Is ReadyCLOUD ready to use?

[steviep1]

I posted yesterday with a question relating to local users being able to change their own password on a new ReadyNAS 316 we have in the office (

viewtopic.php?f=23&t=71146

).

I have been trying to get some answers about how I am supposed to setup ReadyCLOUD access to this device from Netgear support - and the issue has been escalated - but I wondered if any wise ewoks in here know how this is meant to function. It appears that when you activate ReadyCLOUD in OS 6 you have to supply a single ReadyCLOUD / ReadyNAS remote (are these accounts synonymous?) account. However you can also add several other accounts either by email address or ReadyCLOUD username.

There doesn't seem to be anywhere where you can restrict what such Cloud users have access to on the NAS. When I login to ReadyCLOUD with anything other than the ReadyCLOUD account associated with the activation on the ReadyNAS device I don't have access to anything on it. If I switch the account used for activation the access seems to switch to that user but none of the other users in the Cloud users list has any access beyond seing the Device as listed under their browsable devices - just browsing it shows no files or folders.

This is quite frustrating, I got this NAS because it has this feature - we have remote workers who need access from other sites than the office, sometimes at third party machines.

Any info would help - the documentation for this device seems to be quite limited.

[steviep1]

I have one more week before my statutory no questions right to return the product to the vendor is up. I've asked Netgear support who have now escalated the issue to third level support. I hope very much that they can answer in the next day or two. Second level were very committed to helping me but clearly were trying to figure out how the ReadyCLOUD service is meant to function during remote TeamViewer sessions on my desktop and they were stumped after more than two hours.

There are some very knowledgeable people in these forums so I thought I'd share in the hope that I can get the answers I'm seeking as quickly as pos.

Here is the starting point:



There is some further advice here:



Here's my list of Cloud Users...



and here is my list of local users:



But Cloud users don't appear in the place where you assign local users access rights (as suggested by the documentation above):



and when I log in to ReadyCLOUD with an account in my list of Cloud Users but which was not the individual account used to register the NAS with the ReadyCLOUD service I can see the device but none of the shares on the device.



But with the account which was used to register the NAS I see the shares:



Any advice / help / info to help me in my decision would be very welcome.

[Leia]

Hi steviep,

For now adding friends in ReadyCloud isn't in the latest released version yet. All cloud users now just work with ReadyNAS Remote clients and ReadyDrop. We will release adding friends later. You can add friends in NAS Admin UI: Cloud->Cloud Users or add friends in Cloud portal(readycloud.netgear.com) then.

For now, if your nas and your PC clients in different network segment, you can just install ReadyNAS Remote client(https://remote.readynas.com/download.html) in your PC, and add remote accounts in Cloud users list(you've already done). If you don't need to set different ACL for these accounts, you can just enable "Allow anonymous access" of SMB or AFP, then login from ReadyNAS Remote client. If you want to set different ACL for these accounts, you need to create local users for them, and they need to login ReadyNAS Remote with their remote accounts, and then login NAS with their NAS local users accounts.





Thanks,
-Leia

[steviep1]

Thanks Leia,

There's a number of things in your response:

• Currently, local user remote access is only supported via ReadyNAS Remote (requires client software installed).


• ReadyNAS Remote users are required to authenticate with the NAS itself so the ReadyNAS Remote account used to establish the connection is somewhat arbitrary (e.g. I could create a single ReadyNAS Remote account for my company and have everyone log in with it, then use their local user when prompted).


• ReadyCLOUD currently only works with a single ReadyCLOUD account which is associated with the NAS admin account at present.


• Netgear intends to include ReadyCLOUD access for "friends" in a later release of ReadyCLOUD / OS 6.

This NAS was bought for an office with several client-site workers. These users would like to have access to the NAS files from any computer with a web browser. I really thought that was what ReadyCLOUD was for, and I look forward to that crucial element of ReadyCLOUD being implemented. Any ETA for this functionality?

For the time being is my best solution:

• Create a company ReadyNAS Remote account.


• Use this account to activate ReadyCloud on the NAS


• Add this account as a Cloud User of the NAS


• get all staff to login with this account in both ReadyNAS Remote and the ReadyCLOUD


• Tell staff if they wish to access their home directories they can only do this via ReadyNAS Remote

Does this seem correct Leia?

[Leia]

If you just want to access NAS shares via Browser, yes, you can just create an account, register your NAS to ReadyCloud with this account, everyone uses the same account to access NAS shares in Cloud portal. And I've checked again, you can use the same account in different PCs in the same time.
But you need to know, each ReadyNAS Remote account only can login one Remote client at one time, so you cannot use same Remote account login from different clients at the same time.
For large files or large number of files transferring, I think using ReadyNAS Remote clients(via smb/afp) is more convenient and faster then Browser(via https). But if you want to upload or download just a few files(not too big) to a computer just not yours, you can just use ReadyCloud(just for example). So Netgear designs these tools just for different business scenarios. You can find the best way refer to your own situation.
And for now, local users home directories just can access via smb and afp. I know devs has a plan to enhance home directories management in later version, but don't know the details and when now. So for now, if your staff want to access their home directories, in same network segment of the NAS, you can just afp or smb access the NAS share(for Mac: Finder, Command + K, afp://NAS_ip; for Windows: \\NAS_ip). If in different segment, just use ReadyNAS Remote->Shares, then login with the NAS local user.

Hope these can help you.
Thanks,
-Leia

[steviep1]

In conclusion then - ReadyCLOUD is not ready for anything other than a single user environment. The ReadyCLOUD account associated with the NAS has the equivalent of Admin user rights. I've created other posts about the performance of the ReadyNAS Remote alternative Leia suggests. This seems to present performance issues to the point of being unusable. My staff are telling me this, and emailing each other files rather than use the NAS when on different sites.

I need the updated ReadyCLOUD asap. I guess the alternative would be to install AJAXPlorer and expose the NAS to the internet but I wanted to avoid doing that. Does anyone have experience of doing this?

[horim80]

At the readycloud.com, in the access page, (if i logged in as cloud admin user) there was 'set' button when I click the share. but it's suddenly disappeared.
So no way to set permission for could user this time.. I think it need to update..

[Leia]

horim80 wrote:
At the readycloud.com, in the access page, (if i logged in as cloud admin user) there was 'set' button when I click the share. but it's suddenly disappeared. So no way to set permission for could user this time.. I think it need to update..

readycloud.com is not Netgear service. The readycloud's url is https://readycloud.netgear.com.
The inviting friends function(set permission for RN remote accounts) is re-designed, and will released later.
Thanks,
-Leia

[horim80]

Leia wrote:

horim80 wrote: At the readycloud.com, in the access page, (if i logged in as cloud admin user) there was 'set' button when I click the share. but it's suddenly disappeared. So no way to set permission for could user this time.. I think it need to update.. readycloud.com is not Netgear service. The readycloud's url is https://readycloud.netgear.com. The inviting friends function(set permission for RN remote accounts) is re-designed, and will released later. Thanks, -Leia

I mean readycloud.netgear.com sorry.
I hope that netgear release the re-design version in a short time.. Just waiting.

[m1sterd]

I have several support tickets open with Netgear, one of them being for my RN516 asking a question about ReadyCloud, I had assumed that ReadyCloud was the mechanism Netgear provide to allow users (invited ReadyCloud users) to securly access the NAS and only see content that these users were given access to.

Is Netgear saying that this is not the case and that ReadyCloud is only for the purpose of administering the NAS device by the admin user (well primary ReadyCloud user)?

In which case what is the Netgears recommended way to securely allow another person or people to each have access to limited content contained on the NAS without having to install extra genie apps (which as far as I can see Netgear dont actually support it up to the developers of the apps, but I cant see how you can contact the developers to report issues), allowing them to view/download/upload/(possibly delete).

[mdgm-ntgr]

ReadyNAS Remote is for providing Remote Access to content on the NAS.

You can configure this in the Cloud section of the Dashboard.

Have you had a look at the Software Manual?

[m1sterd]

I have looked through parts of the manual, the problem is that I went into it thinking that ReadyCloud was the mechanism for giving other users remote access, I believe on the Netgear sales page it says "Introducing ReadyCLOUD: Discover, Manage, & Access Data from Anywhere" and its the last bit that had me thinking this, Manage and Access Data from anywhere.

I understand there is ReadyRemote, however I thought this requires the user to install an application (iOS/Android/OSX/Windows) and so is not suitable to give out to several of my friends who just want quick access for a specific purpose.

It sounds like from the above comments that this is possibly a feature that is coming in future releases? (so I guess this may have been the intended approach) but its not there yet. The fact that several related threads have appeared in this section means that I am not the only one having confusion around how it is supposed to work.

[StephenB]

If you want to provide quick access for a specific purpose, using HTTP or FTP might be a better option (port-forwarding through your router, and also getting a ddns URL). Though you would need to create a temporary account on the NAS for them to use (or create one or two accounts for temporary use, and change the passwords regularly).

[m1sterd]

StephenB, thanks for the suggestion, I did take a look at the HTTP option, however as far as I can see that does only give read only access from the browser, I cant enable FTP as some of the people accessing it would not know how to use a terminal and would not understand how to install or use an FTP client application.

[StephenB]

It is annoying that http doesn't support write access yet.

FileZilla is one of several FTP clients that are quite easy to use - no command line interface is needed.

[m1sterd]

I have just installed 6.0.8 on my RN516. the release notes say:

Added ability to invite users and assign access control via ReadyCLOUD.

I can see that under the Shares -> Settings -> SMB -> Access section that I can now see the main ReadyCloud user that the ReadyNAS is registered with, however I cant see any of the invited users, none of the ReadyCloud users (main or invited) appear under any of the other file protocols. Other than inviting users I cant see anywhere else that would allow me to change their access to specific shares, the Software Manual is still dated April 2013.

It may be that this requires a ReadyCloud update as well and this has not yet been done? but it certainly sounds as though ReadyCloud was supposed to work as I had expected it to?.

[horim80]

Invite user menu added at readycloud.netgear.com but it can't find any remote user!

[harpman58]

Well, here is my response to this thread. 2nd level support told me that this database invite user issue was resolved in 6.0.8. It hasn't been resolved at all. If I do the "Invite User" from the ReadyNAS device and click "Search", it will find the user. If I perform the same steps from ReadyCloud logged in as the admin (user who registered the ReadyNAS", it doesn't find the same user. There is a DB sync issue that is broken. Being a Netgear reseller and in the IT business for over 42 years, I've never seen a product at such an infancy stage. My main purpose for purchasing this product was "ease of use" at a decent price point. I would have been better off purchasing a Buffalo Terastation or Linkstation which just works out of the box. So the answer to this thread is "NO", ReadyCLOUD is NOT ready for use! 😞

[harpman58]

m1sterd wrote:

I have just installed 6.0.8 on my RN516. the release notes say: Added ability to invite users and assign access control via ReadyCLOUD. I can see that under the Shares -> Settings -> SMB -> Access section that I can now see the main ReadyCloud user that the ReadyNAS is registered with, however I cant see any of the invited users, none of the ReadyCloud users (main or invited) appear under any of the other file protocols. Other than inviting users I cant see anywhere else that would allow me to change their access to specific shares, the Software Manual is still dated April 2013. It may be that this requires a ReadyCloud update as well and this has not yet been done? but it certainly sounds as though ReadyCloud was supposed to work as I had expected it to?.

On my RN102, I can't see any registered or invited user under Shares -> Settings -> SMB as well as anywhere else.

[horim80]

Oh..It's now working properly. I guess all issues resolved..

[m1sterd]

It does now appear to be working, I guess that the 6.0.8 firmware was just one part to the fix, it then needed a change to the ReadyCloud implementation that happened a few days later.

However since the update to the ReadyCloud I cant get any of my Android ReadyRemote devices working, iOS is fine though.

[mdgm-ntgr]

m1sterd wrote:
However since the update to the ReadyCloud I cant get any of my Android ReadyRemote devices working, iOS is fine though.

http://www.readynas.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=67841&p=399067#p399067

[pkraiker]

I'm just getting around to looking at ReadyCloud and am puzzled by the lack of documentation / help files. For example, which devices are supported?

I have two NV+ V2, I have ReadyRemote configured and working on both and have tried starting at the readycloud.netgear.com site to use the discover function without success.
The NV+ V2 doesn't have any options in the Settings tab for ReadyCloud, and I don't see any add-on.

What am I missing?

[horim80]

pkraiker wrote:

I'm just getting around to looking at ReadyCloud and am puzzled by the lack of documentation / help files. For example, which devices are supported? I have two NV+ V2, I have ReadyRemote configured and working on both and have tried starting at the readycloud.netgear.com site to use the discover function without success. The NV+ V2 doesn't have any options in the Settings tab for ReadyCloud, and I don't see any add-on. What am I missing?

ReadyCLOUD is only supported on OS6 models. ex> ReadyNAS 100, 300, 500 series and ReadyNAS 2120.

[Meldeals]

Well I wish I'd read this post before I bought the RN314. At best Netgear is playing some bait-and-switch game with what they've publicly said. Here is a quote from Smallnetbuilder regarding Readycloud:

"NETGEAR asked me to point out that setup isn't the only cloud-enabled feature that OS 6 brings to ReadyNAS. You get portal-based (no fiddling with dynamic DNS or router port forwarding) file access and management, a Dropbox-like service (ReadyDROP), Remote support for Time Machine backups, remote play for media files and other features that will be explored in the OS 6 review to follow."

That review definitely played a large part of my purchasing decision. Readycloud is certainly not ready for business use in my estimation. Remote access throuh the browser is single user and admin only? Why not say that instead of "portal-based file access and management"?

I wish Netgear could get their story straight.