TrueNAS Community Edition
TrueNAS Community Edition (formerly TrueNAS SCALE) is a Debian-based, open source NAS platform with ZFS, Docker-based apps and KVM virtual machines. Searches for “TrueNAS SCALE” land here.
Documentation: TrueNAS Documentation Hub · Community Edition 25.10 docs Project: TrueNAS
Naming and Releases #
| FACT | DETAIL |
|---|---|
| Rename | SCALE became “TrueNAS Community Edition” with 25.04 “Fangtooth” (April 2025) |
| Latest stable | 25.10 “Goldeye” (25.10.8 on 2026-11-05); 26 and 27 are pre-release, with no codenames |
| Version scheme | YY.MM, roughly April and October releases |
| Enterprise | Separate licensed and supported product on the same code base, adding HA and support |
| CORE | FreeBSD edition, no longer under active development |
| Docs URLs | Still under /docs/scale/ (for example /docs/scale/25.10/) |
| Minimum hardware | 2-core x86_64, 8 GB RAM, 16 GB SSD boot device, two identical data disks |
See also: NAS Operating Systems Compared · Unraid · OpenMediaVault · UniFi NAS · ZFS Snapshots and Replication · NFS · Docker · Proxmox Storage
Install and First Setup #
- Write the ISO to a USB drive and install to a dedicated boot device (SSD).
- Create the admin user in the installer (
truenas_adminis the default name). Root login is deprecated. - Use an HBA or a RAID card in passthrough/JBOD mode, never hardware RAID. ECC RAM is recommended.
- Create a pool, then one dataset per share or app.
Pool Layouts #
| LAYOUT | NOTES |
|---|---|
| Stripe | No redundancy |
| Mirror | Two or more disks, any one can fail |
| RAIDZ1 / RAIDZ2 / RAIDZ3 | One, two or three parity disks per vdev |
| dRAID1 to dRAID3 | Distributed spares, for large pools |
| RAIDZ expansion | Add disks to a RAIDZ vdev one at a time (docs credit 24.10 with introducing it) |
UI Paths (25.10) #
| TASK | PATH |
|---|---|
| Shell | System Settings > Shell |
| Update | System > Update |
| Boot environments | System > Boot Environment |
| Save config | System > Advanced Settings > Manage Configuration (tick Export Password Secret Seed) |
| Periodic snapshots | Data Protection > Periodic Snapshot Tasks |
| Replication | Data Protection > Replication Tasks |
| Cloud sync | Data Protection > Cloud Sync Tasks (unverified) |
| Custom app | Apps > Discover > Custom App, or the menu Install via YAML for a Docker Compose file |
| Scrub | Weekly scrub is created automatically per pool; Scrub Now on the Storage Health widget |
ACME Certificates #
- Create DNS credentials (Credentials > Certificates > ACME DNS-Authenticators > Add).
- Create a signing request (Certificate Signing Requests > Add).
- Set the email address for your current user (root: system email).
- On the CSR, use the menu Create ACME Certificate.
- Switch the GUI certificate (System > General Settings > GUI > Settings > GUI SSL Certificate).
In 25.10 the Certificate Authority feature was removed (CSRs and imports remain).
ZFS Commands #
Run from a shell (System Settings > Shell, or SSH once enabled for the user). Standard OpenZFS commands; not individually checked against TrueNAS docs (unverified on 25.10).
| COMMAND | DESCRIPTION |
|---|---|
zpool status | Pool health and any errors |
zpool list | Pool capacity |
zpool status -x | Only report unhealthy pools |
zpool scrub <POOL> | Start a scrub |
zfs list | Datasets and usage |
zfs list -t snapshot | Snapshots |
zfs snapshot <POOL>/<DATASET>@<NAME> | Create a snapshot |
zfs rollback <POOL>/<DATASET>@<NAME> | Roll back to a snapshot (discards newer changes) |
zfs destroy <POOL>/<DATASET>@<NAME> | Delete a snapshot (data loss) |
zfs get compressratio <POOL>/<DATASET> | Compression ratio |
zpool iostat -v 5 | Live per-disk I/O |
Middleware CLI #
| COMMAND | DESCRIPTION |
|---|---|
midclt call system.version | Installed version (the system.version method exists in API v25.10; exact midclt call form unverified) |
cli | TrueNAS CLI, exit with quit (older CLI reference; unverified on 25.10) |
Only the web UI and API are supported for configuration changes. Installing packages with apt or running a separate Docker install can break the system.
Disk Health #
| COMMAND | DESCRIPTION |
|---|---|
lsblk -o NAME,SIZE,MODEL,SERIAL | Map devices to serial numbers |
smartctl -a /dev/sdX | Full SMART report |
smartctl -t short /dev/sdX | Start a short self-test |
sensors | Temperatures |
In 25.10 the SMART test scheduler UI was removed; existing tests became cron tasks and smartmontools remains installed.
Good Practice #
- Keep a scrub schedule (monthly) and SMART tests (weekly short, monthly long).
- Snapshots are not backups. Replicate to another machine or offsite.
- Do not fill a pool above about 80%.
- Use a dataset per share or app so you can snapshot and set quotas separately.