Media on AP

[ColinTaylor]

or am I just getting mixed up :/

Yes, you're over-thinking this. That entry would only be used if you were running your own DNS server that you wanted to be publicly available (God knows why anyone would want to do that).

 

[Ragpuss]

Yes, you're over-thinking this. That entry would only be used if you were running your own DNS server that you wanted to be publicly available (God knows why anyone would want to do that).

Ah ok, as I said I’m not very up on networks, lol.
I think that to be able to access my files from the internet I’m going to have to give up on the AP running the drive and just let the router do it, anything else seems more complicated than my knowledge allows.
It’s a shame as on my home network I have everything just nice, it all come down to how much I really need internet access to my files ? Although not being able to work it out is going to bug me for weeks, lol.
Thanks again for all of your help

 

[ColinTaylor]

The RT-AC86U should be more than capable of running all your services. But you might want to consider using the OpenVPN server instead of AiCloud. It would be more flexible (and secure).

 

[Ragpuss]

The RT-AC86U should be more than capable of running all your services. But you might want to consider using the OpenVPN server instead of AiCloud. It would be more flexible (and secure).

I do use open vpn now via PIA VPN servers but only for inbound traffic at the moment, i’m Not sure how I would go about sharing files via VPN ?
Is it just a matter of running all traffic to all devices via the VPN instead of selective clients or is there a way to just have the samba shares and/or FTP (attached USB drive) go through the VPN as I do now with a few client devices ?
EDIT: i have just seen that you said VPN Server, this isn’t something I have used before, can this run along side a VPN client ?
Another thought I had was if when running the usb drive on the AP, I open up guest access, so hopefully the drive would be picked up just by logging onto the router ?
I realise that my LAN access would not be secure but would the internet access still require the password for the router before users could access the drive ?
Thanks,

 

[ColinTaylor]

EDIT: i have just seen that you said VPN Server, this isn’t something I have used before, can this run along side a VPN client ?

AFAIK the VPN client and server can coexist, but I don't use the VPN client so I can't say 100%. The advantage of using OpenVPN is that it's very secure and it's an open standard (unlike AiCloud being proprietary) meaning that free clients are available for all platforms. When a VPN client connects to your server they (more or less) become just another device on your LAN. So that gives them the same sort of access as any other LAN device.

Another thought I had was if when running the usb drive on the AP, I open up guest access, so hopefully the drive would be picked up just by logging onto the router ?

It's certainly something worth trying.

I realise that my LAN access would not be secure but would the internet access still require the password for the router before users could access the drive ?

Yes I believe so.

 

[Ragpuss]

Thank you so much for all of the advice and help.
I will start looking into setting up a VPN server, not something I have ever done so any pointers would be very helpful.
A google search should help me on the right path as a start.
I will try setting guest access to the SMB on my AP and see if it then becomes available from the routers login, then hopefully when I work out the VPN server I will have secure access to my files and folders from the internet and still be able to split the work load between my 2 RT-AC86u units (it should allow more RAM for each process and less CPU load).
Can I still use a DDNS with the VPN server as I’m on a dynamic IP from my ISP ?
Thanks again

 

[ColinTaylor]

Can I still use a DDNS with the VPN server as I’m on a dynamic IP from my ISP ?

Yes, no problem. DDNS just associates a name with your WAN IP address, it's not linked to any particular application.