freenastier
Dabbler
- Joined
- Feb 9, 2017
- Messages
- 20
I have two FreeNas systems. One at my home and one at a remote location. I want to use FreeNas replication to synchronize the two systems. Backups from my system need to be duplicated to the remote system and the other way around.
There are several issues I worry about.
If I set up a OpenVPN server to activate only on certain timeslots in my home network, then I can let the remote FreeNas system 'dial in' via VPN. My network would only be exposed a brief period of time which would help mitigating issue 1.
By letting the remote FreeNas system 'dial in' I do not need to worry about the network configuration, firewall or ip-address of the remote system, which solves issue 2.
When the remote FreeNas system is connected via a VPN connection it becomes part of my local home network and I could use hostnames on the same network which makes my replication jobs more robust. Then I can use hostnomes in the configuration and do not need to worry every time an ip-address changes, which solves issue 3.
Obviously I would still use the SSH replication job as provided by FreeNas. I feel things would become just slightly easier when the remote system would become a temporarily member of my local network via a VPN.
What do you think? Is this a good strategy? Did I miss something obvious?
For this to work I do have a few remaining questions.
All suggeations are welcome. Thank you in advance!
There are several issues I worry about.
- The idea of exposing my home network 24/7 does not sound very appealing to me.
- The remote FreeNas system sits behind a NAT firewall and might not always receive the same IP from its DHCP
- I would like to use hostnames instead of ip-addresses.
If I set up a OpenVPN server to activate only on certain timeslots in my home network, then I can let the remote FreeNas system 'dial in' via VPN. My network would only be exposed a brief period of time which would help mitigating issue 1.
By letting the remote FreeNas system 'dial in' I do not need to worry about the network configuration, firewall or ip-address of the remote system, which solves issue 2.
When the remote FreeNas system is connected via a VPN connection it becomes part of my local home network and I could use hostnames on the same network which makes my replication jobs more robust. Then I can use hostnomes in the configuration and do not need to worry every time an ip-address changes, which solves issue 3.
Obviously I would still use the SSH replication job as provided by FreeNas. I feel things would become just slightly easier when the remote system would become a temporarily member of my local network via a VPN.
What do you think? Is this a good strategy? Did I miss something obvious?
For this to work I do have a few remaining questions.
- What VPN client is recommended for use on FreeNas?
- How can I close the VPN connection automatically after a replication job completed? (when the remote FreeNas server is connected via VPN it is no longer available on the remote network I presume?)
All suggeations are welcome. Thank you in advance!
