pulse/docs/TRUENAS.md

TrueNAS Integration

Pulse v6 includes first-class monitoring for TrueNAS SCALE and TrueNAS CORE systems. TrueNAS data flows through the unified resource model, appearing alongside Proxmox, Docker, Kubernetes, and host agent data throughout the UI.

Quick Start

1. Go to Settings → TrueNAS.
2. Click Add Connection.
3. Enter the TrueNAS URL (e.g., https://truenas.local), the API key, and the username that owns the key.
4. Click Test Connection → Save.
5. Data appears within one configured polling cycle (60 seconds by default).

Creating a TrueNAS API Key

On your TrueNAS system:

1. Navigate to Settings → API Keys (SCALE) or System → API Keys (CORE).
2. Click Add and create a new key.
3. Copy the key value and paste it into Pulse.

Tip

: Pulse uses the supported JSON-RPC WebSocket API on TrueNAS 25.04 and later. TrueNAS 26 removes the former REST API entirely. API keys inherit the linked user's roles, so enter the key owner's username and ensure that user can read the methods Pulse polls. Native app control actions require the corresponding TrueNAS app permissions. Recognized legacy SCALE and CORE releases continue to use the version-gated REST compatibility path.

What Gets Monitored

Data	Unified Page	Details
System info (hostname, version, uptime)	Infrastructure	CPU, memory, health status
Virtual machines	TrueNAS Overview	State, CPU, memory, boot mode, devices, and security flags from the TrueNAS VM API
Apps	TrueNAS Overview	Native app state, image/version, ports, volumes, networks, and runtime container details
ZFS Pools	Storage	Total/used/free capacity, pool status (ONLINE/DEGRADED/FAULTED)
ZFS Datasets	Storage	Used/available space, mount status, read-only flag
Physical Disks	Storage	Model, serial, size, transport type, rotational flag, temperature, and native SMART failure/counter evidence when TrueNAS reports it
ZFS Snapshots	Recovery	Dataset, creation time, size, referenced data
Replication Tasks	Recovery	Source/target datasets, direction, last run status
TrueNAS Alerts	Alerts	Native TrueNAS alert messages and severity levels

Unified Resource Mapping

TrueNAS resources are mapped into the unified resource model:

• TrueNAS host → appears as a resource with source: truenas on the Infrastructure page.
• TrueNAS VMs → appear as canonical vm workloads on the TrueNAS page.
• TrueNAS apps → appear as canonical app-container workloads on the TrueNAS page.
• ZFS pools and datasets → appear on the Storage page.
• ZFS snapshots and replication → appear on the Recovery page as recovery points.
• TrueNAS alerts → surfaced on the Alerts page alongside Proxmox and other platform alerts.

TrueNAS drive-health alerts that identify a specific disk remain disk-health evidence after they are dismissed in TrueNAS. Dismissal acknowledges the notification; Pulse continues to show the affected disk risk while TrueNAS continues to report the underlying SMART condition. Other dismissed TrueNAS alerts remain suppressed. When a supported SMART alert includes TrueNAS's typed uncorrectable-error or spare-reserve argument, Pulse also projects that value into the disk's SMART details. Pulse does not infer counters from alert text, and current TrueNAS APIs do not expose every raw SMART attribute.

Resources from TrueNAS can be filtered using the source filter on any page.

Multiple TrueNAS Systems

Add as many TrueNAS connections as needed. Each connection is polled independently. Resources from all connected systems are merged into the unified view.

Configuration

Environment Variables

Variable	Description	Default
PULSE_ENABLE_TRUENAS	Enable/disable TrueNAS integration	true

Storage

TrueNAS connection credentials are stored encrypted in truenas.enc in the Pulse data directory (/etc/pulse or /data).

API Reference

All endpoints require admin authentication.

Method	Endpoint	Description
GET	/api/truenas/connections	List all configured TrueNAS connections
POST	/api/truenas/connections	Add a new TrueNAS connection
DELETE	/api/truenas/connections/{id}	Remove a TrueNAS connection
POST	/api/truenas/connections/test	Test a connection before saving

Testing and adding a connection (API)

The Settings → TrueNAS flow is the simplest option. For an API client, prepare the private Pulse header file as described in the API authentication guide. The Pulse API token authenticates to Pulse; the separate TrueNAS API key belongs in the connection's JSON file. Do not put either credential in shell arguments, URLs or a public thread.

Create or protect the connection file before opening it in a trusted editor:

umask 077
mkdir -p "$HOME/.config/pulse"
touch "$HOME/.config/pulse/truenas-connection.json"
chmod 600 "$HOME/.config/pulse/truenas-connection.json"
vi "$HOME/.config/pulse/truenas-connection.json"

In that file, enter a JSON object with name, host (the TrueNAS HTTPS URL), username (the key owner) and apiKey. Keep both credential files private; do not paste their contents into a terminal command or upload them.

Test the connection before saving it:

curl --fail-with-body --silent --show-error \
  --header "@$HOME/.config/pulse/api-header" \
  --header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  --data-binary "@$HOME/.config/pulse/truenas-connection.json" \
  http://127.0.0.1:7655/api/truenas/connections/test

After checking the test response, save the connection with:

curl --fail-with-body --silent --show-error \
  --header "@$HOME/.config/pulse/api-header" \
  --header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  --data-binary "@$HOME/.config/pulse/truenas-connection.json" \
  http://127.0.0.1:7655/api/truenas/connections

These Pulse URLs are loopback-only examples. For a remote Pulse server, use its trusted HTTPS origin without disabling certificate verification.

Troubleshooting

"TrueNAS service unavailable"

• Check that the TrueNAS system is reachable from the Pulse server.
• Verify the URL uses https://. Current TrueNAS releases require TLS for remote API-key authentication.
• Verify that the configured username owns the API key and has permission to read the monitored methods.
• Use Test Connection in Pulse. The connection's transport diagnostics should report jsonrpc-websocket for TrueNAS 25.04 and later; do not test a current appliance through the removed /api/v2.0 REST endpoints.

No data appearing after adding connection

• Allow one configured polling cycle (60 seconds by default), not a fixed 30-second wait. Check that the saved connection is enabled.
• Test Connection checks authentication and the selected transport, not successful collection of every metric. The legacy REST diagnostic is expected for recognized CORE 13 systems; it is not itself a connection error.
• Inspect a bounded local log excerpt for TrueNAS-related errors:

  journalctl -u pulse -n 100 --no-pager | grep -i truenas
  # or
  docker logs --tail 100 pulse 2>&1 | grep -i truenas
  

• If collection is safe, Settings → Diagnostics → Export for GitHub (sanitized) can provide connection evidence. Review the export or log excerpt before sharing: remove credentials, cookies, private hostnames, addresses and webhook URLs. Do not upload configuration or credential files.

Inventory works but CPU, memory or History is missing

Services, uptime, hardware capacity and disk temperatures can be collected without CPU or memory usage. A Host panel showing core count and total memory does not establish a live reading; check the CPU/memory usage columns and History series separately. A disk-utilisation line does not establish that CPU, memory or network History is available.

Check whether the corresponding graphs work in the TrueNAS web UI. If Pulse still shows missing readings, report the affected panels, running Pulse and TrueNAS versions, and the relevant sanitized evidence above. Do not replace an otherwise working key or clear stored History merely because a graph is empty.

If a maintainer requests a CORE 13 native graph response, use your existing signed-in TrueNAS browser session, not the Pulse page:

1. In Firefox on macOS, open Network with ⌘⌥E, then reload with Network recording. Select WS, select the WebSocket connection and open its Response pane.
2. Show All messages and clear any message search for reporting.get_data. The incoming reply does not need to repeat the method name, so that search can hide the evidence. Open the CPU or Memory graph on TrueNAS's Reporting page while recording.
3. Find the outgoing "msg":"method" request with "name":"cpu" or "name":"memory"; cputemp is temperature, not CPU usage. Each request has a different id, which is normal. Find the incoming "msg":"result" reply with the same id as that request, and expand its result (or error). The legend, timing fields and data belong to the response, not the outgoing request's params.
4. Share only the requested graph name, legend, timing fields and one data row, or the matching sanitized error. If no matching incoming reply is visible after the graph loads, report that instead of sending more requests.

Omit authentication messages, keys, cookies, private hostnames and addresses. Do not upload a full browser network capture or paste code into the browser console to collect this evidence.

Stale TrueNAS data

A Pending or Stale badge is not an authentication diagnosis. Keep the connection and key unchanged while checking whether ordinary polling still collects data; a working connection can have missing telemetry or a stalled collection step.

1. Record the existing state before testing or restarting. In your signed-in Pulse admin browser session, open /api/truenas/connections on the same Pulse origin. Inspect only the affected connection. This is a read-only request using your existing session; do not copy a token or cookie.
2. Note enabled, poll.intervalSeconds, poll.lastAttemptAt, poll.lastSuccessAt, poll.consecutiveFailures, poll.lastError, and observed.collectedAt. When present, also note transport.mode, transport.reconnects and transport.lastError. If your build does not expose a field, record that rather than interpreting its absence as success.
3. Compare the timestamps after two configured polling cycles, without pressing Test Connection, saving changes or restarting between reads. Slow requests can take longer than the interval. lastAttemptAt records a completed attempt, not an in-flight request; a frozen value alone cannot distinguish a blocked request from polling that has not run.

Existing evidence	What it distinguishes and what to check next
lastAttemptAt advances, but lastSuccessAt and observed.collectedAt do not; failures increase	Polling returns failures. Use the actual error category and method to distinguish TLS, authentication, permissions and collection errors; a stale badge alone does not distinguish them.
observed.collectedAt advances, but some usage or History panels stay empty	Inventory is refreshing, not necessarily every metric. Follow the missing-telemetry checks; do not replace a working key to populate a chart.
No timestamps advance, or no completed attempt is recorded	Check that the connection and integration are enabled, then preserve the bounded local error above. This is not proof of an invalid key.
Reconnects or TrueNAS sign-ins increase while observed.collectedAt advances	Session turnover alone does not establish failed authentication or stopped polling. Record the timing and any existing close/error message separately from the data freshness.

Test Connection checks connectivity and authentication, not a complete poll. Testing a saved connection can update lastAttemptAt and lastSuccessAt and reset its failure count without refreshing observed.collectedAt. Record any manual test and its time separately; a successful test is not evidence that missing data or stopped polling has recovered.

An app.stats error such as Apps are not available concerns Apps collection, not necessarily the key. Check the existing Apps status in TrueNAS, but do not stop Apps or reproduce a hang to gather evidence. Preserve the existing error before changing anything. Do not repeatedly restart Pulse, clear History, rotate keys or disable TLS verification as a diagnostic shortcut.

For a report, include the running Pulse and TrueNAS versions, configured poll interval, affected panels, before/after timestamps and a reviewed, bounded error excerpt from the local logs above. Remove private names and addresses from errors. Do not post the full connection response, credential files, authentication messages, cookies or a full browser network capture. If safe inspection is unavailable, describe what you could observe without repeating the failure or collecting a larger dump.

Disabling TrueNAS integration

Set PULSE_ENABLE_TRUENAS=false and restart Pulse. Existing connection data is preserved but polling stops.

See Also

• TrueNAS API Reference — current JSON-RPC transport, API-key, and TLS requirements
• Configuration Guide — environment variables and setup
• ZFS Monitoring — Proxmox-native ZFS pool monitoring
• Recovery — TrueNAS snapshots in the recovery view