How to remotely FTP access my NAS

[NAS_user]

Welcome to the grand adventure.

I am going to give abbreviated steps. You will have many details to work out.

1. You need to know the WAN IP address of your router. (it will not be a 192.168.xx.xx number)

2. Note that for most, your ISP is supplying this address to your router, and it can change. You may need to use a server that will do a DNS lookup for your. (so instead of typing 22.34.14.44:100 to access port 100on your router, you type “www.me.com:100” to access port 100). I have an asus router. . . and they offer this service for free. (so. . .I type something like “MyHandle.asuscomm.com:100” to get port 100)

3. You need to setup port forwarding on your router, so that it knows that anything coming to a specific port (say, “100”) needs to be directed to a specific port on your NAS.

Example: Let’s say your NAS expects FTP traffic on port 22, and it sit on 192.168.0.10.
Let’s say you have your router on “MyHandle.asuscom.com”
In the router, you configure port 100 to 192.168.0.10:22.
That way, when away from home, you type “myhandle.asus.com:100”. Your router will send all the data to port 22 on 192.168.0.10

4. Make sure that your NAS is set up to expect FTP traffic on the chosen port. The port number is configurable (Default = 22?)

5. A reminder on just how freakin’ insecure this type of connection is. Also, the cyber protections for WD NAS’s is dubious at best. Frankly, after learning how to do it. . .I simply block ALL WAN access to the NAS at the router.

6. If you insist on doing this. . . use a VPN to your home network. THat way, you will be technically on the same network as your NAS. . .so that actually simplifies a few steps. Note that the software I use assigns a different subnet to any VPN connection. . . there is a setting in the EX2 Ultra which will allow connections from other subnets within your network. (in other words, my NAS might be on 192.168.0.100. . .my PC at home will be 192.168.0.110, but my remotely connected lap top will get an IP of 10.24.0.110)

7. Make sure your NAS has ports for external access mapped in the router.