Qnap NAS boxes are not for everyone. You have to know how to configure them, but once you do that they are powerful enough for anything. While other vendors like WD have easy to use Mionet that lets you remotely access your device, Qnap has a little more difficult to use Dynamic dns service called Mycloudnas.
If you have used services like dyndns or noip then you would know what Qnaps mycloudnas service offers. It’s just a service that lets you access your nas box using a hostname even if you have dynamic IP address ( provided you get your port forwarding right)
If you want to access your Qnap remotely, you have configure to setup your mycloudnas name and forward the ports on your router. Services like mionet don’t need port forwarding
1. Set up your Dynamic DNS name.
Without this , you will have to know the external IP address of your qnap and type that in your browser (with the port number) everytime you wanted to access it. Not very convenient considering that your IP will keep changing.
There is very nice and easy to use Wizard in Qnap Admin panel that lets you do it in Seconds.
Got to Admin Panel > Click on Mycloud Nas > Configure.
2. Forward your ports
This is the most cumbersome part for most of the users. Since your NAS is not directly connected to the internet , you must tell your router that all the data coming to a particular port should be sent to your Nas box. This is done by accessing your Router’s admin screen.
Generally it’s a very straight forward process but there are 2 things that make it difficult
Problem 1 :
Some of the ISPs actually lock the port forwarding interface of your router. If you bought your router from your ISP ( Etisalat, DU) then mostly the port forwarding will be blocked. in this case, I don’t know of any other option but to look for a different router
Problem 2 :
Major ports are blocked. This is not a big problem because you can configure your services to use non standard ports, but you must know which ports are blocked. In Dubai, I have noticed port 80, 8080 and 1723 blocked. Many people have reported that 135, 139, 445, 1023, 2967, 4444 and 5554 are also blocked. Use non standard ports and you should be fine ( I use 8011- 8095)
Qnap gives you an option to do automatic port forwarding, if you have a UPNP router, but it didn’t work for me. It could work for you. If it does you can configure your router from Qnap itself.
Login as Admin > My CloudNas service > Auto Router Configuration
If the Auto UPNP doesn’t work, login to your router and look for portforwarding, access control or Gaming options. In my Linksys it were under the heading application and gaming.
Put the ports you want to forward in the respective fields and type the IP address of your NAS box in the target field.
After you have forwarded your ports and configured your mycloudnas name, you can access your Qnap on the internet. To access the admin panel for example, type http://www.yourname.mycloudnas.com:port, and it should take you to the familiar Qnap Admin screen.
Cant get it to work with elife. Either etisalat is blocking any incoming connections. Tried various ports but all blocked. Am i doing something wrong?
Are you using a router that Etisalat gave you ? I had an experience with Aztech that etisalat gave us and they had fixed it in someway, so the port forwarding wouldn’t work. I could login, see the forwarding settings and set up the forwarding but it wouldn’t work.
A safe bet would be to borrow a router from a friend and try.
I personally was seeking for recommendations for my very own blog and found your own
blog, “Accessing Qnap Remotely if your ISP is Etisalat
or Du (Dubai) | Akash Jains Blog from Dubai”, do you really care in the event that I actually employ a handful of of your own suggestions?
Thanks ,Michele
Go ahead by all means :-). Share and Spread the knowledge
Can you please contact me at the email address provided. I need to demo some software in Dubai, but need to be able to forward some ports to do so. We are obtaining a static IP from Etisalat. Should I bring my own router from the US?
Sorry Mary I couldn’t reply earlier. As long as you use non standard ports, it should be ok. For Example, I tried using port 80 many times for webbased applications but it never works. So I publish webapps at some non standard port like 8095. for Static IP however, etisalat may open ports for you. It would be best to contact Etisalat and ask. Best of luck with your Demo and sorry for late reply.