What is freeNAS

FreeNAS is a free and open-source network-attached storage (NAS) software based on

FreeBSD and the OpenZFS file system. It is licensed under the terms of the BSD
License and runs on commodity x86-64 hardware. FreeNAS supports Windows, OS X and
Unix clients and various virtualization hosts such as XenServer and VMware using
the SMB, AFP, NFS, iSCSI, SSH, rsync and FTP/TFTP protocols. Advanced FreeNAS
features include full-disk encryption and a plug-in architecture for third-party
software.

The FreeNAS project was started in October 2005 by Olivier Cochard-Labb� who based
it on the m0n0wall embedded firewall and FreeBSD 6.0. Volker Theile joined the
project in July 2006 and became the project lead in April 2008. In September 2009,
the development team concluded that the project, then at release .7, was due for a
complete rewrite in order to accommodate modern features such as a plug-in
architecture. Volker Theile decided that the project best be reimplemented using
Debian Linux and shifted his development efforts to the interim CoreNAS project and
eventually OpenMediaVault where he continues as the project lead. Cochard-Labb�
responded to community objections to "The Debian version of FreeNAS" and resumed
activity in the project and oversaw its transfer to FreeNAS user iXsystems.[2][3]
Developers Daisuke Aoyama and Michael Zoon continued developing FreeNAS 7 as the
NAS4Free project. Meanwhile, iXsystems rewrote FreeNAS with a new architecture
based on FreeBSD 8.1, releasing FreeNAS 8 Beta in November 2010.[4] The plug-in
architecture arrived with FreeNAS 8.2 and FreeNAS versioning was synchronized with
FreeBSD for clarity. FreeNAS 8.3 introduced full-disk encryption and FreeBSD 9.1-
based FreeNAS 9.1 brought an updated plug-in architecture that is compatible with
the TrueOS Warden jail management framework. FreeNAS 9.1 was also the first version
of FreeNAS to use the community-supported OpenZFS v5000 with Feature Flags.[5][6]
FreeNAS 9.2, based on FreeBSD 9.2 included performance improvements and introduced
a REST API for remote system administration.[7] FreeNAS 9.3, based on FreeBSD 9.3
introduced a ZFS-based boot device, an initial Setup Wizard and a high-performance
in-kernel iSCSI server.[8] FreeNAS 9.10, based on FreeBSD 10.3-RC3 brought an end
to the FreeNAS/FreeBSD synchronized naming and introduced Graphite monitoring
support and experimental support for the bhyve hypervisor.[9]

In October 2015, ten years after the original FreeNAS release, FreeNAS 10 ALPHA was
released, providing a preview of what would become FreeNAS Corral GA on March 15th,
2017.[10] FreeNAS Corral introduced a new graphical user interface, command-line
interface, underlying middleware, container management system and virtual machine
management system.[11] FreeNAS Corral departs from FreeNAS by providing not only
NAS functionality but also hyper-converged functionality thanks to its integrated
virtual machine support. However, on April 12th 2017 iXsystems announced that
FreeNAS Corral would instead be relegated to being a 'Technology Preview', citing
issues such as "general instability, lack of feature parity with 9.10 (Jails,
iSCSI, etc), and some users experiencing lower performance than expected"[12] and
the departure of the project lead. Instead, the decision was made to revert to the
existing 9.10 code and bring Corral features to 9.10.3 and further.

In May 2017, iX Systems announced that FreeNAS 11 would be imminently released,

which was based on 9.10 but included features such as an update of the FreeBSD
operating system, virtual machine management, updates to jails, and a new beta user
interface along the lines of Corral but based on Angular JS.