What is the point of myQNAPcloud service?

[giskard]

When I bought my TS-453 Pro a number of years ago, I set it up with myQNAPcloud service and port-forwarded port 443 on my router to the NAS and got it all up and running so that I could connect with myQNAPcloud from anywhere away from home via a web browser or the QNAP Manager mobile apps - happy days. But when I recently spotted a number of failed attempts to login to the admin account on my NAS, I realised that if port 443 is being directed by my router to the NAS, then I could just login to the NAS from anywhere in the world by just browsing to https://<my-isp-provided-static-ip>:443 and getting in that way. Which begs the question: if I have to open a port for myQNAPcloud to work then I can just access the NAS directly via the web browser and not bother with myQNAPcloud, so what's the point of it? If I didn't have a static IP address than I guess I could use the myQNAPcloud link URL to resolve the IP address dynamically assigned by the ISP, but otherwise, I'm still left scratching my head as to why I need myQNAPcloud?

I've since removed the port forwarding of 443 on my router, which being an Asus router supports OpenVPN so I've set up an OVPN tunnel to which I connect from my mobile devices and access the NAS directly on the local network. All easy and all secure, but I can't help thinking I'm missing something with myQNAPcloud.

I've also disabled the admin account and created another admin-privileged account with a different name, in case I do for some reason enable the port-forwarding again.

Thoughts please?

[Moogle Stiltzkin]

my thinking is that myqnapcloud is sort of a waystation of sorts. in order to make your qnap accessible through it from elsewhere remotely.

I recently posted a guide for how to use/setup myqnapcloud, in order to make your NAS remotely accessible.

myqnapcloud does a couple of things

1. myqnapcloud dyndns. this gives you a usable url you can use to access your nas. dyndns is useful so you don't have to use an actual digit ip address, also if your using a dyanmic ip, it will update to make sure that ip is accessible through the dyndns even if the ip changes.

2. you can set your apps either public or private access on myqnapcloud portal. public is sort of dangerous, because you are telling the world you got these things accessible. and every now and then, some app has a vulnerability which then opens your whole nas wide up. private is a bit less riskier, because you got to be logged onto myqnapcloud, or you authorized another myqnapcloud user to be able to login to your apps.

3. it can do upnp for quick and easy port forwarding. however i don't recommend doing that. instead, just view the port forward table for what ports is required for what services, then manually port forward it yourself.

4. cloudlink. this can create a tunnel through your router to make your nas accessible, if you are having trouble trying to access your nas remotely.



But as i stated in my guide, should you use myqnapcloud for remote access?

I think there are better and more safer ways to do it.

Like VPN? (either setup vpn server on router, or use the qvpn app on the QNAP)
https://www.reddit.com/r/qnap/comments/ ... _from_the/


or the alternative, is if what all you are trying to do is allow remote for 1-2 apps e.g. plex, then you could do something like reverse proxy with ssl cert (cloudflare??) and use containers for the app (e.g. container station, docker apps).

https://blog.awelswynol.co.uk/2018/01/s ... -with-emby

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jYoDyoH2C0A



OR if you are like me and don't need remote access, then the best option is not to use myqnapcloud at all. for that matter don't port forward your NAS to the internet either. Why take unecessary risks for no reason?


if you are wondering perhaps that qfile, qphoto, qvideo etc, won't work because you got myqnapcloud disabled, i think it will still work over lan, or if you connect to your qnap through VPN. So i can't think of any reason to use myqnapcloud. Yes makes your qnap remotely accessible much easier. but i rather take the time to setup vpn if i really needed remote

that reddit myqnapcloud article explains the difference between vpn and reverse proxy method for remote access.

[giskard]

my thinking is that myqnapcloud is sort of a waystation of sorts. in order to make your qnap accessible through it from elsewhere remotely.

I recently posted a guide for how to use/setup myqnapcloud, in order to make your NAS remotely accessible.

myqnapcloud does a couple of things

1. myqnapcloud dyndns. this gives you a usable url you can use to access your nas. dyndns is useful so you don't have to use an actual digit ip address, also if your using a dyanmic ip, it will update to make sure that ip is accessible through the dyndns even if the ip changes.

2. you can set your apps either public or private access on myqnapcloud portal. public is sort of dangerous, because you are telling the world you got these things accessible. and every now and then, some app has a vulnerability which then opens your whole nas wide up. private is a bit less riskier, because you got to be logged onto myqnapcloud, or you authorized another myqnapcloud user to be able to login to your apps.

3. it can do upnp for quick and easy port forwarding. however i don't recommend doing that. instead, just view the port forward table for what ports is required for what services, then manually port forward it yourself.

4. cloudlink. this can create a tunnel through your router to make your nas accessible, if you are having trouble trying to access your nas remotely.



But as i stated in my guide, should you use myqnapcloud for remote access?

I think there are better and more safer ways to do it.

Like VPN? (either setup vpn server on router, or use the qvpn app on the QNAP)
https://www.reddit.com/r/qnap/comments/ ... _from_the/


or the alternative, is if what all you are trying to do is allow remote for 1-2 apps e.g. plex, then you could do something like reverse proxy with ssl cert (cloudflare??) and use containers for the app (e.g. container station, docker apps).

https://blog.awelswynol.co.uk/2018/01/s ... -with-emby

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jYoDyoH2C0A



OR if you are like me and don't need remote access, then the best option is not to use myqnapcloud at all. for that matter don't port forward your NAS to the internet either. Why take unecessary risks for no reason?


if you are wondering perhaps that qfile, qphoto, qvideo etc, won't work because you got myqnapcloud disabled, i think it will still work over lan, or if you connect to your qnap through VPN. So i can't think of any reason to use myqnapcloud. Yes makes your qnap remotely accessible much easier. but i rather take the time to setup vpn if i really needed remote

that reddit myqnapcloud article explains the difference between vpn and reverse proxy method for remote access.

Thanks, I'll take a look at those links you've provided