TrueNAS Scale configuration for remote filesharing

[Aryadne]

Hi everyone. I'm sorry for asking what is likely to be a very common question, but I've looked through a bunch of threads and couldn't get it to work, so I'm here asking for someone to basically hold my hand through the process

 

I've set up a home server. Got TrueNAS Scale on it (Core did not support my RAID card). Local access is working fine. Now - I'm looking for a solution that does not involve a VPN. I'm looking to mount the storage pool directly to some machines that are all away from where the server is situated. This is a storage vault for non mission critical data, but we'd like regular access to it, as it's where we want to place off-jobsite backups as we are regularly on the road and want to get to the end of the day, do a local backup, then upload it all to the vault. I understand two ways of doing this would be by SMB sharing, WebDAV, or (s)FTP. As long as it works, I have no preference. I would like it to be accessible also through my browser, in case we want to send something in a pinch to a client, but this isn't something I'd necessarily need - can use Drive or Dropbox. Mounting the storage pool directly to the remote machines would be the most necessary part.

 

In the past we used prebuilt NAS and we had an office so it was relatively more simple, as for remote access we could just use the WD or Synology apps. But I'm clearly failing at some point in the process between setting up the share configuration and port forwarding, as every time I've tried to check the port externally I've gotten back that it's not pointing to the correct place. 

 

As much as it pains me to say this, security is somewhat secondary, so I'm willing to compromise on that for ease of setup.

[Needfuldoer]

2 hours ago, Aryadne said:

Now - I'm looking for a solution that does not involve a VPN.

No you're not.

 

Do not expose file shares to the public Internet.

[m9x3mos]

42 minutes ago, Needfuldoer said:

No you're not.

 

Do not expose file shares to the public Internet.

100% this. You will be asking for trouble if you do that. You will really want some sort of VPN solution. 

I can suggest looking into running tailscale if you don't want to go crazy setting up a limited one. 

[LIGISTX]

1 hour ago, Needfuldoer said:

No you're not.

 

Do not expose file shares to the public Internet.

200% this.

 

3 hours ago, Aryadne said:

Core did not support my RAID card

 

Also, what card are you using exactly? Nothing wrong with scale, but if core didn’t support it, I question if it’s a card you should be using. Whatever it is, it isn’t actually a RAID card, set up in RAID mode, correct? It has to be running in IT mode acting as an HBA.

 

SMB should never be exposed to the world like that, it is simply not designed to be exposed to the internet. You need to set up WireGuard, and set up a split tunnel on the client machines. They will then be able to access the SMB shares as if they were on the same LAN as your server. It isn’t hard, it’s actually very simple just takes a little bit of learning. 

[Aryadne]

29 minutes ago, LIGISTX said:

200% this.

 

 

Also, what card are you using exactly? Nothing wrong with scale, but if core didn’t support it, I question if it’s a card you should be using. Whatever it is, it isn’t actually a RAID card, set up in RAID mode, correct? It has to be running in IT mode acting as an HBA.

 

SMB should never be exposed to the world like that, it is simply not designed to be exposed to the internet. You need to set up WireGuard, and set up a split tunnel on the client machines. They will then be able to access the SMB shares as if they were on the same LAN as your server. It isn’t hard, it’s actually very simple just takes a little bit of learning. 

I am reluctant to use VPN because of added cost - I am good with learning how to set up a local, free solution, if that's possible.

 

The card that CORE didn't like is an Areca ARC1880i. Scale has had 0 issues with it. When testing stuff out I installed it on the workstation we refurbished for it, on windows 10, and it was zero issues too. I'm running 4x 18tb EXOS drives, RAID Z1 with one parity.

[LIGISTX]

1 hour ago, Aryadne said:

I am reluctant to use VPN because of added cost - I am good with learning how to set up a local, free solution, if that's possible.

There is no cost of hosting your own VPN. Look into WireGuard, it’s super easy to set up. 
 

1 hour ago, Aryadne said:

ARC1880i

I am not familiar with this. As long as it’s an HBA, it should be fine.