Any techies help me with Network attached storage?

Notts_Dave

Notts_Dave

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Ok all ,do we have any real PC guru's that can help me.

I have cable broadband, wireless router and a network attached storage drive. I'd like to be able to access the drive via the internet. I know it's possible but can't figure how. I know it's something to do with ports and Ip routing but then i'm stuck .
The network/internet are all funtioning Ok,
 
You need to configure port forwarding on the router. Basically, in the router config, you define a port number, that when accessed from outside, all traffic is routed to a specific internal network IP address. So as an example, if your NAS has ip address 192.168.0.10, and you wanted all requests on port 5555 to be routed to the NAS, then you would setup the rule on the router for that to occur. Then when you access your external IP address from the internet with port 5555 (i.e. http://222.91.45.254:5555) the request will get sent to your NAS. The config of the router is very manufacturer specific, so this is very general. If you have a look here there are details for setting this up on a long list of routers.

All of that assumes, of course, that you can use that kind of web access to get to the data on the NAS.
 
Cool, i actually understood that. Yes my NAS unit supports remote access, its a 500gb freecom unit (under £100) and can be pass worded to directory level.

Great info, thanks i'll go and play. Can i use any port?
 
If the until is configured for Web access it will more then likely default to port 80 or if it allows FTP access it will be port 21, some will allow other ports to be used but you would need to check the manual for it.
 
It kinda depends on what else you have being served through the router, and whether the router can handle port changes or not. If it's on port 80 for http, then as long as it's the only port 80 device the port forwarding will be fine. If you have a web server running on your pc and that is port forwarded for port 80 as well, then you will need to adjust the settings on the NAS to use a different port.
 
No that is the only device that will be getting remote access. I was wondering about port 80.
 
how do you access it locally ?
 
shifting to the shiny new techy bit ;)
 
which ports you need to configure depend on how the NAS talks. If it is nfs or ftp or smb. Does the manual not tell you what protocols it uses?
 
Hey, this thread has moved.....i didnt know we had a "Computers, Web and Other Technology" section. I must pay attension in class..as my teachers used to say.
 
Depending on the router youre using you will have a few options.
If the router supports a DMZ host then simply set this to the IP address of your NAS box and then any traffic from the Internet that hits your external address would be forwarded to your NAS. Nice easy, dont even need to know the ports.

If you cant have a DMZ host or you prefer not to expose your NAS directly to the Internet (not a smart thing to do, but I have seen worse things done!!) then you could as others have suggested simply allow specific ports to be DNAT'ed to your NAS on the internal network.
If its an XP/2000Server 2003 server or Vista machine you should only need port 445 tcp DNAT'ed to your NAS.
If youre using an older Windows 98 or NT4 machine to access it you will need to open ports 137, 138 and 139 (and even then I dont promise it will work)

Alternatively if you just want to be able to access its management interface then you will probably only need to enable port 80 TCP.


One final bit of advice, if you do use a DMZ to host your NAS, MAKE SURE you change the factory password or your drive will be hosting Warez, Porn and Malware quicker than you can say, "How did they do that?"
 
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