The highly anticipated version 25.04 of TrueNAS, codenamed “Fangtooth,” has been officially released, marking a new milestone for both Community and Enterprise edition users. This version not only includes over 1,000 improvements but also lays the groundwork for the ultimate unification of the CORE and SCALE editions under a common, robust, and increasingly mature platform.
From Electric Eel to Fangtooth: More Power, More Integration
Based on the established TrueNAS 24.10 “Electric Eel”—the most popular release in the project’s history—Fangtooth enhances the system’s capabilities thanks to the Linux kernel 6.12, better hardware support, and a more modern, scalable application architecture.
The development process for this version has involved the active participation of over 7,000 users, who provided valuable testing and bug reports during the beta and Release Candidate phases. The result: a more polished, stable version that aligns with the needs of current production environments.
Notable Features of TrueNAS 25.04
- Support for Incus containers and virtualization with QEMU/KVM: LXC containers provide similar functionalities to CORE’s traditional Jails, while the new virtualization system now includes support for Secure Boot and TPM. Although still experimental, it marks a significant advancement in TrueNAS’s native virtualization capabilities.
- Fast deduplication: Ideal for NVMe infrastructures, this feature drastically reduces the space occupied by redundant data, optimizing costs and performance.
- 5X acceleration in RAID-Z expansion: A crucial improvement that allows for taking advantage of new space in less time.
- Application-configurable IP addresses: New applications can have their own IP address, facilitating integration with existing networks.
- CORE + SCALE unification: Fangtooth represents the first real step toward a single codebase for all TrueNAS editions.
Specific Enhancements for Enterprise Environments
Enterprise users benefit from exclusive extensions that significantly improve performance and security:
- Support for STIGs (Security Technical Implementation Guides): Strengthens security at a governmental level with advanced auditing and logging.
- RDMA for iSCSI and NFS: Reduces latency and increases IOPS by up to 50%, crucial for workloads like databases or virtualization.
- iSCSI block cloning and fast SMB file copying: Enhancements that multiply performance by 10 in critical tasks such as deploying VMware environments.
- Compatibility with Fibre Channel and snapshots via NFS: New possibilities for managing hybrid SANs and facilitating file restoration by end users without administrator intervention.
When to Upgrade?
TrueNAS 25.04 is recommended for early adopters, while version 24.10.2.1 remains the preferred option for new installations due to its maturity and stability. For those using CORE 13.x or SCALE 24.x and looking to access new features, Fangtooth presents an excellent migration opportunity without data loss or basic functionality issues.
More conservative users may choose to wait for further releases that validate the performance and stability of version 25.04 in additional environments.
Towards Total Data Freedom
With each new version, TrueNAS reaffirms its commitment to open-source software and accessible high-performance data storage for everyone. Fangtooth marks a decisive advance in this direction, combining the best of CORE and SCALE into a more flexible, secure, and powerful ecosystem.
The Community edition of TrueNAS 25.04 is now available for download from the official site. Additionally, the user community can share their experiences, questions, and suggestions in the official forums or through iXsystems’ social media.
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