Today marks the end of a chapter. With the TrueNAS 12.0 release, the FreeNAS brand is effectively done. We gave the entire backstory in our piece FreeNAS is Dead Long Live TrueNAS CORE. With the TrueNAS Core 12.0 release, that brand swap is now done and iXsystems now have a unified platform for both its “free” and enterprise offerings.
TrueNAS 12 Release Key Features
Many of STH’s readers are going to wait a few weeks to upgrade given the company’s history with releases. At the same time, the release is very easy to do for a current system. Under System -> Update, you will see a Train dropdown. You want to select the TrueNAS-12.0-STABLE release train. Then Download Updates.
From there, the system will automatically update. The system will need to reboot, so ensure that your users and infrastructure are prepared for the reboot process.
On our first test system we updated this took a few clicks and a few minutes until we were running TrueNAS core.
For the high-level updates on the new release, here are the key new features:
- ZFS Native Crypto – Per-dataset encryption and support for encrypted replication to untrusted targets.
- 2 Factor Authentication – Allows using Applications such as “Google Authenticator” to provide an extra level of security before logging into the UI or SSH access.
- KMIP Support – TrueNAS Enterprise now adds the ability to interface with KMIP servers for the storage and retrieval of passwords and encryption keys.
- Performance Improvements – Virtually every area of the platform has been updated and includes some major performance improvements, including SMB, iSCSI, ZFS and more.
- API Keys – All of TrueNAS can be configured with TrueNAS API v2.0 and now supports API keys for remote access. The v1.0 API is no longer supported.
- Fusion Pools – Allows creating pools with all-flash vdevs that store metadata and small-block IO. This provides flash-like performance on all metadata operations, but with the cost-effectiveness of spinning disk for storage blocks.
- VPN Support – Support for TrueNAS acting as both an OpenVPN Server and Client, depending on your VPN needs.
- TrueCommand Cloud Integration – TrueNAS 12.0 systems can be connected directly to a TrueCommand Cloud account for scaled monitoring and management of your TrueNAS systems
You can read more on the official release notes.
Now that our systems are moving to TrueNAS Core, FreeNAS is gone.
Final Words
You may not have seen this, but STH has actually had a Top Hardware Components for TrueNAS Core Servers for some time. If you are thinking of building a TrueNAS Core server, check that out.
The bigger item looming is TrueNAS Scale. We covered how iXsystems Starts De-emphasizing FreeBSD for TrueNAS Scale-Out Project. While retiring the “FreeNAS” brand that aligned closely with “FreeBSD” the TrueNAS Scale platform we see as a clear future. With the ability to scale from a single node system like TrueNAS Core into a multi-node cluster, like Proxmox VE already can, the TrueNAS Scale Linux-based solution is where the company is headed longer term. Unifying FreeNAS and the TrueNAS Enterprise line helps the company move in this direction. For now, we do not recommend TrueNAS Scale because it is still an Alpha product, but it is certainly the one to watch.
At your readiness, it is time to do a few clicks, change the release train, and have a beer/ bourbon, or scotch to toast to FreeNAS retirement as the system reboots.
Very nice!
It would be nice for me especially if they enhanced support for IB or IPoIB hardware but then again mine is a little dated being CX-2 based rather than the fancy new cards. But it cannot be helped.
I’m still using FreeNAS but will try a TrueNAS install very soon.
Lovely article 🙂
“we do not recommend TrueNAS Scale because it is still an Alpha product…”
…but this is about TrueNAS CORE
Still needs some polish. When you ssh in, it says Truenas on the MOTD, but then “Welcome to Freenas”. Also reporting is broken, but all around a huge update. Most of the little things will get fixed in .1 release
Upgraded both my systems from FreeNAS 11.3U4 on the 23rd of Oct 2020…went smoothly with no issues that I see. Replication is working, network access is working along with my jails…Good Job… can’t wait to try some some of the enhanced features out.
System: ASRock Rack C3758D4I-4L Mini ITX, 32GB Ram, (8) 5TB 2.5 HD, Silverstone CS280B Case, Silverstone SST-SX650-G 650W SFX PowerSupply.
Had a few issues upgrading Jails or getting them to work again, but nothing too terrible. Also seeing a bit of networking issues with SMB where it will slow down to a few MB/S for a long time and may or may not speed back up.
I clicked the following link but I cannot see any actual components listed – “STH has actually had a Top Hardware Components for TrueNAS Core Servers for some time” – Is the page broken or is it an issue on my side? Thanks.