Remote file access - unRAID


wishie

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Hi all,

 

I've recently been asked to set up a 'file server' for a small business. They were originally going to use a laptop with an external usb hard disk as their solution. I've talked them into setting up an unRAID machine to store their documents instead, which is good. But, as we know, while unRAID helps with hardware failures, it is NOT a backup.

So, I've been thinking about how to also store their data in the cloud. Things like CrashPlan Pro etc look promising. Are there any other services I should also check out?

 

Also, another requirement they have just hit me with, is remote access to the files on the machine. They want several committee members to be able to connect remotely to open/edit/delete files (hopefully) using the same username/password system that unRAID already employs across user shares. Is there a handy way to do this, or is using a VPN (will be a pain to setup and configure on end users machines) the only real way to go?

Any advice and help appreciated.

 

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For backups of my desktop machines I use backblaze b2 and Duplicati. Backblaze is fairly cheap and I know there is a Duplicati docker available for unRAID.

 

For remote access I use OpenVPN. Mine is running bare metal on a seperate box (pfSense) and that works very well but you can also run pfSense in a VM on unRAID. There is also an OpenVPN-AS docker if you are willing to accept their licensing restrictions. Their free license allows only 2 concurrent users. OpenVPN has client apps available for most platforms. I only have direct experience with the MacOS/iOS versions, but it’s my understanding that all the versions are fairly easy to install and configure.

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So the best solution would be a modem/router/switch that can run the VPN server itself I guess.. I am going to nee to make this remote access as easy for these guys as possible (they are mostly 50+ yr old women with not much computer experience)

 

For the cloud backups, ill look into backblaze and duplicati. Thanks

 

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You could also use something like tonido for remote file access, there's a docker container for it. Pretty simple for the end user, you can access your files from pretty much any device.  But I'll have to agree, for a business, even a small one, vpn would probably be the best option.  

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