troubleshooting QNAP internet access - university network

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npfosi
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troubleshooting QNAP internet access - university network

Post by npfosi »

Hi all,

I have a QNAP TS453BT3 and I've used it successfully on my personal network for a year or two now and learned a lot about networking along the way, however, I just moved to Minneapolis into graduate student housing and am forced to use the University network for my Internet. I haven't been able to figure out how to configure my NAS so that it can connect to the Internet. I found this Reddit post which very closely mirrors my circumstance:

https://www.reddit.com/r/qnap/comments/ ... et_access/

I was attempting to follow psybernoid's suggestion. I used an HDMI cable to plug my NAS unit into a monitor and connected a wired keyboard and mouse. I was prompted to install Hybrid Desk Station but was unable to because, of course, my NAS isn't connected to the Internet. Like the original poster on the reddit post, my university network also requires authentication. I'm hopeful that if I can somehow authenticate it, it will work fine. Does anyone have any recommendations for how I can proceed? Maybe ways I can install Hybrid Desk Station using Terminal on my computer, which I can connect to the Internet? I am relatively novice when it comes to networks so I apologize if my questions are ignorant or if I haven't provided all the relevant information.

Here are some details about my setup:

* I am using a 2018 Macbook Pro.
* The only way I can access the university network is through a Wi-Fi connection or by connecting an Ethernet cable into a single Ethernet port on my apartment wall. Because of this I have a 5-slot Netgear ProSafe GS105 Gigabit Switch which I plugged into the wall, giving me 4 ports to work with.
* I also have a Netgear AC1000 Dual Band WiFi Router I can use if that is helpful in someway.

Currently, my NAS is plugged in via Ethernet cable into the Netgear Switch and my computer is Ethernet'd into the switch as well.

Here is more information about the University network:

* Wired Network: https://it.umn.edu/service-details/wired-network
* WiFi through eduroam: https://it.umn.edu/technology/eduroam
* Register a Device on the Network (DHCP): https://it.umn.edu/register-device-network-dhcp
(I have added the MAC address of the NAS, my laptop and the router already).

Thank you all for your help and please let me know what more information I can provide to help you with helping me!

Best,

Nick
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dolbyman
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Re: troubleshooting QNAP internet access - university network

Post by dolbyman »

get a wan router and build your own private lan...this way the router handles the authentication and just handles nat
npfosi
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Re: troubleshooting QNAP internet access - university network

Post by npfosi »

I'm sorry that I am so uninformed but I don't understand your recommendation.

It does seem as if the router I have (Netgear AC1000 Dual Band WiFi Router - https://www.netgear.com/home/products/n ... R6080.aspx) can be used a WAN router but I am not sure I have the skills necessary to set up a "private LAN".

I tried googling about how to do that and found this: https://www.wikihow.com/Set-up-a-Private-Network.

I a) am not sure if this is what you are suggesting and b) feel intimidated by these steps.

I appreciate you taking the time to offer your thoughts, but are you able to elaborate a bit on what your suggestion is? I feel as if I am out of my depth here.

Nick
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dolbyman
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Re: troubleshooting QNAP internet access - university network

Post by dolbyman »

connect the wan port of the router to the university network

set it up according to procedures (fixed ip// dhcp// authentication // etc)

then all devices on the lan side should work "automagically" no special config needed

approach your university it support for details
npfosi
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Re: troubleshooting QNAP internet access - university network

Post by npfosi »

Okay so I did as you instructed. I configured the router in the browser using the automatic wizard and everything seems to be working! My computer, which is plugged into the router can access the Internet and my NAS seems to be able to as well. Qsync was able to reconnect once I updated the IP address using the "Detect" option and I was able to execute a backup to an off-network NAS successfully.

A couple of problems remain that maybe you can help me understand:

1) In the myQNAPcloud app under Network Connectivity in the Auto Router Configuration field, despite the Status having a green check, the Web Connectivity has a red x and I am not sure how to resolve that.

2) Also, the ethernet port on the back of the unit is amber colored not green, which a QNAP support tech told me before meant the NAS isn't connecting to the Internet. What do you think that indicates?

3) Re: the router - Ideally, I would like to be able to remove the router from the equation (less hardware). I can still return it to Best Buy. Now that the NAS is connected, is there any way to take the router out of the equation or is it necessary for the configuration to work? Also, interestingly, at no point did I "authenticate" the NAS's connection with my university Internet ID credentials and I am a bit confused how that is working... any insights there?

4) Lastly, when I run a Blackmagic Disk Speed Test accessing the network drive via the AFP protocol I get a paltry read/write performance of about ~10MB/s despite having a 500GB RAID 1 M2 SATA SSD cache configured and enabled.. is the bottleneck the router in some way? Because my computer is also connected to the router via Ethernet so I am a bit confused where else it could be...

Thanks for your help! This is the most substantial step forward I've been able to make.
npfosi
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Re: troubleshooting QNAP internet access - university network

Post by npfosi »

**Update**

1) Talked to a QNAP tech who said this is a consequence of certain routers and isn't problematic.

2) Not clarity on the amber light issue

3) Still wondering if this is possible.

4) I actually improved my read/write speed by a factor of 10x just by adding a switch to the configuration. I plugged the NAS and my laptop into the switch, and the switch into the router, reasoning that local data transfer would then only go through the switch and not be bottlenecked by the router, which seems to have been a correct hypothesis.
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dolbyman
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Re: troubleshooting QNAP internet access - university network

Post by dolbyman »

if you take the router out of it you could face a couple of different issues

client isolation on the semi public network (so you can't reach the nas from other devices ..but also others can't reach your nas)

all other users in public network would also be able to reach your nas (hack or pricacy risk)
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