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[Gentlefish]

I am sure to get the "hot take" sticker on me again for it, but that has ALWAYS been my experience with the JVM...

Unstable, top-heavy, and generally doesnt play nice.

No you're pretty much spot-on. By its very design it's like running a whole extra computer on your computer, so Java programs can run on basically any OS they've programmed the JVM to work on.

[wierd]

Using a Raspberry Pi to set up a Network Attached Storage.

I think I understand all the necessary parts to set up a NAS which is accessible while on the network. I want to make it accessible away from home, though.

So let's say I'm using Samba to set up the drive. Let's name it something memorable like MyTinyPiNAS. I would normally access the filesystem from another computer using the Pi's IP address. Example: \\192.168.1.10/MyTinyPiNAS. This is handled by the File Manager, it seems.

Let's say I want to make it accessible online. I can use a DDNS host to connect that device's IP to a domain name. If I do that, will I just like...see the file system in my browser? It seems far too easy and that I'll need to do more than that. Anyone have experience with this? (Currently at work and working this out on a napkin. Will attempt to do the real thing tonight.)

(This is a continuation/mutation of an attempt to set up a VPN myself. It is effectively the same as I understand it, except, being in China, it doesn't provide many benefits. Preferably, this would be a way for my family and I to share photos, etc, without needing to use a VPN or Google.)

The SMB protocol is unsafe to share over the naked internet.  Despite microsoft's best efforts, it is just ASKING for trouble.

NFS is a similar kidney, with some additional caveats about how you would have to open several dangerous remote procedure call ports, AND would need to use only soft-mounts, due to the instability of the link...


My best suggestion, is to look into OpenVPN, and set-up / establish a secure portal to your private home network, and access the NAS via this VPN connection.  This would place the SMB or NFS connection inside a cryptographically secured tunnel.

https://openvpn.net/vpn-server-resources/install-openvpn-access-server-on-raspberry-pi/

Others have suggested FTP-- This is absurdly unsafe, and would not function in the way you wish it to anyway.

SFTP is better, in that it uses a secure protocol (SSH), but still is not really what you want.

Both of those are file transfer protocols, but are not Network Attached Storage protocols.  NFS, AFP, and SMB are the industry NAS protocols, and are what other operating systems expect to find or use with "mapped remote drives."
(Honorable mention to iSCSI, but that is a SAN protocol.)


With the Pi hosting OpenVPN Access Server, it can permit you to connect to ANY DEVICE in your home network as if you were physically attached to your home network, and does so over an encrypted transport to maintain security. This is the proper way to deal with the security vulns of SMB, NFS, AFP and pals, as you still get to use the industry standard protocols, without allowing outside hackers to prod at them. (they see a furious exchange of random looking garbage, due to the encryption, and thus cannot easily target the weaknesses of those protocols.)

[delphonso]

Setting up the NAS was successful. Samba is pretty easy to get running. After a bit of tinkering, I'm happy with that part. Connecting it to the wider web is not going well.

Unfortunately OpenVPN is blocked in China (even if I could get the dependencies and files downloaded, the protocol they use is actively shot down).

I'll look into the NAS protocols and such. I think FTP doesn't play nice with samba? Not sure how I'd set it up anyway, since the server is GUI-less and has no web browser. I'd be proud of myself if I can just get the router to have a static IP and access this thing once. Even if completely unsecure, the sense of achievement is what I'm chasing.

[wierd]

I have actually seen this come up repeatedly in the western digital forums (for the WD Mycloud personal NAS products)--- people in China desperately needing VPN functionality. (Rather, desperately needing to have their NAS shared across the internet, but discovering that they REALLY REALLY NEED a VPN to do that in any way safely.)

https://www.rapid7.com/blog/post/2020/09/18/nicer-protocol-deep-dive-internet-exposure-of-smb/


China being idiots about VPNs is what it is.  They are hamstringing a LOT of remote work, and effacing their own cyber security in the companies trying to make due without VPNs, just so that they can make sure people aren't talking about DREAD DEMOCRACY or sharing pictures of Xi Jinping photo-shopped onto Whinnie the Pooh.  Basically, their priorities are totally fucked up here.


If you get real desperate, there are ways to tunnel openVPN through an SSH tunnel, but it is far from ideal.

[delphonso]

To avoid that problem, big companies are allowed to have VPNs, as they're not technically illegal, only inaccesible. Ends up being a classist thing more than anything else. Tencent and Alibaba surely have top of the line security, while smaller companies either have to expose themselves, or get one on the down low and hope no one ever checks.

[Starver]

(I'd never ftp to Samba, if I was setting up the server, I'd just set up an ftp server instead. Samba does its thing, ftp does something else, and as long as it isn't Kermit... And, as I first said, for sftp anyway if I couldn't otherwise encapsulate it. I knew the CCP policies (defacto, if nothing else) would be a sticking point!)

[LordBaal]

Wierd as always provided you with a more solid advice. I did told you FTP would be pretty rudimentary both in function and security and the VPN's on China is another issue entirely. As long you don't mind your overlords checking out your vacation pictures...

A long time ago (like 15 years ago) I found an actual free hosting that allowed you to have a kind of private facebook or google photos and you just shared the password with anyone you wanted but I can't recall the exact name, guess there are plenty of such services now and far more secure. I never used that beyond some meaningless stuff because you truly don't know who is behind or what they do with whatever you put in there.

Dunno men, being lazy, I would make a gmail account shared with your family, sinc the disk with it and call it a day. It's not a vpn and is not a direct share but might save you a lot of headaches (while inducing others).

[wierd]

OK, well...


If you want to open up that can of worms anyway--

For an old school FTP server, you need to have your router pass port 21 through using port forwarding. The FTP server ideally needs to be set up and run under its own user account and group, that has only just enough access to be able to work with its 'home folder', and nothing else.

The server uses a config file to determine usernames and passwords, and what access levels each user/pass combination has.  In old-school FTP, the user/pass exchange is unencrypted, plain text.  This is one of many reasons why FTP is not safe on the current internet.

For SFTP, you need to have port 22 forwarded.  OpenSSH daemon is able to be configured as an SFTP daemon, and it uses the same users and credentials defined for access to the system's console.  To use this reasonably safely, you need to generate a **GOOD** keypair.  I suggest a 4096bit (minimum) eliptical curve (ECDSA) cipher. (RSA keys are known to have backdoor vulns, ever since the Snowden leaks, and should not be used. Diffie-Helmann keys are technologically compromised in the modern world, and can be trivially beaten down. Eliptical Curve on the other hand, is still robustly difficult to break through.)

If you DO happen to have another linux box, you *CAN* access the remote file system as if it were a NAS protocol, using many linux file manager applications, when using SFTP.  For the most part however, such as when trying to connect through windows, you would have to use a special client, and it acts more like old school FTP. (such as winSCP)

Of the possible options, I would strongly suggest SFTP if you cannot use an actual VPN tunnel with a real NAS protocol.

An alternative to using a static IP address, is to use a dynamic DNS service.  Dyndns.org still has free offers, last I checked and there is a linux scriptlet that can run on your Pi, that will automatically update the DNS redirection service when your router's IP address changes.

 

[delphonso]

I'll read all of this when less tired, but thanks for the info. It's a pain to not use a VPN to simply solve this issue, but it is also just a hobbyist's pursuit, so if it doesn't pan out or becomes...too frustrating, I'll just bail.

[Starver]

You could always go old-school and set up something of a mailer dæmon to respond to "LIST FILES", "GET FILE HOLIDAY123.PNG", etc in the Subject/Body of mails from pre-authorised source addresses and return the result to the sender. (Traditionally uuencoded, and the file could be an encrypted zip of the file requested that is then uuencoded for 7bit sending - but that limitation isn't really there any more I suppose, so probably you can MIME/base64 it for absolutely no problem extracting from 'modern' email clients...)

With optional "HEREIS fileattached.ext", you can relive the heady days of yet another fairly common way of pre-web filesharing that should need nothing but a compatibly-connectable email service.

(Not sure I like the look of that GUI configurator of that random example I linked, though. It spoils the vibe!)




...While I'm here, without any other obvious active thread for this, RIP Clive Sinclair...

[Verlemt]

Are there any advantages at the moment for a stationary computer over a laptop?
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[delphonso]

You get the benefit of spending a small fortune for a graphics card, thanks to mining rigs...

(I'm also interested in an answer, because I've been considering building a new PC)

[wierd]

There are some benefits about increased sitting posture options, and focal distance relaxation. (you dont have to be right up in your screen, since you can have a bigger one, further away.)

Additionally, you dont have to worry about battery depletion or roasting your crotch.

[Starver]

My standard phrase is "More bang for your buck".

There may be exceptions/deals to be had. But a given capability is more expensive to get in (or put into) a laptop case, compared to a desktop/floor-standing 'beige box'[1]. And you just know you can more easily replace your GPU, processor, expad your RAM[6] or even redo your entire mobo+rest in six months' time, in the latter, should the opportunity arise. If you need a (new? adittional?[2]) optical drive then it's (much more) trivial. Should USB4/etc ports come about, there'll be a rear-plane or front-slot option far more likely (or just add more USB<=3 slots rather than being forced to daisy-chain additional hubs.

Secondarily to that, less fuss if the screen goes dead[3], wifi/bluetooth burns out, you spill mead[5] on your keyboard, or the HDD needs replacing[6].

And someone who breaks in and cadually rifles through your dearest posessions is unlikely to wander down the street soon after with your mini-tower under their arm.



Advantages to the laptop are if you aren't sticking to one clear working position (or possibly if your personally chosen workstation is vextraordinarily tight, or the armchair in front of the TV?) and needed portability. Because you also wouldn't want to be carrying a mini-tower, or even a SFF box, around too much. And laptops may have inbuilt webcam(s), fingerprint scanner, memory-card slots, etc, that you'd have to add on and install yourself (card slots a possible exception), but will be part of the price for at least some laptops.


But you know your circumstances, plus what's on sale, so there is room for a laptop to be better for you. I just rail a bit against those who think laptop==better. (When the Covid thing forced the need to help with remote-learning, for schools, I was annoyed that there was so much "laptops for the disadvantaged". Especially as it probably was also a Child Safeguarding issue, whereas a stationary computer placed firmly in the family-space could be less likely to be a predator-fest via the closed bedroom door.)


Hope that helps, though.





[1] Though black seems to be the current vogue, and no sign of it changing, transparent sides and glowy elements notwithstanding.

[2] Also out of vogue, it seems, and treated as dust-traps as much as floppy-slots once were.

[3] Technically also an upgrade-benefit, unless you get the other input peripherals and start to use your laptop closed as a microthin 'box', as if a non-laptop.

[5] Or any drink, but humour me on this.

[6] HDD (or RAM) might be easily swapped in some laptops, but you still are constrained to the more expensive thin-form drives, and some laptop manufacturers of time past (Dell, Toshiba, IIRC) got a bit proprietary with their not-quite-IDE-like connectors for their HDDs, that were otherwise the same form-factor as other laptop HDDs - maybe all strict SATA these days, but I imagine there's still some instances.

[LordBaal]

It all the depends on the requirements of your work or if is mostly for leisure on your preferences, budget and what you are going to do with it, along with other things like your space and so on. Laptops work great here due the constant electrical mishaps but this is as long the battery works properly.

Starver covers the two more or less completely. To hand out a specific and proper advice without extending so much you would need be specific of the requirements, budget and so on...

LAPTOPS:
Pros:
-In short a laptop is more practical on dynamic environments (moving around the house/office).

- Requires very little in the way of physically installation.

- Have the nice feature of being black out proof if the battery is working properly.

- Not being on the floor generally, means less dust build up. Some models makes very easier to clean the cooling system of dust, but this is not the norm or something the laymen dares to do.

Cons:
- Its also somewhat more difficult to service.

- Tend to be prone to accidents (like spills and broken screens) which are harder to fix and can damage the whole system.

- They migth be technical inferior to what you migth get on a desktop.

- Are harder to upgrade and sometimes/somethings migth be simply outright impossible to upgrade.

- Given the reduced space some laptops tend to produce scorching temperatures. If your laptop has no easy access to the cooling system to clean up then this issue intensifies.

DESKTOP
Pros:
- Cheaper, in theory, for the same level in power.

- Easy to update. It has its limits but is far easier.

- Easier to service.

- A spill on the keyboard or a broken screen is not such a potential  catastrophic failure.

Cons:
- Basically its another furniture in the house. Requires its own space which means a proper desk at least so this means mobility, while not impossible is harder and more cumbersome.

- It requires more in the physical installation, to the point of laymen people asking to a technician to do it.

- If you want to be blackout proof you need to also buy an UPS.

- If the case is on the floor or near it will gather dust over time. LOTS. I've seen some crazy things men... in general they atract more dust but there are some cases with easy servicieable filters that can help a lot to mitigate this.