Network Drives and Multiple Subnets

[jlambert]

We have a QNAP TS-469U and we are currently mapping a network drive using NetDrive for inter-office file sharing. I was hoping we would be able to get rid of NetDrive all together and use our NAS to accomplish this via file shares. The issue is, we have multiple offices and they are on different subnets. Is it possible to map a network drive on Windows machines to the NAS that is located on a different subnet?

The NAS pings just fine, it's just that Windows will not map a drive to it. I have seen where this was possible on other NAS's by using the IP instead of the host name when mapping the drive. Has anyone tried this and got it to successfully work? I have spoken with QNAP support and the person I spoke to was unsure. Any advice is appreciated, I primarily deal with software and programming, not networking, so I am a bit out of my area of expertise with this.

[pwilson]

We have a QNAP TS-469U and we are currently mapping a network drive using NetDrive for inter-office file sharing. I was hoping we would be able to get rid of NetDrive all together and use our NAS to accomplish this via file shares. The issue is, we have multiple offices and they are on different subnets. Is it possible to map a network drive on Windows machines to the NAS that is located on a different subnet?

It is possible. It is also a very very very bad idea to even attempt this. Windows Sharing should never be done across the Internet, without the benefit of a VPN. Do you have VPN Routers to tie your various subnets together.

You have provided no information on the Topology of your networks, so I can only answer in with generalized answers.

The NAS pings just fine, it's just that Windows will not map a drive to it. I have seen where this was possible on other NAS's by using the IP instead of the host name when mapping the drive. Has anyone tried this and got it to successfully work? I have spoken with QNAP support and the person I spoke to was unsure. Any advice is appreciated, I primarily deal with software and programming, not networking, so I am a bit out of my area of expertise with this.

Again, no useful information provided, so it is impossible to answer this. You haven't even told us the version of Windows being used. I also don't see the benefit of using NetDrive in the first place. At $40/seat, the licencing price is ridiculous. How many copies of NetDrive have you purchased? Are all the Subnets using a single DNS Server?

Anyway, this is really not a question for a Community Forum. Doesn't anyone in your IT Department know how to setup networks? The network topology you seem to desire will require extensive Firewalling in order to protect your data, and as such will require a Networking specialist.

[jlambert]

I appreciate your reply. We use Mikrotik routers and everything is on private IP's, nothing touches the internet. The NAS is on 192.168.0.X whilst the PC's are on 192.168.2.X and most are running Windows Vista. Both subnets are using the same DNS servers. There are absolutely no firewall rules in place for the internal traffic across these routers. I don't know how much more specific I can get, it's a fairly simple setup, so I hope this is enough info to clarify some things.

Anyway, this is really not a question for a Community Forum.

QNAP technical support directed me here when they didn't know the answer...

[pwilson]

I appreciate your reply. We use Mikrotik routers and everything is on private IP's, nothing touches the internet. The NAS is on 192.168.0.X whilst the PC's are on 192.168.2.X and most are running Windows Vista. Both subnets are using the same DNS servers. There are absolutely no firewall rules in place for the internal traffic across these routers. I don't know how much more specific I can get, it's a fairly simple setup, so I hope this is enough info to clarify some things.

Anyway, this is really not a question for a Community Forum.

QNAP technical support directed me here when they didn't know the answer...

Add the following line to your /etc/config/smb.conf file:

Code: Select all

remote announce = 192.168.2.255/QNAP

Assuming your NAS is known as "QNAP" on your network, substitute your NAS "System Name" in this line.

If the thought of using a Linux text editor ("vi") scares you, you can accomplish this from the command line of the NAS without a text editor. Simply login to your NAS via SSH (PuTTY), login as "admin", and run the following commands:

Code: Select all

setcfg -f /etc/config/smb.conf global 'remote announce' "192.168.2.255/`/bin/hostname`"
getcfg -f /etc/config/smb.conf global 'remote announce'
/etc/init.d/smb.sh restart
#done 

Please cut&paste the output of these commands back to this message thread.

[schumaku]

The NAS is on 192.168.0.X whilst the PC's are on 192.168.2.X and most are running Windows Vista. Both subnets are using the same DNS servers. There are absolutely no firewall rules in place for the internal traffic across these routers.

What's the purpose of having the NAS and the Windows systems on different _routed_ subnetworks is not having any security rules in place (except of some unknown defaults probably)?

Does the router permit the throughput n routing the TS-469 is able to provide? Next thing we hear ware performance issues...

Curious why you make your own IT life that hard.

[dragunov]

If you can ping from 192.168.0.x to 192.168.2.x (or any other subnet you have setup) then you can access the NAS. The only device that may stop it, is the router that connects the subnets together.

I am assuming a router is connecting all of your subnets. If there's no router then it's been seperated into subnets for a reason and means you can't share the NAS without modifying the subnet from 255.255.255.0 to 255.255.0.0 on all PC's and the NAS.

Map the drive by using \\<IP ADDRESS OF NAS> i.e. \\192.168.0.5