Using FreeNAS with AiCloud on ASUS router

[Ryknight2]

Hi! So I'm relatively new to FreeNAS, and I have a little 4TB NAS set up in my house. It works quite well for backups and local transfers and I really like it! However, I'm going to be leaving for university in the fall and would like a way to access it remotely. But, I'm relatively inexperienced and don't want to accidentally open it up to the whole internet and risk getting hacked or my NAS being used to store less than legal things.

I also have an Asus Zenwifi XT8 router network, and it has a feature called AiCloud, which is supposed to give you the ability to attach USB drives to the router or remotely access a NAS or computer. So, I thought "great! Asus must have good security built into that!" and tried it. It claims to be compatible with Samba and I have a working Samba share set up, so I believe it should work. But, when I attempt to login and click on the share folder, the AiCloud software just asks for the password over and over and over again and won't let me enter. I have tried logging in with all my acounts, including root, I have tried logging in with those accounts' user ID's. Is there something I can do? Is there a setting I need to enable? Or is there a simple, secure way to enable remote access without the router with no chance of a hack? I can provide tech specs if needed but it didn't seem applicable.

Sorry if this sounds silly, I'm very new to this!
Thanks!

 

[Ericloewe]

"great! Asus must have good security built into that!"

Pure optimism.

The usual way you'd accomplish this is to setup a VPN server, including DDNS, and use the VPN to connect to your LAN.

Asus is fairly decent when it comes to keeping things updated, but I'm not sure I trust them to run the VPN. I'd recommend trying OpenVPN in a jail on the FreeNAS server instead. Someone should be able to tell you whether the OpenVPN plugin is any good, but if it isn't, the resources section is likely to have a guide or two.

 

[elorimer]

You might find the snbforums useful here. Of particular interest might be the AsusWRT Merlin forum, although that firmware I do not believe is available for your device. But the folks over there are very security conscious and have explored many of your questions. By way of example: Secure method to share video files (sftp or AiCloud) with non-tech friends

 

[HoneyBadger]

Go ahead and search for "ASUSgate" and then let me know how comfortable you are with using them to facilitate remote access to your resources.

 

[Ryknight2]

Pure optimism.

Lol maybe but it beats the level of security I could build into it.

The usual way you'd accomplish this is to setup a VPN server, including DDNS, and use the VPN to connect to your LAN.

Asus is fairly decent when it comes to keeping things updated, but I'm not sure I trust them to run the VPN. I'd recommend trying OpenVPN in a jail on the FreeNAS server instead. Someone should be able to tell you whether the OpenVPN plugin is any good, but if it isn't, the resources section is likely to have a guide or two.

I'll definitely take a look at that. Hopefully it isn't too difficult. Thanks! I could access my existing SMB share this way, correct?

 

[Ryknight2]

You might find the snbforums useful here. Of particular interest might be the AsusWRT Merlin forum, although that firmware I do not believe is available for your device. But the folks over there are very security conscious and have explored many of your questions. By way of example: Secure method to share video files (sftp or AiCloud) with non-tech friends

I'll check that out, thanks.

 

[Ryknight2]

Go ahead and search for "ASUSgate" and then let me know how comfortable you are with using them to facilitate remote access to your resources.

They have been fined for that though tbf, and their encryption probably beats what I could setup myself lol

 

[Ryknight2]

I'm still wondering though, what is specifically causing my problem of having to enter the NAS password infinite times? Is this just an issue with accessing the SMB share from a non-windows device?

 

[Ericloewe]

I could access my existing SMB share this way, correct?

Yup.

 

[elorimer]

I'm still wondering though, what is specifically causing my problem of having to enter the NAS password infinite times? Is this just an issue with accessing the SMB share from a non-windows device?

This may help: Problem Connecting to NAS using AiCloud