smb Remote SMB

[gutz00]

Good Evening,

I am kinda stuck on setting SMB for out of home access. I have been using a Windows 10 Machine to Host the SMB via exFAT and it works in home.

I have set static IP addresses and port forwarding up already yet I run into time out issues.

Does anyone else have any ideas?

[leadeater]

Allowing SMB access over the internet is a really bad idea. Use something else like FTP or file sync application/protocol. WebDAV, rsync, scp/ssh, ftp, anything but SMB.

[gutz00]

1 minute ago, leadeater said:

Allowing SMB access over the internet is a really bad idea. Use something else like FTP or file sync application/protocol. WebDAV, rsync, scp/ssh, ftp, anything but SMB.

I would like to avoid FTP due to having to download the whole file and the inability of editing the file directly off the server. I know SMB still can require a Username & Password. Is there any other reason to avoid SMB over the internet?

[leadeater]

4 minutes ago, gutz00 said:

I would like to avoid FTP due to having to download the whole file and the inability of editing the file directly off the server. I know SMB still can require a Username & Password. Is there any other reason to avoid SMB over the internet?

Most of the Windows security issues come through SMB or the port SMB uses, it's not really considered an internet secure protocol on Windows. Other option is to install OpenVPN on the computer, setup port forwarding for that, then install the OpenVPN client on your remote device. Doing it that way is much safer.

 

Edit: It's also more likely to work as well.

[gutz00]

5 minutes ago, leadeater said:

Most of the Windows security issues come through SMB or the port SMB uses, it's not really considered an internet secure protocol on Windows. Other option is to install OpenVPN on the computer, setup port forwarding for that, then install the OpenVPN client on your remote device. Doing it that way is much safer.

 

Edit: It's also more likely to work as well.

Does it have the same benefits of SMB or does it act more like FTP? I would prefer an easy address you can just enter opposed to a stand alone client.

[leadeater]

1 minute ago, gutz00 said:

Does it have the same benefits of SMB or does it act more like FTP? I would prefer an easy address you can just enter opposed to a stand alone client.

OpenVPN is just a VPN server software to allow you to create a secure network connection back in to your network. When your client connects to that it'll be as if it's actually on your home network so SMB will work along with anything else you want without having to setup a lot of port forwarding rules.

[gutz00]

27 minutes ago, leadeater said:

OpenVPN is just a VPN server software to allow you to create a secure network connection back in to your network. When your client connects to that it'll be as if it's actually on your home network so SMB will work along with anything else you want without having to setup a lot of port forwarding rules.

Do I need to purchase the Business License? After doing some research I went to see pricing and it says I must purchase for a minimum of 10 computers. I max need this for 3 or 4. Ideally only my Home Workstation and road MacBook.

[corrado33]

25 minutes ago, gutz00 said:

Do I need to purchase the Business License? After doing some research I went to see pricing and it says I must purchase for a minimum of 10 computers. I max need this for 3 or 4. Ideally only my Home Workstation and road MacBook.

There is plenty of free VPN software out there, just google. Also if you have a modernish nice router it may support hosting a VPN itself, without the need for you to install any software. 

[leadeater]

2 hours ago, gutz00 said:

Do I need to purchase the Business License? After doing some research I went to see pricing and it says I must purchase for a minimum of 10 computers. I max need this for 3 or 4. Ideally only my Home Workstation and road MacBook.

I've never had to pay for it, was free as far as I was aware. I've never used it beyond personal use, maybe it's changed since it's been ages since I've used it.

[NelizMastr]

33 minutes ago, leadeater said:

I've never had to pay for it, was free as far as I was aware. I've never used it beyond personal use, maybe it's changed since it's been ages since I've used it.

Indeed looks like they make you pay for it now. I have it running on my Synology NAS for free, without issues, though. 

 

3 hours ago, gutz00 said:

Do I need to purchase the Business License? After doing some research I went to see pricing and it says I must purchase for a minimum of 10 computers. I max need this for 3 or 4. Ideally only my Home Workstation and road MacBook.

Might be a better idea to forward port 3389, assuming your PC runs a Pro version of Windows, and access your PC directly to get to the shares. You'll need a beefy password when going this route though.

[gutz00]

On 11/20/2018 at 2:28 AM, NelizMastr said:

Indeed looks like they make you pay for it now. I have it running on my Synology NAS for free, without issues, though. 

 

Might be a better idea to forward port 3389, assuming your PC runs a Pro version of Windows, and access your PC directly to get to the shares. You'll need a beefy password when going this route though.

Sorry for the late response. I'm cheap so I only have the home edition. Would it be worth paying to upgrade to the pro version. And I am a networking noob so what is port 3389.

[beersykins]

You're probably looking at vpn access server, which is a different product.

 

But yes you really want to wrap smb into some sort of VPN tunnel, port forwarding that is a bad idea.

[Mikensan]

Just for some additional information, SMB requires a large number of ports and as others have pointed out - not a great idea over the internet. If you don't mind people having access to your files (read/edit/whatever), able to upload files to you, and very likely gaining admin rights to your box - then feel free.

 

Assuming your file types are either pictures or documents - why not store them on the cloud (google / microsoft)? If it's movies you want access to, then I'd say install Plex - easiest solution.  

  

Otherwise you could install Teamviewer or similar, to access your computer remotely.

 

I would recommend a VPN as well but it seems like something you're not too comfortable with. So I'd say Cloud or Teamviewer.

[dalekphalm]

I'm pretty sure the Free version of OpenVPN is still available. If you go onto their website, you can still grab the files for the various platforms.

 

With that in mind, I don't think OpenVPN Server runs on Windows. You can run it via Hyper-V or ESXi (or various Linux distros).

 

There's not a good free VPN Server for Windows that I'm aware of, outside of the built-in offering (The Windows 10 built-in VPN only suports PPTP connections, which are considered relatively insecure these days).

 

Windows Server offers more secure connection options though.

 

With that in mind, setting up PPTP VPN Server on Windows 10 is still far superior to trying to port forward the SMB share itself... which, frankly, you should forget about even trying to get working, because it's a giant "please hack me" sign for baddies on the web.

 

Instructions:

https://www.howtogeek.com/135996/how-to-create-a-vpn-server-on-your-windows-computer-without-installing-any-software/