Internet ip address from remote

Is there any way to know the nas internet ip address from remote? I want to access to my NAS when I’m not at home, but I cannot always check what’s the internet ip address. would be nice to be able to see the device internet ip in files.mycloud.com.
Any suggestion on how to solve this?

@dontbeevil Do you have your addresses set to static or at least reserved on your router? If you do the address will stay the same for your device.

See example image below. I have a Linksys router and use Linksys Smart Wi-Fi. I can look at my addresses even when away from my home network.

WDMYCLOUD is highlighted in yellow showing I have the address reserved. If I click on Device Info it will show me the address.

Why would you want (or need) to see the IP address of either the My Cloud or the router’s broadband IP address when accessing the My Cloud from a remote location using MyCloud.com or the WD apps? What use is it to have that IP address when you are already connected remotely to the My Cloud?

If using VPN to remotely access the network the My cloud resides on then one could access that network’s router administration page which typically will list the broadband IP address along with the My Cloud IP address. Or one could (if using VPN) use websites like https://www.whatsmyip.org/ to find one’s broadband IP address of the VPN network. But then again when using VPN one typically already knows the remote IP address.

If using FTP to access a remote My Cloud then one would need to know the remote network’s IP address and have port forwarding of the FTP port (21) to the My Cloud in the remote network’s router.

I don’t have access to vpn or remote desktop to navigate to a websit like whatsmyipaddress, i want to kmow the broadband ip to connect to some apps webpage for example transmission, of course i configured the port on the router… Any suggestion?

@dontbeevil This is only a suggestion and see example image below.

In this image I clicked on the gear icon next to WDMYCLOUD, this is settings and a click on that opens up both of my My Clouds. A right click on WDMYCLOUD>Properties shows me the information. It shows the URL but not in numbers. Using a right click will often provide more information.

Click on, tap or activate image to enlarge it.

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Dont think you can get the IP address remotely from the WD software. One suggestion in the future when you have access to the My Cloud and it’s local network is to configure the router to support DDNS (if the router has DDNS) support. By using DDNS you can use one URL/IP address that is tied to your router. If your broadband IP address changes the router will update the DDNS site so it routes your traffic to the new IP address.

A general explination of what DDNS is.

https://www.lifewire.com/definition-of-dynamic-dns-816294

There are some free DDNS services. https://www.noip.com is one such service that has a free option where the user renews their address every month to keep it free.

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The benefit of using the WD apps and WD server is that they bypass some of the headaches in this area.

Bennor in his posts hints at some of the issues.

If your are accessing your stuff remotely, I strongly encourage you to do so over a VPN connection to the system. There are commercial options, but there are also non-commercial options. For example, my router supports OpenVPN. I use OpenVPN to establish a secure link from device (either a phone or a computer) which is somewhere in the sketchy, snooping world to my network. I establish this connection BEFORE I start playing with files on my NAS, either directly or when using WD cloud apps and services.

If you can establish a VPN connection, half the battles of getting IP addresses will already be solved. (since you need to know the IP address of your router on the internet to establish the VPN connection).

Using a DDNS service to assign a name to your routers IP address is very helpful. This enables access by typing a constant “mydevice.com”, which is a lot easier than trying to figure out an IP address which can change randomly. My router manufacturer offers a free DDNS service, which is what I use.

Once I establish a VPN connection, then my remote device is “essentially” on my home network, and I can access the NAS as I do normally. (I say essentially, but in my case, the remote device gets assigned an IP address outside the normal range (10.0.x.x instead of 192.168.x.x); some of my cloud devices will treat it normally; others won’t (I spend too much money on WD products).

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Hi Guys,

thank you all for your suggestions, yeah the “show remote ip” in myfiles was more a suggestion for WD to add it in future, I’d find it really useful, instead of rely every time on 3rd party services.

About OpenVPN, if I connect the router to openvpn, doesn’t it means that all devices connected to the router at home will slow down because they’ll access intern trough VPN?

About DDNS, this looks like the best solution, I’ll take a look into it.

thanks

Generally no. How it works is you set up a VPN server on the local network or within the router if the router supports the option. Then VPN clients remotely access that VPN server to gain access to the local network. Typically local network devices at the remote location do not access the internet through the VPN server.

There are options to configure the VPN server (if it supports this option) for a site to site VPN connection so all traffic flows through the VPN tunnel. This is useful for locations/businesses who have satellite offices and locations that need those location to connect to the main location/office.

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ah so basically it will work the other way around, I understood thanks, I’ll study also this solution :slight_smile:

I concur with Bennor for the most part.

What don’tbeeveil is referring to is a commercial VPN service, where you establish a VPN link from your home router to a VPN service provider. One would use a commercial service if you are worried about either (1) your internet service provider (or someone else) snooping on your internet traffic; or (2) you want to “appear” to the world as being from a different location. (typical local ISP address can be used to approximate (very closely) where your home router is sitting). Yes. . .using one simply must slow down the connection; since fundamentally more elements are in the chain.

Just a note on a Home-Server-VPN: The primary use case is to allow a remote client to be on your local network. HOWEVER, I have used it for “more secure” communication.

For example: If I am doing a financial transaction from my PHONE, at an airport or hotel, I will first establish the VPN connection to my home network. It then makes “sniffing” information by third parties more difficult. YES, the connection is slower because I am now adding elements to the link (i.e. instead of Cell - - > Telecom ISP - - → Bank; I now have Cell - - → Telecom ISP - - > My home router - - → My home ISP - - → Bank).

There are commercial VPN options which would boost performance (substitute “VPN Company” for “My Home”); but using my home equipment is cheaper; especially for occasional use.

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