How to access my freenas data from anywhere?

[pragmaonce]

I have made a pretty little windows(SMB) share leading to my main storage, which works perfectly. I can easily connect to that storage from another computer using the Internal IP address given by freenas. The next step is to connect to my storage from ANYWHERE with an internet connection...

I am pretty sure I have searched the entire forum for answers but they all just wind up the same result or outdated.

Most of them told me to setup a DDNS, so I went to Duck DNS and created a free subdomain that has the IP address of my router it seems? is that correct?

Then i'm supposed to do port forwarding on my router. In my case I have a TP-Link router, which means the only option I have is to add a "Virtual Server".
Now this is probably where im buggering up, because after I attempted to add a Virtual Server I cant seem to go on with the next steps because its just simply not working.

I.E. when I ssh username@domain.duckdns.org it says connection refused.

Please HELP, i need a step-by-step way of fixing this. If you have better ideas to try out other than DDNS please share!

 

[Jailer]

Don't expose your FreeNAS server directly to the internet, it's not a hardened installation and is meant to be on a secure local network.

 

[pragmaonce]

Don't expose your FreeNAS server directly to the internet, it's not a hardened installation and is meant to be on a secure local network.

But this data needs to be accessed from people's homes aswell rather than just the local workspace, what do you suggest then?

 

[hervon]

VPN on your network / router.

 

[pragmaonce]

VPN on your network / router.

Okay that sounds fantastic! But how would I go about doing this?

 

[garm]

https://www.pfsense.org/products/

 

[Jailer]

But this data needs to be accessed from people's homes aswell rather than just the local workspace, what do you suggest then?

Okay that sounds fantastic! But how would I go about doing this?

Set up Nextcloud on FreeNAS and add users.

 

[pragmaonce]

Set up Nextcloud on FreeNAS and add users.

Wanted to try this out... But now the next problem arrives... This would have been my first time installing a plug in and as soon as I go to the plugin menu and select Available. It sends out an error "cmd('git' ) failed due to: exit code(128) cmdline: git clone - v" blah blah blah

 

[danb35]

You need to fix your network configuration. And also not use the Nextcloud plugin. See here for a better (in my completely unbiased opinion) way to install Nextcloud: https://forum.freenas-community.org/t/scripted-installation-of-nextcloud-16-in-an-iocage-jail/25

 

[pragmaonce]

You need to fix your network configuration. And also not use the Nextcloud plugin.

Yes. I fixed my config. Now it only loads till 50% apparently I have to fix it noe

 

[danb35]

Again, don't use the plugin. See my edit above for an alternative (and IMO better) way to install Nextcloud. The plugin is broken and iX haven't shown any interest in fixing it.

 

[melloa]

exit code(128) cmdline: git clone - v" blah blah blah

It seems you have a network configuration issue, as the DNS resolution for your server isn't working.

There are several threads addressing that same issue, do a search on how to configure your network.

My personal choice is set the network interface with DHCP and let the router to the job; later on fix that IP inside your router so won't change.

Afer that do some tests with available plugins to learn how to do things. When having a stable plugin running, you can make it official and share with your family and friends.

As above, do not open the smb ports to the internet, as that is a receipt for your data be accessed by other people; that's true for the GUI, ssh, etc. Only open things you know how to control and know the impacts to your server's security.

not use the Nextcloud plugin.

Is the plugin not working? I only use ESXi VMs, so just curious.

EDIT: The above answered my question.

 

[pragmaonce]

It seems you have a network configuration issue, as the DNS resolution for your server isn't working.

There are several threads addressing that same issue, do a search on how to configure your network.

My personal choice is set the network interface with DHCP and let the router to the job; later on fix that IP inside your router so won't change.

Afer that do some tests with available plugins to learn how to do things. When having a stable plugin running, you can make it official and share with your family and friends.

As above, do not open the smb ports to the internet, as that is a receipt for your data be accessed by other people; that's true for the GUI, ssh, etc. Only open things you know how to control and know the impacts to your server's security.



Is the plugin not working? I only use ESXi VMs, so just curious.

EDIT: The above answered my question.

It seeeeems to be stuck at installing plugin...

 

[danb35]

Is the plugin not working?

To be specific, here are the issues that (IMO) make it "broken":

• Installing the plugin doesn't actually give you a fully-installed, working Nextcloud instance; you need to log in to its web UI and enter the database and admin user credentials. This is trivial to fix; I put in a pull request back in May that takes care of it. They haven't touched it.
• In apparent preparation for UI changes that should be coming with FN 11.3, they've removed the database credentials that used to appear in a one-time-only pop-up window (that you then had to enter into the web UI) and moved them into a text file that lives in the jail. To find those credentials, you have to drop into the shell, enter the jail, and view the contents of that file. It's literally impossible to get the plugin working without going to the shell.

There are other deficiencies that don't rise to the level of "broken" but should still be addressed; foremost among those is the complete lack of TLS/SSL support. Sure, you probably can't get a Let's Encrypt cert for the instance (like I do) without requiring user input, but even a self-signed cert would give you the rest of the configuration.