How to access NAS from external network

gam3r · 9 Jan 2011 at 19:05

Hi guys,

Can anyone point me in the right direction? How to I go about setting up my NAS so that it can be accessed securely from an external IP (the internet)?

Also, If I want to be able to access another network device at the same time on the same network is it possible?

How secure is it?

Frozennova · 9 Jan 2011 at 19:13

Best solution would be an FTP Server, this would allow you to share multiple directorys and assign permissions for different users. A network share could be accessed by mapping it as a network drive then allowing access via the FTP server

MikeHiow · 9 Jan 2011 at 19:41

What setup do you have for your NAS? Is it an off the shelf product, or do you have some kind of server running it? Details of either would be useful (which product/OS etc.)

gam3r · 9 Jan 2011 at 20:02

Apologies. It's a noob NAS - off the shelf.

Model is Linksys NAS200.

I'm currently looking into setting up the FTP server.

Chief Wiggum · 9 Jan 2011 at 20:20

FTP is probably your best bet - otherwise you have to forward UNC ports, and that probably going to be a whole world worse unless you've got a firewall sat there.

On your router - port forward ports TCP 20 and TCP 21 to the IP of your NAS, on the NAS there should be an FTP setting - switch that one. Make sure your usernames and passwords are reasonably strong - ie not admin / admin, admin / password

gam3r · 9 Jan 2011 at 20:33

Thanks for the help guys - I think I have it running now. Just need to make sure all the permissions and user accounts are secure and set

Actually I have another question - Right now when I goto my no-ip address it takes me straight to my router setup page. Is there any way I can disable this and only allow an internal connection if ftp://[email protected] is specified?

Also how do I stream AVI over FTP?

J.B · 9 Jan 2011 at 22:05

Have you got remote management enabled on your router on port 80? Are you accessing it from externally?

thebandit · 10 Jan 2011 at 15:56

gam3r said:
Also how do I stream AVI over FTP?

You don't that I'm aware, someone else may correct me if I'm wrong but FTP only allows complete file transfers, ie the complete file can only be copied from one location to another.
If you want to stream media, you need to set up your NAS to do so.
I have a ReadyNAS and although its different to yours there is a mass of useful information on their website, readynas.com

gam3r · 10 Jan 2011 at 21:29

thebandit said:
You don't that I'm aware, someone else may correct me if I'm wrong but FTP only allows complete file transfers, ie the complete file can only be copied from one location to another.
If you want to stream media, you need to set up your NAS to do so.
I have a ReadyNAS and although its different to yours there is a mass of useful information on their website, readynas.com

Ah

That was really the main purpose of setting all this up you see.

How do I set it up so I can stream?

Messiah Khan · 11 Jan 2011 at 12:47

gam3r said:
Ah

That was really the main purpose of setting all this up you see.

How do I set it up so I can stream?

What content do you want to stream? You may find it very hard to get smooth streaming over the internet unless you massively compress/downres the content due to your home upload speed.

KIA · 11 Jan 2011 at 17:06

FTP is nasty. I wouldn't want an FTP server listening on the Internet unless fully patched and locked down.

Try SFTP over SSH. You can use http://dokan-dev.net/en/download/ to map the connection as a local drive.

Ev0 · 12 Jan 2011 at 23:48

As above, personally I wouldn't want to use FTP for this, it isn't secure as username/passwords are sent in plain text.

See if your NAS has some kind of remote access setup, I know my Netgear can be setup for HTTPS access or you can use the ReadyNAS remote application to connect.