Hello to everyone in the FreeNAS world

[Pontey]

Hi Everyone,

For sometime i have been thinking bout building my own FreeNAS server for around 6 months, Watching the odd video reading a forum here and there. Then starting watching FreeNAS OS videos as well. Now i have my first build (2nd Build coming soon) The reason am building a 2nd FreeNAS Server is for more Space and better Server grade Parts.

I have very limited know how on networking/servers/freeNAS

1st Build is very simple the only parts am taking out are the 2 TB drives to be put into the new system coming sometime in 2017...... I hope as for the remaining pasts am going to stick a V card into it and give it to my Son.

ITX BB150N board
Pentium G4500
500W PSU
2x WD RED 2TB Drives
1x 8G DDR4 2133
128 SSD OS Drive

I know the memory is not ECC i was close to getting a board and memory to support ECC but this machine is just for testing/playing arond with maybe even try out FreeNAS 10. Its to get a feel for the OS eg Shares, Accounts, Volumes, Plugins, Services etc.... before splashing out on a decent build whiching guessing by the hardware i have been looking at might be around 1200k to 2000k.

i will post progress pics of the 2nd build etc..

I have a few questions.......

1. When setting up a share is it possible for my friend to access that share from his house ? would it be a iscsi ?

2. how safe is my server ? its plug into my ISP's router if my friend is able to access a share from the server how safe is the data and his pc plus the server ? what steps can i take to make it safer.

i had laods of questions but my head ie mesh now lol

i have attached a photo of the parts for the 1st build

So glad to be part of this Community, cant wait to see the replies.

Kind Regards
Pontey

 

[joeschmuck]

Welcome to FreeNAS Forums!

1. When setting up a share is it possible for my friend to access that share from his house ? would it be a iscsi ?

I don't believe iscsi works that way. Odds are you would use something like SFTP.

2. how safe is my server ? its plug into my ISP's router if my friend is able to access a share from the server how safe is the data and his pc plus the server ? what steps can i take to make it safer.

If you plug your FreeNAS server directly into your ISP and it has it's own IP Address then it will not be very secure at all. You need to use a good firewall and that could be your current router or a new more powerful router. You would then enable a SFTP port on the router and lastly setup an account in FreeNAS for your friend to access via SFTP the files you have selected.

Additionally you could run an application in a jail (btw jails pretty much go away in FreeNAS 10 from what it sounds like) which acts as a cloud. I myself use my Sophos firewall to access my system through secure VPN. Another option could be to have a remote FreeNAS machine at your friends home and then have the two units sync select data. Complexity is up to you but there is no single answer.

Whatever you do just ensure that you have strong passwords if you place this on the internet.

 

[Pontey]

HI Joeschmuck,

Thanks for the reply the router i have is a Virgin media SuperHub 3.0 as they call it, would you recommend i upgrade the router, i would like my friend to have a folder to be able to drag and drop files when needed rather than say using firezilla client.

I have the FreeNAS server setup with basic install it assigned an IP the server is plugged into the router so am guessing its very insecure atm depending how good the router from Virgin is. i need to do more digging :) its all fun.

i am also messing around with NextCloud setup a plugin with a jail assigned space etc... even got a Dynamic Domain (Free) and pointed it at the IP so i can access it out of the network.

i cant stop reading the forums... so much info :)

look forward to your reply

and thanks for taking the time to answer

Kind Regards
Pontey

HAPPY NASSING

 

[joeschmuck]

I have the FreeNAS server setup with basic install it assigned an IP the server is plugged into the router so am guessing its very insecure atm depending how good the router from Virgin is.

A typical router will have DHCP enabled and a local IP will be assigned, example 192.168.1.x. This would mean it's behind the firewall built in the router and is likely not immediately accessible on the internet.

Virgin media SuperHub 3.0

I have no advice on this router, never heard of it before so I'm not the expert here. If you can get into the settings and open specific ports via tunneling, port forwarding, VPN, etc... then you could be all set.

i am also messing around with NextCloud setup a plugin with a jail assigned space etc... even got a Dynamic Domain (Free) and pointed it at the IP so i can access it out of the network.

This may be the right path for you but I don't have personal experience with this but I know a lot of people use it.

i would like my friend to have a folder to be able to drag and drop files when needed rather than say using firezilla client.

I have used SFTP and Filezilla and it does do drag and drop, or should I say it use to when I used it on my Windoze computers. The user account info could be cached so it is only a few basic steps. But if you are looking to map a drive letter to his system, well I'm not sure how you would do that, that is way beyond my networking experience but I'm sure there is help on the internet somewhere to solve that type of issue.

Good Luck!

 

[pirateghost]

You DO NOT want to open your shares to the internet. Use VPN or sftp.

 

[Pontey]

Hi Pirateghost

Joeschmuck - is using SFTP common among the community to access files out of the network ?

Pirateghost - What method do you use to access files out of the network ? how would a VPN work ? is that within a jail i take it ?

the current methods am looking into are moving to a static IP using port forwarding and using Nextcloud or another option is SFTP via Firezilla


Thanks

 

[Pontey]

You DO NOT want to open your shares to the internet. Use VPN or sftp.

using SFTP is Encrypting FTP right ?

 

[pirateghost]

Hi Pirateghost

Joeschmuck - is using SFTP common among the community to access files out of the network ?

Pirateghost - What method do you use to access files out of the network ? how would a VPN work ? is that within a jail i take it ?

the current methods am looking into are moving to a static IP using port forwarding and using Nextcloud or another option is SFTP via Firezilla


Thanks

You would need a VPN server on your network somewhere. If I really need access to my files remotely, I use my VPN that runs on my firewall. A VPN is literally a virtual private network, that allows you to access your LAN.

using SFTP is Encrypting FTP right ?

Not at all. It's actually running an FTP like protocol over SSH. It's not regular FTP and doesn't require an FTP server. Just ssh enabled.

 

[Stux]

Either that or an SSH tunnel (pretty much a vpn). Then you can use any of the share protocols over the tunnel.

You do not want to directly expose the NAS to the internet.