How to access a shared file on my RN212 NAS remotely from within another program?

[ramone12781]

I've searched all over trying to find out how to access a shared file on my RN212 NAS remotely from within another program (kodi) on my iPhone 6S Plus Remotely away from home. I've tried FTP, UPnP, HTTP, etc. to no avail and it's driving me nuts! I run the program kodi from my phone to watch videos stored on my NAS, I have a NightHawkR7000 router and believe I am savvy enough to get this figured out but apparently not lol I have all the correct ports forwarded but maybe I am missing a step somewhere. Any help on this would be much appreciated!🤔

[ramone12781 · Accepted solution]

Well after 2 days of trying to figure this out I finally got it! So.... With FTP I had to port forward port 21 (default for ftp server port) on my router and point it to my NAS static IP. Then within kodi app I go to files, add videos, browse, add network location, select protocol FTP server, Server address will be your public IP address (you can find this by googling whatsmyip), leave remote path blank, Port 21, then enter in your username and password for your share, after you hit ok you will see your network path ex. (ftp://0.0.0.0:21) select it then go all the way to the folder you would like to access and your done! You should now be able to access your videos from home and remotely over cellular network.

Hope this helps someone out and don't get put through the hell that I went through to figure this out...

[StephenB]

I'd configiure OpenVPN on the Nighthawk and install the OpenVPN app on the phone.  Then you can connect to your full home networlk securely while away.

[ramone12781]

I am going to try that now. Thank you!

[ramone12781 · Accepted solution]

Well after 2 days of trying to figure this out I finally got it! So.... With FTP I had to port forward port 21 (default for ftp server port) on my router and point it to my NAS static IP. Then within kodi app I go to files, add videos, browse, add network location, select protocol FTP server, Server address will be your public IP address (you can find this by googling whatsmyip), leave remote path blank, Port 21, then enter in your username and password for your share, after you hit ok you will see your network path ex. (ftp://0.0.0.0:21) select it then go all the way to the folder you would like to access and your done! You should now be able to access your videos from home and remotely over cellular network.

Hope this helps someone out and don't get put through the hell that I went through to figure this out...

[StephenB]

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@ramone12781 wrote:

Well after 2 days of trying to figure this out I finally got it! So.... With FTP I had to port forward port 21 (default for ftp server port) on my router and point it to my NAS static IP. Then within kodi app I go to files, add videos, browse, add network location, select protocol FTP server, Server address will be your public IP address (you can find this by googling whatsmyip), leave remote path blank, Port 21, then enter in your username and password for your share, after you hit ok you will see your network path ex. (ftp://0.0.0.0:21) select it then go all the way to the folder you would like to access and your done! You should now be able to access your videos from home and remotely over cellular network.

Hope this helps someone out and don't get put through the hell that I went through to figure this out...

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There are several posts here on setting up ftp.  There's also a kb base article (http://kb.netgear.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/23097/~/how-do-i-configure-file-transfer-protocol-(ftp...), but unfortunately that isn't very informative.

You left out configuring passive ports on the NAS for forwarding them in your router.  DDNS is generally needed, since most people don't have a static WAN address.

FTP is not encypted, so all the data (including passwords) are sent in the clear.  FTPS is better (or OpenVPN).

[ramone12781]

I didn't have to forward the passive ports not sure why? Though the NAS did show these ports under the main settings tab so maybe they are already auto configured? Also I wanted to use openvpn but because my iphone is on the ios beta version 9.3.3 beta5 I could not add the certificate files to my iphones openvpn app folder due to apps not populating in itunes its a known issue I guess with the latest ios beta version. As for FTPS I did not see this option within kodi nor the NAS any idea on additional steps on setting this would be awesome. Tha ks for your tips and help I appreciate it!

[StephenB]

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@ramone12781 wrote:
I didn't have to forward the passive ports not sure why? Though the NAS did show these ports under the main settings tab so maybe they are already auto configured? 

Did you just test the connection, or did you try to stream media while away from home?

The NAS auto-configures a very wide range of passive ports, but your router will not forward them to the NAS.  What you normally do is configure a much smaller range (4-10 ports , with the starting number > 49152), and forward that port range in your Router to the NAS.

Another trap is masquerading.  Some FTP clients require masquerading, and with those clients you can access either remotely or locally, but not both.  By default masquerading is off.

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@ramone12781 wrote:
 Also I wanted to use openvpn but because my iphone is on the ios beta version 9.3.3 beta5 I could not add the certificate files to my iphones openvpn app folder due to apps not populating in itunes its a known issue I guess with the latest ios beta version. 

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Thx, good to know.  It can be a bit tricky to install the configuration on iDevices.  My approach is to combine the files in the router's update into a single configuration file ( http://permalink.gmane.org/gmane.network.openvpn.user/32469 ).  Then I move it to my iPad with Goodreader, and open that single file with the OpenVPN app.

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@ramone12781 wrote:
 As for FTPS I did not see this option within kodi nor the NAS any idea on additional steps on setting this would be awesome. Tha ks for your tips and help I appreciate it!

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The NAS by default accepts FTPS connections with "explicit FTP over TLS".  I don't know if Kodi supports it or not.

[ramone12781]

Yes I have masquarding enabled but not sure haven't tried it in disabled mode. The only port I had to forward on my router was 21 and yes I can access this folder outside of my internal network remotely over cell network.

Is HTTP/HTTPS more secure than FTP/FTPS? I do not think kodi supports HTTPS/FTPS. I want to do the openvpn option and I will continue to try and keep this thread updated.

[StephenB]

HTTP and FTP are both insecure.  HTTPS and FTPS are both secure.

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@ramone12781 wrote:
Yes I have masquarding enabled but not sure haven't tried it in disabled mode. 

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Can you access with FTP on your local network?  

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@ramone12781 wrote:
The only port I had to forward on my router was 21 and yes I can access this folder outside of my internal network remotely over cell network.

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Did you pick passive or active ftp?

[ramone12781]

yes i was able to access my local server using ftp

wasnt givin an option on passive or active where would i have seen that?

[StephenB]

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@ramone12781 wrote:

wasnt givin an option on passive or active where would i have seen that?

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oops - ReadyNAS only exposes passive mode 

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[ramone12781]

can you tell me how I would configure https? It doesn't seem to be the same setup as ftp?

[ramone12781]

kodi plays hd movie files ie. (x264, mkv, etc.) so much faster and better from ReadyNAS than Plex. Better transcoding maybe? Processes way faster.

[StephenB]

@ramone12781 wrote:
can you tell me how I would configure https? It doesn't seem to be the same setup as ftp?

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You just enable it for the share, and forward the port (443) to the NAS in your router.  

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@ramone12781 wrote:
kodi plays hd movie files ie. (x264, mkv, etc.) so much faster and better from ReadyNAS than Plex. Better transcoding maybe? Processes way faster.

When Kodi is using FTP, HTTPS or CIFS to access the file there is no transcoding going on.  The file is transfered in its entirety (including tracks you aren't renderings), and Kodi plays it.

With Plex or DLNA, the file is processed in the Server, so transcoding to manage bandwidth becomes possible.  But if there is enough bandwidth, the player often does work better if it just gets the raw file.

[ramone12781]

man so i got the openvpn working for a little bit then woke up in the morning and it wouldn't connect. If I setup openvpn on my router the R7000 will I be secured on my whole network even if I use ftp with open port 21? Ghis **bleep** is getting frustrating.

[StephenB]

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@ramone12781 wrote:
man so i got the openvpn working for a little bit then woke up in the morning and it wouldn't connect. 

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It's been quite stable on my R8500 for a while (in fact I'm using it now, as I am away from home).  What device are you connecting from?  Are you using a DDNS name to reach your router?

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@ramone12781 wrote:
If I setup openvpn on my router the R7000 will I be secured on my whole network even if I use ftp with open port 21?

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You'll be secure if you are accesing the home network via openvpn.  If you are accessing the router over the internet and forwarding port 21, then you'd be secure with ftps, but not with ftp.

[ramone12781]

I have ddns with noip.com but I went this route to get it setup on my windows machine, the R7000, and my iphone:

http://www.vpngate.net/en/howto_openvpn.aspx#ios

[StephenB]

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@ramone12781 wrote:
I have ddns with noip.com but I went this route to get it setup on my windows machine, the R7000, and my iphone:

http://www.vpngate.net/en/howto_openvpn.aspx#ios

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Does it fail on both the windows machine and the iphone?  I didn't install the opvn key using a relay service; I manually merged the 3 files in the a single file ( http://blog.iopsl.com/openvpn-configuration-in-a-single-file/ ), then I used GoodReader to migrate it to my iPad.  Then I used Goodreader to send it to OpenVPN. 

[ramone12781]

ok this is what I want to do so did you just download the opvn file from within the router gui? I tried that where I downloaded the iphone .opvn file to my windows machine, emailed it to myself and opened the email on my iphone opening the ovpn file with opvn app on my iphone but the app wouldn't accept it or it error out on me

[StephenB]

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@ramone12781 wrote:
ok this is what I want to do so did you just download the opvn file from within the router gui? I tried that where I downloaded the iphone .opvn file to my windows machine, emailed it to myself and opened the email on my iphone opening the ovpn file with opvn app on my iphone but the app wouldn't accept it or it error out on me

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for my iPad I embedded the two crt files and the key file into the opvn file, and downloaded that file.  IMO Netgear should be doing that, it's much easier to install the single file.  One of several guides on how to do that is here: https://www.brainfart.sg/index.php/2012/05/embedding-certificate-into-openvpn-config/