Port forwarding in a mesh network. Is it possible?

Hoggorm · 10 Feb 2024

Hello,

I'm not sure this is the correct forum to ask in since my question is not really about Windows, but here goes.

I have a Synology NAS that is placed at a family members house. It works as a backup to my NAS at my own house. She has a router provided by her ISP, and to it a mesh network (TP Link (Deco)) is connected.

I've connected the NAS to one of the mesh devices (office) using ethernet cable. I am able to connect to the NAS using Synologys QuickConnect, however, to be able to use it as a backup source I need to connect via DDNS and a few ports need to be opened.

I tried to open the relevant ports on the Deco iOS app, but the connection still fails.

At home I have no mesh system and no problems using my routers port forwarding feature, however in the mesh system the NAS is not visible on the router admin page. There I can only see two mesh points. The NAS IS visible in the mesh system however.

Do you know how I can open all relevant ports all the way to the NAS so that connection can be made?

The setup, as far as I can see, looks something like this:

Internet <cable to> router <cable to> mesh device 1 <wifi to> mesh device 2 <cable to> NAS

User2468 · 11 Feb 2024

Ideally, you'd set the mesh network in the DMZ, then port forward in the router as before. But! This opens your network to the whole of the world. Just check your IP address at Shodan for example. If it's not there now it will be in due time. Now some hacker idiot can brute force your NAS login page with Hydra or whatever else script as to not trip the security mechanisms in the NAS dashboard login page.

A better way about this would be to somehow deploy ZeroTier. It's like VNC or a reverse VPN so to speak. You can easily do this via the OPNSense router software since OPNSense has a ZeroTier plug-in. Blog post

Synology | ZeroTier Documentation

Bridge your ZeroTier and local network with a RaspberryPi - ZeroTier Knowledge Base - Confluence

Have fun!

*Extra credit*

How to Set Up Syncthing on a Synology NAS (2024) - WunderTech

User2468 · 11 Feb 2024

Is it not possible to connect your NAS directly to the router? This will afford you better throughput. If the router doesn't have enough free LAN connectors then use a switch. I use an 8 port TP-Link switch.

Hoggorm · 12 Feb 2024

F22 Simpilot said:

Is it not possible to connect your NAS directly to the router? This will afford you better throughput. If the router doesn't have enough free LAN connectors then use a switch. I use an 8 port TP-Link switch.

Thank you for your input F22 Simpilot (have you tried DCS? :) )

It is physically possible to connect directly to the router yes, but in practice no since the router is located in the living room. I do not want the NAS to be noisy there. It need to be placed somewhere it can be noisy and not disturb.

Lets say I need port 12345 open. Will it not be possible to open port 12345 on the router and direct traffic to the TP-Link Deco mesh device? And since the Deco iOS app allows for port forwarding open port 12345 on the mesh to the NAS device?

Or will that not work?