SMB help,thank you

Networking & Firewalls
1

Hey all!

This is Mike here.

I have smb set up on my truenas server and I can access it on my mac by going to finder-go-connecttoserver-smb://nameofmyserver

now, I can do that ON my LAN and I have it set up so I can either ssh(terminal or command prompt) OR the above(for quick file management). Now, on my mac I can do any of the above on or off my network…as long as I have internet.

For the life of me(I’m not 100% windows fluent but I can get by), I can only get on the server via filezilla or ssh command prompt. I can do those on or off my network as well, so everything is working, however, filezilla is SOOOO slow transferring compared to finder. Is there…a (finder) for windows? I would think that file explorer could do it, but alas, I can’t make it work. I can file explorer locally using \192.168.x.x\ServerShare. Thats about it…I have pretty much access to all platforms…these are mixes of desktops and laptops, thanks for the help!

update: I can access server through file explorer via \servername while on LAN, however, still not outside LAN. and pressing enter. BUT ONLY on network.

Again, my mac, I can use finder to connect in LAN or outside On my mac it works on, off, sideways(lol). Any ideas? I want to access it above outside of my network like I do on my mac.

Anything you need, just ask.

********update, I had a catastrophic harddrive failures(3 drives at same time) and I had to completely start fresh(which was fine as I had a data backup)

That being said, I created a new SMB, however now, I can only access the SMB in my LAN on either Windows or Mac. I have port forwarded to 22 and can access the server via ssh through command prompt and terminal. Now, I want to use either file explorer/finder outside my LAN as I would do with command prompt/terminal. I need some help figuring out what permissions or settings need changing. THANKS!

2

SMB should only be used over VPN and SSH is generally not the fastest way to transfer files.

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3

so what would I use? we’ve been using scp commmand in cp/terminal, but thats just as slow, and filezilla is slow too(cyberduck for mac)…or so I’ve found.

4

I guess I’d like to know the purpose of what you are trying to accomplish. From reading what you posted this is not a very secure way of doing things. Maybe after understanding there might be another way.

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5

So…we are saving cwp and cwb files…which when they start…are only 500mb…however, when they grow and the time is bigger…can be 20gb. We just want a fast and secure way to share them between my server. My friend and I currently are the only two to have access as of right now? Like I said… .using scp in command prompt/terminal and using like Filezilla is slow too…idk.

6

I’m going to begin by echoing everyone’s concerns (@LTS_Tom , @xMAXIMUSx ) that what you are describing is not safe. Even though SSH can be pretty effectively locked down and I use it extensively, I don’t have SSH ports open to the world anywhere because I just don’t think it’s safe enough. So, obviously, I’m more than a little paranoid. At the same time, the nature of the internet means that anyone in the world that wants to test your security can test your security, and I’m not comfortable with that many people trying to pick the SSH lock at the same time, particularly given the power of SSH.

I will also add that many ISPs block the ports you would need for SMB access (445 and 139 if I am remembering off the top of my head correctly) so you’ll likely never get that properly working over the open internet, and that is a good thing. We know that SMB is being actively probed and attacked because it was a rich source of vulnerabilities just a few years ago (see Eternal Blue [and no shade at the Linux SMB developers, just that we don’t know what other weaknesses the criminals might have found so far]).

All of that said, here are two directions you might want to consider:

  1. To do what you want to do in the way you are describing, you need a VPN. If the firewall in front of your TrueNAS box can’t be configured to provide an OpenVPN server, I have good news. TrueNAS can handle that itself:
    https://www.truenas.com/community/resources/truenas-and-openvpn-client-configuration.158/
    With the free OpenVPN client (or a paid Viscosity client), this will allow you to use SMB and connect directly to your file shares from clients connected through the VPN from anywhere.

  2. If #1 isn’t an option (or if you want something extra-cool), consider creating either a VM (my preference) or a jail on your TrueNAS box to run NextCloud (free). Think of it as Dropbox without size limits and completely under your own control. Using a (free) NextCloud client on your various systems, you can then keep all files in sync wherever you need them. The initial sync for very large files like you are describing won’t be fast, but keeping them in sync should be much smoother over time. As long as you use strong passwords and keep things updated, you should be acceptably secure.

Good luck!

1 Like
7

So if I am understanding you correctly you just need a way to sync these files remotely. Have you considered setting up an rsync jail in truenas? Also you do realize you are limited to the bandwidth upload speed where you are pulling these files from and if you are transferring gigs of data that could take a while.

1 Like
8

well, thats what I want to know. My speeds are 400 down/ 20 up. I get those speeds consistently(I work for the cable company so I’m fairly good at that half). I wasn’t sure what realistically to expect.

9

I’m working on option 1 and if it doesn’t work option 2 seems cool. I’ve never done either so it will take time.

10

I looked at what you posted and i guess I need to setup openvpn server first, so I’m going to look into that.

11

Apologies. I misread the title of the article and thought that TrueNAS had an OpenVPN server built in. As it doesn’t, I’d go with something similar to the base of item 2. Build a VM on the NAS to host an OpenVPN server. I haven’t read through this instruction set, but the Digital Ocean guides are usually pretty solid:

One other quick note, as you’ll be using a VM on the TrueNAS box as the endpoint for the VPN, it might be a good idea to put a second NIC (if there aren’t already two available) dedictated to the VM / VPN server so that bandwidth to the NAS isn’t negatively impacted.

12

Its not your internet that would be the bottleneck. it would be the server you are pulling from and the bandwidth it can supply to you. For example if you are trying to download a file from site A to site B and site A only has 10 megabit upload speed then site B can only download a file at 10 megabit.