IXsystems

Last updated

iXsystems, Inc.
Company typePrivate
Industry Computer hardware
Predecessor Berkeley Software Design, Walnut Creek CDROM, Telenet Systems Solutions
FounderMichael Lauth, Matt Olander
Headquarters
San Jose, California
,
United States
Number of locations
2
Key people
Michael Lauth, Matt Olander, Brett Davis, Kris Moore,
Products TrueNAS, TrueOS, Servers
Website ixsystems.com

iXsystems, Inc. is a privately owned American computer technology company based in San Jose, California that develops, sells and supports computing and storage products and services. Its principal products are customized open source FreeBSD distributions, including the discontinued desktop operating system TrueOS (formerly PC-BSD), [1] the FreeBSD based file servers and network attached storage systems TrueNAS Core (previously FreeNAS) and TrueNAS Enterprise, and the Linux based TrueNAS SCALE. It also markets hardware platforms for these products, and develops enterprise-scale storage architectures and converged infrastructures. As part of its activities, the company has strong ties to the FreeBSD community, has repeatedly donated hardware and support to fledgling projects within the BSD community, [2] and sponsors and develops development within FreeBSD, as well as being a sponsor and attendee of open-source community events.

Contents

History

iXsystems was founded in 1991 as Berkeley Software Design, Inc. (BSDI, later BSDi) by Rick Adams and members of the University of California, Berkeley Computer Systems Research Group (CSRG), including Keith Bostic, Kirk McKusick, Mike Karels, Bill Jolitz and Donn Seeley. [3] In the year 2000, Berkeley Software Design, Inc. acquired enterprise server manufacturer Telenet System Solutions, Inc., [4] [5] which was founded in 1996 and operated from the same San Jose, California office and manufacturing facility that iXsystems operates today. In 2001, BSDi sold its operating systems business to Wind River Systems and spun off its hardware business and iXtreme [6] line of servers as iXsystems, Inc. [7] In 2002, OffMyServer, Inc., owned by two BSDi employees, acquired iXsystems, Inc. [8] and operated it as OffMyServer, Inc. until restoring the iXsystems name in 2005.

In 2006, iXsystems adopted the PC-BSD [9] project and hired its founder, Kris Moore. In 2007, iXsystems acquired FreeBSD Mall, Inc., reuniting all the portions of the original BSDi that had been spun off to Wind River Systems. In 2009, iXsystems negotiated to continue the FreeNAS project when its developers decided to move it to Debian Linux. iXsystems introduced a comprehensive rewrite of FreeNAS in 2011 which now provides the platform for the "FreeNAS Mini" SMB NAS arrays and "TrueNAS" enterprise storage arrays. In August 2010, BSD author Dru Lavigne joined iXsystems and in July 2013, Jordan K. Hubbard, [10] one of the founders of the FreeBSD project, [11] joined iXsystems as CTO. [12]

Products and services

Servers

iXsystems designs, sells and supports custom x86 servers for workgroups through data centers with a focus on support for the FreeBSD operating system. All iXsystems servers are subjected to a three-day burn-in process to reduce returns and are available with Linux as an alternative operating system.

TrueNAS

TrueNAS is the brand for ixSystems' open source network attached storage platform. It includes:

  • TrueNAS CORE (previously FreeNAS) - a free file server and expandable platform based on FreeBSD
  • TrueNAS Enterprise - an enterprise file server for commercial use, also based on FreeBSD
  • TrueNAS SCALE - a Linux based hyperconverged version of the TrueNAS platform.
  • TrueNAS branded hardware - enterprise storage arrays, a network-attached storage (NAS) systems, storage area network (SAN) devices, and High Availability systems, with up to 10 petabytes raw capacity.

The FreeNAS project was originally launched by third party developers in October 2005 and aimed to create an open source network attached storage system based on FreeBSD 6.0. In September 2009, the development team concluded that the project, then at release 0.7, required a complete rewrite to accommodate modern features such as a plug-in architecture, and the project gradually forked, with a new version based on Debian Linux, and the existing version being transferred to iXsystems, [13] [14] who rewrote it with a new architecture based on FreeBSD 8.1, releasing FreeNAS 8 Beta in November 2010. [15]

On November 19, 2010, iXsystems released FreeNAS 8 Beta, its first release of the popular free and open-source software-defined storage project that it adopted and rewrote. FreeNAS is based on the FreeBSD operating system and the OpenZFS file system.

On August 3, 2011, iXsystems introduced the TrueNAS [16] line of enterprise storage arrays, a network-attached storage (NAS) system and storage area network (SAN) device that supports the SMB, AFP, NFS, iSCSI, SSH, rsync and FTP/TFTP sharing protocols over Ethernet and Fibre Channel network fabrics. TrueNAS also supports vendor-certified protocols including VMware VAAI, Microsoft CSV, ODX, and VSS, and Veeam. A custom, tool-less enclosure provides TrueNAS High Availability using dual controllers, and four user-serviceable components: disks, power supplies, fans and the controllers themselves. TrueNAS uses the OpenZFS file system in hybrid and all-flash configurations up to 10 petabytes in raw capacity.

On March 15, 2020, iXsystems announced the merging of FreeNAS and TrueNAS into a unified product with two editions. [17] TrueNAS CORE would be the rebranded continuation of FreeNAS, as a free, open-source option, and TrueNAS Enterprise would continue as a paid, closed-source option with additional enterprise-focused features. [18] Additionally a Linux port of TrueNAS was under development, to be known as TrueNAS SCALE.

FreeNAS Certified

The iXsystems FreeNAS Certified [19] line of small and medium-sized enterprise storage arrays are designed to run the FreeNAS storage operating system and are available in 1U, 2U and 4U configurations.

TrueNAS Mini and Mini XL

The iXsystems TrueNAS Mini [20] line of SOHO storage arrays are designed to run the TrueNAS storage operating system and are available in 4 bay and 8 bay configurations.

Related Research Articles

RAID is a data storage virtualization technology that combines multiple physical disk drive components into one or more logical units for the purposes of data redundancy, performance improvement, or both. This is in contrast to the previous concept of highly reliable mainframe disk drives referred to as "single large expensive disk" (SLED).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Berkeley Software Design</span>

Berkeley Software Design, Inc., was a corporation which developed, sold licenses for, and supported BSD/OS, a commercial and partially proprietary variant of the BSD Unix operating system for PC compatible computer systems. The name was chosen for its similarity to "Berkeley Software Distribution" the source of its primary product.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Walnut Creek CDROM</span>

Walnut Creek CDROM Inc. was an early provider of freeware, shareware, and free software on CD-ROMs. The company was founded by Bob Bruce in Walnut Creek, California, in August 1991. It was one of the first commercial distributors of free software on CD-ROMs. The company produced hundreds of titles on CD-ROMs, and ran the busiest FTP site on the Internet, ftp.cdrom.com, for many years.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Openfiler</span>

Openfiler is an operating system that provides file-based network-attached storage and block-based storage area network. It was created by Xinit Systems, and is based on the CentOS Linux distribution. It is free software licensed under the GNU GPLv2

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nexenta OS</span> Discontinued computer operating system

Nexenta OS, officially known as the Nexenta Core Platform, is a discontinued computer operating system based on OpenSolaris and Ubuntu that runs on IA-32- and x86-64-based systems. It emerged in fall 2005, after Sun Microsystems started the OpenSolaris project in June of that year. Nexenta Systems, Inc. initiated the project and sponsored its development. Nexenta OS version 1.0 was released in February 2008.

There are a number of Unix-like operating systems based on or descended from the Berkeley Software Distribution (BSD) series of Unix variant options. The three most notable descendants in current use are FreeBSD, OpenBSD, and NetBSD, which are all derived from 386BSD and 4.4BSD-Lite, by various routes. Both NetBSD and FreeBSD started life in 1993, initially derived from 386BSD, but in 1994 migrated to a 4.4BSD-Lite code base. OpenBSD was forked from NetBSD in 1995. Other notable derivatives include DragonFly BSD, which was forked from FreeBSD 4.8.

TrueNAS is the branding for a family of network-attached storage (NAS) products produced by iXsystems. They include both free and open-source and commercial offerings, based on the OpenZFS file system and either FreeBSD or Linux. It is licensed under the terms of the BSD License and runs on both commodity x86-64 hardware and turnkey appliances offered by iXsystems.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Buffalo network-attached storage series</span>

The Buffalo TeraStation network-attached storage series are network-attached storage devices.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">FreeBSD</span> Free and open-source Unix-like operating system

FreeBSD is a free and open-source Unix-like operating system descended from the Berkeley Software Distribution (BSD). The first version of FreeBSD was released in 1993 developed from 386BSD and the current version runs on x86, ARM, PowerPC and RISC-V processors. The project is supported and promoted by the FreeBSD Foundation.

Sun Open Storage was an open source computer data storage platform developed by Sun Microsystems. Sun Open Storage was advertised as avoiding vendor lock-in.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Illumos</span> Free software implementation of the Solaris kernel

Illumos is a partly free and open-source Unix operating system. It is based on OpenSolaris, which was based on System V Release 4 (SVR4) and the Berkeley Software Distribution (BSD). Illumos comprises a kernel, device drivers, system libraries, and utility software for system administration. This core is now the base for many different open-sourced Illumos distributions, in a similar way in which the Linux kernel is used in different Linux distributions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">NetBSD</span> Free and open-source Unix-like operating system

NetBSD is a free and open-source Unix operating system based on the Berkeley Software Distribution (BSD). It was the first open-source BSD descendant officially released after 386BSD was forked. It continues to be actively developed and is available for many platforms, including servers, desktops, handheld devices, and embedded systems.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">OpenMediaVault</span> NAS operating system

OpenMediaVault (OMV) is a free Linux distribution designed for network-attached storage (NAS). The project's lead developer is Volker Theile, who instituted it in 2009. OMV is based on the Debian operating system, and is licensed through the GNU General Public License v3.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">XigmaNAS</span> Software

XigmaNAS is a Network-attached storage (NAS) server software with a dedicated management web interface. It is free software under the terms of the Simplified BSD license.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">OpenZFS</span> Open-source implementation of the ZFS file system

OpenZFS is an open-source implementation of the ZFS file system and volume manager initially developed by Sun Microsystems for the Solaris operating system and now maintained by the OpenZFS Project. It supports features like data compression, data deduplication, copy-on-write clones, snapshots, and RAID-Z. It also supports the creation of virtual devices, which allows for the creation of file systems that span multiple disks.

bhyve is a type-2 hypervisor initially written for FreeBSD. It can also be used on a number of illumos based distributions including SmartOS, OpenIndiana, and OmniOS. A port of bhyve to macOS called xhyve is also available.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nexenta Systems</span> Software company

Nexenta by DDN, Inc., is a subsidiary of DataDirect Networks that sells computer data storage and backup software. It is headquartered in San Jose, California. Nexenta developed NexentaStor, NexentaCloud, NexentaFusion, and NexentaEdge. It was founded as Nexenta Systems, Inc., in 2005.

ZFS is a file system with volume management capabilities. It began as part of the Sun Microsystems Solaris operating system in 2001. Large parts of Solaris – including ZFS – were published under an open source license as OpenSolaris for around 5 years from 2005 before being placed under a closed source license when Oracle Corporation acquired Sun in 2009–2010. During 2005 to 2010, the open source version of ZFS was ported to Linux, Mac OS X and FreeBSD. In 2010, the illumos project forked a recent version of OpenSolaris, including ZFS, to continue its development as an open source project. In 2013, OpenZFS was founded to coordinate the development of open source ZFS. OpenZFS maintains and manages the core ZFS code, while organizations using ZFS maintain the specific code and validation processes required for ZFS to integrate within their systems. OpenZFS is widely used in Unix-like systems.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Unraid</span> Linux-based operating system for network attached storage.

Unraid is a proprietary Linux-based operating system designed to run on home servers in order to operate as a network-attached storage device, application server, media server and a virtualization host. Unraid is proprietary software developed and maintained by Lime Technology, Inc. Users of the software are encouraged to write and use plugins and Docker applications to extend the functionality of their systems.

References

  1. ↑ Mayank Sharma (13 October 2006). "Why iXsystems bought PC-BSD". linux.com. Retrieved 1 April 2010.
  2. ↑ "History". iXsystems, Inc. - Enterprise Storage & Servers.
  3. ↑ Dr. Peter Salus (2005). "The Daemon, the GNU and the Penguin - Ch. 16, by Dr. Peter Salus" . Retrieved 2 May 2016.
  4. ↑ "BSDI Acquires Telenet System Solutions - Slashdot". bsd.slashdot.org. June 2000. Retrieved 2 May 2016.
  5. ↑ Scott, Joseph. "So What Is BSDi Up To? - O'Reilly Media". www.onlamp.com. Archived from the original on 8 April 2016. Retrieved 2 May 2016.
  6. ↑ "IXTREME Trademark - Serial Number 76136753 :: Justia Trademarks". trademarks.justia.com. Retrieved 2 May 2016.
  7. ↑ "Wind River to Acquire BSDi Software Assets, Extending Development Platforms to Include Robust UNIX-based Operating Systems for Embedded Devices". www.windriver.com. Archived from the original on 19 September 2020. Retrieved 2 May 2016.
  8. ↑ "OffMyServer purchases iXsystems (formerly BSDi) Server Business!". iXsystems, Inc. - Enterprise Storage & Servers. 28 August 2002. Retrieved 2 May 2016.
  9. ↑ Lavigne, Dru. "Why iXsystems Bought PC-BSD - O'Reilly Media". www.onlamp.com. Archived from the original on 1 July 2017. Retrieved 2 May 2016.
  10. ↑ "Apple's Operating System Guru Goes Back to His Roots". WIRED. Retrieved 2 May 2016.
  11. ↑ "About the FreeBSD Project" . Retrieved 16 April 2014.
  12. ↑ Apple's Jordan Hubbard Joins iXsystems. Prweb.com. Retrieved on 16 April 2014.
  13. ↑ "Project of the Month, January 2007". SourceForge. Archived from the original on 13 March 2008. Retrieved 23 August 2013.
  14. ↑ "Interview with Olivier Cochard-Labbé, Founder of FreeNAS". BSD Magazine. Retrieved 23 August 2013.
  15. ↑ "FreeNAS 8 Beta released". Warner Losh. Retrieved 23 August 2013.
  16. ↑ "TrueNAS Open Storage | ZFS for the Home to the Data Center". TrueNAS Open Storage | ZFS for the Home to the Data Center.
  17. ↑ "FreeNAS and TrueNAS are Unifying". iXsystems. 15 March 2020. Retrieved 5 July 2020.
  18. ↑ "TrueNAS CORE is the new FreeNAS". iXsystems. 15 April 2020. Retrieved 5 July 2020.
  19. ↑ "FreeNAS Certified Servers". iXsystems, Inc. - Enterprise Storage & Servers.
  20. ↑ "TrueNAS Mini". TrueNAS Open Storage | ZFS for the Home to the Data Center.

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