum performance and reliability that a spinning platter can provide, are the traditional heavy-lifters of the enterprise storage industry.
SAS disk capacities are 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, many consumer and enterprise flash-based options have come onto the market and significantly reduced the competitiveness of SAS drives.
For example, enterprise SAS drives discontinued from the TrueNAS product lines were almost completely replaced by flash drives (SSDs or NVMe) in 2016 due to their superior performance/cost ratio.
Flash storage technology has progressed significantly in recent years, leading to 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 much faster with comparable reliability.
Flash storage remains more expensive per gigabyte, but is becoming more common in TrueNAS systems as the price gap narrows.
The shortest path for introducing flash storage into the mainstream market was for vendors to use standard SATA/SAS hard disk interfaces and form factors that emulate standard hard disks but without 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 replace HDDs for primary storage on a TrueNAS system, resulting in a faster, though either a smaller or more expensive storage solution.
If you plan to go all-flash, buy the highest-quality flash storage SSDs your budget allows with a focus on power, safety, and write endurance that matches your expected write workload.
While SSDs pretending to be HDDs made sense for rapid adoption, the Non-Volatile Memory Express (NVMe) standard is a native flash protocol that takes full advantage of the flash storage non-linear, parallel nature.
The main advantage of NVMe is generally its low-latency performance, and it is becoming a mainstream option for boot and other tasks. At first, NVMe was limited to expansion-card form factors such as PCIe and M.2. The new U.2 interface offers a universal solution that includes the 2.5" drive form factor and an externally accessible (but generally not hot-swappable) NVMe interface.
Note: NVMe devices can run quite hot and may need dedicated heat sinks.
Manual S.M.A.R.T. tests on NVMe devices is currently not supported.
Avoid using USB-connected hard disks for primary storage with TrueNAS. You can use USB Hard Disks for very basic backups in a pinch.
While TrueNAS does not automate this process, you can connect a USB HDD, replicate at the command line, and then take it off-site for safekeeping.
Warning: USB-connected media (including SSDs) may report their serial numbers inaccurately, making them indistinguishable from each other.
These storage device media arrange together to create powerful storage solutions.
Storage Solutions
With hard disks providing double-digit terabyte capacities and flash-based options providing even higher performance, a best of both worlds option is available.
With TrueNAS and OpenZFS, you can merge both flash and disk to create hybrid storage that makes the most of both storage types.
Hybrid setups use high-capacity spinning disks to store data while DRAM and flash perform hyper-fast read and write caching.
The technologies work together with a flash-based separate write log (SLOG). Think of it as a write cache keeping the ZFS-intent log (ZIL) used to speed up writes.
On the read side, flash is 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 benefit from SLOG devices, while workloads with frequently-accessed data might benefit from an L2ARC device.
An L2ARC device is not always the best choice because the level one ARC in RAM always provide a faster cache, and the L2ARC table uses some RAM.
SLOG devices do not need to be large, since they only need 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 you can strip or mirror several devices for either performance or redundancy.
Pay attention to the published endurance claims for the device since a SLOG acts as the funnel point for most of the writes made to the system.
SLOG devices also need power protection.
The purpose of the ZFS intent log (ZIL), and thus the SLOG, is to keep sync writes safe during a crash or power failure.
If the SLOG is not power-protected and loses data after a power failure, it defeats the purpose of using a SLOG in the first place.
Check the manufacturer specifications for the device to ensure the SLOG device is power-safe or has power loss/failure protection.
The most important quality to look for in an L2ARC device is random read performance.
The device needs to support more IOPS than the primary storage media it caches.
For example, using a single SSD as an L2ARC is ineffective in front of a pool of 40 SSDs, as the 40 SSDs can 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 double-digit terabyte sizes.
Keep in mind that for every data block in the L2ARC, the primary ARC needs an 88-byte entry.
Poorly-designed systems can cause an unexpected fill-up in the ARC and reduce performance in a p.
For example, a 480 GB L2ARC filled with 4KiB blocks needs more than 10GiB of metadata storage in the primary ARC.
TrueNAS supports two forms of data encryption at rest to achieve privacy and compliance objectives: Native ZFS encryption and Self Encrypting Drives (SEDs).
SEDs do not experience the performance overhead introduced by software partition encryption but are not as readily available as non-SED drives (and thus can cost a little more).
Booting legacy FreeNAS systems from 8 GB or larger USB flash drives was once very popular.
We recommend looking at other options since USB drive quality varies widely and modern TrueNAS versions perform increased drive writes to the boot pool.
For this reason, all pre-built TrueNAS Systems ship with either M.2 drives or SATA DOMs.
SATA DOMs, or disk-on-modules, offer reliability close to that of consumer 2.5" SSDs with a smaller form factor that mounts to an internal SATA port and does not use a drive bay.
Because SATA DOMs and motherboards with m.2 slots are not as common as the other storage devices mentioned here, users often boot TrueNAS systems from 2.5" SSDs and HDDs (often mirrored for added redundancy).
The recommended size for the TrueNAS boot volume is 8 GB, but using 16 or 32 GB (or a 120 GB 2.5" SATA SSD) provides room for more boot environments.
TrueNAS systems come in all shapes and sizes.
Many users want to have external access to all storage devices for efficient replacement if issues occur.
Most hot-swap drive bays need a proprietary drive tray into which you install each drive.
These bay and tray combinations often include convenient features like activity and identification lights to visualize activity and illuminate a failed drive with sesutil(8) (https://www.freebsd.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=sesutil&sektion=8 for CORE, https://manpages.debian.org/testing/sg3-utils/sg3_utils.8.en.html for SCALE).
TrueNAS Mini systems ship with four or more hot-swap bays.
TrueNAS R-Series systems can support dozens of drives in their head units and external expansion shelves.
Pre-owned or repurposed hardware is popular among TrueNAS users.
Pay attention to the maximum performance offered by the hot-swap backplanes of a given system.
Aim for at least 6 Gbps SATA III support.
Note that hot-swapping PCIe NVMe devices is not currently supported.
Storage Device Sizing
Zpool layout (the organization of LUNs and volumes, in TrueNAS/ZFS parlance) is outside of the scope of this guide.
The availability of double-digit terabyte drives raises a question TrueNAS users now have the luxury of asking: How many drives should I use to achieve my desired capacity?
You can mirror two 16TB drives to achieve 16TB of available capacity, but that does not mean you should.
Mirroring two large drives offers the advantage of redundancy and balancing reads between the two devices, which could lower power draw, but little else.
The write performance of two large drives, at most, is that of a single drive.
By contrast, an array of eight 4TB drives offers 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 a similar total capacity.
You might also consider adding a hot-spare drive with any zpool configuration, which lets the zpool automatically rebuild itself if one of its primary drives fails.
Storage Device Burn-In
Spinning disk hard drives have moving parts that are highly sensitive to shock and vibration and 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/), and after the test completes (could take 12+ hrs)
Check the results (smartctl -a /dev/)
Check pending sector reallocations (smartctl -a /dev/ | grep Current_Pending_Sector)
Check reallocated sector count (smartctl -a /dev/ | grep Reallocated_Sector_Ct)
Check the UDMA CRC errors (smartctl -a /dev/ | grep UDMA_CRC_Error_Count)
Take time to create a pool before deploying the system.
Subject it to as close to a real-world workload as possible to reveal individual drive issues and 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 their age and health.
Check the number of hours on all new drives using smartctl(8) to verify they are not recertified.
A drive vendor could also zero the hours of a drive during recertification, masking its true age.
iXsystems tests all storage devices it sells for at least 48 hours before shipment.
Storage Controllers
The uncontested most popular storage controllers used with TrueNAS are the 6 and 12 Gbps (Gigabits per second, sometimes expressed as Gb/s) Broadcom (formerly Avago, formerly LSI) SAS host bus adapters (HBA).
Controllers ship embedded 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 TrueNAS users who build systems using parts from the second-hand market.
Flash using the latest IT or Target Mode firmware to disable the optional RAID functionality found in the IR firmware on Broadcom controllers.
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.
TrueNAS includes the sas2flash, sas3flash, and storcli commands to flash or perform re-flashing operations on 9200, 9300, and 9400 series cards.
Onboard SATA controllers are popular with smaller builds, but motherboard vendors are 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 might remove some SATA functionality depending on the motherboard.
Most SATA compatibility-related issues are immediately apparent.
There are countless warnings against using hardware RAID cards with TrueNAS.
ZFS and TrueNAS provide a built-in RAID that protects your data better than any hardware RAID card.
You can use a hardware RAID card if it is all you have, but there are limitations.
First and most importantly, do not use their RAID facility if your hardware RAID card supports HBA mode, also known as passthrough or JBOD mode (there is one caveat in the bullets below). When used, it allows 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.
While not the ideal setup, it works in a pinch.
If repurposing hardware RAID cards with TrueNAS, be aware that some hardware RAID cards:
Could mask disk serial number and S.M.A.R.T. health information
Could perform slower than their HBA equivalents
Could cause data loss if using a write cache with a dead battery backup unit (BBU))
SAS Expanders
A direct-attached system, where every disk connects to an interface on the controller card, is optimal but not always possible.
A SAS expander (a port multiplier or splitter) enables each SAS port on a controller card to service many disks.
You find SAS expanders only on the drive backplane of servers or JBODs with more than twelve drive bays.
For example, a TrueNAS JBOD that eclipses 90 drives in only four rack units of space is not possible without SAS expanders.
Imagine how many eight-port HBAs you would need to access 90 drives without SAS expanders.
While SAS expanders, designed for SAS disks, can often support SATA disks via the SATA Tunneling Protocol or STP, we still prefer SAS disks for reasons mentioned in the NL-SAS section above (SATA disks function on a SAS-based backplane).
Note that the opposite is not true: you cannot use a SAS drive in a port designed for SATA drives.
Storage Device Cooling
A much-cited study floating around the Internet asserts that drive temperature has little impact on drive reliability.
The study makes for a great headline or conversation starter, but carefully reading the report indicates that the drives were tested under optimal environmental conditions.
The average temperature that a well-cooled spinning hard disk reaches 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.
Before adding drive cooling that often comes with added noise (especially on older systems), know that you risk throwing money away by running a server in a data center or closet without noticing that the internal cooling 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 has certain areas that are warmer for whatever reason. Watch for fan failures and the tendency for some models of 8TB drives to run hotter than other drive capacities.
In general, try to keep drive temperatures below the drive specification provided by vendor.
Memory, CPU, and Network Considerations
Memory Sizing
TrueNAS has higher memory requirements than many Network Attached Storage solutions 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 rarely goes unused on a TrueNAS system and enough RAM is key to maintaining peak performance.
You should have at least 8 GB of RAM for basic TrueNAS operations with up to eight drives. Other use cases each have distinct RAM requirements:
Add 1 GB for each drive added after eight to benefit most use cases.
Add extra RAM (in general) if more clients will connect to the TrueNAS system. 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.
Add 2 GB of RAM for directory services for the winbind internal cache.
Add more RAM as required for plugins and jails as each has specific application RAM requirements.
Add more RAM for virtual machines with a guest operating system and application RAM requirements.
Add the suggested 5 GB per TB of storage for deduplication that depends on an in-RAM deduplication table.
Add approximately 1 GB of RAM (conservative estimate) for every 50 GB of L2ARC in your pool. Attaching an L2ARC drive to a pool uses some RAM, too. ZFS needs metadata in ARC to know what data is in L2ARC.
Error Correcting Code Memory
Electrical or magnetic interference inside a computer system can cause a spontaneous flip of a single bit of RAM to the opposite state, resulting in a memory error.
Memory errors can cause security vulnerabilities, crashes, transcription errors, lost transactions, and corrupted or lost data.
So RAM, the temporary data storage location, is one of the most vital areas for preventing data loss.
Error-correcting code or ECC RAM detects and corrects in-memory bit errors as they occur.
If errors are severe enough to be uncorrectable, ECC memory causes the system to hang (become unresponsive) rather than continue with errored bits.
For ZFS and TrueNAS, this behavior virtually eliminates any chances that RAM errors pass to the drives to cause corruption of the ZFS pools or file errors.
The lengthy, Internet-wide debate on whether to use error-correcting code (ECC) system memory with OpenZFS and TrueNAS summarizes as:
ECC RAM is strongly recommended as another data integrity defense
However:
Some CPUs or motherboards support ECC RAM but not all
Many TrueNAS systems operate every day without ECC RAM
RAM of any type or grade can fail and cause data loss
RAM is most likely to fail in the first three months so test all RAM before deployment.
Central Processing Unit (CPU) Selection
Choosing ECC RAM limits your CPU and motherboard options, but that can be 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.
Which CPU to choose can come down to a short list of factors:
An underpowered CPU can create a performance bottleneck because of how OpenZFS does checksums, and compresses and (optional) encrypts data.
A higher-frequency CPU with fewer cores usually performs best for SMB only workloads because of Samba, the lightly-threaded TrueNAS SMB daemon.
A higher-core-count CPU is better suited for parallel encryption and virtualization.
A CPU with AES-NI encryption acceleration support improves the speed of the file system and network encryption.
A server-class CPU is recommended for its power and ECC memory support.
A Xeon E5 CPU (or similar) is recommended for software-encrypted pools.
An Intel Ivy Bridge CPU or later 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. Support for these platforms is limited on FreeBSD and, by extension, TrueNAS CORE. However, Linux has significant support, and TrueNAS SCALE should work with AMD CPUs without issue.
Remote Management: IPMI
As a courtesy to further limit the motherboard choices, consider the Intelligent Platform Management Interface or IPMI (a.k.a. baseboard management controller, BMC, iLo, iDrac, and other names depending on the vendor) if you need:
Remote power control and monitoring of remote systems
Remote console shell access for configuration or data recovery
Remote virtual media for TrueNAS installation or reinstallation
TrueNAS relies on its web-based user interface (UI), but you might occasionally need console access to make network configuration changes.
TrueNAS administration and sharing default to a single network interface, which can be challenging when you need to upgrade features like LACP aggregated networking.
The ideal solution is to have a dedicated subnet to access the TrueNAS web UI, but not all users have this luxury. The occasional visit to the hardware console is necessary for global configuration and even for system recovery.
The latest TrueNAS Mini and R-Series 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 TrueNAS 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 important systems running if one power supply fails
Select a PSU rated for the initial and a future load placed on it.
Have a PSU with adequate power to migrate from a large-capacity chassis to a 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 completely integrates into the IPMI management system to provide real-time fan, temperature, and load information.
Most power supplies carry a certified efficiency rating known as an 80 Plus rating.
The 80 plus rating indicates the power drawn from the wall is lost as heat, noise, and vibration, 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 is operating at 500/600 = ~83% efficiency.
The other 100 watts get lost as heat, noise, and vibration.
Power supplies with higher ratings are more efficient but also far more expensive.
Do some return-on-investment calculations if you are unsure what efficiency to buy.
For example, if an 80 Plus Platinum PSU costs $50 more than the comparable 80 Plus Gold, it should save you at least $10 per year on your power bill for that investment to pay off over five years.
You can read more about 80 Plus ratings in this post.
Uninterruptible Power Supplies
TrueNAS 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.
TrueNAS works well with APC brand UPSs, followed by CyberPower. Consider budgeting for a UPS with pure sine wave output.
Some models of SSD can experience data corruption on power loss.
If several SSDs experience simultaneous power loss, it could cause total pool failure, making a UPS a critical investment.
Ethernet Networking
The network in Network Attached Storage is as important as storage, but the topic reduces to a few key points:
Simplicity - Simplicity is often the secret to reliability with network configurations.
Individual interfaces - Faster individual interfaces such as 10/25/40/100GbE are preferable to aggregating slower interfaces.
Interface support - Intel and Chelsio interfaces are the best-supported options.
Packet fragmentation - Only consider a jumbo framesMTU with dedicated connections such as between servers or video editors and TrueNAS that are unlikely to experience packet fragmentation.
LRO/LSO offload features - Interfaces with LRO and LSO offload features generally alleviates the need for jumbo frames and their use can result in lower CPU overhead.
High-Speed Interconnects
Higher band hardware is becoming more accessible as the hardware development pace increases and enterprises upgrade more quickly.
Home labs can now deploy and use 40 GB and higher networking components. Home users are now discovering the same issues and problems with these higher speeds found by Enterprise customers.
iXsystems recommends using optical fiber over direct attached copper (DAC) cables for the high speed interconnects listed below:
10Gb NICs: SFP+ connectors
25Gb NICs: SFP28 connectors
40Gb NICs: QSFP+ connectors
100Gb NICs: QSFP28 connectors
200Gb NICs: QSFP56 connectors
400Gb NICs: QSFP-DD connectors
iXsystems also recommends using optical fiber for any transceiver form factors mentioned when using fiber channels.
Direct attached copper (DAC) cables could create interoperability issues between the NIC, cable, and switch.
Virtualized TrueNAS CORE
Finally, the ultimate TrueNAS hardware question is whether to use actual hardware or choose a virtualization solution.
TrueNAS developers virtualize TrueNAS every day as part of their work, and cloud services are popular among users of all sizes.
At the heart of the TrueNAS design is OpenZFS. The design from day one works with physical storage devices. It is aware of their strengths and compensates for their weaknesses.
When the need arises to virtualize TrueNAS:
Pass hardware disks or the entire storage controller to the TrueNAS 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 also running storage repair tasks on another layer.
Use a least three vdevs to provide adequate metadata redundancy, even with a striped pool.
Provide one or more 8 GB or larger boot devices.
Provide the TrueNAS VM with adequate RAM per its usual requirements.
Consider jumbo frame networking if all devices support it.
Understand that the guest tools in FreeBSD might 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.
This article provides installation instructions for TrueNAS CORE.
Now that the .iso file is downloaded, you can start installing TrueNAS!
The install process can be repeated with newer installation files when the system already has TrueNAS installed.
This is used for major version upgrades
The iXsystems Security Team cryptographically signs TrueNAS ISO files so that users can verify the integrity of their downloaded file.
This section demonstrates how to verify an ISO file using the Pretty Good Privacy (PGP) and SHA256 methods.
PGP ISO Verification
You need an OpenPGP encryption application for this method of ISO verification.
There are many different free applications available, but the OpenPGP group provides a list of available software for different operating systems at https://www.openpgp.org/software/.
The examples in this section show verifying the TrueNAS .iso using gnupg2 in a command prompt, but Gpg4win is also a good option for Windows users.
To verify the .iso source, go to https://www.truenas.com/download-tn-core/ , expand the Security option, and click PGP Signature to download the Gnu Privacy Guard (.gpg) signature file. You can download the PGP Public Key from either pgp.mit.edu (search for security-officer@ixsystems.com) or keys.openpgp.org.
Open the PGP Public key link and note the address in your browser and Search results for string.
Use one of the OpenPGP encryption tools mentioned above to import the public key and verify the PGP signature.
Go to the .iso and .iso.gpg download location and import the public key using the keyserver address and search results string:
q5sys@athena /tmp> gpg --keyserver keys.openpgp.org --recv-keys 0xc8d62def767c1db0dff4e6ec358eaa9112cf7946
gpg: requesting key 12CF7946 from hkp server keys.openpgp.org
gpg: key 358EAA9112CF7946: "IX SecTeam <security-officer@ixsystems.com>" not changed
gpg: Total number processed: 1
gpg: unchanged: 1
q5sys@athena /tmp>
Use command gpg --verify to compare the .iso and .iso.gpg files:
q5sys@athena /tmp> gpg --verify TrueNAS-12.0-BETA2.1.iso.gpg TrueNAS-12.0-BETA2.iso
gpg: Signature made Thu Aug 27 10:06:02 2020 EDT using RSA key ID 12CF7946
gpg: Good signature from "IX SecTeam <security-officer@ixsystems.com>"
gpg: WARNING: This key is not certified with a trusted signature!
gpg: There is no indication that the signature belongs to the owner.
Primary key fingerprint: C8D6 2DEF 767C 1DB0 DFF4 E6EC 358E AA91 12CF 7946
q5sys@athena /tmp>
This response means the signature is correct but still untrusted. Go back to the browser page that has the PGP Public key open and manually confirm that the key was issued for IX SecTeam <security-officer@ixsystems.com> (iX Security Team) on October 15, 2019 and is signed by an iXsystems account.
SHA256 Verification
The command to verify the checksum varies by operating system:
BSD: sha256 isofile
Linux: sha256sum isofile
Mac: shasum -a 256 isofile
Windows or Mac users can install additional utilities like HashCalc or HashTab.
The value produced by running the command must match the value shown in the sha256.txt file.
Different checksum values indicate a corrupted installer file that you should not use.
Choose the install type to see specific instructions:
Install Types
TrueNAS is very flexible and can run on most x86 computers.
However, there are many different hardware considerations when building a NAS!
If you’re still researching what kind of hardware to use with TrueNAS, read over the very detailed CORE Hardware Guide.
Prepare the Install File
Physical hardware typically requires burning the TrueNAS installer to a physical device. In general a CD or removable USB device is used. This device is temporarily attached to the system to install TrueNAS to the system’s permanent boot device.
Headless, or remote, installation is possible when the system has IPMI available and can create a virtual media CD-ROM using a locally stored .iso.
The method of writing the installer to a device varies between operating systems.
Click Windows or Linux to see instructions for your Operating System, or CD for generic CD burning guidance.
To use the installer with a CD, download your favorite CD burning utility and burn the .iso file to the CD.
Insert the CD into the TrueNAS system and boot from the CD.
To write the TrueNAS installer to a USB stick on Windows, plug the USB stick into the system and use a program like Rufus to write the .iso file to the memory stick.
When Rufus prompts for which write method to use, make sure dd mode is selected.
The USB stick is not recognized by Windows after the TrueNAS installer writes to it.
To reclaim the USB stick after installing TrueNAS, use Rufus to write a “Non bootable” image, then remove and reinsert the USB stick.
To write the TrueNAS installer to a USB stick on Linux, plug the USB stick into the system and open a terminal.
Start by making sure the USB stick connection path is correct.
There are many ways to do this in Linux, but a quick option is to enter command lsblk -po +vendor,model and note the path to the USB stick.
This shows in the NAME column of the lsblk output.
Next, use dd to write the installer to the USB stick.
Be very careful when using dd, as choosing the wrong of= device path can result in irretrievable data loss!
Enter dd status=progress if=path/to/.iso of=path/to/USB in the CLI.
If this results in a permission denied error, use command sudo dd with the same parameters and enter the administrator password.
Systems with IPMI connectivity, like the TrueNAS Mini, can use the Virtual Media feature with an .iso to create a virtual boot device for installation.
Mounting the .iso in a virtual CD-ROM, allows installing or updating headless servers remotely through the console.
Here is an example of setting up a virtual CD-ROM with a SUPERMICRO IPMI:
From the Virtual Media menu, select CD-ROM Image.
Fill in the details:
Shared Host: The IP address of the system storing the .iso.
Path to Image: The path to the image file. For example, install/iso/SCALEAngelfish.iso
Click Mount.
Click Refresh Status and confirm a disk is being emulated.
Click Save.
Install Process
With the installer added to a device, you can now install TrueNAS onto the desired system.
Insert the install media, or load the iso using IPMI, and reboot or boot the system.
At the motherboard splash screen, use the hotkey defined by your motherboard manufacturer to boot into the motherboard UEFI/BIOS.
Choose to boot in UEFI mode or legacy CSM/BIOS mode.
When installing TrueNAS, make the matching choice for the installation.
For Intel chipsets manufactured in 2020 or later, UEFI is likely the only option.
If your system supports SecureBoot, you need to either disable it or set it to Other OS to be able to boot the install media.
Select the install device as the boot drive, exit, and reboot the system.
If the USB stick is not shown as a boot option, try a different USB slot.
Which slots are available for boot differs by hardware.
After the system has booted into the installer, follow these steps.
Select Install/Upgrade.
Select the desired install drive.
Select Yes
Select Fresh Install to do a clean install of the downloaded version of TrueNAS.
This erases the contents of the selected drive.!
When the operating system device has enough additional space, you can choose to allocate some space for a swap partition to improve performance.
Next, set a password for the TrueNAS administrative account, named root by default.
This account has full control over TrueNAS and is used to log in to the web interface.
Set a strong password and protect it.
After following the steps to install, reboot the system and remove the install media.
If the system does not boot into TrueNAS, there are several things you can check to resolve the situation:
Check the system BIOS and see if there is an option to change the USB emulation from CD/DVD/floppy to hard drive. If it still does not boot, check to see if the card/drive is UDMA compliant.
If the system BIOS does not support EFI with BIOS emulation, see if it has an option to boot using legacy BIOS mode.
If the system starts to boot but hangs with this repeated error message: run_interrupt_driven_hooks: still waiting after 60 seconds for xpt_config, go into the system BIOS and look for an onboard device configuration for a 1394 Controller. If present, disable that device and try booting again.
If the burned image fails to boot and the image was burned using a Windows system, wipe the USB stick before trying a second burn using a utility such as Active@ KillDisk. Otherwise, the second burn attempt fails as Windows does not understand the partition written from the image file. Be very careful to specify the correct USB stick when using a wipe utility!
Because TrueNAS is built and provided as an .iso file, it works on all virtual machine solutions (VMware, VirtualBox, Citrix Hypervisor, etc).
This section demonstrates installing with VMware Workstation Player on Windows.
Minimum Virtual Machine Settings
Regardless of virtualization application, use these minimum settings:
RAM: at least 8192MB (8GB)
DISKS: one virtual disk with at least 8GB for the operating system
and boot environments and at least one additional virtual disk with
at least 4GB to be used as data storage.
NETWORK: Use NAT, Bridged, or Host-only depending on your host network configuration.
VMWare products and EFI boot mode:
A third party bug currently affects EFI (UEFI) booting on VMWare products.
Install TrueNAS in BIOS mode until this is resolved.
See VMware article Host Fails to Boot After You Install ESXi in UEFI Mode.
When installing TrueNAS in a VMware VM, double check the virtual switch and VMware port group.
A misconfigured virtual switch or VMware port group can cause network connection errors for plugins or jails inside the TrueNAS VM.
Enable MAC spoofing and promiscuous mode on the switch first, and then the port group the VM uses.
Jail Networking
If you have installed TrueNAS in VMware, you need functional networking to create a jail.
For the jail to have functional networking, you have to change the VMware settings to allow Promiscuous, MAC address changes, and Forged Transmits.
Setting
Description
Promiscuous Mode
When enabled at the virtual switch level, objects defined within all portgroups can receive all incoming traffic on the vSwitch.
MAC Address Changes
When set to Accept, ESXi accepts requests to change the effective MAC address to a different address than the initial MAC address.
Forged Transmits
When set to Accept, ESXi does not compare source and effective MAC addresses.
Generic VM Creation Process
For most hypervisors, the procedure for creating a TrueNAS VM is the same:
Create a new Virtual Machine as usual, taking note of the following settings.
The virtual hardware has a bootable CD/DVD device pointed to the TrueNAS installer image (this is usually an .iso).
The virtual network card is configured so your network can reach it.
bridged mode is optimal as this treats the network card as if it is plugged into a simple switch on the existing network.
Some products require identifying the OS installed on the VM. The ideal option is FreeBSD 12 64 bit.
If this is not available, try options like FreeBSD 12, FreeBSD 64 bit, 64 bit OS, or Other.
Do not choose a Windows or Linux related OS type.
For VMWare hypervisors, install in BIOS mode.
The VM has sufficient memory and disk space. TrueNAS needs at least 8 GB RAM and 20 GB disk space.
Not all hypervisors allocate enough memory by default.
Boot the VM and install TrueNAS as usual.
After installation completes, shut down the VM instead of rebooting, and disconnect the CD/DVD from the VM before rebooting the VM.
After rebooting into TrueNAS, install VM tools if applicable for your VM, and if they exist for FreeBSD 12, or ensure they are loaded on boot.
Open VMware Player and click Create a New Virtual Machine to enter the New Virtual Machine Wizard.
1. Installer disk image file
Select the Installer disk image file (iso) option, click Browse, and upload the TrueNAS Core .iso downloaded earlier.
2. Name the Virtual Machine
In this step, you can change the virtual machine name and location.
3. Specify Disk Capacity
Specify the maximum disk size for the initial disk.
The default 20GB is enough for TrueNAS.
Next, select Store virtual disk as a single file.
4. Review Virtual Machine
Review the virtual machine configuration before proceeding.
By default, VMware Player doesn’t set enough RAM for the virtual machine.
Click *Customize Hardware > Memory.
Drag the slider up to 8GB and click Ok.
If you wish to power on the machine after creation, select Power on this virtual machine after creation.
Add Virtual Disks for Storage
After creating the virtual machine, select it from the virtual machine list and click Edit virtual machine settings.
Click Add and select Hard Disk. Select SCSI as the virtual disk type.
Select Create a new virtual disk.
Specify the maximum size of this additional virtual disk.
This disk stores data in TrueNAS.
If desired, allocate the disk space immediately by setting Allocate all disk space now.
Select *Store virtual disk as single file.
Finally, name and chose a location for the new virtual disk.
Repeat this process until enough disks are available for TrueNAS to create ideal storage pools
This depends on your specific TrueNAS use case.
See Pool Creation for descriptions of the various pool (vdev) types and layouts
TrueNAS Installer
Select the virtual machine from the list and click Play virtual machine.
The machine starts and boots into the TrueNAS installer.
Select Install/Upgrade.
Select the desired disk for the boot environments.
Select Yes. This erases all contents on the disk!
Next, set a password for the TrueNAS administrative account, named root by default.
This account has full control over TrueNAS and is used to log in to the web interface.
Set a strong password and protect it.
Select Boot via BIOS.
After the TrueNAS installation is complete, reboot the system.
The Console Setup Menu displays when the system boots successfully.
After installing TrueNAS in a VMware VM, it is recommended to configure and use the vmx(4) drivers on TrueNAS.
To load the VMX driver when TrueNAS boots, log in to the web interface and go to System > Tunables.
CLick Add and create a new tunable with the Variableif_vmx_load, Value"YES", and Typeloader, and save the tunable:
Congratulations, TrueNAS is now installed!
The next step is to log in to the web interface using the administrative account credentials and begin configuring the system.
This article describes the Console Setup menu of TrueNAS CORE.
The Console Setup menu displays at the end of the boot process.
If the TrueNAS system has a keyboard and monitor, this menu can be used to administer the system.
When connecting with SSH 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 entering /etc/netcli.
To disable the Console Setup menu, go to System > Advanced and unset Show Text Console without Password Prompt.
On HA systems, some of these menu options are not available unless HA has been administratively disabled.
The menu provides these options:
Configure Network Interfaces provides a configuration wizard to set up the system’s network interfaces. If the system has been licensed for High Availability (HA), the wizard prompts for IP addresses for both “This Controller” and “TrueNAS Controller 2”.
Configure Link Aggregation is for creating or deleting link aggregations.
Configure VLAN Interface is used to create or delete VLAN interfaces.
Configure Default Route is used to set the IPv4 or IPv6 default gateway. When prompted, enter the IP address of the default gateway.
Configure Static Routes prompts for the destination network and gateway IP address. Re-enter this option for each static route needed.
Configure DNS prompts for the name of the DNS domain and the IP address of the first DNS server. When adding multiple DNS servers, press Enter to enter the next one. Press Enter twice to leave this option.
Reset Root Password is used to reset a lost or forgotten root password. Select this option and follow the prompts to set the password.
Reset Configuration to DefaultsCaution! This option deletes all of the configuration settings made in the administrative GUI and is used to reset TrueNAS® back to defaults. Before selecting this option, make a full backup of all data and make sure all encryption keys and passphrases are known! After this option is selected, the configuration is reset to defaults and the system reboots. Storage ➞ Pools ➞ Import Pool can be used to re-import pools.
Shell starts a shell for running FreeBSD commands. To leave the shell, type exit.
Reboot reboots the system.
Shut Down shuts down the system.
The numbering and quantity of options on this menu can change due to software updates, service agreements, or other factors.
Please carefully check the menu before selecting an option, and keep this in mind when writing local procedures.
During boot, TrueNAS automatically attempts to connect to a DHCP server from all live interfaces.
If it successfully receives an IP address, the address is displayed so it can be used to access the graphical user interface.
In the example shown above, TrueNAS is accessible at 10.0.0.102.
Some TrueNAS systems are set up without a monitor, making it challenging to determine which IP address has been assigned.
On networks that support Multicast DNS (mDNS), the hostname and domain can be entered into the address bar of a browser.
By default, this value is truenas.local.
If TrueNAS is not connected to a network with a DHCP server, use the console network configuration menu to manually configure the interface as shown here.
In this example, the TrueNAS system has one network interface, em0.
Enter an option from 1-12: 1
1) em0
Select an interface (q to quit): 1
Remove the current settings of this interface? (This causes a momentary disconnec
tion of the network.) (y/n) n
Configure interface for DHCP? (y/n) n
Configure IPv4? (y/n) y
Interface name: (press enter, the name can be blank)
Several input formats are supported
Example 1 CIDR Notation:
192.168.1.1/24
Example 2 IP and Netmask separate:
IP: 192.168.1.1
Netmask: 255.255.255.0, or /24 or 24
IPv4 Address: 192.168.1.108/24
Saving interface configuration: Ok
Configure IPv6? (y/n) n
Restarting network: ok
...
The web user interface is at
http://192.168.1.108
This article describes how the logging in process on TrueNAS CORE.
Now that TrueNAS is installed, it’s time to log in to the web interface and begin managing data!
After installing TrueNAS, configuring and using the system is all managed through the web interface.
It is important to only use the web interface to make configuration changes to the system.
By default, using the command-line interface (CLI) to modify the system does not modify the settings database.
Any changes made in the command line are lost and reverted to the original database settings whenever the system restarts.
TrueNAS automatically creates a number of ways to access the web interface, but you might need to adjust the default settings to better fit the system in your network environment.
Web Interface Access
By default, TrueNAS provides a default address for logging in to the web interface.
To view the web interface IP address or reconfigure web interface access, you will need to connect a monitor and keyboard to your TrueNAS system or connect with IPMI for out-of-band system management.
When powering on a TrueNAS system, the system attempts to connect to a DHCP server from all live interfaces and provide access to the web interface.
On networks that support Multicast Domain Name Services (mDNS), a hostname and domain can be used to access the TrueNAS web interface.
By default, TrueNAS is configured to use the hostname and domain truenas.local
You can change this after logging in to the web interface by going to Network > Global Configuration and setting a new Hostname and Domain.
If an IP address is needed, connect a monitor to the TrueNAS system and view the console setup menu that displays at the end of the boot process.
When able to automatically configure a connection, the system shows the web interface IP address at the bottom of the console setup menu.
If needed, you can reset the root password in the TrueNAS console setup menu or by clicking Settings > Change Password in the web interface.
To require logging in to the system before showing the system console menu, go to System > Advanced and unset Show Text Console without Password Prompt.
TrueNAS Enterprise hardware from iXsystems is preconfigured with your provided networking details.
The IP address of the TrueNAS web interface is provided on the system sales order or configuration sheet.
Please contact iX Support if the TrueNAS web interface IP address has not been provided with these documents or cannot be identified from the TrueNAS system console.
Customers who purchase iXystems hardware or that want additional support must have a support contract to use iXystems Support Services. The TrueNAS Community forums provides free support for users without an iXsystems Support contract.
Monday - Friday, 6:00AM to 6:00PM Pacific Standard Time:
US-only toll-free: 1-855-473-7449 option 2 Local and international: 1-408-943-4100 option 2
Telephone
After Hours (24x7 Gold Level Support only):
US-only toll-free: 1-855-499-5131 International: 1-408-878-3140 (international calling rates apply)
If the TrueNAS system is not connected to a network with a DHCP server, you can use the console network configuration menu to manually Configure Network Interfaces.
This example shows configuring a single interface, em0:
Enter an option from 1-12: 1
1) em0
Select an interface (q to quit): 1
Remove the current settings of this interface? (This causes a momentary disconnec
tion of the network.) (y/n) n
Configure interface for DHCP? (y/n) n
Configure IPv4? (y/n) y
Interface name: (press enter, the name can be blank)
Several input formats are supported
Example 1 CIDR Notation:
192.168.1.1/24
Example 2 IP and Netmask separate:
IP: 192.168.1.1
Netmask: 255.255.255.0, or /24 or 24
IPv4 Address: 192.168.1.108/24
Saving interface configuration: Ok
Configure IPv6? (y/n) n
Restarting network: ok
...
The web user interface is at
http://192.168.1.108
Depending on the network environment, review the Configure Default Route option to define your IPv4 or IPv6 default gateway.
Configure Static Routes allows adding destination network and gateway IP addresses, one for each route.
To change the DNS domain and add nameservers, select Configure DNS.
These settings can be adjusted later in the various Network options available in the web interface.
Logging In
On a computer that can access the same network as the TrueNAS system, enter the hostname and domain or IP address in a web browser to connect to the web interface.
The quality of your user experience can be impacted by the browser that you use. We generally recommend using Firefox, Edge, or Chrome.
Enter the administrative account credentials to log in.
By default, the administrative account username is root and the password is set when installing TrueNAS.
If the user interface is not accessible by IP address from a browser, check these things:
Are proxy settings enabled in the browser configuration?
If so, disable the settings and try connecting again.
If the page does not load, make sure that a ping reaches the TrueNAS system IP address.
If the address is in a private IP address range, it is only accessible from within that private network.
If the web interface is shown but seems unresponsive or incomplete:
Make sure the browser allows cookies, Javascript, and custom fonts from the TrueNAS system.
Try a different browser. Firefox is recommended.
If the UI becomes unresponsive after an upgrade or other system operation, clear the site data and refresh the browser (Shift+F5).
After logging in, the TrueNAS web interface present options across the top and left side of the screen.
Top Menu
The horizontal menu at the top of the web interface contains status indicators, system alerts, UI theme options, and system power options.
Across the top row are links to outside resources and buttons to control the system.
The options described from left to right:
Logos and Side Panel Controls
The logo in the upper-left corner shows the installed TrueNAS software.
Clicking the image takes you to the system Dashboard.
The next two buttons control how the side menu displays.
Click the (menu icon) to hide or show the entire left side panel.
Click the (chevron left icon) to collapse the left side panel to shortcut icons or expand to show icons and text.
Click the iXsystems logo to open the iXsystems corporate website in a new browser tab.
Status Icons
The remaining icons in the top menu show various statuses. They also provide system options.
The icon next to the iXsystems logo shows TrueCommand Cloud connection options.
Clicking the icon shows options for signing up for TrueCommand Cloud. It also displays options for connecting/disconnecting from TrueCommand Cloud.
When the system is not connected to TrueCommand Cloud the options are not available. The icon appears but is gray in color.
TrueNAS Enterprise compatible hardware has a (cloud with HA text) icon that shows the current status of High Availability (HA) on the system.
A checkmark () cloud icon indicates HA is functional.
An on top of the cloud icon indicates HA disabled or otherwise unavailable.
Task Manager
The (clipboard icon) is the system Task Manager.
Click the icon to show a list of running or completed TrueNAS tasks.
Tasks are sortable by their success or error State, task Method, and Progress.
Typing text in the Filter field shows tasks that match the characters typed into the field.
Clicking an entry shows more details about that task. This includes start and end timestamps.
Alerts
The (bell icon) contains system notification messages.
The icon changes to when TrueNAS creates a new alert.
Clicking the icon slides out a panel from the right side of the screen that lists each alert.
Dismiss or reopen alerts in this panel.
Dismissing an alert does not prevent it from recurring. TrueNAS might create a new alert if the alert conditions continue to exist on the system.
Configure the alert system in System > Alert Settings.
Settings
The (gear icon) contains links to various system specific options.
Change Password is a shortcut for changing the administrator (root) account password.
Password required to log in to the TrueNAS web interface.
Please back up or otherwise memorize the updated password when changing it.
Preferences contains theme and other visual options for the web interface:
Name
Description
Choose Theme
Select a preferred theme from the dropdown list. There are several built-in themes designed for light and dark modes. High contrast viewing options of the web interface are also listed.
Prefer buttons with icons only
Select to preserve screen space using icons and tooltips instead of text labels.
Enable Password Toggle
Select to display an eye icon next to password fields. Clicking the icon reveals the password.
Reset Table Columns to Default
Select to reset all tables to display system default table columns.
Retro Logo
Select to revert branding back to FreeNAS.
Reset All Preferences to Default
Select to reset all user preferences to their default values. Preserves custom themes.
Update Preferences
Click to save changes to the General Preferences.
Create and manage custom themes on this screen.
Power
The (power icon) has the options for changing the system state.
Log Out exits the web interface and shows the login screen.
The system remains powered on.
Restart initiates a power cycle.
The web interface closes. Discontinues power to the system which is then re-enabled.
The login screen appears when the boot cycle completes.
Shut Down exits the web interface. The process to safely discontinue power to the system begins.
The system remains offline until the power situation corrects.
Side Menu
The column on the left side of the screen contains some information about the system and links to the various TrueNAS configuration screens.
The box at the top of the columns shows the current logged in user account and the system host name.
Configuration screens are organized by feature.
For example, to find options related to storing data, click the Storage option and to make data stored in TrueNAS available to client systems, go to the Sharing section.
Dashboard
The system Dashboard is the default screen when logging in to TrueNAS.
Basic information about the installed version, systems component usage and network traffic are all presented on this screen.
For users with compatible TrueNAS Hardware, clicking the system image goes to the System > View Enclosure page.
The Dashboard provides access to all TrueNAS management options.
Now that you can access the TrueNAS web interface and see all the management options, it’s time to begin storing data!
This article describes how to configure storage on TrueNAS CORE.
Now that we’re logged in to the web interface, it’s time to set up TrueNAS storage.
These instructions demonstrate a simple mirrored pool setup, where one disk is used for storage and the other for data protection.
However, there are a vast number of configuration possibilities for your storage environment!
You can read more about these options in the in-depth Pool Creation article.
Requirements
At minimum, the system needs at least two identically sized disks to create a mirrored storage pool.
While a single-disk pool is technically allowed, it is not recommended.
The disk used for the TrueNAS installation does not count toward this limit.
Data backups can be configured in several ways and have different requirements.
Backing data up in the Cloud requires a 3rd party Cloud Storage provider account.
Backups with Replication requires either additional storage on the TrueNAS system or (ideally) another TrueNAS system in a different location.
Simple Storage Setup
Go to Storage > Pools and click ADD.
Set Create a new pool and click CREATE POOL
For the Name, enter tank or any other preferred name.
In the Available Disks, set two identical disks and click the to move them to the Data VDevs area.
If the disks used have non-unique serial numbers, they do not populate the Available Disks section until the Show disk with non-unique serial numbers checkbox is selected.
TrueNAS automatically suggests Mirror as the ideal layout for maximized data storage and protection.
Review the Estimated total raw data capacity and click CREATE.
TrueNAS wipes the disks and adds tank to the Storage > Pools list.
Adding Datasets or Zvols
New pools have a root dataset that allows further division into new datasets or zvols.
A dataset is a file system that stores data and has specific permissions.
A zvol is a virtual block device that has a predefined storage size.
To create either one, go to Storage > Pools, click , and select Add Dataset or Add Zvol.
These are often created as part of configuring specific data sharing situations:
A dataset with a Share Type set to SMB optimizes that dataset for the Windows sharing protocol.
Block device sharing (iSCSI) requires a zvol.
Organize the pool with additional datasets or zvols according to your access and data sharing requirements before moving any data into the pool.
When you’re finished building and organizing your TrueNAS pools, move on to configuring how the system shares data
This article describes sharing configurations on TrueNAS CORE.
With TrueNAS Storage configured and backed up, it’s time to begin sharing data.
There are several available sharing solutions, but we’ll look at the most common in this article.
Choose a tab to get started with simple sharing examples:
Sharing Data
Requirements
Dataset with Share Type set to SMB.
TrueNAS user accounts with Samba Authentication set.
Set Permissions
Go to Storage > Pools and find the dataset to share.
Click and Edit Permissions.
Click SELECT AN ACL PRESET, open the drop down, and choose OPEN.
Click SAVE.
Create the Share
Go to Sharing > Windows Shares (SMB) and click ADD.
Only the Path and Name are initially required.
The Path is the directory tree on TrueNAS that is shared using the SMB protocol.
The Name forms part of the “full share pathname” when SMB clients connect.
Click SUBMIT to save the configuration to Sharing > Windows Shares (SMB).
Activate the Service
Go to Services and toggle SMB.
Set Start Automatically when you want the share to become accessible immediately after TrueNAS boots.
Connecting to the Share
On a Windows 10 system, open the File Browser.
In the navigation bar, enter \\ and the TrueNAS system name.
When prompted, enter the TrueNAS user account credentials and begin browsing the dataset.
Requirements
TrueNAS dataset to share.
Client systems might require additional packages like nfs-common.
Creating the Share
Go to Sharing > Unix Shares (NFS) and click ADD.
Use the file browser to select the dataset to be shared and click SUBMIT.
When prompted, click ENABLE SERVICE to immediately begin sharing the dataset.
Accessing the Dataset
On a Unix-like system, open a command line.
Enter showmount -eIPADDRESS, replacing IPADDRESS with your TrueNAS system address:
tmoore@ChimaeraPrime:~$ showmount -e 10.238.15.194
Export list for 10.238.15.194:
/mnt/pool1/testds (everyone)
Now make a local directory for the NFS mount:
tmoore@ChimaeraPrime:~$ sudo mkdir nfstemp/
Finally, mount the shared directory:
tmoore@ChimaeraPrime:~$ sudo mount -t nfs 10.238.15.194:/mnt/pool1/testds nfstemp/
From here, cd into the local directory and view or modify the files as needed.
Block sharing is a complicated scenario that requires detailed configuration steps and knowledge of your network environment.
A simple configuration is beyond the scope of this getting started guide, but detailed articles are available in in the iSCSI Sharing topic
With simple sharing done, TrueNAS is now installed, accessible, and capable to receive or share data over your network.
Now it’s time to protect the TrueNAS storage by setting up data backups
This article describes how to configure data backups on TrueNAS CORE.
With storage created and shared, it’s time to ensure TrueNAS data is effectively backed up.
TrueNAS offers several options for backing up data.
This option requires an account with the Cloud Storage provider and a storage location created with the provider, like an Amazon S3 bucket.
Major providers like Amazon S3, Google Cloud, Box and Microsoft Azure are supported, along with a variety of other vendors.
These can charge fees for data transfers and storage, so please review your cloud storage provider’s policies before transferring any data.
You can configure TrueNAS to send, receive, or synchronize data with a Cloud Storage provider.
Configuring a Cloud Sync task allows you to transfer data a single time or set up a recurring schedule to periodically transfer data.
Add the Credential
Go to System > Cloud Credentials > ADD.
Enter a Name and choose the Provider from the dropdown menu.
The authentication options change depending on the selected Provider.
Credentials either must be entered manually or a single provider login is required and the credentials add automatically.
After entering the Provider credentials, click VERIFY CREDENTIAL.
When verification is confirmed, click SUBMIT.
Add the Data Transfer Task
Go to Tasks > Cloud Sync Tasks and click ADD.
Select the previously saved Credential to populate the Remote section.
Add a Description for the task, select PUSH or PULL as the Direction and COPY as the Transfer Mode.
Under Directory/Files, choose the tank dataset previously created.
Now, use the Control options to define how often this task runs.
Open the Schedule drop down and choose a preset time when running the task is least intrusive to your network.
When the task only needs to run once, unset Enabled.
The task can then be triggered a single time from the Tasks > Cloud Sync Tasks list to do the initial migration or backup.
To test your task, click DRY RUN.
When the test run is successful, click SUBMIT to save the task and add it to Tasks > Cloud Sync Tasks.
To manually run the task, go to Tasks > Cloud Sync Tasks, click > to expand the new task, and click RUN NOW.
The Status shows success or failure.
Click the status entry to see a detailed log of the action.
Replication is the process of taking a moment in time “snapshot” of the data and copying that snapshot to another location.
Snapshots typically use less storage than full file backups and have more management options.
This instruction shows using the TrueNAS Wizard to create a simple replication.
Go to Tasks > Replication Tasks and click ADD.
Set the source location to the local system and pick which datasets to snapshot.
The wizard takes new snapshots of the sources when no existing source snapshots are found.
Set the destination to the local system and define the path to the storage location for replicated snapshots.
When manually defining the destination, be sure to type the full path to the destination location.
You can define a specific schedule for this replication or choose to run it immediately after saving the new task.
Unscheduled tasks are still saved in the replication task list and can be run manually or edited later to add a schedule.
Clicking START REPLICATION saves the new task and immediately attempts to replicate snapshots to the destination.
To confirm that snapshots have been replicated, go to Storage > Snapshots and verify the destination dataset has new snapshots with correct timestamps.
TrueNAS is now accessible and configured to store, share, and back up your data!
If you need to expand the system capabilities, see the remaining article about additional Applications.
When you’re ready to fine-tune the system configuration or learn more about the advanced features, see the remaining sections in the TrueNAS CORE and Enterprise section.
These sections are organized in order of appearance in the TrueNAS interface, with additional topics for 3rd party solutions, API reference guide, and community recommendations.
This article describes how to install applications on TrueNAS CORE.
With the rest of the system configured and data being shared over a network, the final step to consider for first time setup is installing any application solutions.
Applications or features added to TrueNAS are created in separate plugins, jails, or virtual machines that are kept separate from the base TrueNAS operating system.
If anything goes wrong or a security vulnerability is exploited in one of these application environments, TrueNAS remains unaffected.
These solutions safely expand TrueNAS' capabilities in a restricted, safeguarded way.
The primary method to install applications is to use Plugins.
These are pre-packaged applications that quickly install in a tailor-made environment.
Some plugins are supported by iXsystems while others are provided and maintained by the open source community.
A Jail is a restricted FreeBSD operating system installed as a separate subset of TrueNAS.
Jails can install a wide variety of applications and be tuned to very specific use cases, but require more extensive knowledge of FreeBSD and command line operation.
A Virtual Machine is a fully independent operating system installation.
This reserves or splits the available hardware resources to create a different, full operating system experience.
TrueNAS can install Windows or Unix-like operating systems in a Virtual Machine (VM), but regular system performance is reduced while virtual machines are running.
Click one of the tabs below to see instructions on installing your preferred application solution.
Plugins that use a network interface need to Disable Hardware Offloading in Network -> Interface.
Disabling hardware offloading can reduce general network performance for that interface, so it is recommended to use a secondary interface for application environments.
This instruction demonstrates plugins by walking you through installing the community-favorite Plex application.
You will need an account with Plex to follow these instructions.
Installing Plex
Create a dataset called audio and a dataset called video to be used as mount points for Plex.
Next, go to the Plugins page.
Installing a basic PlexMedia Plugin:
Select the Plex Media Server plugin and click INSTALL.
Under Jail Name, enter whatever name you’d like (i.e. “Plex”).
DHCP is set automatically.
Click SAVE.
A dialog window shows the installation progress.
When available, Plugin Installation Notes display when the install completes.
The plugin Status shows as up, with the Boot option set.
Click > to expand the Plex table entry:
Stop the up plugin.
Click MOUNT POINTS.
Click Actions and Add.
Fill out one mount point for each previously created dataset. The Source is the created dataset and the Destination is the media directory with /datasetname appended (see example):
Click Submit. Do this for as many mount points as needed. In this example, we have audio and video.
Go to Storage > Pools and click more_vert > Edit Permissions for your source datasets.
Click Create a custom ACL and Continue.
Click ADD ACL ITEM and enter the values pictured below:
Set Apply permissions recursively and click Save.
Go to Plugins, find the Plex entry, and click the >. Start the plugin.
Accessing Plex
When the Plex plugin status is up, click the > and Manage.
Enter your Plex login informamtion.
Installing a Jail
Go to the Jails page and click ADD.
Enter a jail Name, select the Release version, and click NEXT.
To allow the jail access to the internet, set DHCP Autoconfigure IPv4 and click NEXT.
Additional defaults are set when the DHCP option is set.
Review the Jail Summary and click SUBMIT.
Accessing a Jail
Go to Jails and click the > next to the newly created jail.
Click START.
When the jail State changes to up, click > SHELL to see the jail command line.
Installing a Virtual Machine
Virtual Machines require uploading an Operating System .iso to TrueNAS.
This example shows using an Ubuntu .iso:
Go to Virtual Machines and click ADD.
Select a Guest Operating System and enter a Name.
For this example the Guest Operating System is set to Linux.
Click NEXT.
Now enter the physical resources to give the VM.
Larger numbers of Virtual CPUs, Cores, Threads, and Memory allow the VM to perform better, but reduces the performance of the TrueNAS system.
Click NEXT.
Set Create a new disk image and select a Zvol Location for the VM storage.
Enter a usable storage Size (example shows 50 GiB) and click the NEXT button.
Network Interface automatically detects the hardware and sets defaults that allow network access.
Make sure these settings are valid, then click NEXT.
Set Upload an installer image file to see additional options.
Select an ISO save location on the TrueNAS system.
Now click Choose File and browse to the OS installation .iso.
Click UPLOAD and wait for the process to finish (this can take some time).
Click NEXT.
Confirm the VM configuration is correct and click SUBMIT.
Accessing a Virtual Machine
Go to Virtual Machines and click > next to the newly created VM.
Click START.
When the VM State changes to up, click VNC to see the VM display.
Because this example used an Ubuntu .iso, the Ubuntu installation screen is shown.
From here, install the OS as normal.
When the OS install completes, go back to Virtual Machines, toggle the State, and click DEVICES.
Find the CDROM entry and click > Delete to remove it.
This removes the installation .iso from the VM and allows it to boot into the full OS the next time the VM activates.
icon next to the iXsystems logo shows 
