Skip to main content
TrustRadius
TrueNAS

TrueNAS

Overview

What is TrueNAS?

TrueNAS is a network-attached storage featuring all-flash and hybrid storage editions, from iXsystems headquartered in San Jose.

Read more
Recent Reviews

TrustRadius Insights

TrueNAS has been widely praised by users for its intuitive interface and versatility in various use cases. Users have found it easy to …
Continue reading

TrueNAS Review

10 out of 10
September 15, 2022
I've been using TrueNAS for about 5 years now, mostly in lab environments. It's been running solid for those 3 years, through …
Continue reading

Free and Easy to Use

10 out of 10
September 14, 2022
Incentivized
My organization uses TrueNAS Scale to run file servers for local data storage and backup and host Windows virtual machines. This solution …
Continue reading
Read all reviews

Awards

Products that are considered exceptional by their customers based on a variety of criteria win TrustRadius awards. Learn more about the types of TrustRadius awards to make the best purchase decision. More about TrustRadius Awards

Reviewer Pros & Cons

View all pros & cons
Return to navigation

Pricing

View all pricing

What is TrueNAS?

TrueNAS is a network-attached storage featuring all-flash and hybrid storage editions, from iXsystems headquartered in San Jose.

Entry-level set up fee?

  • No setup fee

Offerings

  • Free Trial
  • Free/Freemium Version
  • Premium Consulting/Integration Services

Would you like us to let the vendor know that you want pricing?

57 people also want pricing

Return to navigation

Product Details

What is TrueNAS?

TrueNAS is a universal data platform that enables users to adopt a modern, open-source approach to store and protect their growing data. TrueNAS harnesses the ZFS file system to provide unified storage (File, Block Object, and Apps) with the reliability and performance demanded by virtualization, backup, and many other data-heavy workloads. The TrueNAS CORE edition (formerly FreeNAS) is based on FreeBSD for unified scale-up storage. The TrueNAS SCALE edition is based on Debian Linux for either scale-up or scale-out solutions and offers Linux Containers, VMs (KVM), and scale-out ZFS storage capabilities. Both versions are free to use and work well on a variety of hardware.

TrueNAS Technical Details

Operating SystemsUnspecified
Mobile ApplicationNo

Frequently Asked Questions

TrueNAS is a network-attached storage featuring all-flash and hybrid storage editions, from iXsystems headquartered in San Jose.

TrueNAS starts at $0.

Synology DiskStation, Dell PowerScale, and HPE StoreEasy 1000 Storage are common alternatives for TrueNAS.

The most common users of TrueNAS are from Small Businesses (1-50 employees).
Return to navigation

Comparisons

View all alternatives
Return to navigation

Reviews and Ratings

(41)

Community Insights

TrustRadius Insights are summaries of user sentiment data from TrustRadius reviews and, when necessary, 3rd-party data sources. Have feedback on this content? Let us know!

TrueNAS has been widely praised by users for its intuitive interface and versatility in various use cases. Users have found it easy to spin up virtual machines, conduct testing, and sandboxing. It is also commonly used for setting up a Plex media server and storing documents, downloads, and media backups. The integration of TrueNAS with security protocols like ActiveDirectory, LDAP, and Kerberos networks ensures file and folder-level security. Additionally, the ZFS Filesystem in TrueNAS provides data safety in the event of hard drive failure. Its compatibility with UPS allows for power outage notifications. TrueNAS is also utilized for home security camera monitoring and recording through ZoneMinder instances. Users have reported using TrueNAS in professional environments for long-term file storage and spinning up virtual machines for testing purposes. Furthermore, in the video production industry, TrueNAS plays a crucial role in storing camera data and referencing it during edits. Educational institutions rely on TrueNAS as part of their core criteria for Networking and SMB solutions. Organizations choose TrueNAS as their main on-premises storage solution, particularly for photo and video media storage. With features like SSD-based caching, a 10GB Ethernet port, and expandable network connectivity, TrueNAS offers speed and cost-effectiveness. It is frequently used as an iSCSI Datastore in VMware for primary NAS/iSCSI servers and nightly backups of VMs. Home users benefit from using TrueNAS Core as their business data management tool or home media server due to its simplicity and reliability. TrueNAS is often implemented as a backup/sync server, replacing tape backup systems to enable snapshots and reduce file recovery time. Integration with Nextcloud makes it scalable for file sharing, collaboration, and cost reduction purposes. In server set-ups, TrueNAS serves as a SAN providing simplicity of management, high availability configuration, and excellent support. Its fast performance and power make it ideal for mission-critical backups. Users prefer TrueNAS over Docker containers or virtual machines for its efficiency in managing, storing, and sharing data. It is especially recommended as an inexpensive enterprise-grade storage option for low-cost high-performance NAS systems. TrueNAS Scale, whether installed on a Virtual Machine in VMware Workstation Pro or on dedicated hardware, offers a solid software and user experience. Users have found it easy to install and appreciate its good performance and various applications for advanced testing. For those requiring fast and robust performance in primary data centers, the all-flash devices like TrueNAS M40 are the preferred choice. Lastly, users have had positive experiences with the salespeople and support teams from iX Systems, the parent company of TrueNAS. This level of satisfaction with both the product and the company further demonstrates the trust and reliability that users have in TrueNAS.

Overall, TrueNAS has proven to be a highly versatile and user-friendly solution for a wide range of use cases. Whether it's for personal media storage, professional file management, virtual machine deployment, or data backup, TrueNAS provides the necessary features and performance to meet the needs of its users. The ability to integrate with various security protocols, collaborate through Nextcloud, and serve as a reliable SAN or backup server makes it a valuable choice for businesses and organizations of all sizes. With its affordability, speed, scalability, and excellent customer support, TrueNAS continues to be a preferred storage solution for many users across different industries.

Robust and Reliable File System: Many users have praised the ZFS file system in TrueNAS for its robustness and reliability, providing them with peace of mind for their storage needs.

Seamless Integration with Mac and Linux Machines: Several reviewers have appreciated the seamless integration of TrueNAS with Mac and Linux machines. This integration allows for easy sharing of data through protocols like SMB and NFS, enhancing collaboration among different operating systems.

Flexibility and Stability of Software RAID: The flexibility and stability of the software RAID in TrueNAS has impressed many users. They have highlighted how it allows for customizable storage configurations, providing them with a reliable solution for their specific needs.

Confusing User Interface: Some users have reported that they find the user interface of TrueNAS to be confusing and not intuitive, which can make it challenging to configure and perform tasks efficiently. This issue has been mentioned by multiple reviewers, highlighting the need for improvements in terms of usability and navigation.

Challenging Initial Installation Process: The initial installation process has been described as quite challenging by some users, requiring significant effort and time. Several reviewers have expressed their difficulties during the installation phase, suggesting that a more streamlined and user-friendly approach would greatly enhance the overall experience.

Lack of Certain Functionalities: Users have expressed their desire for additional functionalities within TrueNAS. Specifically, there are requests for better VNC support for VMs and Jails, improved DLNA services for seamless video asset serving, and increased plugin integrations. These suggestions indicate that there is room for enhancement in these areas to meet the diverse needs of users effectively.

Attribute Ratings

Reviews

(1-25 of 32)
Companies can't remove reviews or game the system. Here's why
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We utilize TrueNAS as a replacement for multiple legacy file servers. TrueNAS's ability to integrate with Microsoft Active Directory seamlessly allows us to create SMB and NFS shares for our users and groups. TrueNAS's ZFS replication has enabled us to have off-site data copies to ensure we can recover from a hardware issue or if there is a site catastrophe.
  • Multiple methods for data sharing
  • Easy to navigate interface
  • Ability to replicate data
  • Backup agents for desktop backups
  • Ability to load balance between multiple servers
The ability to run an Opensource solution or have Enterprise support is really where TrueNAS shines for us. We can use the software for small projects as well as spin-up test systems to test configurations and features. Then ultimately implement in our hardened and supported Enterprise solution.
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
I use TrueNAS Scale at my own since a stable release of 2 year ago, it fits perfectly my needs, it is very reliable and ongoing through the various releases demostrates a great effort to make always a better product each time. I use the containerization and it is excellent for my purposes as the NAS feature also are. I believe that actually this great piece of software can be valuable for a wide range of needs starting from the very advanced NAS capabilities to virtualization and containerization features. It's reliable and the upgrade process between the releases it's fast and effective. It's great product that works really.
  • NAS features
  • Containerization
  • Hardware compatibility
  • Low hardware requirements
  • none in my honest opinion
Great for every storage needs, I use TrueNAS Scale, from home to business,it's great for the containerization features that permits the deploy of various applications and can be usable either in a home lab or a development lab and either to run a business enviroment used on small to large hardware.
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
As a digital retoucher I use TrueNAS as my main online storage solution, it is reliable, solid and trouble free. I also use TrueNAS as a Plex Media server, in a jail. The whole iteration backs up to Backblaze. I built my own NAS and this has proven to be a very cost effective route to having immediately available storage.
  • Cross platform availability
  • Easy functionality
  • Customizable to end user needs
  • Setting up permissions/ACL could be easier
Online backup. Media server. You can do pretty much anything you want with jails - Plex media server, Nextcloud, reverse proxy, ad blocker etc., I have a LAGG connection to double throughput out and this helps with network speed, even on 1 GB. There is a great online community too.
Justin Powers, MS | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
I currently use TrueNAS as my primary storage for all my files. It holds my 3D printing files, personal information files, and video recordings.<br><br>It's a great system with a lot of functionality that I am still figuring out. With such a versatile system, it is easily scalable and workable for all systems.
  • Scalability
  • UI
  • Versatility
  • The UI is a bit bland
  • The differences between Cobia and Bluefin can be stated more clearly
The ability to easily expand the storage is great. The ZFS built in is fantastic and I was able to get rid of my raid cards for this. Regarding the well suited, it can easily be manipulated to whatever you need it to be. Whether it's a VM host, a regular NAS, or even an application host, it's great.
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We have been using TrueNAS to host two 150+ TB storage arrays for our video surveillance systems. On top of that each of the surveillance systems are hosted as virtual machines on their respective storage node. This setup has been solid from day one, providing the stability and reliability that one would expect from enterprise applications.
  • Virtualization
  • Large storage management
  • Stability
  • Occasionally buggy UI
TrueNAS is well suited for a multitude of applications. I've used it for fileshares needing to be accessed by both MacOS and Windows users and it was greatly having the ability for both of them to use their native protocols.
Matthew Juffs | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We switched to TrueNAS after our Microsoft Server 2022 received a ransomware attack. TrueNAS made sense to offload our storage needs.
  • Fit and forget.
  • Reliable
  • Great Performance.
  • Low Utilisation.
  • Dashboard customisation.
It is well suited to storage-only needs but also capable of being a virtual/container platform. It works on a wide variety of hardware.
Rob Anderson | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
I've been using TrueNAS / FreeNAS (in earlier years) for out companies iSCSI Datastore in VMware.
It allows me to make use of older hardware to make secondary / primary NAS /iSCSI Servers.

I also use these servers to do nightly backups of all our VMs. The ability to use TrueNAS Core software
has really helped us out in the last 3 years especially.

We don't have to wait on new expensive hardware to get a new NAS / iSCSI server running. The chip shortage
has made it a very scary proposition to try and acquire new hardware in the face of such a shortage should we
have a failed server. It has let me leverage previous investments in hardware to cover any shortages in storage
availability.
  • iSCSI Datastores for virtualization.
  • NFS store for unix storage or backups over networking.
  • Very fast performance, sometimes outclassing SSD arrays even in NFS.
  • The ZFS filesystem has given use much greater flexibility.
  • Using their newer servers we could in theory scale to any height of required storage.
  • Better explanations of what a 'jail' is.
  • Update the UI to support easier creation or clearer creation of new arrays.
  • More plugin integrations.
  • The ability to run scripts to copy things locally such as to a usb RDX hard drive.
  • Proper USB 3.0 support.
Their free TrueNAS Core has been an incredible boon. Using older hardware to create a great lab / array TrueNAS is amazing. NFS Targets for running VEEAM backups over a 10Gb network it worked amazing. Using the ISCSI for datastores in VMware worked amazing as well. I do hope they put some more work into the Virtual Machine UI. I don't know that I'd use TrueNAS to host VMs in a production environment.
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
After exploring lots of other options and coming quite close to making a bad decision, I was able to avoid compromise and buy a TrueNAS system for my storage needs. I'm using this for software engineering support but the bulk of the usage is video production where TrueNAS both stores the data coming off of cameras but is also referenced by the NLE when doing all the edits/prints.
  • Peace of mind (ZFS)
  • Integration with Mac and Linux machines (SMB and NFS)
  • Time Machine backup service was a plus I didn't expect
  • DLNA services could be better for serving video assets (Plex integration is good, but complicated)
  • Built-in dashboards aren't super well-organized
TrueNAS is ideal for anyone who wants to store data without worrying too much.

The only area where TrueNAS isn't as ideal is if you're trying to prioritize budget over data safety.
September 15, 2022

TrueNAS Review

Colin Mackay | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
I've been using TrueNAS for about 5 years now, mostly in lab environments. It's been running solid for those 3 years, through upgrades from FreeNAS 11 to the current TrueNAS release. I use it only with storage and sharing in mind, no VM's or jails and on my older Dell R510 system, it's run flawlessly.
  • ZFS is an amazing filesystem. Saved me from accidental deletes.
  • NFS / CIFS sharing works as expected.
  • UI interface is solid, but could use more robust sharing options; using the 'exports' formats right in the GUI
About the only place I couldn't see it running as well, is where entire array deduplication would be required. Otherwise, it's pretty solid for just about everything, save SAN.
Alexander Baese | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
We are mainly using TrueNAS as a Storage Service Provider for our local network. Storing Data, Sharing Data and processing Data through various channels. The management of ZFS Storage is kept really simple in the UI and can be left untouched when it is all setup.<br>Therefor providing a higher level of management without that big of a learning curve.
  • SMB Shares
  • Video transcoding via GPU and Docker Containers
  • Hosting mulitple fundamental network Services
  • Heavy loads on the host can interrupt container services heavily. "Always reserved ressources" option might be helpful
Limited by your own capabilities. TrueNAS offers a wide range of possibilities to extend your usage of your appliance / hardware. Centered around a NAS / Storage Device you can implement various sharing services, virtual machines and containerized workloads. So far it handles all our usecases pretty good and you are only limited by what you know about those technologies.A real keeper and a alternative to virtualization focused products.
September 14, 2022

Free and Easy to Use

Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
My organization uses TrueNAS Scale to run file servers for local data storage and backup and host Windows virtual machines. This solution is far superior to manually setting up a Linux server distro with all the packages and configurations for file shares and virtual machines. While I'm accustomed to using the terminal, I welcome the in-browser graphical UI which anyone can use. Remote administration has never been easier for me and my colleagues, with even those unfamiliar with Linux being able to pick up on things very quickly due to the intuitive design. We deploy NAS and server solutions for clients which can be remotely accessed by us for easy maintenance and administration.
  • The ZFS file system is remarkably robust and reliable.
  • Installing applications and virtual machines is easy.
  • Management and creation of permissions and datasets is intuitive.
  • TrueNAS Scale is less mature than TrueNAS Core
TrueNAS can be used in the majority of situations, whether it be a home NAS, an enterprise storage server, or a school computer lab.
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
I setup TrueNAS Scale on a decommissioned engineering desktop I salvaged from being recycled in order to replace a 15 year old NAS appliance that was being decommissioned. It was incredibly simple to install and get going off the bat. I've had no performance issues with my setup, and am pleasantly surprised with the various applications (containers) I was able to get up and running with relative ease having never used a TrueNAS system before. I can't wait to really get into the weeds and test out the more advanced features of the system (potentially even serving as a sandbox hypervisor environment)!
  • Ease of setup
  • Flexibility of hardware options
  • Performance
  • Learning curve for some features
For someone who likes to tinker and play around with additional bells and whistles, TrueNAS is great! For people who just need a basic storage device, it may be a tad overkill.
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
I teach the next generation of students who go out directly after education to work in Networking and SMB solutions. FOSS has been a large focus, and TrueNAS is part of a core segment of our criteria on Raid, Storage, and Networking. I use it at home and also at the large server lab, where we have around 20 servers running TrueNAS Scale.
  • Scale allows for Apps to utilise TrueNAS to run in containers
  • Software raid in TrueNAS is really flexible and stable
  • Scale being based on Linux has now meant integrations are growing rapidly
  • TrueNAS Scale just needs time, IMO. It's maturing quickly
If you need RAID storage, it's a very obvious choice. Also, being Open source and secure. It gives IT Admins a great say over security and control. Adding in Scale and other features mean that it can and will fit many environments. Linux environments work great on Scale, but you can use it within mixed as we do now.
Peter Johnston | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
I use TrueNAS as the main on-premises storage solution for my organization. My typical use cases involve photo and video media storage for both PC and Mac end-users. I wanted a storage solution that offered both speed and cost effectiveness, and with SSD-based caching, 10GB Ethernet port and available free PCI-E slot, I have a good balance and am able to add additional network connectivity for LAG and teaming as needed.
  • Allows multiple end-user platforms to share data
  • Allows me to leverage plugins, and community developed applications.
  • I can run virtual machines without the need for expensive and complex virtual infrastructure.
  • The configuration of SMB sharing permissions is not as intuitive as it could be.
  • AD integration with multiple DCs does not always fail over to the secondary server.
This small business NAS is the perfect balance of capability and cost. The hardware is fast enough with an enterprise feature set because it's based on TrueNAS and can leverage all of the high-end features not typically seen in SOHO NAS solutions. I also found their support material to be comprehensive and accessible. While the admin console/interface is well laid out and mostly very intuitive, it is more complex than many competing solutions in this price range. This is likely due to the enterprise class feature set so it really isn't avoidable.
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
We use TrueNAS to maximize the value of our existing datacenter hardware into new storage solutions. While there is a still a place for Nimble and 3Par, TrueNAS gives us the flexibility we need to create data pools from our un used physical inventory for staging, deployment, backup, or other various activities with the datacenter.
  • ZFS datapools
  • Nested Virtualization
  • iWARP, RDMA
  • iSCSI
  • Virtualization support could use more features
  • User and group management is a unique challenge
  • Access to more detailed configuration options
TrueNAS is best suited for creating flexible data pools from just about any combination of storage architecture. Something that is unmatched in traditional hardware accelerated RAID, A the while, you can still use TrueNAS to build upon RAID arrays, its strength is building arrays in combinations that your old RAID controller can not.

All the while, its biggest strength comes with a little extra cost when rebuilding or resilvering a ZFS array in the event of a problem. Complicated arrays or arrays on older hardware will take quite a bit of time.
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
If you just want it to work and be expandable without having to reference dozens of help files and web pages to get it configured, try TrueNAS.<br><br>TrueNAS provided an automatic solution after the team spent several days trying to make other solutions work on top of RedHat. Configuration and control is a breeze through the web-based GUI, and it is easy to expand the storage and add other applications to the Jails.
  • Easy to manage users and access to different shares
  • Shares remount natively under Windows11 and xNIX derivatives, providing easy integration
  • Jails let you try other applications on the server without affecting NAS operations
Backup (continuous and incremental) and file sharing. Also using to share video training as Plex Server.
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
I have been using TrueNAS Core at home now for the past 12 months, as means to manage my business data and as a home media server. To be honest it took me a little bit of time to get my head around it, but once I understood the fundamentals the rest was like learning to bake a cake. I have an old HP Proliant dual processor box which handles it very well, I stacked it full of SSD and away I went. TrueNAS Core just made itself at home, no glitches and of it went. I love it, and I love that it is free more than anything else.
  • Security is its best function. By utilising the jail system.
  • Encryption throughout the entire system. Most diverse.
  • It's not built on Linux.
  • More functionality for video cards and hardware rendering
  • Have a TrueNAS Core GUI
  • Better HELP options.
I was previous an unRAID user. I found that unRAID users were particularly unhelpful and I was very frustrated with it. Someone suggested that I try TrueNAS Core for my media server needs. I installed it and found that it worked well and graphically displayed very well how my storage pools were coping with space, my various processor cores etc basically how my server was functioning which unRAID didn't do particularly well at the time.
August 09, 2022

Amazing NAS

Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Currently, we are using TrueNAS as a backup/sync server for our fileserver which replaces the HP tape backup. By doing so we can do snapshots and reduce file recovery time. My next step is to move our fileserver from windows to a second TrueNAS which will be integrated into our Windows AD domain.
  • ZFS filesystem rocks.
  • iSCSI (Internet Small Computer Systems Interface).
  • OS updates.
  • Clean user interface.
  • Snapshots.
Good ISCSI, backup, and storage server. Windows is better at file-level permission control.
August 09, 2022

TrueNAS review

Geoff Paget | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
I am just using it as a home server at the moment but am looking at helping the typical home user to set up and use it for server backup use as it's so simple to use. It basically solved all the issues with Windows file and folder share that never works with Windows.
  • It runs on a very low-power computer and is easy to set up and run.
  • Simple to use and set up.
  • Easy to add apps for other easy-to-use solutions in home.
  • Very easy to add more storage as well.
  • It was a little complicated updating Plex as it needs to be done manually.
  • It would be an improvement if the RAM use was less and automatic.
It's a very simple solution to create a home server to use for storage backup that can be shared everywhere on any device which is so hard to do using Windows share.
Chris Hames | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
We use a redundant set of TrueNAS M40 all flash as our primary datacenter storage devices. Most of the usage is general office files. I also have a scratch-built system running TrueNAS core as a secondary data storage device. Both work very well, they are fast and robust and have had no issues in six months of operation. We definitely noticed a performance improvement over our old HP MSA unit, and they are much easier to manage as well. Salespeople from the parent company (iX Systems) are also excellent, they were never pushy and wanted us to find the right fit for our business instead of overselling us. I also had a great experience with their support teams, both with the included setup service and post-setup support. They're quick to respond and fix any issue.
  • Stability.
  • Cost to performance ratio is excellent.
  • Support.
  • Redundant setup was a little complex, but nothing support couldn't handle.
TrueNAS is well suited for front-line datacenters, high-speed data operations, as well as backup devices. They also have smaller units for smaller offices which would easily compete with Synology. I would try and use TrueNAS in any location that I can, especially given that they have TrueNAS core for build-your-own setups which is offered FOSS.
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We've been using TrueNAS Core for a couple of years now and I can confidently say it's the best NAS solution we've found so far. Out of the box it supports all the file sharing protocols we need and use such as NFS and even has rsync server built in so that we can manage backups for all of our clients automatically. So far it's been great and I'd highly recommend their products to any of my customers, or other businesses.
  • File sharing support.
  • Ease of use.
  • Compatibility.
  • More metrics on built in dashboards.
  • Built-in software firewall (iptables, ufw, etc.) for cases where running TrueNAS in cloud environments without private networking.
For us, we have clients that have cloud servers with the likes of OVH and through their VRack solutions we can get high-speed private networking, which makes an ideal environment for TrueNAS to be used as a storage server for automated backups, however it is somewhat insecure out of the box if this private networking is not available due to the lack of firewalling and IP whitelisting.
Greg Baughman | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
I have used TrueNAS (Previously FreeNAS) on a personal and professional level for years now. TrueNas has a truly intuitive interface; it allows me to "spin up" a virtual machine for testing and sandboxing, it has plugins for many common uses (need a Plex media server? Select it and click "Install"!), and the support for multiple filesystems and sharing protocols allow for a lot of versatility. I use it for my Macbook TimeMachine backups, also for backing up my windows machines, storing documents and downloads, and even backing up my media. You can even define part of your storage as an iSCSI device, so you could run a separate ESXi host, or mount the iSCSI drives as drives on your workstations. Security integration means that my ActiveDirectory, LDAP, and Kerberos networks all play nice with file or folder-level security. The ZFS Filesystem insures that your data is safe in the event of a hard drive failure (yes, I've had it happen, and yes, I was able to get back up to 100% functionality in a short amount of time!). Additional uses for my TrueNas box include USB integration with my UPS, so I know when the power goes out at my home. For quite some time, I was running a ZoneMinder instance as well on my TrueNAS box and monitored and recorded several home security cameras. For work, we use TrueNAS not only for long-term file storage but also to spin up virtual machines for testing. Want to test out that hot new web server? Spin it up. When you're finished, click "Delete" and it all magically goes away. Or keep it running, your choice. You're only limited by storage, CPU, and RAM. Home system: IBM Server, 32 GB Ram, 8x 3TB HDDs Work system: 32 cores, 256GB RAM, 64TB total HDD (and I *LOVE* TrueNas on this box!!!) Overall, I can't imagine a time when I would not want a TrueNAS device running in my home or business.
  • User Interface
  • ZFS File system for robust storage, journaling, etc.
  • Great support for sharing... SMB, NFS, WebDav, iSCSI, AFP (Apple)
  • More robust support for addins (upgrades to TrueNAS often break addins)
  • Better VNC Support for VMs and Jails
  • Support for MFA
For a large, robust, well-secured, and stable storage system, TrueNAS is very well suited. Virtual Machine support is great. Shared filesystems (SMB, NFS, iSCSI, WebDav, AFP) are very well implemented. Time machine support is fantastic; security is very granular. Do not try to use it as a replacement for VMWare... (no migration, etc.)
Brett Rutherford | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
I currently do not have any production workloads deployed with TrueNAS, however, I do use it as the storage backend for my Homelab cluster, and the performance, the ease of configuration, and the straightforward configuration wizards make this product a solid reliable option in low-cost high-performance NAS systems -- and I would highly recommend that anyone looking for inexpensive enterprise-grade storage in a small form factor turn to one of these devices. Disclaimer: I have the TrueNAS scale product installed on a Virtual Machine in VMware Workstation Pro - but the solid software and user experience have me excited to save up the money to buy an actual piece of TrueNAS hardware.
  • iSCSi
  • ZFS pools
  • Scalable
  • High-performance
  • Networking configuration
  • 3rd party SSL certificate installation and configuration.
  • Sometimes the error messages are less than useful.
Recommendation: IT Shops looking for block and file storage in a small footprint high performance unit - at a REASONABLE price. I won't go as far as to say "inexpensive" -- but "reasonably priced" -- If you're looking for drag and drop point and click configuration there are significantly more user-friendly alternatives out there. This product definitely requires a bit of nerd feng shui, IYKYK.
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
We use TrueNAS as the back end for our Nextcloud server (which is running on TrueNAS in a jail). This has allowed us to get rid of Dropbox subscriptions, have a scalable file share with a greater level of control, and expand our collaboration through tools like Nextcloud's talk application. It has done all this and reduced costs significantly for our organization.
  • Great selection of plugins, both official and community created.
  • Easy to use interface with great performance monitoring and shell access.
  • Handles multiple servers, containers, and virtual machines with ease and no performance issues.
TrueNAS is a powerful solution for a wide variety of needs. It's incredibly scalable, so it's well suited for any size of the organization. It's very simple and easy to use for those who understand server management but may have a high barrier of entry for those with no experience. There is great community support and customer service is incredibly helpful and responsive. For a full-scale professional storage solution, it's a great platform.
Bruno Carvalho | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
TrueNAS has brought its experience to storage technology. We used it in the past as a simple NAS system. But today we are planning on our project to use it as a SAN for all our servers. The flip-over was done because of its simplicity of management, the easiness to configure high availability, and the support excellence that is provided to us. We consider TrueNAS an indispensable partner for our daily business.
  • High Availability
  • Storage Management
  • Access Policy Management
  • Detailed Statistics of the Managed Storage
  • Integration with Hyper-V (if it already exists, I didn't found it)
  • A WHMCs module to connect with the API
  • File Change Backup (like do a backup of every file change)
TrueNAS is excellent for many many scenarios. Being used at home for your own personal storage or at the office for centralized storage for all servers. ZFS surely brings an edge turn into the future of what network storage file systems should be. Competitors should take a look at TrueNAS for a model.
Return to navigation