Earlier this week, network storage provider iXsystems announced the release of TrueNAS 12.0-BETA1, which will replace FreeNAS later in 2020. The core offering of the new TrueNAS Core, like FreeNAS before it, is a streamlined and graphically managed form. to expose the features and benefits of the ZFS file system to end users. In the most basic environments, this could amount to little more than a web front-end for the ZFS itself, along with the open source Samba implementation of Microsoft’s SMB network file sharing protocol.
Although this might be enough for most users, it only scratches the surface of what TrueNAS Core is capable of. For example, more advanced storage users can choose to share files via NFS or iSCSI in addition to SMB or instead. Additional services can be installed through plug-ins that use the FreeBSD jail facility (containerization), and even the system can run guest operating systems through FreeBSD’s BHyve virtualization system, all managed only through the web interface.
TrueNAS Core will be what FreeNAS is now: the free community version of iXsystems’ NAS (network attached storage) distribution. End users, and system administrators not looking for paid support, can download FreeNAS or TrueNAS Core ISO directly from iX, burn them to a bootable optical disc or disk drive, and install them on generic x86 hardware like any other operating system.
We’ve been kicking the tires on early versions of TrueNAS Core since its announcement in March, and we see no evidence of any FreeNAS functionality leaking behind “premium only” pay walls. The dividing lines between TrueNAS Core and TrueNAS Enterprise are not different from previous FreeNAS and TrueNAS versions.
Due to the breadth of TrueNAS Core offerings, we are unable to guide you through everything it is capable of in one article. But we’ll get to the highlights along the way: we’ll install the distribution and configure a storage pool on eight physical disks, we’ll bind TrueNAS Core to a Windows Active Directory domain, we’ll set up some file shares, and we’ll play around with the ZFS snapshot. and replication facilities.
The user interface has come a long way in the six years since our 2014 review of FreeNAS. The modern TrueNAS interface has been completely rebuilt from scratch, along much more consistent lines. If you’ve tried and abandoned previous versions of FreeNAS, it’s worth taking a second look at how far you’ve come.
Installation
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If these options seem overwhelming, installing and managing your own storage distribution may not be right for you.
Jim Salter
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Once you’ve decided to install, the next question is where you want the root and boot filesystem to go.
Jim Salter
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This was not our first TrueNAS Core test, so we have the option to upgrade or install from scratch. We choose the new installation.
Jim Salter
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FORMAT! EVERYTHING!
Jim Salter
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Last chance to abort! It is a bit strange that we are not told about the preference for “flash media” up to the screen “oh no”, but that’s fine.
Jim Salter
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You will need to set a root password before rebooting. There is no strength check here; If you want to use “poo” as the password, the installer will not complain.
Jim Salter
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TrueNAS supports UEFI or BIOS boot. Both modes worked on our Linux KVM virtual machine and directly on the storage Hot Rod metal.
Jim Salter
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That’s the whole installation: please remove the system installation media and reboot.
Jim Salter
The first phase of starting a TrueNAS Core installation is the simplest operating system installation we’ve seen. TrueNAS Core does not ask you to do complicated things during the original installation; all you want to do is put the operating system on a boot disk and have it done. Choose a disk (or USB flash drive) to act as the root and boot media, set a password, and choose a UEFI or BIOS-style boot, that’s all.
All the cool stuff, like setting up the rest of your disks as real storage devices or creating and exposing network shares for them, happens later.
First start
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This ASCII splash screen hangs for five seconds; if no information has been received by then, it falls into a standard boot.
Jim Salter
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The only thing most users will have to do in the text console is configure the network interface (which is DHCP by default).
Jim Salter
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You may think that you WANT to “remove the current settings from this interface”, but if you do, you simply return to the menu. Then no?
Jim Salter
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Be sure to configure your default route (and DNS) as well as the IP address if you exit DHCP mode.
Jim Salter
There is not much to do on your first reboot after installing TrueNAS Core – little or no configuration is done on the physical machine. By default, the system will assign settings to any live network interface via DHCP. If you do not want to issue a specific DHCP reservation for the TrueNAS system on your router, you will need to manually configure an IP address in the text based menu here.
Once you have your TrueNAS Core system living at your “IP address forever”, it’s time to walk away, sit down in front of the computer or mobile device of your choice, and navigate to the TrueNAS web interface to get the real configuration work done.
