ac66u-any way for secure remote access to external hdd?

[psychbiz]

I have confidential client data on my 1Tb external disk drive attached to one of the USB ports on my Asus AC66U running the latest Merlin firmware. As I travel for work overseas quite a bit I need to be able to access that network drive from sometimes insecure locations - open public Wi-Fi networks, coffee shops etc.

Is there any way to ensure end to end encryption and secure login that will allow me to browse, download and upload files to the external hard drive. I now understand that ftp is not all that secure and don't know what else I can do. Does ssh make this possible? Can I access the external hdd using the inbuilt OpenVPN server? I don't mind whether the solution is gui or command line as long as it is secure for remote access from insecure Wi-Fi networks.

 

[L&LD]

What you're asking is impossible.

When you login to an insecure network, all bets are off.

 

[RMerlin]

OpenVPN would to the job. All data transfer would be done through an encrypted tunnel. Preferably, use a pair of keys rather than just password-based authentication if security is really critical.

Don't use PPTP, as it can easily be cracked if you are on an untrusted network.

 

[psychbiz]

OpenVPN would to the job. All data transfer would be done through an encrypted tunnel. Preferably, use a pair of keys rather than just password-based authentication if security is really critical

Thanks for the responses. I think I tried this a few months ago, using paired keys too. Was able to access the internet through the VPN OK, but couldn't find the external drive attached to the routers usb port. Tried with windows 7 and Linux. How do I connect to the external drive once VPN is up and working?

 

[RMerlin]

Thanks for the responses. I think I tried this a few months ago, using paired keys too. Was able to access the internet through the VPN OK, but couldn't find the external drive attached to the routers usb port. Tried with windows 7 and Linux. How do I connect to the external drive once VPN is up and working?

Try again. Over the months there has been numerous enhancements to the OpenVPN implementations. Your problem was most likely caused by a firewall rules blocking traffic from your client to the router itself.

 

[psychbiz]

OK. I'll give it a try tomorrow and report back.

 

[Nerre]

I'm using scp, with a non-admin account.

As far as I know scp is supported out of the box (if you allow WAN ssh connections), setting up a non-admin account requires appending to /etc/passwd and /etc/shadow (can be done using Merlins jffs script support).

 

[psychbiz]

Well, I setup an OpenVPN server again on the remote router and exported a client1.ovpn to connect with my local windows 7 machine. OpenVPN gui says that I am connected with an IP of 10.8.0.6. But that seems to be as far as I get.

How do I tell whether my browser is routed through the VPN or not and how do I connect to the samba server on the remote ac66U router? (which is the important bit for me)

I tried to ping 10.8.0.0 and 10.8.0.1 but got no response. Is there a firewall setting or something I should be attending too?

 

[psychbiz]

I have installed openvpn client on Android tablet. Can ping the server on10.8.0.1 but still unable to connect to external drive on the router's USB port. Tried Andsmb and it's error message was connection refused. Also tried ES file explorer and no connection.

So now no connection to USB drive with windows7 desktop or Android tablet although both connect successfully to openVPN server on the router. Tried again with Windows 8.1 (ping OK to server), and when trying to map network drive to \\10.8.0.1 the error message was:

The remote device or resource won't accept the connection Detected Detected

The device or resource (10.8.0.1) is not set up to accept connections on port "The File and printer sharing (SMB)".

The router doesn't show up in network places either

Has anyone been able to connect to a samba share on the ac66u with latest Merlin's firmware over OpenVPN? If so, could you share any settings with me so I can see where I'm missing. I really don't know what to do now.

 

[cdikland]

Just tried it OpenVPN for Android along with Andsmb and it worked first time. Not sure what to tell you. I did not setup anything special. For server in Andsmb I set it to 192.168.1.1 and used the webgui login username/password (which is the same as it is for the shared drive) Can you access the drive from Win7 directly (without openvpn)??? On my PC the router name appears under "Network" and I can expand the tree until the shared drive is visible.

 

[psychbiz]

Thanks for the response. The router is at a remote location. I also have an Asus RT-AC66U at home where I am now, and I can easily see and map the network drive on the local router at 192.168.1.1. The problem is accessing the usb drive on the remote Asus ac66U router through the builtin OpenVPN server using asuscomm.com dynamic DNS. The OpenVPN address range is 10.8.0.1/24, 255.255.255.0 (defaults). I can connect and ping the address 10.8.0.1 OK, but that's it. I have been accessing the remote router through the web interface for configuration.