How do I connect to my NAS remotely?

sirdavy · Post by **sirdavy** » Sun Jul 27, 2014 2:25 pm

On my mac laptop's desktop I have created a series of shortcuts/aliases which take me straight through to the files stored on my NAS. This means I can go to my video library and play a video with VLC without having to use any qnap interface. I hate using the Qnap software and just want the NAS to work like a big dumb drive rather than it building its role at every opportunity. How can I make sure my shortcuts system still works when I leave my home wifi environment?

thanks

Macbook Pro 10.9.4
TS-221 4.1.0

pwilson · Post by **pwilson** » Sun Jul 27, 2014 2:58 pm

sirdavy wrote:On my mac laptop's desktop I have created a series of shortcuts/aliases which take me straight through to the files stored on my NAS. This means I can go to my video library and play a video with VLC without having to use any qnap interface. I hate using the Qnap software and just want the NAS to work like a big dumb drive rather than it building its role at every opportunity. How can I make sure my shortcuts system still works when I leave my home wifi environment?

thanks

Macbook Pro 10.9.4
TS-221 4.1.0

QNAP Tutorial: Access your QNAP NAS remotely via WebDAV and Tutorial: How do I access WebDAV in Mac OS X. To protect your privacy, you would be well advised to also setup OpenVPN on your Mac. Check out the VPN Service section of the fine manual for whatever Firmware Version/Build you are actually using.

sirdavy · Post by **sirdavy** » Wed Jul 30, 2014 5:17 am

Thanks Patrick.

I have followed both guides and have successfully enabled webdav on the NAS and connected to it through finder/go/connect to server. While on my home wifi I seem to be able to connect to my NAS via both webdav and AFP (is that what it's called or SMB?).

I have installed openvpn client Tunnelblick and uploaded my the configuration files in a rather arcane process and I have also connected via PPTP through Mac Preferences/network. God, what a drag.

However, as soon as I switch over from my home wifi to another network (BT-FON a public access internet service) when I click on the shared folders under my NAS (webdav) in Finder i get the message: "The operation can't be complete because the original item for "Multimedia" can't be found". I also can't then connect to the folders through finder/go/connect to server. Tunnelblick ticks away happily in the right hand corner of my screen but doesn't suggest anything. And PPTP has disconnected

(This also didn't work before I messed about with vpn/pptp.)

The only thing wrong I can see - but have no idea how to recitfy - is when I clicked 'automatically configure router' in the VPN section in QNAP Turbo-whatever one of the rows it came back with "error" against "Web Server" "80" "TCP"

What do you think I'm doing wrong?

pwilson · Post by **pwilson** » Wed Jul 30, 2014 8:03 am

sirdavy wrote:Thanks Patrick.

I have followed both guides and have successfully enabled webdav on the NAS and connected to it through finder/go/connect to server. While on my home wifi I seem to be able to connect to my NAS via both webdav and AFP (is that what it's called or SMB?).

I have installed openvpn client Tunnelblick and uploaded my the configuration files in a rather arcane process and I have also connected via PPTP through Mac Preferences/network. God, what a drag.

However, as soon as I switch over from my home wifi to another network (BT-FON a public access internet service) when I click on the shared folders under my NAS (webdav) in Finder i get the message: "The operation can't be complete because the original item for "Multimedia" can't be found". I also can't then connect to the folders through finder/go/connect to server. Tunnelblick ticks away happily in the right hand corner of my screen but doesn't suggest anything. And PPTP has disconnected

(This also didn't work before I messed about with vpn/pptp.)

The only thing wrong I can see - but have no idea how to recitfy - is when I clicked 'automatically configure router' in the VPN section in QNAP Turbo-whatever one of the rows it came back with "error" against "Web Server" "80" "TCP"

What do you think I'm doing wrong?

Your ISP probably blocks port 80, or another device, (your Router perhaps) is grabbing Port 80 for it's own purposes. Talk to your ISP.
Are you a UK resident?

sirdavy · Post by **sirdavy** » Wed Jul 30, 2014 3:54 pm

Yes I am a UK resident. BT doesn't block port 80, I spoke to them about it on the phone just today. From a bit of googling it seems the BT Home Hub Router has some problems with port forwarding for port 80.

However http://www.canyouseeme.org/ tells me that the port is open.

In the router's interface I've added port 80 using TCP protocol and assigning it my NAS's IP address.

In the automated router configuration in the VPN section other ports have "status OK".

NAS Web - TCP
VPN Server (PPTP) - TCP
VPN Server (OpenVPN) - TCP

...are all ticked, with port numbers and no errors showing under status. But port 80 shows "error".

I've gone to the coffee shop down the road and have attempted to connect to my NAS in a variety of ways:
- Activating Tunnelblick- it says it is connected. That's all it does. What else is supposed to happen?
- I can't connect through the alias on my desktop made through connecting via AFP at home.
- I can't connect using the webdav in finder - clicking on the shared "mulitmedia folder" gives me the message "The operation can't be completed because the original item for mulitmedia can't be found". Finder says in the top right hand corner "disconnect" but clicking on this does nothing.
- I can't connect through finder/go/conect to server - https://"NAS IP"/multimedia, http://"NAS IP"/multimedia - nothing gets through
- I can't connect through the PPTP thing either in system preferences/network.

Just as an experiment, from my iphone, using my 3g connection I put into the browser http://[my home IP address] and the address quickly changed automatcially to http://[my home IP address]:8080/cgi-bin/ and took me to a login page of my NAS, allowing me access files through the iphone app Qfile. So there IS some way to connect to my NAS from the outside. Now why can't my laptop do it?

Disregarding all of the PPTP and VPN stuff I've done, I should be able to just connect remotely to my NAS through the webdav connection in finder, not through a browser, shouldn't I? It's that simple isn't it? What's going on?

sirdavy · Post by **sirdavy** » Mon Aug 04, 2014 4:24 am

I followed this tutorial...

Access your QNAP NAS remotely via WebDAV
http://www.qnap.com/i/uk/trade_teach/co ... one&cid=14

...so that I could access the files on my NAS like it was a network drive, even when outside of my home wifi environment. It didn't work.

That was until I followed this tutorial...
Set up DDNS Service for Remote Internet Access to QNAP NAS
http://www.qnap.com/i/uk/trade_teach/co ... one&cid=24

I've changed my wifi network and I can now access all my file through Finder where the NAS is listed as being Webdav. I just don't understand why it works now. In the Webdav tutorial above it doesn't mention DDNS and in the DDNS tutorial it doesn't mention Webdav. I cannot tell if a Webdav connection to my NAS is contingent on having created a Dynamic Domain Name Service. What's going on here? How am I accessing my NAS now? Is it really webdav or a DDNS? Or are they the same thing?

sirdavy · Post by **sirdavy** » Mon Aug 04, 2014 4:27 am

I've made it work...somehow. By following the DDNS tutorial I now have a connection through Finder. It says it's connected via webdav. I don't know how these two things are connected or really what I've done.

http://forum.qnap.com/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=96172

sirdavy · Post by **sirdavy** » Mon Aug 04, 2014 5:51 pm

Thanks Idlewizard. I bought the Qnap mistakenly thinking it was a consumer product and it's been a bit of a learning curve trying to make sense of the sometimes enigmatic tutorials.

Can I ask you a couple of questions?
- How do I find out which ports are open for all to see?
- How can I make sure my connection is secure? Is the answer OpenVPN? (In my attempts to make WebDAV work I installed/uninstalled Tunnelblick, an OpenVPN client. I don't want to have to switch on another app every time I connect outside the house unless it's absolutely necessary)

sirdavy · Post by **sirdavy** » Tue Aug 05, 2014 5:59 am

I have finally got my webDAV connection working by following the webDAV and DDNS tutorials. However, as I understand it, this set up is not secure. How can I make sure that the only person who can connect to my NAS from outside my home wifi environment is me?

Is the answer OpenVPN? In my attempts to make WebDAV work I installed/uninstalled Tunnelblick, an OpenVPN client. I don't want to have to switch on another app every time I connect outside the house unless it's absolutely necessary. Is there some way my laptop can remain connected to my NAS at home securely just using Mac interface?

Macbook Pro 10.9.4
TS-221 4.1.0
BT home hub 3(a)

schumaku · Post by **schumaku** » Tue Aug 05, 2014 7:00 am

sirdavy wrote:I have finally got my webDAV connection working by following the webDAV and DDNS tutorials. However, as I understand it, this set up is not secure.

Based on what factors? The "goodie" on WebDAV is that most corporate proxies permit WebDAV connections, but not other kind of VPN. Obvious, you should not use plain http, and configure SSL (https://yournas.myqnapcloud.com:8081/SharedFolder/) instead. Then the connection is reasonable secure - assuming you are not making use of the standard QNAP NAS default certificates. The "proof" of your identity is the username and the password which must be set accordingly. Weak points? WebDAV is (still...) not covered by the Network Access Protection, does not log failed and successful logins to the NAS connection logs, ...

sirdavy wrote:How can I make sure that the only person who can connect to my NAS from outside my home wifi environment is me?

By establishing a high level of binding between the person and the NAS: Identify by biometrics as one factor, use user based managed certificates, ...

sirdavy wrote:Is the answer OpenVPN?

No - it implies the same (and few more) shortcomings from above. For none of em the NAS does help today.

-Kurt.

sirdavy · Post by **sirdavy** » Tue Aug 05, 2014 5:30 pm

Thanks Kurt, I'm sorry but a lot of what you wrote is hard for me to understand.

schumaku wrote: sirdavy wrote:I have finally got my webDAV connection working by following the webDAV and DDNS tutorials. However, as I understand it, this set up is not secure.

Based on what factors?

On this forum Patrick told me it's not secure and to use PPTP or preferably OpenVPN (is OpenVPN synonymous with VPN?)

schumaku wrote:Obvious, you should not use plain http, and configure SSL (https://yournas.myqnapcloud.com:8081/SharedFolder/) instead.

This is not obvious to me I am a novice. For example I don't know what to put in the place of "yournas" in https://yournas.myqnapcloud.com:8081/SharedFolder/ when I put it in my browser. I've tried the Device IP and the NAS***** name but neither take me to the NAS. To get connected I'm putting http://[MYDDNSUSERNAME].ddns.net/[MYSHAREDFOLDERNAME] into finder/go/connect to server. That gets me through to my Nas.

Could you give me a walkthrough to make my connection to my webDAV-NAS connection broadly speaking, "secure"?

schumaku · Post by **schumaku** » Tue Aug 05, 2014 5:50 pm

sirdavy wrote:On this forum Patrick told me it's not secure and to use PPTP or preferably OpenVPN (is OpenVPN synonymous with VPN?)

Seriously - as long as we have to stick with usernames and passwords - where is the added security when substituting a https (==SSL) session with an OpenVPN (yet another SSL VPN) to use just a single http session? There is a lot of hype - technically, there is nothing wrong with PPTP, the weak point us MS-CHAPv2 designed and implemented by Microsoft the inventors, and the implementation by Apple or QNAP (as they need to be compatible obviously) - that's why "PPTP" is depreciated. OpenVPN is a commercial, tough open source tough SSL VPN implementation available on many platforms.

sirdavy wrote:This is not obvious to me I am a novice.

Hm, it's very similar to accessing a banking or reasonable good e-mail site - never use http.... I'm much older than Internet generation, but was under the impression this should be general knowledge today

Sorry.

sirdavy wrote:For example I don't know what to put in the place of "yournas" in https://yournas.myqnapcloud.com:8081/SharedFolder/ when I put it in my browser. I've tried the Device IP and the NAS***** name but neither take me to the NAS. To get connected I'm putting http://[MYDDNSUSERNAME].ddns.net/[MYSHAREDFOLDERNAME] into finder/go/connect to server. That gets me through to my Nas.

Simple: https://[MYDDNSUSERNAME].ddns.net:8081/[MYSHAREDFOLDERNAME] ... this is based on the default Web Server SSL port (8081) - this is not the QTS desktop generic setting SSL port - and the assumption the Web Server SSL port is forwarded.

That's all.

Regards,
-Kurt

sirdavy · Post by **sirdavy** » Tue Aug 05, 2014 6:42 pm

Thanks for your time, Kurt. I'm so sorry but I just didn't understand any of that.

This is what I can tell you. I have access to folder on my NAS on a wifi network outside of my home. These are the settings I have made to achieve this:

- I have set up DDNS on my Qnap and created an address through No-Ip.
- have input the DDNS address into my router and assigned it port 80.
- I have ticked all the boxes on my Qnap so that webDAV is enabled
- On my qnap I have ticked permissions to access two folders via webDAV.
- On my qnap, in "control panel/application/VPN server" I have ticked "enable OPENvpn server"
- In "finder/go/connect to server" i have put http://[MYDDNSUSERNAME].ddns.net/[MYSHAREDFOLDERNAMES] and can access those two folders from a wifi external to my house.

It seems to me (but I might be mistaken) that all of the above steps are necessary to the access I have at the moment.

Please understand that I have followed these steps thanks to the tutorials. I HAVE NO KNOWLEDGE OF WHAT THESE THINGS ACTUALLY MEAN. All I know is that it works.

Could you or one of the other very generous forum contributors tell me:
1. Is this a secure connection? (For me "secure" just means nobody can access my folders without a username and password.)
2. If it is not secure, can you give me a walk-through how to make it secure? (I don't need to know how it works, or what options are available I just need to know that it works and I'd like it to be secure without having to run extra apps)

schumaku · Post by **schumaku** » Tue Aug 05, 2014 7:29 pm

sirdavy wrote:1. Is this a secure connection?

No - http is plain text, if you access the NAS using http anybody with access to the data path (including anybody able to sniff an WLAN) is able to steal your username and password.

sirdavy wrote:(For me "secure" just means nobody can access my folders without a username and password.)

In case you are using the standalone WebDAV access permissions (instead of the shared folder permissions for WebDAV access) as set in the Web Server WebDAV controls, do not tick the "Allow guest to have read access...":

Screen Shot 2014-08-05 at 13.26.39.png

When using http, our access credentials will leak using http only - so you can't seriously consider this anywhere near to secure.

sirdavy wrote:2. If it is not secure, can you give me a walk-through how to make it secure? (I don't need to know how it works, or what options are available I just need to know that it works and I'd like it to be secure without having to run extra apps)

Hm, appears i'm fighting against windmills here - I'll try again:

Instead of http://[MYDDNSUSERNAME].ddns.net/[MYSHAREDFOLDERNAMES] use https://[MYDDNSUSERNAME].ddns.net:8081/[MYSHAREDFOLDERNAMES]

sirdavy · Post by **sirdavy** » Tue Aug 05, 2014 10:48 pm

schumaku wrote: sirdavy wrote:2. If it is not secure, can you give me a walk-through how to make it secure? (I don't need to know how it works, or what options are available I just need to know that it works and I'd like it to be secure without having to run extra apps)

Hm, appears i'm fighting against windmills here - I'll try again:

Instead of http://[MYDDNSUSERNAME].ddns.net/[MYSHAREDFOLDERNAMES] use https://[MYDDNSUSERNAME].ddns.net:8081/[MYSHAREDFOLDERNAMES]

Where should I input this?

I have put https://[MYDDNSUSERNAME].ddns.net:8081/[MYSHAREDFOLDERNAMES] into the box that you get when you click "Finder" then "Go" then "connect to server". It does not work. It tries to connect but comes back with the message:

"The server may not exist or is unavailable at this time. Check the server name or IP...etc"

I've also put it into the address bar of my firefox browser. And it doesn't work. Please, explain this to me like I'm a five-year-old.

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How do I connect to my NAS remotely?

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