Unable to Connect with VPN & Other VPN Questions

[RogerTheBannister]

This will probably be a really obvious solution, but I'm easily confused when it comes to network stuff. New to NAS / UnRAID.

 

I use the Mullvad Windows app as a VPN for desktop browsing. I've noticed when it is enabled, I'm unable to access any part of my NAS - shares, webui, dockers etc. Is there something I need to change within UnRAID? I want to avoid making a "permanent" change in Windows as I frequently toggle the VPN on and off, and don't want to have to change network settings every time.

 

 

I may have this wrong, but reading around, I got the impression that I could set my desktop up to connect through the NAS's own VPN. I wouldn't want this, as I currently don't plan to have the NAS running 24/7.

 

 

Related:

 

I have wanted to run a few things such as remote access, LANCache, radarr/sonarr/deluge but had to stop short when I discovered they all require port forwarding. This is not possible with my ISP/router. I heard that using a VPN is a way to get around this? Is this true, or is there no way to get around port forwarding?

 

I previously followed though a tutorial in setting up deluge / privoxy / radarr and part of that was configuring a wireguard file which I got though my Mullvad account. I was able to confirm this was working by running the command curl https://am.i.mullvad.net/connected through either the deluge or privoxy container, where it correctly outputs my VPN'd IP. So I got that part working at least.

 

Edited January 30, 2023 by RogerTheBannister

[apandey]

26 minutes ago, RogerTheBannister said:

I've noticed when it is enabled, I'm unable to access any part of my NAS

Do you have local network sharing enabled in your VPN app? https://mullvad.net/en/help/using-mullvad-vpn-app/#localnetworksharing

 

Without this, every connection will be router to VPN and will exit from VPN IP which obviously has no route back to your local network

[RogerTheBannister]

Well then. I did say it would be really obvious!

 

I'll mark this as solved, but any thoughts on the port forwarding part of my post?

Edited January 30, 2023 by RogerTheBannister

[apandey]

1 hour ago, RogerTheBannister said:

any thoughts on the port forwarding part of my post?

It is not clear whether you want access to unraid from outside your network or you want to access the internet from radarr/sonarr etc via a VPN. 

 

For remote access, you will either port forward, or use your own point to point VPN running on unraid. see here - https://wiki.unraid.net/My_Servers#Configuring_Remote_Access_.28optional.29

 

For VPN based access for containers, I think you already managed to do that using your mullvand vpn

[RogerTheBannister]

17 hours ago, apandey said:

It is not clear whether you want access to unraid from outside your network or you want to access the internet from radarr/sonarr etc via a VPN.

 

I guess both. I was wanting to access my server remotely (do stuff via the webUI and transfer to/from a shared folder) and run apps like deluge through a VPN connection.

 

18 hours ago, apandey said:

For remote access, you will either port forward, or use your own point to point VPN running on unraid. see here - https://wiki.unraid.net/My_Servers#Configuring_Remote_Access_.28optional.29

 

I believe that was the guide I was initially going through until I saw the words "port foward" on the second to last step and just cancelled what I was doing.

I should have paid more attention to the link in the first paragraph - "If you need access to Docker containers, network drives, or other devices on your network, you'll want to setup a VPN instead". Specifically the part on Wireguard, as at a glance that sounds like what I should be doing. It's a lot of reading, so I'll work my way through it later on. https://wiki.unraid.net/Manual/Security#WireGuard

 

19 hours ago, apandey said:

For VPN based access for containers, I think you already managed to do that using your mullvand vpn

 

Yes, this seems to be working well now. At least with deluge I can see my connection is going through a VPN.

I actually forgot what I was doing here with my initial post, now I remember I had another issue unrelated to VPNs. I was following a guide to setting up Radarr / Sonarr but had to put it on hold when I got to the part on adding an indexer. I didn't realise indexer sites were some whole other world of secret clubs you have to be invited to, and paid memberships, so that's another project for another time, and a completely different topic!