Howdy everyone! After much work, we are excited to announce that our website has undergone a significant transformation. We’ve rebuilt our entire website atop Starlight, a stellar web framework, to help our documentation shine ✨ brighter ✨ than ever before.
In this news post, we’ll dive into what Starlight is, why we chose it, and the benefits it brings to our website and, ultimately, to you, our valued users.
What is Starlight? 🌠
Starlight is a modern, high-performance web framework designed to simplify and accelerate websites. Developed by the hugely talented team over at Astro, Starlight offers a fresh approach to building documentation websites by leveraging the power of static site generation, inherently fast design and secure operation. Starlight will enable us to create more dynamic, interactive docs for our users without compromising on performance or the their experience.
With Starlight, we can focus on building the features and content that TrueCharts is known for.
Why Starlight? 💡
There’s a few key reasons we chose to use Starlight for the new website. These include
Performance 🚀
Thanks to Starlight’s static site generation capabilities, we pre-render our website pages at build time, resulting in lightning-fast load times for viewers and improved performance. This ensures that our visitors have a seamless browsing experience irrespective of their device or network conditions.
Faster Build Times ⏰
Updates and changes to our website and documentation can now be made available to viewers much faster than they were in the past. This allows us to rapidly update, improve or otherwise make changes to our docs as needed.
Scalability 🌐
Starlight allows our website to effortlessly accommodate increases in traffic to ensure we remain accessible and responsive for our viewers, even during peak visitor times or when major developments result in a need for our users to consult our documentation.
What’s Next for TrueCharts?
We’re thrilled with the improvements that Starlight has brought to our website to further enhance your browsing experience, and we’re committed to delivering a faster, more secure, and engaging docs experience. Right now, the TrueCharts team is focused on updating our documentation standards and finalizing support and documentation for the upcoming TrueNAS SCALE DragonFish release.
The TrueCharts team would also like to thank those who have generously donated towards our project for their continued support 💙. You keep TrueCharts thriving and allow us to continue providing resources such as our new and improved website to the community.
If you find some use from our new website experience or want to join the ranks of the over 250 people helping buy us Coffee ☕, you can do this via our Open Collective page here:
We’re back with some thrilling announcements that promise to enhance your experience with our platform. From revamped train names to key team appointments and even experimental support for TrueNAS SCALE 24.04 DragonFish, there’s a lot to unpack. Let’s dive right in!
Train Name Refresh: Introducing Premium and System Trains
First off, we’re thrilled to introduce our revamped train names: Premium Train and System Train. Say goodbye to the old names; these new labels better align with the quality and breadth of resources you’ll find within.
You’ll find both an automated script and a one-by-one version to deal with this name change for you, for both SCALE and Helm platforms, at the bottom of this article.
Enterprise out, Premium in
This change reflects the fact that this train no longer specifically targets enterprise customers, but in general stands for higher-quality charts.
Hello, Operator? No, this is System
This name change reflects this train no longer just containing operators, but now also includes additional important system charts.
Meet Our New Team Appointments
@bitpushr Assumes Role of Docs Maintainer:
Join us in welcoming @bitpushr as our new Docs Maintainer, succeeding @JagrBombs (Steven). With their expertise and dedication, we’re confident our documentation will remain top-notch.
@kofeh Takes Charge as Support Coordinator:
Say hello to @kofeh, our new Support Coordinator, succeeding @Xstar97TheNoob. With his stellar communication skills, he’s ready to ensure you receive the assistance you need.
@Xstar97TheNoob Transitions to Stable Train Maintainer:
We’re proud to announce that @Xstar97TheNoob is now our Stable Train Maintainer, ensuring the stability and reliability of our platform.
Experimental Support for TrueNAS SCALE 24.04 DragonFish
In a bold move, we’ve added initial prototype support for TrueNAS SCALE 24.04 DragonFish. However, it’s crucial to note that this support is still highly experimental. As such, we do not offer staff support or guarantee data integrity for the BETA or TC versions of TrueNAS SCALE 24.04 DragonFish.
You can read more on the steps required for running TrueNAS SCALE 24.04 Dragonfish [here](/.
Our Successful Bounty Program
We’re thrilled to share that our new bounty program has been incredibly successful! This initiative allows contributors to earn rewards for their valuable contributions to our project. If you’d like to learn more or get involved, check out our bounty program on Open Collective: TrueCharts Bounties.
A Note on Donations
While our bounty program has seen fantastic results, it’s important to note that bounties do not replace donations. Our project relies on the continued support of our loyal donors to thrive. If you’d like to contribute to our cause, consider making a donation via our Open Collective page: Donate to TrueCharts.
Conclusion
With these updates and additions, we’re committed to providing you with an unparalleled experience on our platform. As always, your feedback is invaluable to us. Reach out with any questions or suggestions, and stay tuned for more exciting developments!
Thank you for being part of the TrueCharts community.
Note: Automated Migration Script for train name changes
To ensure a seamless transition to the new train names, we’ve developed a script that automates the process across all relevant namespaces. Here’s the code!
Please be aware we do not give guarantees and this script may need adapting to your environment and/or additional permissions.
Helm Platform - Automated Migration Script
save as nameupdate.sh and run chmod +x nameupdate.sh before running it
#!/bin/bash
# Loop through all namespaces prefixed by "ix-"
fornsin $(kubectlgetnamespaces-ojsonpath='{.items[*].metadata.name}'|grep'^ix-'); do
# Check if the namespace has "catalog_train" label set to "enterprise" or "operators"
echo"Namespace $ns updated from operators to system."
fi
done
Manual Migration Script
Use this script to manually migrate your existing SCALE apps to the new trains. Replace blocky with the app name in question and premium with the new train-name.
We’re thrilled to announce a significant update that we believe will make contributing to TrueCharts even more rewarding and engaging for all of you.
Introducing TrueCharts Bounties! We’re revolutionizing the way you can support TrueCharts development and be directly involved in shaping its future.
While our traditional chart-order system served us well, we’ve listened to your feedback and are now transitioning to a dynamic and transparent bounty system. With TrueCharts Bounties, you now have the opportunity to directly influence the development of our charts and contribute to our collective mission in a more impactful way.
What does this mean for you?
🔍 Greater Flexibility: You can now place bounties on GitHub issues or submit chart requests, both of which will be seamlessly integrated into our development pipeline.
💰 Earn Rewards: By placing bounties, you not only support the development of the charts you care about but also have the chance to earn rewards for your contributions.
🛠️ Empowered Collaboration: TrueCharts Bounties foster a collaborative environment where community members can actively participate in shaping the future of TrueCharts.
We want to emphasize the vital role of donations in sustaining TrueCharts. 💖 Your generous support is the lifeblood that keeps our project thriving and enables us to continue providing valuable resources to the community. 💪
Whether you’re a seasoned developer, a passionate user, or someone with a great idea, we welcome you to join us in this new chapter of TrueCharts development.
Thank you for your continued support and dedication. Together, we’ll continue to make TrueCharts the best it can be.
Exciting news! TrueCharts is taking a leap forward by officially adding support for KubeApps, Rancher, and FluxCD to our deployment options. This expansion complements our existing support for Normal “Native” Helm Charts and TrueNAS SCALE Apps, offering you a broader range of choices for seamless application deployment.
A Quick Recap of the Tiers
Tier 1: Normal “Native” Helm Charts
Our versatile foundation! While not the origin, this tier serves as the baseline for Helm Chart functionality. All features work smoothly, and our team, particularly the developers, are well-versed in Helm.
Tier 2: Welcoming KubeApps and FluxCD
In this tier, we introduce KubeApps, Rancher, and FluxCD – like the cool cousins of Helm Charts. They come with optional GUI elements, and we’re currently configuring KubeApps and Rancher via YAML through the web GUI, with plans for UI enhancements in 2024.
Tier 3: TrueNAS SCALE Apps and Rancher
The third tier introduces TrueNAS SCALE Apps, where a bit more abstraction comes into play. While we strive for the best, 100% stability isn’t guaranteed due to the added layers. Expect some limitations, like fewer features, no direct YAML edits, and a few more bugs.
Not Supported (yet): ArgoCD
Currently we’ve one planned future addition: ArgoCD.
But due to technical issues from ArgoCD, we cannot yet support it and it will not work reliably yet with TrueCharts Helm Charts either.
Behind the Expansion
This expansion is about offering you more choices while maintaining the excellence you expect from TrueCharts. It’s about enriching your deployment experience with flexibility and reliability.
There is more
But there is more, in addition to supporting KubeApps on Normal Kubernetes, we’ve also released KubeApps as a TrueNAS App.
Allowing you to install everything in both Bitnami and TrueCharts Repositories, straight onto your TrueNAS Kubernetes system, using KubeApps!
What’s on the Horizon?
The journey doesn’t stop here! Throughout 2024, we’re delving deeper into KubeApps, Rancher, and FluxCD. Additionally, we’re committed to providing more comprehensive documentation for every Helm Chart and supported platform. Stay tuned for more updates as we continue growing together. 🌐✨
There have been some minor changes to how some things are done on SCALE.
None of them will require a reinstall and the migration steps are not going to cause any likely breakage.
Nextcloud
Nextcloud has moved to the enterprise train.
To migrate from stable to enterprise train versions, run the following command in SCALE terminal:
k3s kubectl patch ns ix-nextcloud -p '{"metadata":{"labels":{"catalog_train":"enterprise"}}}'
If not using the root user, please prefix this with sudo
GPUs
We’ve decided to remove the SCALE-specific way of handling GPU loading, in favor of the “normal” way it’s done in kubernetes.
One of the reasons why we’ve decided to do this, is the fact that the language used by iX-Systems is very confusing for the user and adding their custom middleware on-top of normal kubernetes makes it less reliable.
In short, this means you will have to specify the number of GPU’s to assign to an App under Resources and Devices and then the Resource Limits section, with your specific GPU type (either AMD, NVIDIA or Intel) as below:
From an end-user perspective, the option has just moved to a slightly different place and instead of a drop-down you’ll have to enter a number of GPU’s to assign, 1 in most cases.
Pre-DragonFish Storage
To make it easier to migrate to DragonFish, all users are advised to set any-and-all references to “StorageClass” to SCALE-ZFS for any existing charts/apps. This option is found under the Storage and Persistence section as below:
This ensures those charts/apps stay working after migrating to TrueNAS SCALE DragonFish in the future.
If you do not do this, we cannot guarantee your data stays in tact when you move to DragonFish in the future.
Technical Common Changes
These changes do not affect end-users of the charts/apps, but are breaking changes in the common library if used directly by DIY/experienced users building their own helm charts.
Removal of SCALE certificates support
After removing SCALE Certificates support from our GUI setup, we’ve now also removed it from the common library chart.
Removal of iXVolumes
iXVolumes was the weird storage solution designed by iX-Systems that created hostPath mounted datasets, automatically.
A bit like PVC, but without complying to any industry standards.
We’ve never been using it, nor ever supported it in our charts.
Hence we’ve decided to remove it from the common library chart as well.
Removal of SCALE GPU
Besides the removal of SCALE GPU GUI from the end-user GUI, it’s also completely scrubbed from the common library-chart as it is completely replaced.
