Setting up Synology VPN Server on Diskstation 415+, with remote file system access

I am a total noob at this networking stuff.

Thanks to Synology Disk Station Management (DSM) GUI it seems fairly reasonable, despite the learning curve.

My goals are:

  • to create a VPN that I can access from abroad and use to browse the internet.
  • to create a mapped network drive on a remote laptop that will save backups to the server at home.
It all seems fairly straight forward.
DSM allows you to install 'packages', such as Proxy Server, VPN Server, Easy-Internet, etc...

The first thing I did was create a 'Quickconnect' Account. This allowed me to access the DSM remotely through a browser outside of my LAN.

I set up an L2TP/IPSec type VPN in VPN Server package, and after some fiddling with Android, was able to connect while on my WiFi. I figured I needed some DDNS service to log in remotely, but it didn't make sense to have to find a 3rd party service.

I then finally found this blog entry: Secure Public Internet with Synology VPN and Proxy - Travis Illig which describes how to use the 'Easy-Internet' package to create a Synology.me account. Similar to the Quickconnect ID, this Synology.me account uses Synology services as a free DDNS service, and it works for VPN's!

I have thus just connected Android though Settings->Data->More->VPN.

Now to set up my Windows machine and map a network drive.

Following instructions from here: https://kb.iweb.com/entries/22375983-Configuring-new-VPN-L2TP-IPSec-connections-in-Windows-7

I get a time out error on connection attempt, so I tried the solution here:https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/926179 and manually updated the registry

After a restart, I have a successful VPN connection to Synology DS 415+ from a remote windows 7 laptop.

Now to map network drives to backup laptop 'file history' to the remote server.
When I look under Network, I don't see the Server listed as a network computer, but by typing \\Servername into windows explorer I get a list of the Server files. I select the one directory that I want to use remotely from the laptop, and right click to select 'map network drive'.

This creates a folder under 'Computer' that exists locally on the laptop, and can read and write to the server when the VPN is connected.

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