Use myqnapcloud to connect via AFP?

[neugna]

Is it possible to establish an AFP connecting to my NAS at home from a remote location using the myqnapcloud address? I'm really excited by the possibility of using the cloud features on my own qnap but I'm frustrated by the need to still connect using an IP address for direct access to the drive. And I don't do it enough to warrant the money for a DDNS. I read on some other threads this might be possilbe using SSH tunneling but that was way over my head. Any suggestion?

Thanks,
Nate

[schumaku]

Hello Nate,

Welcome to the QNAP NAS Community Forum!

Keep things simple... for DDNS, start to set-up myQNAPcloud - once registered and activated you get an all free [yournasname].myqnypcloud.com name, no need for a commercial DDNS service - availability might be slightly lower, but it's free with the QNAP NAS

The Automatic Route Configuration does not offer automated router settings for AFP or SMB (SAMBA) - simply not really suggested because of security. It's to easy to leak listing of shared folders, to get attacked - workable technically (requires enabling the intrusion protection, no public/guest accessible shares, ...), depreciated therefore.

Preferred way is to use a VPN for share access. Still - you need to enter the NAS VPN IP address - it's services are not broadcasted to Windows or OS X systems.

Start here: How to set up VPN service on QNAP NAS - for OS X I suggest to make use of OpenVPN with Tunnelblick

Regards,
-Kurt.

[neugna]

Thanks Kurt!

I did just that and it is working great! I even tunneled and mounted the Downloads folder from my QNAP on my laptop using my iPhone as a tether while my wife was driving the car. Today I'm working on getting Time Machine to backup while at a remote location (Wifi at work of course, not 3G). I found a thread that helped as Time Machine was looking for the QNAP by name and not local IP. Using this terminal code (sudo tmutil setdestination afp://TimeMachine:{Time Machine Password}@{Local IP Address}/TMBackup), I was able to start a backup…but its really slow. It might not be worth the effort.

My next project is to move my iPhoto Library to my QNAP and I've found a few threads with some answers but nothing complete. I have over 100GB on my laptop that I'd love to move it there to free up space...but still have access to it when I'm not at home. Any ideas on how to...or pointers as to which discussion group or thread to look at would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Nate

[neugna]

Kurt,

I found a problem using the VPN…it seems to be blocking the use of my printer here at work when ever I connect to the QNAP back home via VPN. Any ideas on how to work around this?

Nate

[schumaku]

What kind of printer - networked, USB connected to the NAS, or connected to another computer?