NASLite Network Attached Storage

I must emphasise that any criticism of lack of support did not, of course, refer in any manner to this site (which is brilliant!).

"...no help from the 'Support' link. I would have thought some guidance on this rather esoteric feature would be warranted (or is it 'obvious' ?...."

Well when you consider that NL doesn't have and facility for exporting the files it keeps to the internet in a secure manner the lack of support is understandable. I would say that the Microsoft site might be a much better place to have looked considering that your solution involved the use of their product to make the export happen and that all NL provided was a drive or two with data and nothing more.

Mike

Sorry - I was trying to assert that I expected support from the Webserver (Aprelium) ; no criticism of NL whatsoever!! In fact on the contrary!
My problem was not related explicitly to NL. I have nothing but praise for NL and its forum! jeffjohn.

I have been NASlite user for 2+ years and I can say that I am a pretty happy camper. The next thing I would like to do is to able to access my NAS box from external network. I read a lot of posts in the forums but nothing is details enough (I tried the recommendation(s) but nothing works).

Here are what I got:
1. ATT dsl
2. Linksys WRT54GL with DD-WRT VPN firmware
3. a NAS box that is on 24/7
4. A park domain: http://www.*****.com at 1abcdomain.com

What I like to do have:
1. Able to access my files in my NAS securely through the internet. I registered with no-ip.com (free), enable DDNS in my router, open the port 80 and if I type "myservername.no-ip.org from my intranet, I am able to access the webserver. BUT I can't access it from external network. Is this an ATT prob? or my setup prob. Regardless who's problem it's, I understand this method is not secure? (Can someone confirm this?)
2. I don't want to have the need to have another box turn on in order to access my NAS - webserver method?

In my perfect world, this is what I have:
1. Type in a web address (either my domain or a free domain from a ddns service) and a pop up window with username and password to login and access my NAS
2. Free. But, I won't mind to pay small fees (1 time or monthly) for it. i.e- $10/month for a static IP from att.

So the points are : secure and able to access from anywhere

Can anyone give me steps by steps intruction on how to do this.. if possible at all? The other way might be using VPN, but does that mean I'll need to have VPN client software install in the machine? which negate the point of able to access anywhere.

Tony/Ralph:
If this is not a function already build into NAslite 2.0 version (or M2), I would imagine that Naslite users won't mind if you add to pay extra (as a module maybe??) for this. Heck, WHS cost $180.

If I were dumb enough to make my files on my NL server available on the internet (no offense intended) I would likely use a SSHFTP (Secure Shell File Transfer Protocol) app and move the port to a non standard number. This would likely be the simplest of solutions. Considering the hackers out there just looking for free space to host their spam and kiddie BLOCKED_WORD on I would seriously think hard before I did this. Your very best bet is to use a Linux distro like SOL 25 and turn off every other service but SSH, FTP, and NFS or SAMBA (which ever you want to use for file access). The above is the only way I would attempt this but there are many others.

Good luck, I know that this isn't much help but....

Mike

Mike:

Thanks for the comments and no offense taken. I know what I want, BUT I don't know how to achieve it or even if that's a good idea at all. That's why I asked for opinions and/or solutions

That's why I said "SECURE". Will a VPN be a better way to go?

I am OK if I need to spend $$ on new hardware or software. Understand that is for personal use (not corporation), so budget is not unlimited.

The VPN would be another good way to make this happen, you could for instance use Smoothwall 3.0 for the firewall/NAT/VPN. The VPN client is simple to setup but should work for your needs. My guess is that it is also fairly secure as well.

Mike

Siaopao, Setting up free/unprotected access is easy.

You have port 80 requests going to the router which then needs to route them to the NAS ip address (LAN address).

One step you are missing is to configure your router to redirect incoming requests to the NAS box.

IN DDWRT, go to NAT/QOS and setup a PORT FORWARD :-

*** WARNING:: this will totally expose your nas web shares on the net to ANYONE including google.

App: eg HTTPnas
port from : 80
protocol: TCP
IP address: your NAS LAN ip address
port to: 80
enable : <tick>

and then click ADD

So this will be the same as accessing your nas webserver from the LAN.

Similar redirects for FTP access..ie redirect Port 21 (FTP port) to the NAS...again...do you really want to do this?? At least with the webserver there is no ability to change/delete files.

I would suggest at the least changing the <port from> to say 8083 instead of 80 as anything from google to hackers will be FREELY ACCESSING your NAS box shares.


Reminder Note...this is TOTALLY unprotected...no password challenge...which is as NASLITE is designed to be...simple, unprotected access on a LAN.

As for a static IP address...no need...you would instead be fine with your no-ip account and your router auto-updating that if your address changes. I have always found http://www.dyndns.org reliable for several dynamic IP addresses and it's a free service.

As I've set out earlier postings, password protection can be added...but only by running a webserver on another host in the LAN, with appropriate links to the NAS box.

The VPN would be the easiest/most secure.. DDWRT has a VPN option (and so do some brands of routers eg Draytek Vigors) but it depends on what DDWRT you have installed on your WRT54.

Yes, a VPN client is required ...freely available.

Get a VPN. The easiest way would probably be to buy a new router, like eg. the Draytek Vigor 2820 series VERY nice routers!

You could also use a free Linux distribution like pfSense. A bit harder to set up, and this will require some extra hardware.

But whatever you do, do not try to open us your NL server unprotected! Seriously!

Considering the NASLITE has a lovely web server builtin with lovely graphics etc, what I REALLY WANT to run on, say, an XP box is some form of password-protected port gateway server.

This dispenses with having to have another web server on the inside of the LAN.

Apart from VPN via the router (which some do):-

a) Are there any routers that challenge for password before allowing a port redirection?

b) Is there any daemon/server that runs on, say, XP, that can act as a password-protected port redirection server?

Sounds simple enough...easier than duplicating web server and network shares.