Router on IB-3 is active; VPN access works but no access to my Synology NAS

Daniel-Basel

I have created a VPN Service on my Swisscom Router at home including DynDNS.

VPN was successfully, I can see that the NAS is available in the Network when using VPN from my Smartphone Hotspot. I see in the Router Network Overview the NAS and the IP Adress. I can ping successfully the IP adress of the NAS but in the Windows File Explorer, the NAS folders are not visible and accessibly.

When I am trying to re-do the network mapping on my machine, I see the NAS but do not get access to the underlying folders.

In my home network, I created users on the NAS and created network drive mapping on three file shares on my NAS. Within the home network, all works perfectly.

Does anyone knows a solution here why this happens? My thinking was if I have full access via VPN to my home network from external, I should also have full access to my NAS. Or do I have to create a specific user for this scenario on the NAS?

Any help is highly appreciated.

Thanks
Daniel

bitracer

There are few things that could go wrong here. The VPN client you're using, check if it's set to channel all the traffic through the VPN. Also check the firewall on the NAS itself, maybe it's blocking access. Lastly, it might be filtered by the Internet Box.

Ultimately, the Windows file sharing protocols (SMB/CIFS) are not designed for remote access. I would advise you to check if your NAS has something like Synology File Station. You can use similar tools even without VPN.

r00t

Hi @Daniel-Basel

First things first: Make sure to always connect from an external network (i.E. phone Hotspot) when connecting to the VPN.

Did you already try accessing a File share via its UNC path? ( \192.168.1.nasip\hare-name )

Best,

r00t

Daniel-Basel

Hello all

Many thanks and I will try this when I am back home.

The VPN Server ist the one from Swisscom itself. I can accesss the network, can even log-in to the Internet Box while outside my home. I have installed now a VPN Client on the NAS but it still does not work. I was assuming I have to put there a VPN Client as well. I did it but still not change on progress.

I can check the UNC access when back home. But can someone tell me if I generally have to install a VPN Client on the NAS so I can see the content when coming in through the Swisscom VPN?

To one answer; yes Synology does have something like File Station; I did not allowed on the NAS any connection from the Internet directly as I have sensitive data there and my thought was to - when accessing from outside - VPN might be a more secure solution.

@bitracer I am using the VPN Swisscom Server, Windows 11 VPN Client on my both machines and the built-in VPN Server on the Synology NAS to allow L2TP connections.

I can also check the firewall on my NAS if anything is blocked, could be possible.

Daniel

r00t

Hi @Daniel-Basel

Many thanks and I will try this when I am back home.

The VPN Server ist the one from Swisscom itself. I can accesss the network, can even log-in to the Internet Box while outside my home. I have installed now a VPN Client on the NAS but it still does not work. I was assuming I have to put there a VPN Client as well. I did it but still not change on progress.

I can check the UNC access when back home. But can someone tell me if I generally have to install a VPN Client on the NAS so I can see the content when coming in through the Swisscom VPN?

When you connect to the VPN service, your device gets connected to your home network through the VPN tunnel. It allows you to connect to any device within your LAN, there is no need to install anything on the NAS when using the VPN service on the box. (I just tested it, SMB to my NAS worked perfectly fine while using L2TP over IPSec on my mac). Running the Client on the NAS might even be the reason why you can't connect to it.

Usually, the only thing that might break is the name resolution, this is why I asked you to connect to its IP via the UNC path 😊.

To one answer; yes Synology does have something like File Station; I did not allowed on the NAS any connection from the Internet directly as I have sensitive data there and my thought was to - when accessing from outside - VPN might be a more secure solution.

You are absolutely right, there is no need to expose your NAS to the internet.

If you are facing issues using the Swisscom Internetbox VPN, you might think about using the VPN Server of the NAS instead. If you do this, I would highly recommend the usage of OpenVPN, as it is simpler to configure. Please note, that for this to work, you will have to create one Port forwarding rule (namely UDP port 1194) on the Internetbox to your NAS.

Please let us know how it goes!

Best,

r00t

bitracer

@r00t has a point here. Maybe it's just the "discovery" that doesn't work here. If you know the IP of the NAS you should be able to connect to it using \[IP address]\share].

Daniel-Basel

Many thanks to all.

I will remove the VPN Client from my NAS, then will try to solutions you where mentioning. I don't know the IP of the NAS now, but can test it when back home.

Will keep you posted and many many thanks 🙂

Daniel-Basel

I will look into that options this evening. Fact is that the VPN itself on the IB-3 seems to work. I can print something from external on my printer which is part of my local home network.