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Accessing Home Server from Outside Network

DocSwag
By DocSwag
in Servers, NAS, and Home Lab
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Go to solution Solved by leadeater,

VPN is safer than port forwarding, how much safer depends on the protocol but it's a pretty good general assumption. OpenVPN is a good VPN server and there are heaps of really good guides online on how to set it up and get clients connected to it.

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A while back I set up a home server running Debian at home for storing files and whatnot. Now I want to make it so that you can access the files while outside the network, but I'm not sure where to start. I've heard about port forwarding and stuff but I have no idea how to do it and some google searches aren't turning up anything helpful (I'm a networking n00b). I was thinking about setting up a VPN on the server instead and just using the VPN to access files instead, but I'm not sure if that would actually work... Setting up a vpn might be useful anyways if I went to somewhere like china.

 

So I guess my question is how The heck do you set it up to access files from outside the network? And would setting up a vpn just work as well? Thanks for the help.

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VPN is safer than port forwarding, how much safer depends on the protocol but it's a pretty good general assumption. OpenVPN is a good VPN server and there are heaps of really good guides online on how to set it up and get clients connected to it.

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14 minutes ago, leadeater said:

VPN is safer than port forwarding, how much safer depends on the protocol but it's a pretty good general assumption. OpenVPN is a good VPN server and there are heaps of really good guides online on how to set it up and get clients connected to it.

Oh ok, so if I set up a vpn on the home server and connect to the vpn I'll be able to access all the files?

Make sure to quote me or tag me when responding to me, or I might not know you replied! Examples:

 

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Or this:

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Buy whatever product is best for you, not what product is "best" for the market.

 

Interested in computer architecture? Still in middle or high school? P.M. me!

 

I love computer hardware and feel free to ask me anything about that (or phones). I especially like SSDs. But please do not ask me anything about Networking, programming, command line stuff, or any relatively hard software stuff. I know next to nothing about that.

 

Compooters:

Spoiler

Desktop:

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CPU: i7 6700k, CPU Cooler: be quiet! Dark Rock Pro 3, Motherboard: MSI Z170a KRAIT GAMING, RAM: G.Skill Ripjaws 4 Series 4x4gb DDR4-2666 MHz, Storage: SanDisk SSD Plus 240gb + OCZ Vertex 180 480 GB + Western Digital Caviar Blue 1 TB 7200 RPM, Video Card: EVGA GTX 970 SSC, Case: Fractal Design Define S, Power Supply: Seasonic Focus+ Gold 650w Yay, Keyboard: Logitech G710+, Mouse: Logitech G502 Proteus Spectrum, Headphones: B&O H9i, Monitor: LG 29um67 (2560x1080 75hz freesync)

Home Server:

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CPU: Pentium G4400, CPU Cooler: Stock, Motherboard: MSI h110l Pro Mini AC, RAM: Hyper X Fury DDR4 1x8gb 2133 MHz, Storage: PNY CS1311 120gb SSD + two Segate 4tb HDDs in RAID 1, Video Card: Does Intel Integrated Graphics count?, Case: Fractal Design Node 304, Power Supply: Seasonic 360w 80+ Gold, Keyboard+Mouse+Monitor: Does it matter?

Laptop (I use it for school):

Spoiler

Surface book 2 13" with an i7 8650u, 8gb RAM, 256 GB storage, and a GTX 1050

And if you're curious (or a stalker) I have a Just Black Pixel 2 XL 64gb

 

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20 minutes ago, alizaidi2000 said:

if you vpn into your home network, then you will be able to access it as you normally would

@leadeater Ok, I just want to confirm but this guide looks good then?

https://www.digitalocean.com/community/tutorials/how-to-set-up-an-openvpn-server-on-debian-8

Make sure to quote me or tag me when responding to me, or I might not know you replied! Examples:

 

Do this:

Quote

And make sure you do it by hitting the quote button at the bottom left of my post, and not the one inside the editor!

Or this:

@DocSwag

 

Buy whatever product is best for you, not what product is "best" for the market.

 

Interested in computer architecture? Still in middle or high school? P.M. me!

 

I love computer hardware and feel free to ask me anything about that (or phones). I especially like SSDs. But please do not ask me anything about Networking, programming, command line stuff, or any relatively hard software stuff. I know next to nothing about that.

 

Compooters:

Spoiler

Desktop:

Spoiler

CPU: i7 6700k, CPU Cooler: be quiet! Dark Rock Pro 3, Motherboard: MSI Z170a KRAIT GAMING, RAM: G.Skill Ripjaws 4 Series 4x4gb DDR4-2666 MHz, Storage: SanDisk SSD Plus 240gb + OCZ Vertex 180 480 GB + Western Digital Caviar Blue 1 TB 7200 RPM, Video Card: EVGA GTX 970 SSC, Case: Fractal Design Define S, Power Supply: Seasonic Focus+ Gold 650w Yay, Keyboard: Logitech G710+, Mouse: Logitech G502 Proteus Spectrum, Headphones: B&O H9i, Monitor: LG 29um67 (2560x1080 75hz freesync)

Home Server:

Spoiler

CPU: Pentium G4400, CPU Cooler: Stock, Motherboard: MSI h110l Pro Mini AC, RAM: Hyper X Fury DDR4 1x8gb 2133 MHz, Storage: PNY CS1311 120gb SSD + two Segate 4tb HDDs in RAID 1, Video Card: Does Intel Integrated Graphics count?, Case: Fractal Design Node 304, Power Supply: Seasonic 360w 80+ Gold, Keyboard+Mouse+Monitor: Does it matter?

Laptop (I use it for school):

Spoiler

Surface book 2 13" with an i7 8650u, 8gb RAM, 256 GB storage, and a GTX 1050

And if you're curious (or a stalker) I have a Just Black Pixel 2 XL 64gb

 

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