Continuing the discussion from TrueNAS CORE 13.3-BETA2 is Now Available: @victor are you willing to share your experience with Xigma?
*drops: sonobuoy*
Were you able to install overtop of TrueNAS and import pools (or was that a fresh install)?
Sure.
It obviously isn’t as heavily developed and designed as TrueNAS CORE is, and that is seen in a number of ways.
First off, there is obviously no middleware, so most if not all of the changes are written to the core OS. One example of this would be the bridge creation. It is stored in the rc.conf file inside /etc/rc.conf
There is the Embedded install, which will install to RAM, and basically prevent you from making breaking changes to your NAS. Then there is the Full Install, which will let you do anything you want, including installation of different packages. Be warned, this can break you NAS.
There are many things that I’d like to see improved, like handling of replication tasks from the GUI. Snapshots are there, as are most of the other services you see on CORE.
Overall the GUI isn’t as “modern looking” as CORE or SCALE, but the functionality seems to all be there for the most part. It doesn’t have the test and save feature for networking as TrueNAS does, so be careful making changes.
The vdevs have to be created separately from creating the pool, which was a learning curve for me, as TrueNAS automates this.
When importing or doing anything from the cli, you need to sync from the GUI in order for your disks and pools to shown up in the GUI.
Overall it could use a lot of work, and there is really only one thing keeping me from using it right now, and that is the handling of replication tasks from the GUI.
I haven’t tested much more that what I listed above, but I have played around with the extensions like bastille and zrepl. They work ok, but also need work. For example, you can’t create a jail with a bridge as the interface from the GUI. You need to do this via command line.
I have not tried importing my pools from TrueNAS into XigmaNAS, as I’m not ready to move over just yet. Only when TrueNAS fails to update will I do this, lacking a fork of CORE.
1 Like
They have a private forum, closed off from the public (which also makes it hard to find troubleshooting in web searches.)
Deal breaker for me.
4 Likes
True enough. But they have there reasons, and have actually discussed this topic.
I’m really just looking for a BSD based NAS solution as that is what I have learned and come to appreciate most.
Why would a private forum be a deal breaker?
Currently, I’m going native FreeBSD.
1 Like
It’s antithetical to opensource and openness in general.
It’s elitist, in that non-members (or being logged out) cannot even browse the forums. (Nevermind posting and replying… but one cannot even browse or read?)
It hurts future interest and potential reach, as troubleshooting, posts, and general discussions are omitted from web searches. This will limit their potential userbase.
Trying to create a forum account has proven fruitless for me due to their overzealous spam filter.
5 Likes
Makes sense. I’m with ya then.
They state the reason for that as user data privacy. There was some pushback about it, but that’s how they see it.
Someone needs to reach out to the FreeBSD forum admins, ASAP! This is an urgent matter! Do they not realize that their users are at risk? 
In addition to @winnielinnie’s winnies, needing registration before being able to decide whether I am interested or not in something is incredibily anti-consumer.
This rings so many warning bells.
I don’t even have a STH forum account because in order to see posted images you need to be logged in. Sir! No, Sir!
I embraced TN CORE for its community and its values, if I’m going to replace it with something else I don’t want to compromise with such important things.
1 Like
Another opinion of going from Core to XigmaNAS:
https://www.reddit.com/r/freebsd/comments/135ffe7/successfully_switched_from_truenas_core_to/
1 Like
Also makes sense.
I think there is a lot of elitisim in BSD/Linux in general (always seemed to get more of that feeling from the Linux community). -e.g. “MS sucks. Use XYZ!”. But, I totally understand how that can be percieved.
I can also see the user data argument. Those web crawlers and bots are vicious and people are stupid! They put tons of information up all the time (email address, etc).
For me, TrueNAS has more of a “slimy” feeling now. It used to feel “solid” (like: “we’ve checked out the options, and these work best”). Now it feels like: “use this option because we feel it will work for this and allow a more popular option later”). And now CORE feels like a ghost (like: “we sorta patched this thing so it can work good enough”).
I can definatly see the point about “if I wanted linux…” because I would too. I wouldnt trust a newcommer or someone who just jumped ship from a “different camp”. Linux users are very fickle; they’ll try the latest thing and then move on.
Not all Linux users are fickle distro hoppers. There are those who seem addicted to trying every possible alternative, but I believe most find a distro they are happy with and stick to it.
You have to wonder what the SCALE saga to date and this March’s news has done to iX revenue streams and whether it is still on a solid footing.
Despite reservations, I signed up for the XigmaNAS forum a while ago to get a better idea of what’s going on with that project. It seemed friendly enough. Additions and extensions were often community efforts that come and go. One thing in its favour is they actually are working on a FreeBSD 14.1 based version.
It’s in RC right now. I’m using that one. 14.1 that is.
No, of course. But my point was more along the lines of those that are happy with a flavor will most likely stick to that because they know it (directory structure, packages, binaries, etc); the new TrueNAS Scale users are going to be a mix of the ones that either are used to Debian (which there are a lot of) or the distro hoppers. The usage numbers will be volatile.
I don’t think their revenue stream has suffered.
What I do appreciate about XigmaNAS is the fact that it has no middleware.
So everything they do involves standard commands and config/db files are found in the usual places.
One example is the bridge creation, which is all found in /etc/rc.conf
This allows people to learn a bit more about the FreeBSD world and how it works.
One could learn the TrueNAS middleware and API I suppose, but the way Xigma does it allows easier BSD management, albeit TrueNAS is more beginner friendly.
1 Like
That’s cool.
Just a note that this is far more likely to be laziness/“Oh, right, that’s a thing… I’m always logged in so I forget about it.” It’s a very, very outmoded default of XenForo’s.
1 Like
Still irks me the wrong way 