Best server protocol for external file sharing?

AdinAck

Cadet
Joined
Sep 27, 2017
Messages
4
I have FreeNAS on an old server computer in my room and its sole purpose is to allow me and my friends to upload, download, and share large files with each other (because discord only supports 8mb and google drive only has 15gb for free). I used WebDAV because it is accessible inside of file explorer and appears as a mapped network drive which is exactly what I wanted, however, Windows has a built-in 50mb limit for downloading files from a WebDAV server, it can only support one user and password, and when me and my friends go into the windows registry to remove to 50mb limit, our computers freeze and crash etc...

I was looking into using SMB because (obviously) it is able to be accessed through file explorer, it easily supports users and groups and permissions within FreeNAS, however, it seems to be designed for internal use because the internet says to NOT PORTFORWARD IT EVEEERRR OR YOU WILL BE HACKED, but my fileserver is intended for remote access, so my question is:

  • Can SMB be accessed securely and remotely
  • Would that require a VPN or SSL connection?
  • How would one go about setting that up?
  • Would it still be easily accessible as a mapped network drive if a VPN or SSL is required?
Thank you!
 

garm

Wizard
Joined
Aug 19, 2017
Messages
1,555
I would say Nextcloud or SMB over VPN or ZeroTier is your best option. You could also try syncthing or resilio but those will require the files to live locally on all machines. Might work in you usecase though
 

AdinAck

Cadet
Joined
Sep 27, 2017
Messages
4
I would say Nextcloud or SMB over VPN or ZeroTier is your best option. You could also try syncthing or resilio but those will require the files to live locally on all machines. Might work in you usecase though
Right so, how do I set up the VPN for smb, I can’t find any resources online explaining that.
 

Bigsby

Dabbler
Joined
Jun 11, 2019
Messages
17
I have FreeNAS on an old server computer in my room and its sole purpose is to allow me and my friends to upload, download, ...

So I had a similar problem where I want people to have remote access to SMB shares, I have been using ZeroTier and it basically created a VPN but on a virtual ethernet adapter. The benefit for me (and most likely for you) over using a standard VPN is that only the file share traffic is sent over to FreeNAS so any friends connected will be able to use there connection like normal (without the added latency of a VPN) *see here*.

VPNs would typically send ALL traffic through the tunnel so games & streams that your friends might be running will have increased latency *see here*.

With ZeroTier anyone on my network is able to go to the file share, for example \\10.147.18.1\ & it will get sent through the encrypted tunnel while all there normal browsing data remains normal.

Another benefit is it uses UDP holepunch so no ports to open on your firewall & nothing to expose to the Internet.

Take a look & see what you think and let me know if I can be of any help setting it up.
 

tfran1990

Patron
Joined
Oct 18, 2017
Messages
293
I run ovpn with pivpn on raspberry pi. its super easy to setup and it combines all the needed text to make the keys automatically. takes no more then 10 min to get it up and running. alot of guides out there on you tube.
 

blanchet

Guru
Joined
Apr 17, 2018
Messages
515
Nextcloud is probably the best choice. It is easy to use and accept any file size.
My company uses it to share documents with its subcontractors.
 
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