Hosting a Globalping probe on TrueNAS

Sarah Mischinger -

To kick off the new year, we have a new announcement to share: the Globalping app for TrueNAS. With this app, you can run a Globalping probe directly on your NAS and contribute to the Globalping network in just a few clicks.

Globalping relies on a network of community-hosted probes around the world. These probes allow anyone to run network tests, such as ping or mtr, from different locations for free. The more probes join the network, the better the coverage and the more reliable the results Globalping delivers.

Plus, probe hosts can adopt their probes in the Globalping Dashboard to earn credits, which they can use to increase API limits.

In this blog post, we'll show you how to set up a Globalping probe on your TrueNAS, connect it to the dashboard, and run your first measurement on it.

Prerequisites

You need:

  • TrueNAS community edition up and running with an existing storage pool

Setting up a Globalping probe on TrueNAS

The Globalping community typically hosts probes via containers. However, with the Globalping TrueNAS app, you can deploy a probe without manually configuring Docker or other container setups. In most cases, getting your probe up and running only takes a few clicks.

Step 1: Install the Globalping app

  • Open the TrueNAS web UI and go to Apps.
  • If this is your first app, you probably need to assign a storage pool. Select Configuration and choose an existing pool.
  • Click Discover Apps and search for Globalping.
    • If the app doesn’t appear, click Refresh Catalog and try again.
  • Select the Globalping app and click Install.

Step 2: Configure the probe

Before completing the installation, you can optionally get an adoption token from the Globalping Dashboard.

The dashboard is free to use and lets you manage your probes, tokens, and authorized integrations such as the Globalping MCP server. Additionally, each adopted probe generates credits that you can use to increase API limits. To learn more about the dashboard and what you can do with it, check out our blog post.

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Probe adoption is optional. Your probe will work properly without adoption, and you can always change your mind and adopt it later. However, to follow the steps in this guide, probe adoption is required.

To get an adoption token:

  1. Go to https://dash.globalping.io/ and sign in or create a free account.
  2. Click your username in the top-right corner and open Settings.
  3. Under Account Details, copy the Probe adoption token.

Back in the TrueNAS app configuration:

  1. Paste your token into the Adoption token field.
  2. Fill out the rest of the form as needed.

Click Install to deploy the app. And that’s it! Now let’s see if everything’s working as expected.

Step 3: Verify the probe is running

After installing the probe:

  • In the TrueNAS Apps view, the Globalping app should appear as Running.
  • If you adopted the probe, it should appear in the Globalping Dashboard under your probes:

Step 4: Updating the probe

You can check whether the Globalping probe app is running the latest version directly from the TrueNAS Apps overview, from where you can also update the app.

Running a measurement on your probe

Once your probe is running, you can target it directly when running measurements. Note, however, that this requires you to adopt the probe in the Globalping Dashboard.

Step 1: Get your personal probe tag

To target your probe for a measurement, assign it a custom tag and use it as the probe location in your measurement request.

  1. Open the dashboard and select your probe.
  2. Under User Tags, click Add and create a custom tag.
  3. Make sure to copy the tag so we can use it in the next step.
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If you make your probes public via the dashboard’s privacy settings, they are automatically tagged with your GitHub username (or organization). This also creates a public profile page listing your probes that you can share with others.

To run a measurement, you can use any Globalping integration or tool. Below is an example using the Globalping CLI (make sure to replace u-your-custom-tag with your own tag).

globalping ping globalping.io --from u-your-custom-tag

Once the results are in, you should see that the measurement is returned directly from your probe.

Security consideration

Our probes often run on people’s personal servers, NAS systems, and other infrastructure – here’s what we do to make sure Globalping probes are secure:

Network exposure

  • The probe doesn’t accept inbound connections and doesn’t listen on any TCP or UDP ports. 
  • To prevent abuse and maintain geographic diversity, we only allow one probe per public IP address.

Abuse prevention

  • Probes can’t run measurements against private IP addresses, including local network IPs.
  • We actively block domains and IP addresses associated with malware, phishing, or other malicious activity at the API level.
  • Rate limits restrict the number of measurements that can be executed, reducing the risk of misuse.

Data handling

  • The app can’t access storage pools, data, or other apps on your TrueNAS.
  • The probe doesn’t store measurement data locally.

Transparency

  • The Globalping probe is open source and available on GitHub, allowing anyone to review the code and track updates and security improvements made.
  • You can update the probe directly through the Globalping TrueNAS app.

Conclusion

Welcome to the Globalping community! By hosting a probe, you’re directly supporting a more robust and reliable global network measurement platform for everyone. With the TrueNAS app, hosting a probe is quick and seamless, and it lets you earn credits in the Globalping Dashboard, which you can spend if you ever hit the API limits.

For more details or to explore the open source code, visit our GitHub repo.