How do I set up a WAN File server?

[Krazyshank]

My friend has this netbook (I know not a good thing to use with this) and we want to set it up as a WAN file server so we can copy files, share them, etc.
How would we go about doing this? Basicly I would prefer Non-software required for the client but on the server IDC. It will be just me and my friends using it so I would guess we would just use the IP to connect to it.
Any help would be nice!

 

[AdmnPower]

What you could do is setup a FTP server on the netbook. You'd need to know how to do a few things such as port forward through your router, you'd probably also need a dyndns account because your WAN IP address is likely dynamic and telling everyone what it is every time it changes is a little annoying. As far as what all you need to do.

1) Setup DynDNS and install the updater client on the netbook or some other computer you plan to leave running all of the time.

2) Port forward the appropriate ports through your router
http://lifehacker.com/130806/how-to-set-up-a-home-ftp-server
- Listed at the above link is a nice write up on setting up a secure FTP server, you wouldn't have to setup a secure server but it gives you a general idea of how to port forward through a router.

3) Get a free FTP server application such as filezilla server (I would recommend this over the one in the lifehacker article because it doesn't have any limitations and you can either do secure FTPS or just plain old FTP with it)

Let me know if you need any additional help with any of these steps or if you need further explanation.

 

[massahwahl]

Very cool information, I was actually thinking about doing something like this to. Would this allow me to access files over the internet?

 

[tremmor]

Yes. either FTP or remote. like the last better.
Might want to consider other than the free for security purpose.

 

[AdmnPower]

Yeah, there are a lot of things to consider regarding security. What I've found when I ran FTP servers in the past is that there are bots that troll the internet looking for ftp servers and when they find one they'll begin systematically trying passwords on an account called administrator or something of that nature. So one thing you'll really want to do is setup your server to automatically ban an IP address for a certain period of time after a set number of failed login attempts. I typically did 5 or 10 attempts for 24 hours. That typically keeps that type of thing at bay just fine.

 

[Jiffyman]

I use a VPN to access all my network resources at home. Transmissions are encrypted too. You'll have to port forward a couple ports and thats all you need for your whole network. You can use your FTP behind that among other things (i.e. Windows File Sharing). Just remember to use a strong password in case someone trys to bruteforce it.

Setting up Windows XP VPN:
http://www.onecomputerguy.com/networking/xp_vpn_server.htm

Setting up Windows Vista VPN:
http://theillustratednetwork.mvps.org/Vista/PPTP/PPTPVPN.html
the process should be similar in Win 7 but I'm not sure.


PPTP VPN PORTS:

- TCP Port 1723
- UDP Port 500

Here is a wiki all about VPN:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_private_network

 

[tremmor]

thanks for the links. yes its a concern of mine and needs to be looked into.
VPN has not been used and didn't know how anyway.

For the record i was interested in turning on the computer from a remote location on the WAN side. Say another state. I did make this happen with wol. Ive looked for the info i had and can not find it but will. Something about LOM lights out management. Another interest. For the remote software i might upgrade again because of safety in this area. it was an old ver of realvnc enterprise. Waking up after a nap and seeing my mouse moving did not make me happy. i left it wide open. my fault. instead of going after and tracing the ip i panicked and uninstalled. I do find the software convenient for working on another computer though somewhere else and out of town maybe a few miles to help someone else.