TrueNAS is the branding for a range of free and open-source

network-attached storage Network-attached storage (NAS) is a file-level (as opposed to block-level storage) computer data storage server connected to a computer network providing data access to a heterogeneous group of clients. The term "NAS" can refer to both the tech ...

(NAS)

operating system An operating system (OS) is system software that manages computer hardware, software resources, and provides common services for computer programs. Time-sharing operating systems schedule tasks for efficient use of the system and may also i ...

s produced by

iXsystems iXsystems, Inc. is a privately owned American computer technology company based in San Jose, California that develops, sells and supports computing and storage products and services. Its principal products are customized open source FreeBSD dis ...

, and based on FreeBSD and

Linux Linux ( or ) is a family of open-source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged as a Linux distribution, w ...

, using the

OpenZFS OpenZFS is a free and open-source storage platform licensed under CDDL that encompasses the functionality of traditional filesystems and logical volume manager. It includes protection against data corruption, support for high storage capaciti ...

file system. It is licensed under the terms of the

BSD License BSD licenses are a family of permissive free software licenses, imposing minimal restrictions on the use and distribution of covered software. This is in contrast to copyleft licenses, which have share-alike requirements. The original BSD lice ...

and runs on commodity

x86-64 x86-64 (also known as x64, x86_64, AMD64, and Intel 64) is a 64-bit version of the x86 instruction set, first released in 1999. It introduced two new modes of operation, 64-bit mode and compatibility mode, along with a new 4-level paging ...

hardware. The TrueNAS range includes free public versions (''TrueNAS CORE'', previously known as FreeNAS), commercial versions (''TrueNAS Enterprise''), and Linux versions (''TrueNAS SCALE''). It also offers hardware, from small home systems to large

petabyte The byte is a unit of digital information that most commonly consists of eight bits. Historically, the byte was the number of bits used to encode a single character of text in a computer and for this reason it is the smallest addressable uni ...

arrays, based on the above versions. TrueNAS supports

Windows Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for ser ...

macOS macOS (; previously OS X and originally Mac OS X) is a Unix operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc. since 2001. It is the primary operating system for Apple's Mac computers. Within the market of desktop and lapt ...

and

Unix Unix (; trademarked as UNIX) is a family of multitasking, multiuser computer operating systems that derive from the original AT&T Unix, whose development started in 1969 at the Bell Labs research center by Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie, an ...

clients and various

virtualization In computing, virtualization or virtualisation (sometimes abbreviated v12n, a numeronym) is the act of creating a virtual (rather than actual) version of something at the same abstraction level, including virtual computer hardware platforms, stor ...

hosts such as

XenServer Xen (pronounced ) is a type-1 hypervisor, providing services that allow multiple computer operating systems to execute on the same computer hardware concurrently. It was originally developed by the University of Cambridge Computer Laboratory a ...

and

VMware VMware, Inc. is an American cloud computing and virtualization technology company with headquarters in Palo Alto, California. VMware was the first commercially successful company to virtualize the x86 architecture. VMware's desktop software ru ...

using the SMB, AFP, NFS,

iSCSI Internet Small Computer Systems Interface or iSCSI ( ) is an Internet Protocol-based storage networking standard for linking data storage facilities. iSCSI provides block-level access to storage devices by carrying SCSI commands over a TCP/IP ...

SSH The Secure Shell Protocol (SSH) is a cryptographic network protocol for operating network services securely over an unsecured network. Its most notable applications are remote login and command-line execution. SSH applications are based on ...

rsync rsync is a utility for efficiently transferring and synchronizing files between a computer and a storage drive and across networked computers by comparing the modification times and sizes of files. It is commonly found on Unix-like opera ...

and FTP/TFTP protocols. Advanced TrueNAS features include full-disk

encryption In cryptography, encryption is the process of encoding information. This process converts the original representation of the information, known as plaintext, into an alternative form known as ciphertext. Ideally, only authorized parties can de ...

and a plug-in architecture for third-party software.

Products

TrueNAS is the brand for iXsystems' open source

network attached storage Network-attached storage (NAS) is a file-level (as opposed to block-level storage) computer data storage server connected to a computer network providing data access to a heterogeneous group of clients. The term "NAS" can refer to both the tech ...

platform. It includes the following: :* TrueNAS ''CORE'' (previously FreeNAS) – a free file server and expandable platform based on FreeBSD. :* TrueNAS ''Enterprise'' – an enterprise file server for commercial use, also based on FreeBSD. :* TrueNAS ''SCALE'' – a free

based hyper-converged scale-out version of the TrueNAS platform. :* TrueNAS ''hardware'' – Enterprise Storage Arrays, a

(NAS) systems,

storage area network A storage area network (SAN) or storage network is a computer network which provides access to consolidated, block-level data storage. SANs are primarily used to access data storage devices, such as disk arrays and tape libraries from ser ...

(SAN) devices, and

High Availability High availability (HA) is a characteristic of a system which aims to ensure an agreed level of operational performance, usually uptime, for a higher than normal period. Modernization has resulted in an increased reliance on these systems. F ...

systems, with up to 22 petabytes raw capacity.

The OpenZFS file system

TrueNAS supports the

filesystem which provides data integrity checking to prevent

data corruption In the pursuit of knowledge, data (; ) is a collection of discrete values that convey information, describing quantity, quality, fact, statistics, other basic units of meaning, or simply sequences of symbols that may be further interpreted. ...

, enable point in time snapshotting, replication and several levels of redundancy including striping, mirroring, striped mirrors (RAID 1+0), and three levels of RaidZ.

User experience

TrueNAS is managed through a comprehensive web interface that is supplemented by a minimal shell console that handles essential administrative functions. The web interface supports storage pool configuration, user management, sharing configuration and system maintenance. As an embedded system appliance, TrueNAS boots from a USB Flash device or

SATA SATA (Serial AT Attachment) is a computer bus interface that connects host bus adapters to mass storage devices such as hard disk drives, optical drives, and solid-state drives. Serial ATA succeeded the earlier Parallel ATA (PATA) standard t ...

DOM. This image is configured using a USB Flash bootable installer. The TrueNAS

is fully independent of its storage disks, allowing its configuration database and encryption keys to be backed up and restored to a fresh installation of the Operating System. This separation also allows for TrueNAS system upgrades to be performed through the web interface.

History

The FreeNAS project was started in October 2005 by Olivier Cochard-Labbé who based it on the

m0n0wall m0n0wall was an embedded firewall distribution of FreeBSD, one of the BSD operating system descendants. It provides a small image which can be put on Compact Flash cards as well as on CD-ROMs and hard disks. It runs on a number of embedded pla ...

embedded firewall and FreeBSD 6.0. Volker Theile joined the project in July 2006 and became the project lead in April 2008. In September 2009, the development team concluded that the project, then at release .7, was due for a complete rewrite in order to accommodate modern features such as a plug-in architecture. Volker Theile decided that the project best be reimplemented using Debian

and shifted his development efforts to the interim CoreNAS project and eventually

OpenMediaVault OpenMediaVault (OMV) is a Free software, free Linux distribution designed for network-attached storage (NAS). The project's lead developer is Volker Theile, who instituted it in 2009. OMV is based on the Debian operating system, and is license ...

where he continues as the project lead. Cochard-Labbé responded to community objections to "The Debian version of FreeNAS" and resumed activity in the project and oversaw its transfer to FreeNAS user

. Developers Daisuke Aoyama and Michael Zoon continued developing FreeNAS 7 as the NAS4Free project. Meanwhile, iXsystems rewrote FreeNAS with a new architecture based on FreeBSD 8.1, releasing FreeNAS 8 Beta in November 2010. The plug-in architecture arrived with FreeNAS 8.2 and FreeNAS versioning was synchronized with FreeBSD for clarity. FreeNAS 8.3 introduced full-disk

and FreeBSD 9.1-based FreeNAS 9.1 brought an updated plug-in architecture that is compatible with the

TrueOS TrueOS (formerly PC-BSD or PCBSD) is a discontinued Unix-like, server-oriented operating system built upon the most recent releases of FreeBSD-CURRENT. Up to 2018 it aimed to be easy to install by using a graphical installation program, and ea ...

Warden jail management framework. FreeNAS 9.1 was also the first version of FreeNAS to use the community-supported OpenZFS v5000 with Feature Flags. FreeNAS 9.2, based on FreeBSD 9.2 included performance improvements and introduced a

REST Rest or REST may refer to: Relief from activity * Sleep ** Bed rest * Kneeling * Lying (position) * Sitting * Squatting position Structural support * Structural support ** Rest (cue sports) ** Armrest ** Headrest ** Footrest Arts and enter ...

API An application programming interface (API) is a way for two or more computer programs to communicate with each other. It is a type of software interface, offering a service to other pieces of software. A document or standard that describes how ...

for remote system administration. FreeNAS 9.3, based on FreeBSD 9.3 introduced a ZFS-based boot device, an initial Setup Wizard and a high-performance in-kernel

server. FreeNAS 9.10, based on FreeBSD 10.3-RC3 brought an end to the FreeNAS/FreeBSD synchronized naming and introduced

Graphite Graphite () is a crystalline form of the element carbon. It consists of stacked layers of graphene. Graphite occurs naturally and is the most stable form of carbon under standard conditions. Synthetic and natural graphite are consumed on lar ...

monitoring support and experimental support for the

bhyve bhyve (pronounced "bee hive", formerly written as BHyVe for "BSD hypervisor") is a type-2 hypervisor initially written for FreeBSD. It can also be used on a number of illumos based distributions including SmartOS, OpenIndiana, and OmniOS. A por ...

hypervisor. In October 2015, ten years after the original FreeNAS release, FreeNAS 10 ALPHA was released, providing a preview of what would become FreeNAS Corral GA on March 15, 2017. FreeNAS Corral introduced a new

graphical user interface The GUI ( "UI" by itself is still usually pronounced . or ), graphical user interface, is a form of user interface that allows users to interact with electronic devices through graphical icons and audio indicator such as primary notation, inst ...

, command-line interface, underlying

middleware Middleware is a type of computer software that provides services to software applications beyond those available from the operating system. It can be described as "software glue". Middleware makes it easier for software developers to implement c ...

container A container is any receptacle or enclosure for holding a product used in storage, packaging, and transportation, including shipping. Things kept inside of a container are protected on several sides by being inside of its structure. The term ...

management system and

virtual machine In computing, a virtual machine (VM) is the virtualization/ emulation of a computer system. Virtual machines are based on computer architectures and provide functionality of a physical computer. Their implementations may involve specialized h ...

management system. FreeNAS Corral departs from FreeNAS by providing not only NAS functionality but also hyper-converged functionality thanks to its integrated

support. However, on April 12, 2017 iXsystems announced that FreeNAS Corral would instead be relegated to being a 'Technology Preview', citing issues such as "general instability, lack of feature parity with 9.10 (Jails, iSCSI, etc), and some users experiencing lower performance than expected" and the departure of the project lead. Instead, the decision was made to revert to the existing 9.10 code and bring Corral features to 9.10.3 and further. In May 2017, iXsystems announced that FreeNAS 11 would be imminently released, which was based on 9.10 but included features such as an update of the FreeBSD operating system,

management, updates to jails, and a new beta user interface along the lines of Corral but based on Angular. In March 2020, iXsystems announced that the 12.0 release will merge the FreeNAS code base with that of their commercial TrueNAS offering. FreeNAS will become TrueNAS CORE while TrueNAS will be renamed TrueNAS Enterprise. This change was made official with the release of TrueNAS 12.0 on October 20, 2020. In October 2020, iXsystems announced a new product, TrueNAS SCALE would be developed. TrueNAS SCALE would still utilize ZFS, but be based on Debian Linux. In February 2022, iX announced that TrueNAS SCALE has reached General Availability quality for their 22.02 release. In May 2022, iX announced that TrueNAS CORE, their FreeBSD Based version of TrueNAS, has reached General Availabilty and is suitable for large deployments.

Architecture

The 8.0 reimplementation of FreeNAS moved the project from a m0n0BSD/

PHP PHP is a general-purpose scripting language geared toward web development. It was originally created by Danish-Canadian programmer Rasmus Lerdorf in 1993 and released in 1995. The PHP reference implementation is now produced by The PHP Group. ...

-based architecture to one based on FreeBSD's NanoBSD embedded build system, the

Python Python may refer to: Snakes * Pythonidae, a family of nonvenomous snakes found in Africa, Asia, and Australia ** ''Python'' (genus), a genus of Pythonidae found in Africa and Asia * Python (mythology), a mythical serpent Computing * Python (pro ...

programming language, the Django web application framework and the dōjō toolkit (

JavaScript library A JavaScript library is a library of pre-written JavaScript code that allows for easier development of JavaScript-based applications, especially for AJAX and other web-centric technologies. Libraries With the expanded demands for JavaScript, an ea ...

). It also used the

lighttpd lighttpd (pronounced "lighty") is an open-source web server optimized for speed-critical environments while remaining standards-compliant, secure and flexible. It was originally written by Jan Kneschke as a proof-of-concept of the c10k problem � ...

web server, but this was replaced with

nginx Nginx (pronounced "engine x" ) is a web server that can also be used as a reverse proxy, load balancer, mail proxy and HTTP cache. The software was created by Igor Sysoev and publicly released in 2004. Nginx is free and open-source software ...

in FreeNAS 8.2. The terminated successor to 9.10.2, known as FreeNAS Corral, retained the

web server and ZFS-based boot device of FreeNAS but replaces the Django/dōjō web application framework with an original one. FreeNAS 11 implemented a new interface using Angular.

TrueNAS CORE (previously FreeNAS) Version History

Current TrueNAS CORE Release Features

''Features and Jails shown are for the 13.0 branch.''

Features

;Administrative features :* Web-based

with optional SSL encryption :* Localized into over 20 languages :* Web, console, and

access configurable :* Plug-in Architecture (see list below) :* Performance graphing :* Wide range of configurable alerts and alerting mechanisms, including log emails and reporting notification :* Downloadable configuration file and encryption keys :* S.M.A.R.T. disk diagnostics :* Local certificate management, including Certificate Authority role. :* 2 factor authentication, LDAP, Active Directory, RADIUS, IPSec, Kerberos and other authentication/user management systems supported in FreeBSD and therefore available for TrueNAS (Note: some but not all supported in GUI). ; File system features :* Highly resilient

ZFS ZFS (previously: Zettabyte File System) is a file system with volume management capabilities. It began as part of the Sun Microsystems Solaris operating system in 2001. Large parts of Solaris – including ZFS – were published under an ope ...

file system with Feature Flags (

v5000) and theoretical storage limit of 16 Exabytes. ZFS file system features are fully configurable and include: ::* Compression (including lz4 and

gzip gzip is a file format and a software application used for file compression and decompression. The program was created by Jean-loup Gailly and Mark Adler as a free software replacement for the compress program used in early Unix systems, and i ...

), ::* Full-volume encryption (Disk encryption with GELI and AESNI hardware acceleration), ::*

Snapshot Snapshot, snapshots or snap shot may refer to: * Snapshot (photography), a photograph taken without preparation Computing * Snapshot (computer storage), the state of a system at a particular point in time * Snapshot (file format) or SNP, a file ...

s (which can be near-continual; snapshotting every 15-30 minutes is not uncommon), ::* Data deduplication ::* User quotas ::* Physical disks are fully portable and can be moved without data loss to other FreeNAS servers, or to any other Operating System that supports a compatible version of OpenZFS. :* Data reliability features - mirroring /

RAID Raid, RAID or Raids may refer to: Attack * Raid (military), a sudden attack behind the enemy's lines without the intention of holding ground * Corporate raid, a type of hostile takeover in business * Panty raid, a prankish raid by male college ...

(including ZFS RaidZ), multiple copies of selected data and metadata for reliability, and entire-system

checksum A checksum is a small-sized block of data derived from another block of digital data for the purpose of detecting errors that may have been introduced during its transmission or storage. By themselves, checksums are often used to verify data ...

ming and background data repair as needed ("scrubbing") ''(see also:

generally, which was designed expressly with the aim of ensuring data preservation)'' Server reliability features - ::* Replication and failover ::* Multi-version boot environment - the boot menu provides access to previous versions of TrueNAS which have been upgraded. In the event of a boot issue or system problem, TrueNAS can also load any of these at boot, as "known working" versions, without "rolling back" the system. :* Disk read and data import for UFS2, NTFS, FAT32 and EXT2/3 :* User/Group permissions - Classic Unix/Linux permissions and/or ACL based (including ACLs for Microsoft file systems) ;Built-in network services and features :* Protocols as standard - Samba/ SMB/

CIFS Server Message Block (SMB) is a communication protocol originally developed in 1983 by Barry A. Feigenbaum at IBM and intended to provide shared access to files and printers across nodes on a network of systems running IBM's OS/2. It also provide ...

(for

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washin ...

and other networks), AFP (Apple), NFS,

FTP The File Transfer Protocol (FTP) is a standard communication protocol used for the transfer of computer files from a server to a client on a computer network. FTP is built on a client–server model architecture using separate control and data ...

TFTP Trivial File Transfer Protocol (TFTP) is a simple lockstep File Transfer Protocol which allows a client to get a file from or put a file onto a remote host. One of its primary uses is in the early stages of nodes booting from a local area netwo ...

:* LDAP and Active Directory client support with Windows ACLs :* Apple Time Machine and Microsoft File History/Previous Versions support :*

data sync and replication (server/client) :* Link aggregation and failover :* VLAN networking :* Dynamic DNS client :* Remote syslogd forwarding :* SNMP monitoring :* Wide range of networking hardware and environments supported by FreeBSD, including copper cable, fiberoptic cable, WiFi :* Supports jumbo frames, hardware offloading (exact features offloaded vary by adapter), high bandwidth servicing (10G+) ; Other :* UPS (Uninterruptible power supply) support :* Virtual Machine host and management with GUI based management :* Jail management and templates - As of 11.0 release, TrueNAS(Formerly FreeNAS) is part-way switched from warden to iocage as jail manager; full iocage support is planned for 11.1 :* iozone, netperf, OpenVPN, tmux and other utilities :* Over 20,000 packages and ports available and able to be installed from FreeBSD repositories.

Uses

* SoHo, SMB and Enterprise file serving *

Virtualization In computing, virtualization or virtualisation (sometimes abbreviated v12n, a numeronym) is the act of creating a virtual (rather than actual) version of something at the same abstraction level, including virtual computer hardware platforms, stor ...

server storage backing * Media center audio/video serving and streaming to

DLNA Digital Living Network Alliance (DLNA; originally named Digital Home Working Group, DHWG) was founded by a group of PC and consumer electronics companies in June 2003 (with Intel in the lead role) to develop and promote a set of interoperability ...

devices

Awards

* VMware — "Ultimate Virtual Appliance Challenge, Consumer" * sourceforge.net — Project of the Month, January 2007 * InfoWorld — Best of open source in storage * MES Matters 2022 — Key Vendors Serving the Mid-Market * Best In Biz Award — Most Innovative Product Line of the Year * Tech Target Storage Magazine Gold Award — Asigra TrueNAS Backup Appliance

References

External links

* {{FreeBSD FreeBSD Enterprise Linux distributions Free file transfer software Free software Home servers Network-attached storage