(This post is mainly repetitive with the pre-announcement made 2 weeks ago, but has some minor added detail).
TrueNAS 13.0 has proven to be the most reliable and highest-quality platform for traditional primary storage use cases. Community users looking for incremental fixes and changes to their stable storage platform will have the option of moving to TrueNAS 13.3. TrueNAS CORE 13.3-RELEASE is now available.
TrueNAS CORE 13.3 will include the following updates:
- FreeBSD 13.3
- OpenZFS 2.2.3
- Samba v4.19
- Updates to SMART, Network UPS Tools (NUT), and other services
- Various security and bug fixes
FreeNAS and TrueNAS CORE were originally developed using FreeBSD as their underlying OS. It is now in the sustaining phase of its lifecycle. Plugins are no longer recommended.
Three years ago, TrueNAS began its Linux journey by introducing TrueNAS SCALE. This expanded its potential community, broadened and simplified support for the latest hardware, and opened the door to new possibilities for the software. Today, TrueNAS SCALE 24.04 has superseded the quality and security achieved with TrueNAS 13.0-U6 and has more users.
TrueNAS CORE users have the option to migrate to TrueNAS SCALE at any point. The compatibility of OpenZFS between FreeBSD and Linux enables data to be imported without any rewriting of data. File, block, object and VM storage, plus their sharing configurations can be migrated automatically. Applications and jails may require some re-deployment but are expected to have the same level or higher of functionality and compatibility.
Bringing forward the 13.3 RELEASE date
TrueNAS CORE’s focus continues to be ensuring storage reliability, stability, and security for existing users. Considering its macro lifecycle, TrueNAS CORE is now in a sustaining engineering phase within the TrueNAS project.
There have been two BETA versions of 13.3. Both have relatively few software issues but have not been widely tested. After some consideration, we decided that TrueNAS 13.3 is ready for community use and provides sufficient value, so it has been moved ahead to RELEASE status. There are only ten minor bug fixes with the full list here.
Who Should Use TrueNAS 13.3?
Only current TrueNAS CORE 13.0 community users should consider TrueNAS 13.3. TrueNAS CORE 13.0 users will have three choices:
Remain on 13.0: TrueNAS 13.0 is battle-tested and very reliable. It works well if your predominant need is file, block, or object storage and your system doesn’t require any updated feature functionality. Security and bug hotfixes will be provided where necessary for the storage use case.
Upgrade to 13.3: TrueNAS 13.3 includes updates to FreeBSD 13.3, Jails, Bhyve improvements, OpenZFS, and Samba. It addresses some security issues and FreeBSD/VM compatibility issues. Upgrade only if your existing system has issues specifically addressed in the 13.3 release. The continued use of Plugins is not recommended.
Sidegrade to SCALE 24.04.2: TrueNAS SCALE is where new features and updated components are actively developed and tested. TrueNAS on Linux enables rapid delivery of a more feature-rich, stable, and easier-to-use storage product for users and customers alike. This includes the ability for TrueNAS to use a much wider variety of hardware, applications, and configurations.
TrueNAS CORE users will always be able to “sidegrade” to SCALE if and when they’re ready. This can be before or after an upgrade to TrueNAS 13.3.
TrueNAS Enterprise will stay on TrueNAS 13.0
TrueNAS 13.3 will not be available for Enterprise system upgrades. Enterprise users need a battle-tested system and don’t leverage the Jails or VM compatibility. Staying on 13.0-U6 is the safest and best-supported path for mission-critical storage needs.
TrueNAS Enterprise customers will always be fully supported for the duration of their support contract regardless of their software version. TrueNAS 13.0 will continue to be supported, and hotfixes will be provided for critical bugs or security issues. Staying on 13.0-U6 is often the easy and wise decision for production systems.
TrueNAS 24.04 already ships by default on Enterprise products, like the TrueNAS F-Series (HA All-NVMe) and H-Series (HA Edge Hybrid). If your organization is considering a sidegrade to the SCALE-based software now or in the future, as many customers already have, please contact iXsystems Support so that we can assist you in the decision-making and upgrade process.
When Should I Migrate?
If you are deploying a new TrueNAS system, we recommend beginning with TrueNAS SCALE. There is more added NAS functionality, vastly broader support for hardware, catalogs of Apps, better performance on most workloads, and an improved Web UI, all of which make managing TrueNAS easier than ever.
TrueNAS 13.0 users looking for the new capabilities outlined above can sidegrade to TrueNAS SCALE anytime, preserving data and essential NAS functionality such as SMB, NFS, iSCSI, and VMs - with the primary exception being Jails.
TrueNAS 24.04 “Dragonfish” includes early support for Sandboxes, which provide jail-like capabilities using systemd nspawn containers.
TrueNAS 24.10 “Electric Eel” also provides a native Docker Compose environment that vastly improves running applications with lower overheads and opens the door to more complex setups, similar to Jails. Electric Eel will go to BETA later this month.
Further improvements to Docker applications and Linux Containers (LXC) are planned for early 2025. More will be revealed at the end of 2024.
For current software recommendations, be sure to review the Software Status page for recommendations based on your usage profile.