Time Machine across the TrueNAS divide

TrueNAS General
1

Hello,

It has been a long while since I was here, but that is because TrueNAS just works, and our deployed systems are…working. But as usual, stupid human tricks have me thinking outside the box - way outside the box, in this instance.

We have a GMKtec G9 Intel-based 4x SSD (4 x 2TB) NAS running TrueNAS on the eMMC, with 12GB of RAM. After applying a tweak to the latest ISO to address a known eMMC issue, it installed perfectly and is now present on the internal network. File copies will begin soon…once we address the heat issue. This NAS already has a long and distinguished history as a heat hell-hole on the SSD side of the enclosure. Short term, we will use ice blocks to keep them cool. Medium term? Prossibly thermocoupling (Peltier plates)…which is where the ‘stupid human tricks’ comment comes from, of course.

Question:
I need to backup this G9 while System 4 is down. I have two options: 1) USB, and 2) Time Machine on our Mac mini M4. I will give you all a chance to scream, “No USB on TrueNAS!” and then let you ponder the Time Machine option. I do not do networking, but my networking guru says linking the G9 to the M4 is “no problem” so long as Time Machine can target the entire TrueNAS pool.

Does this Time Machine option sound viable? I think so…but if TrueNAS is doing any dynamic updating of any files on a static pool of data (i.e., writes on the eMMC or the pool itself) I foresee an issue ‘maybe’ if it finds itself chasing its tail to keep up with the dynamic updates…

To assist, the M4 and the G9 are connected via Ethernet to the same switch, and this switch has no ‘external’ connection to the outside world. We use Wi-Fi only for systems to access the Internet - it stays off otherwise. All our wired ‘stuff’ is without gateways.

-AK

2

AFAIK, you can’t backup an SMB source using Time Machine. What I have done for years is use Carbon Copy Cloner to copy the SMB share to directly attached Mac storage and then use Time Machine to back that up. I also back that copy up with Backblaze to get 3-2-1.

One wouldn’t normally have a share at the pool level but practices vary.

3

One isn’t allowed to have a share at the pool level with current versions of TrueNAS. Not sure when that changed though.

4

@tannebil
Thank you - CCC appears to be the best option right now. We can sure see all those SMB shares across all those servers, but not a one is visible to Time Machine. Strange that we thought we could…

-AK

5

The share needs to be marked as a Time Machine target in the SMB advanced settings to show up in TM with the appropriate file security settings

6

Question: “SMB Advanced Settings” are readily available in Synology - most of the Internet searches point to this option, and I think that is the one Network Guy was thinking of, as we have run that in the past.

However, Sonoma has no such options we can find for SMB in general, and I don’t see one in TrueNAS?

Admittedly, it has been a long day…

-AK

7

EDIT: We found it in TrueNAS Documentation Hub.