Media on AP

[Ragpuss]

hi all,
I am new here and very much a noob when it comes to networks, so forgive me if this is posted in the wrong place. I have tried searching but I can’t find anything that covers my problem.

I have 2 X Asus RT-AC86u routers both running the latest Merlin firmware and have them hard wired together, one downstairs as a router and one upstairs as an AP. My Router is running my VPN for several devices and WAN for others. To spread the load I thought I would put my USB hard drive on the AP but I don’t know how to forward the ports I need for the multimedia streaming from outside the network.
I have an Asus DDNS setup and runnning on my Router and I have SMB V1 running on both units(not sure if it’s needed on the router or just the AP) I have the router as the master browser so I assume that SMB has to run to enable it.
I have found advice on how to port forward for FTP but I can’t find anything for general disc access to the AP via DDNS.
Ideally I would like the 2 units to act as one when it comes to accessing the hard drive, is this possible with port forwarding or any other solution.
Sorry if this has been covered but I coundn’t Find anything other than FTP.
I hope my explanation is understandable, as I say I have no idea about networks, it would likely be much easier to just put the hard drive on the router but that’s already doing a lot of work with the VPN, anti virus, firewall and DHCP server, so I just thought it better to allow the AP to do the multimedia server side of things (Samba share, iTunes, UPnP and smart sync’) the smart sync’ is working fine to my Asus Cloud storage it is just what I need to do to make it look like the hard drive is attached to the router instead of the AP.
Thank you in advance for any help and sorry for my bad explanations.

 

[ColinTaylor]

You appear to be quite confused about what you're trying to do. I think you need to take a moment and think what it is you want to do (from a user perspective) and then we'll try to work out how to achieve it.

Ignoring for the moment the second router and imaging everything is running on the main router... What services are you remotely accessing? How are you accessing them (what client software are you using)?

 

[Ragpuss]

You appear to be quite confused about what you're trying to do. I think you need to take a moment and think what it is you want to do (from a user perspective) and then we'll try to work out how to achieve it.

Ignoring for the moment the second router and imaging everything is running on the main router... What services are you remotely accessing? How are you accessing them (what client software are you using)?

Hi,
Thank you for taking the time to reply,
You are quite correct about my confusion, lol.
Basically I would like to be able to access all folders and content on my USB hard drive from the internet using my Asus DDNS (which is all set up and running on the router) as I’m on a dynamic IP, the same as I can from within my LAN, using SMB sharing or similar, I am on a long learning curve so I’m not even sure what is possible.
I mainly use apple iphone and ipad so I’m not exactly sure what apps support this but I did try to use the Asus AiCloud , however that tried to change my AP to https and added a long string DDNS name, I ended up having to wipe the AP and start again, so I don’t want to use that again. The apple devices are my personal use but I also want to be able to share the folders with family using their pc’s And macs. I do use File Browser on my iPad which works fine on my LAN but I’m not sure about WAN access, I do know it supports WebDAV.
Still confusing, sorry !!
Basically to access all files, play music and video, see photos, all which are stored on my USB drive.

 

[sfx2000]

AsusWRT in AP mode is rather limited - in Router mode, you have a fair amount of functionality

This is by design...

 

[Ragpuss]

AsusWRT in AP mode is rather limited - in Router mode, you have a fair amount of functionality

This is by design...

Yes, that’s why I was hoping that there is a way to forward the functionality of the router through to the hard drive on the AP, everything is running great, QOS, DHCP, VPN and antivirus all on the router and usb multimedia on the AP, just need to allow port access to the AP from the router for WAN access , if that’s possible, you can do it for FTP so I hope there’s a way for all folder/files access (copy, edit and play) maybe to much of an ask, it’s just that the router is doing so much work already that I thought it best to have the AP do a share

 

[ColinTaylor]

When configured as an access point the Asus should appear on the network as just another LAN client (albeit with a radio attached to it). But essentially it's Samba shares should be just like any other Windows (Samba) machine.

As far as I understand it (because I've never used it) the AiCloud>Smart Access feature should allow you to connect remotely (using the AiCloud app) to your main router and then "see" all the Windows(Samba) shares on your LAN. That includes the router, the access point and any Windows PC's.

https://www.asus.com/uk/support/FAQ/1010004/

 

[Ragpuss]

I will give aicloud another try but connecting only to the router and not the AP, to see how it sees things and also see if I can set up File Browser app on my apple devices using my Asus DDNS.
What software would remote PCs need to use to access my folders (for sharing and adding files) or can that only be done with FTP ?
On a slightly different subject, does Samba need to be enabled to set the router as master browser ?
I have samba set to on on my AP and off on the router (AP having the USB Drive attached) following what people seem to recomend, I have set the router as the master browser but I’m not sure if that will work without samba being on ?
Thanks,

 

[ColinTaylor]

I will give aicloud another try but connecting only to the router and not the AP, to see how it sees things and also see if I can set up File Browser app on my apple devices using my Asus DDNS.
What software would remote PCs need to use to access my folders (for sharing and adding files) or can that only be done with FTP ?
On a slightly different subject, does Samba need to be enabled to set the router as master browser ?

Take it one step at a time at the moment. See if the AiCloud app will give you everything you need, on your mobile's and PC's. If you can't make AiCloud work for you then you'll probably have to use a VPN instead***. Make sure your firmware is always updated to the most recent level. Exposing any router services to the internet carries a significant risk. There have been multiple reports recently from people whose Asus routers where hacked.

I have samba set to on on my AP and off on the router (AP having the USB Drive attached) following what people seem to recomend, I have set the router as the master browser but I’m not sure if that will work without samba being on?

There can only be one local master browser on a network. You don't have to specify which one it is, it will sort itself out. However, if you have one device running Samba that is always turned on (like your AP) then it would make sense for that to be the local master browser. Don't force more than one device to be the local master browser because they will fight each other.

*** You might want to use a VPN anyway because AFAIK the AiCloud features rely on the router exposing its HTTPS server to the internet. It is this HTTPS server that has been repeatedly hacked over the last year despite numerous firmware updates.

 

[Ragpuss]

Thank you again for your help,
I Have enabled master browser on the AP (running Samba and with HD) and off on the router, it seems that the router has enabled the AICloud and Smart Acccess automatically, maybe when I enabled master browser or started the AICloud app’ setup pointing to the router via Asus DDNS (I didn’t complete that setup yet) or using the File Browser app on my iPad, is this something that will automatically be enabled ? Even if only accessed so far from within my own network ?

 

[ColinTaylor]

From the posts I've read here I believe using the AiCloud app will enable those things. Also check Administration > System > Web Access and see if it has enabled Web Access from WAN. This is the route that most of the recent hacks appear to have come through.

 

[Ragpuss]

Hi, web access from WAN is still off ATM , I will check again when I complete the AICloud setup fully, another thing I just noticed is that on the Router under the FTP folder, instead of a disc (which is on my AP) it lists my Asus DDNS address, is this normal ?

 

[ColinTaylor]

Yes. I don't know why they've done it like that. I think it's just confusing.

 

[Ragpuss]

If I wanted to use FTP in the future, would I still enable it on the AP and use port forwarding from the router or do i need to enable it on the router now ?

I have enabled AICloud app’ now to the router and it is still showing access from the web as off.

 

[ColinTaylor]

You would enable the FTP server on the AP and then use port forwarding on the router. But bear in mind that FTP is totally insecure. All data, including usernames and passwords, is sent in plain text over the wire.

 

[Ragpuss]

I finished setting up the AICloud to my router and within the app it shows up and shows my network devices but the AP is showing as offline and I can’t see any shared folders from the HD, any ideas ?
Do I need to forward ports for the DNS ? If so which ones ?
Thank you,

 

[Ragpuss]

You would enable the FTP server on the AP and then use port forwarding on the router. But bear in mind that FTP is totally insecure. All data, including usernames and passwords, is sent in plain text over the wire.

If I did need to use FTP it would be very short term and I would only enable it when needed, its what I used to do on my PC before routers got so advanced .

 

[ColinTaylor]

I finished setting up the AICloud to my router and within the app it shows up and shows my network devices but the AP is showing as offline and I can’t see any shared folders from the HD, any ideas ?
Thank you,

Sorry, I've never used AiCloud. If you can see and access the AP's folders from your other LAN devices I would expect AiCloud to be able to do the same. Maybe it's a username/password issue.

 

[Ragpuss]

Sorry, I've never used AiCloud. If you can see and access the AP's folders from your other LAN devices I would expect AiCloud to be able to do the same. Maybe it's a username/password issue.

Does the DNS need to be port forwarded from the router ?

 

[ColinTaylor]

Does the DNS need to be port forwarded from the router ?

Sorry, that question makes no sense.

 

[Ragpuss]

Sorry, that question makes no sense.

I noticed under the port forwarding that in the famous servers list there is one for DNS, would that send the connection request to the AP , or am I just getting mixed up :/