Hi,

 

been a long time Unraid user and very happy about it, but I need some help. I want to access my shares when abroad and not home. I suppose I need to use some sort of VPN-solution (OpenVPN?), but I need help setting my client and server up?

 

Or is it possible that there might be other solutions than VPN?

 

Tia/Lappen

Or is it possible that there might be other solutions than VPN?

 

It depends on what the end objective is.  If you just want to play media files, you could install plexserver and use that.  If you want to a access the shares for other reasons or use a different media streamer, then yes you need a VPN solution.

 

You could install/use a VPN server directly on your router, depending on your router, or use the OpenVPN plugin for unraid as a solution. I personally run OpenVPN on my router.

 

A lot of router claim to have VPN support but only support PPTP as the VPN.  I would not use PPTP as a vpn solution.

 

Thx switchman

The end objective is to be able to access the files in a share just like if the files were on my local harddrive (i.e. mounted volume), and if possible that up to 5 different users can access the files each from their own client.

 

Can someone help in setting up the OpenVPN solution for unraid and guide me to my end goal?

 

Tia/Lappen

 

 

If you need up to 5 simultaneous users, then you need some CPU power.  Your typical home router cannot support that.  Five users yes, simultaneous users no.

 

peter_sm put together and maintains unraid client and server plugins.  Here is the link to the server post. http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=28557.0

Also, you may want to read through the OpenVPN documentation.  Particularly https://openvpn.net/index.php/open-source/documentation/howto.html.  Defiantly the section "Numbering private subnets".  This can cause you a lot of grief getting it to work.

I use OpenVPN in my router - the current firmware for the Asus RT-AC68U has OpenVPN built-in, and it is configured via the web UI.  It will support username and password only connections, but it is generally recommended to use the pres-shared certificate method (which is what I do).  The Asus firmware will generate a certificate that you then pass to the remote clients by some other secure method before setting them up (such as locally with a USB stick, or by email in an encrypted RAR file).  I currently am able to connect to my home network using my Windows 7 laptop, my iPhone 6 and my Nexus 7 tablet.  There is a little bit of a learning curve with OpenVPN but once the clients are set up I find it generally just works and I can access the shares and other devices on the home network pretty easily.  Asus also support OpenVPN on the AC66U and probably some of their other more capable routers.

 

Note that many routers than include a VPN facility only offer PPTP.  While it works, it is generally considered relatively insecure and has a number of well documented weaknesses.

@S80_UK

The OP has not defined the usage other than five users.  Five accounts are no problem, five simultaneous active tunnels I'm not so sure of.  It might, it has a powerful processor.

 

@Lappen

No matter which version you use, it would help to read over the OpenVpn documentation to understand whats going on.

 

For example you probably want to change your home IP sub-net to a unique solution from the standard 192.168.x.y.  X typically = 1 or 0.  My sons home sub-net is the same as mine and I have to remember to turn off my WiFi on my phone if I want to open a VPN connection back to my house when I'm there.

 

It also has all the options explained.  For example, my server is configured to force my phone to send all of the internet traffic through the tunnel when the VPN is activated.

 

Another thing to consider is your internet uplink speed.  Hopefully you are have a good uplink speed.  Also, you might have to enable some form of QoS in your router to keep the the VPN traffic from killing your normal internet activity. 

 

I'm not saying don't use it, just that when you turn it on, it has the capability of impacting other areas of your network traffic that you need to be aware off.

I haven't tried more than two concurrent connections, so not sure about five.  This is the stock Asus f/w too, btw, current version is 3.0.0.4.376_3626. 

 

That's a valid comment about the uplink speed too.  I have a 12 Mbits uplink from Virgin Media, but I don't see that much over the VPN (maybe 3M or 4M).  I have not looked into this further since it works well enough for my needs - it could well be the router that's limiting it though.