Help! confused about what QNAP to buy.

[RaeBush]

There are so many options for QNAP NAS that I am a bit lost please help!

It is for home use, so probably a 2 bay (prob 2TB and 2TB), I am a photographer (hobbyist) so have a lot of photos to store and I want to be able to point my Lightroom catalog at the NAS so that my photos aren't stored on my mac book pro just my catalog. My husband and I will also use it to back up our macs (Time Machine) and for another layer of back up I will backup the NAS to a cloud solution (maybe ElephantDrive or similar).

I currently use Dropbox for all non photographic documents, will QNAP NAS be able to replace this giving easy access to a folder system seen on my mac, as Dropbox does now?

Does the remote access mean that, as long as I have good internet, I would be able to still access my Lightroom photos from outside the house, not essential bit certainly a selling point.

I am also struggling to find somewhere that I can buy the QNAP NAS with the drives included... or if not included advice as to where to get the best compatible drives from to add to it.

Any help would be appreciated
Rae

[dolbyman]

check the forum regarding lightroom on network storage, there was issues (dont know if they were fixed by adobe)

do not use your NAS as cloud replacement, NEVER expose your NAS to the open internet

[RaeBush]

check the forum regarding lightroom on network storage, there was issues (dont know if they were fixed by adobe)

do not use your NAS as cloud replacement, NEVER expose your NAS to the open internet

Ok I will thank you

I'm sorry I don't understand this... I intend to back up my NAS with something like ElephantDrive are you suggesting not to do this or are you refering to me wanting to access it remotely?

Thanks

[jaysona]

...
I'm sorry I don't understand this... I intend to back up my NAS with something like ElephantDrive are you suggesting not to do this or are you refering to me wanting to access it remotely?

Thanks

Referring to making the QTS Admin webpage and QTS apps accessible to the Internet.

Having the NAS make a call out to the Internet is not too bad, however letting the QNAP (mainly QTS and its associated apps) answer a call from the Internet is not a good idea. QTS has several security vulnerabilities and there are new news stories - every six weeks or so on average - talking about new QNAP malware infecting NAS' that are exposed to the Internet.

[RaeBush]

Ok thank you for explaining it to me however I'm afraid I still don't understand, and my QNAP has now arrived and I'm concerned about hooking it up to my hone network and what this means.

I am a complete beginner at this stuff and I had planned to just follow the instructions given to me by QNAP is this not a good idea? Will this mean the QNAP is answering a call from the internet? maybe i need to look up a 'dummies guide to'

[dolbyman]

disable uPnP on your router and don't forward ports to it (NAS) by hand .. then you are pretty much golden

[dogaza]

Noob and looking to purchase my first NAS.
A bit puzzled by dolbyman statement "Never expose your NAS to the open internet"
I thought one of the advantages of a NAS was the ability to access your files from remote locations.
Am I missing something?

[dolbyman]

No that is a bad sales pitch by NAS makers..."personal cloud"...sure if you want your personal files on a device with security holes like a swiss cheese?

We just had a malware infested NAS thread yesterday
viewtopic.php?f=50&t=158661

[Moogle Stiltzkin]

Noob and looking to purchase my first NAS.
A bit puzzled by dolbyman statement "Never expose your NAS to the open internet"
I thought one of the advantages of a NAS was the ability to access your files from remote locations.
Am I missing something?

this is just an example how these nas exposed online can get hacked into
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sNZOJI_gD48


the exploit demonstrated was probly already patched by updating to the latest qts firmware. but that said, you wouldn't have been a target in the first place if you never expose your nas to the internet like that to begin with it.

and it doesn't hurt to keep your qts, your router and all your client devices up to date (especially for things such as security patches). For QTS firmware, check the forum thread whether it is stable BEFORE updating. Day 1 releases usually are usually not the best idea to update immediately unless you wish to be a beta tester. A week with no reported issues tends to be a safer route (although depending, perhaps update sooner depending on the urgency of the update).


exposing nas could mean a couple of things

- enabling upnp on router and qnap

- port forwarding qnap port 80, 8080 etc to the internet

- port forwarding to allow a qnap qpkg app e.g. photostation, musicstation, etc to the internet. these are apps known requiring to patch every often due to some vulnerabilty that was detected. maybe if you stay up to date perhaps, but for myself it's not worth the risk
https://www.qnap.com/en/security-advisories

- not using a router at all

- or never ever updating your router, and perhaps potentially having a vulnerable router firmware exposing your network
https://arstechnica.com/information-tec ... e-thought/

- your qts admin page accessible over the internet to anyone
https://www.shodan.io/search?query=qnap




i use my nas on lan just fine. for remote people tend to use vpn (more maintenance and diligence recommended when requiring to setup and manage/monitor remote access)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PgielyUFGeQ

[dogaza]

One of my objectives is to be able to access my music files away from home. Do I understand that even that is pretty risky?

As I stated earlier, I am new to all this and I by no means want to put my info in jeopardy.

Thanks

[dolbyman]

yes very risky

[jaysona]

One of my objectives is to be able to access my music files away from home. Do I understand that even that is pretty risky?

As I stated earlier, I am new to all this and I by no means want to put my info in jeopardy.

Thanks

The QNAP MusicStation has been used as an attack vector to gain unauthenticated (no login required) remote access on several occasions. If you want to remotely access your music, consider lookning at Plex Meda Server and using the Plexamp.

[dogaza]

Thanks for your help dolbyman and jaysona.
So close to getting the TS-253D, but have decided against it - thanks again for your honesty.
I've been using Subsonic and am pleased with it. Only draw back is, I have to keep my PC on in order to connect.
Maybe I'll look into Plex.

[dolbyman]

all this stuff can be done even on a qnap

plex is ok(ish) to expose ..even more so when ran in a container

qnap apps can be connected to via vpn ..no problem at all