FreeNAS is becoming TrueNAS Core

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Patrick

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Staff member
Dec 21, 2010
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I think it comes down to how they split the features between core and the full version
Brett assured me that FreeNAS functionality would all be in TrueNAS Core. I have known Brett for years and assume that if he is saying this, that is the plan. If it is de-featured from current FreeNAS, that is when I get nervous.

Moving forward, I think the question is how they decide where new features go in their license levels.
 

azev

Well-Known Member
Jan 18, 2013
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is there a good feature comparison between the current release of TrueNas and Freenas ??
 

i386

Well-Known Member
Mar 18, 2016
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Something in my guts tells me that they will move from freebsd to linux/zol and that renaming the product is the first step...
 

marcoi

Well-Known Member
Apr 6, 2013
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It would be nice if they had 3 tier licensing.
1. Commercial - full product features
2. Home/small business- maybe 80% of features
3. Free - freenas level features- maybe 10-20% of features.
 

Ojref1

New Member
Oct 8, 2018
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I'm trying to remain positive on this turn of events but past experiences raise the cynic in me. I will say this - first and foremost FreeNAS would not be where it's at were it not for countless hours of contribution from the community at large. I hope they remember this moving forward. The storage market is highly competitive in the enterprise space, and the last thing they need is a bunch of disgruntled former users locked out and paywalled from feature sets that once were free and open source.
 

tjk

Active Member
Mar 3, 2013
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It would be nice if they had 3 tier licensing.
1. Commercial - full product features
2. Home/small business- maybe 80% of features
3. Free - freenas level features- maybe 10-20% of features.
What would be even better is if they moved away from their over-priced hardware (TrueNAS) and sold software subscriptions.

A number of big name vendors are moving this way, Cohesity, Rubrik, Nutanix, etc.
 
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brettdavis

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Apr 13, 2017
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is there a good feature comparison between the current release of TrueNas and Freenas ??
Here's an overview comparison between FreeNAS Certified Systems (using basic FreeNAS software) and TrueNAS systems today:
https://static.ixsystems.co/uploads/2019/07/StorageProductMatrix_Datasheet_WEB.pdf

In a nutshell, the differences between TrueNAS and FreeNAS are mostly about High Availability (through redundant controllers on TrueNAS systems) and Support (FreeNAS is community-supported, and TrueNAS has full 24x7 enterprise support). FreeNAS is also available as downloadable software, and TrueNAS is available as appliances that also have enhanced performance and advanced enclosure management (drive failure LEDs, etc) in the UI. TrueNAS also has third party certifications for VMware (as well as a vCenter plugin), Xen, Veritas, etc.

Happy to answer any other questions, but hopefully that helps a bit!
 

T_Minus

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Feb 15, 2015
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What would be even better is if they moved away from their over-priced hardware (TrueNAS) and sold software subscriptions.

A number of big name vendors are moving this way, Cohesity, Rubrik, Nutanix, etc.
Yes.
I'd like to be able to buy a license for advanced features if I wanted\needed them.

Maybe it's just me because I'm not in the Enterprise space but does anyone in enterprise actually use "TrueNAS" ? Do they even have the man power to support enterprise clients?
 
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brettdavis

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Apr 13, 2017
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What would be even better is if they moved away from their over-priced hardware (TrueNAS) and sold software subscriptions.

A number of big name vendors are moving this way, Cohesity, Rubrik, Nutanix, etc.
Overpriced compared to what? :) TrueNAS is more affordable than the systems from the companies you've mentioned, and the hardware is more capable. It is also more affordable than their software subscriptions. If I'm wrong I'd love to know about it! Feel free to send me a direct message.

Merging the TrueNAS and FreeNAS images will also allow the possibility of software licensing/subscriptions, and we very well might do that some day, however, as of today things like HA, enclosure management, and even certifications require we deliver the software in combination with hardware. Knowing the hardware also makes it possible for us to provide a better support experience.
 
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brettdavis

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Apr 13, 2017
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Yes.
I'd like to be able to buy a license for advanced features if I wanted\needed them.
This unification will make that more possible, but we don't segment many of the features between the two today, other than the stuff that requires specific hardware to work. Which features would you like to access via license, hypothetically?

Our goal is to democratize enterprise storage. Therefore, we want people and organizations who are capable of self-supporting to have access to enterprise features in the free, open source product. When they need support, services, around the clock availability, and purpose-built, dependable hardware, then they can come talk to us :)

Maybe it's just me because I'm not in the Enterprise space but does anyone in enterprise actually use "TrueNAS" ? Do they even have the man power to support enterprise clients?
TrueNAS has thousands of customers. Here's a snapshot of a handful:
https://www.ixsystems.com/clients/
 
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Octopuss

Active Member
Jun 30, 2019
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Why can't they keep the damn name of the free product, FFS? This is confusing at the very least.
It's not like calling FreeNAS FreeNAS cost any money. It's a text string in the code.
 

BeTeP

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Mar 23, 2019
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TrueNAS is more affordable than the systems from the companies you've mentioned
Too bad that I have no way of knowing that. Once I see the "Get Quote" button - I close the page and never come back.
 

BoredSysadmin

Not affiliated with Maxell
Mar 2, 2019
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I've seen real TrueNAS quotes and they are indeed very inexpensive vs stuff like NetApp FAS
 

Spartacus

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May 27, 2019
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I've seen real TrueNAS quotes and they are indeed very inexpensive vs stuff like NetApp FAS
How do they compare to them from a failure rate and support wise (what base hardware are they using looks like supermicro maybe?)? What about performance and feature set? (I haven't ever really looked at them for enterprise use, netapp/nimble/vnx/etc I'm familiar with)
 

brettdavis

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Apr 13, 2017
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Too bad that I have no way of knowing that. Once I see the "Get Quote" button - I close the page and never come back.
I understand that sentiment. The issue is that the systems are highly configurable. That said, we do give rough pricing guidance in the "Specs & Pricing" tab here: https://www.ixsystems.com/truenas/

Would love your opinion on a better way to do it.

I'm also curious which enterprise storage vendors you use that display pricing on their sites?
 
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zack$

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Aug 16, 2018
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I understand that sentiment. The issue is that the systems are highly configurable. That said, we do give rough pricing guidance in the "Specs & Pricing" tab here: TrueNAS All-Flash and Hybrid Storage | ZFS Storage Appliance - iXsystems, Inc. - Enterprise Storage & Servers

Would love your opinion on a better way to do it.

I'm also curious which enterprise storage vendors you use that display pricing on their sites?
I hear you. Let me be devil's advocate/conspiracy theorist: With what is happening in the ZFS space, there is probably gonna be the need to distant ZFS from OSs. Maintaining the "Free" in FreeNAS invokes a reference to FreeBSD, which is probably not in keeping with the ethos.

iXsystems is a gold sponsor of the ZFS developer forum and is quite committed to ZFS 2.0 and the project, therefore quite invested.

Seems logical that iXsystems would choose to now ditch the "Free". :D