Greetings all,
Please bear with me I am completely new to NAS and networking stuff. I have watched the Freenas and NASFeratu videos, that build seems way beyond what I need.
I want to build a little machine (nothing amazing, an integrated APU or Atom itx board with a couple of old 250gb HDDs) to leave running in my parents house while I am abroad. I need to be able to remotely access my files and some encryption would be nice.
Is freenas a good OS for this?
Suggestions for both software and hardware would be very welcome.
I think you have 2 issues:
1: NAS
2: Router/Remote access
Now you could forward ports for the NAS through the router... for whatever services you need, such as FTP.
Or you could setup a VPN on the router (DD-WRT, Tomato, or its possibly supported by the MFG firmware). This would give you a virtual tunnel into your home network when you are away. Then you'd have access to whatever you could access via the LAN you currently use.
From what I've seen, FreeNAS recommends against just port forwarding... but I'll leave that to you to investigate further. It'd be easier, but probably more risky. Also FTP isn't encrypted, etc.
If it was me, I'd use pfSense and setup OpenVPN. That's a separate box tho. Maybe a VM.
Thanks, I will look into this - you are very helpful