Run ZeroTier on TrueNAS

Setup the ZeroTier database

Start the service

$ service zerotier onestatus
zerotier is not running.
$ service zerotier onestart
Starting zerotier.

Validate the database was created

$ ls -1 /var/db/zerotier-one
authtoken.secret
controller.d
identity.public
identity.secret
planet
zerotier-one.pid
zerotier-one.port

Move the database to a persisted zfs dataset

Navigate to Storage -> Pools and create a dataset called zerotier, e.g. tank/zerotier mounted at /mnt/tank/zerotier. You can put this somewhere else if you like, as long as it’s on a storage pool. Move your db to the dataset:

mkdir -p /mnt/tank/zerotier/db/
mv /var/db/zerotier-one/* /mnt/tank/zerotier/db/

Mount the dataset dir as the db where zerotier will look for it:

$ /sbin/mount_nullfs /mnt/tank/zerotier/db/ /var/db/zerotier-one
$ ls -1 /var/db/zerotier-one
authtoken.secret
controller.d
identity.public
identity.secret
peers.d
planet
zerotier-one.pid
zerotier-one.port

Join ZeroTier network

• Join: zerotier-cli join <NETWORK-ID>
• Authorize the node in ZeroTier Central
• Make sure ifconfig shows the ZeroTier interface. Optional: zerotier-cli info

Persist the rc script

The ZeroTier service rc script located at /usr/local/etc/rc.d/zerotier will get erased on reboot, just like the /var/db/zerotier-one/ directory. To fix this, we copy it to our dataset:

cp /usr/local/etc/rc.d/zerotier /mnt/tank/zerotier/zerotier.rc.d

Create the startup script

We now need a startup script that performs the following actions on TrueNAS boot:

• Re-mount the ZeroTier DB in our dataset to the /var/db/zerotier-one directory.
• Symlink our backup copy of the rc.d service script back to the /usr/local/etc/rc.d directory
• Re-enable the rc service (using sysrc)
• Start the rc service

To accomplish this, use my zerotier-start.sh script:

curl https://alan.norbauer.com/articles/zerotier-on-truenas/scripts/zerotier-start.sh -o /mnt/tank/zerotier/zerotier-start.sh
chmod +x /mnt/tank/zerotier/zerotier-start.sh

The contents of the script are straightforward:

#!/bin/bash

SCRIPT_DIR=$( cd -- "$( dirname -- "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}" )" &> /dev/null && pwd )
DB_DIR=${SCRIPT_DIR}/db

# If you are running other daemons or require firewall rules to depend on
# zerotier interfaces being available at startup, you may need to uncomment
# the following line.
#
# This avoids a race condition where zerotier interfaces are created, but
# not up, prior to firewalls and services trying to use them.
#
# sysctl net.link.tap.up_on_open=1

# Remove the zerotier_enable rc.conf entry if you already
# have it. This will be set by our start script, as zerotier
# might start before the mountpoint is available, making
# zerotier create new keys at each boot. This is prevented by
# only enabling the service after the mountpoint is available.
if [ ! -f /etc/rc.conf.d/zerotier ]
then
    touch /etc/rc.conf.d/zerotier
    sysrc -f /etc/rc.conf.d/zerotier zerotier_enable=YES
fi

if [ ! -f /usr/local/etc/rc.d/zerotier ]
then
    ln -s ${SCRIPT_DIR}/zerotier.rc.d /usr/local/etc/rc.d/zerotier
    chmod +x /usr/local/etc/rc.d/zerotier
fi

# Stop zerotier so we can modify the db directory location
service zerotier stop

# Use the zfs pool to store the db (to survive reboots)
mkdir -p ${DB_DIR}
mkdir -p /var/db/zerotier-one
/sbin/mount_nullfs ${DB_DIR} /var/db/zerotier-one

# Start zerotier service
service zerotier start

Validate that your zerotier dataset now looks like this:

$ ls -1 /mnt/tank/zerotier
db
zerotier-start.sh
zerotier.rc.d

Add zerotier-start.sh to TrueNAS as a Pre-Init startup script:

• Go to Web GUI -> Tasks -> Init/Shutdown Scripts -> Add
  • Description = “ZeroTier Startup”
  • Type = “Script”
  • Select /mnt/tank/zerotier/zerotier-start.sh
  • When = “Pre Init” Submit
• Go to Web GUI -> Power (top-right) -> Restart (orrebootin shell)
• ssh back in
• Verify zerotier is running: zerotier-cli info and ifconfig

And we’re done! Your TrueNAS machine should now reliably remain on your ZeroTier network.