TrueNAS is the branding for a range of free and open-source network-attached storage operating systems produced by iXsystems, and based on FreeBSD and Linux, using the OpenZFS file system. It is licensed under the terms of the BSD License and runs on commodity x86-64 hardware.
Installing TrueNAS Core
You need a hard drive mechanical or Solid State Drive (SSD) to install the TrueNAS CORE system on, and some drives to save data on. You can’t save data to the system drive. You only get redundancy with more than one data drive, so as a minimum you really need one hard drive for the TrueNAS system and two drives for data. TrueNAS advise that these drives should use conventional magnetic recording (CMR) techology and not shingled magnetic recording (SMR) technology.
You need a minimum of 8GB RAM for TrueNAS CORE. If you’re using more than eight data drives you need an additional 1GB of RAM for each additional drive over the eight.
Download the TrueNAS Core installation ISO image.
If you’re installing TrueNAS CORE on a computer with a CD-ROM, burn the
ISO image to CD. If you’re installing TrueNAS from a USB memory stick,
use a tool such as Etcher to create a bootable memory stick from the ISO image.
The Installation Process
Boot from the installation media. You’ll see the installation welcome menu.
Hit “Enter” to continue. The install, reboot, or shutdown menu appears.
We’re going to install, so highlight option 1 and press “Enter.” The disk selection screen appears.
We’re installing TrueNAS CORE on the first drive. Highlight the first drive and hit “Space” to select it. Then press “Enter.” TrueNAS CORE reminds you that the drive will be wiped, and gives you chance to back out.
Highlight the “Yes” option and press “Enter.” The root password screen appears.
Type in a password for the TrueNAS CORE root user. Make sure you remember the password. You’re going to need it to log into TrueNAS CORE. You must type it twice.
Highlight the “OK” button and press “Enter.” The boot type menu will appear. You can choose to boot your TrueNAS CORE in UEFI or BIOS modes
Press “Enter.” The install, reboot, or shutdown menu appears.
Highlight option 3, press “Enter”, and eject the installation media. The computer will reboot and start TrueNAS CORE. The first time TrueNAS CORE boots it takes longer than usual because one-time configuration steps are performed. Very shortly you’ll see the TrueNAS CORE boot menu.
Press “Enter” or wait five seconds to boot into TrueNAS CORE. Presently you’ll see the TrueNAS CORE console application.
The only thing you need to take note of here is the IP address of the web interface.
Enter the IP address of the TrueNAS Core computer into the browser of another computer on the same network. We’re using an Ubuntu computer. The TrueNAS Core login window appears.
Enter “root” as the username and use the password you created earlier. Once you’re authenticated and logged in, you’ll see the TrueNAS CORE dashboard.
Congratulations, you’ve got a basic TrueNAS CORE system set up and working. We’ve only scratched the surface here. TrueNAS CORE is extremely richly-featured and there’s a lot more it can do.