I routinely use my NAS to stream media and music on varied units in my home, and it really works significantly effectively for this use case. Distant entry is a bit more difficult; I would like to have the ability to entry my media library from anyplace, however port forwarding on the router is inherently dangerous, and I did not need to do this.
Hardwired
In Hardwired, AC Senior Editor Harish Jonnalagadda delves into all issues referring to {hardware}, companies, and the broader tech ecosystem.
Fortunately, Synology has a built-in service known as QuickConnect that allows you to entry your NAS from anyplace. Whereas I used this extensively prior to now, I needed to modify to an exterior service that does not depend on servers hosted by Synology, and that is how I got here throughout Tailscale. At a really excessive stage, Tailscale is a peer-to-peer mesh community that allows you to securely entry your units from anyplace on the earth.
Tailscale gives end-to-end encryption, and is constructed on the WireGuard protocol. Tailscale basically helps you to create a mesh VPN, however the one distinction is that it’s for the units in your house — consider it’s a personal web. The most important promoting level of Tailscale is its ease of use; you will get began with the service in below 10 minutes, and there is not something to configure or handle — all of that’s dealt with robotically by Tailscale. All it’s a must to do is log in by way of an single sign-on (SSO) identification supplier (like Google), set up Tailscale in your units, and that is it.
Greater than anything, it is this ease of use that makes Tailscale such an attractive possibility. And since the service is constructed on a zero belief structure, it does not retailer any authentication information — you log in to it utilizing your Google, Apple, or Microsoft account. Mainly, it handles all of the boring stuff — key rotation, relay servers, and NAT traversal — so you do not have to configure or tweak something; simply set it up in your units, and also you’re good to go.
I arrange Tailscale on a Raspberry Pi 4 practically two years in the past, and I put in it on the NAS — a package deal is obtainable for the greatest NAS servers, together with Synology and QNAP — in addition to all my telephones. Tailscale assigns a singular IP to all of the units in your community, so whenever you’re exterior your own home, you’ll be able to simply connect with that machine by utilizing that IP — it is as simple as that.
With Tailscale, I will entry my DiskStation DS1019+ and DS1522+ once I’m away from residence, and it really works simply as seamlessly as Synology’s resolution. I will use DS Video and DS Audio to stream video and audio, and I can log in to my Plex occasion on the NAS with out having to offer the service distant entry. Mainly, Tailscale is the simplest strategy to entry your NAS from anyplace, and the inherent safety mixed with the convenience of use makes it a no brainer advice.
What’s additionally fascinating is that Tailscale has a file sharing utility that allows you to simply switch information between your cellphone, Home windows machine, and NAS. I used Pushbullet prior to now to do the identical factor, however lately, I simply switched to utilizing my NAS as a strategy to transfer information between units. If I have to get a file onto my cellphone from my Home windows machine, I simply put it in a shared folder on the NAS, and I then obtain that on my cellphone. Tailscale makes {that a} smidgen simpler, and whereas the characteristic remains to be in early testing, there’s a number of potential.
One other use case I need to spotlight is advert blocking. I take advantage of Pi-hole on my residence community, and it does an excellent job blocking any intrusive advertisements on the router stage. However I haven’t got entry to it once I’m exterior my residence community, and that is the place Tailscale involves the rescue once more. You’ll be able to configure Tailscale to make use of Pi-hole because the DNS, after which it routes all site visitors by that — even whenever you’re exterior your own home community. That is genuinely a giant differentiator, and one of many important causes I depend on Tailscale a lot.
The perfect half about all of that is that Tailscale is totally free to make use of — you do not have to pay something. You’ll be able to even invite as much as three customers to make use of the service, and the free plan helps you to use Tailscale on as much as 100 units. Must you exceed that quantity or need to use Tailscale with a big staff, it prices $6 a month per consumer. However when you simply need to use Tailscale in your house, the free plan is greater than enough.
What I like about Tailscale is that it does not hobble options within the free tier; you get full entry to SSH, all the key SSO suppliers, and a number of superior options. Tailscale talks about the way it is ready to present these options in its free plan, and it is value a learn to get a greater understanding as to how the service is ready up — the high-level overview is that it turns to companies for income, so it does not want to limit options in its free plan.
In the end, Tailscale is among the greatest networking-related companies I ever used, and the truth that it combines an in depth feature-set with inherent ease-of-use makes it an excellent selection in order for you a seamless strategy to entry your NAS and another machine from anyplace on the earth.