How to configure QNAP 4.2.1 NAS?

This is the tutorial on how to set up your Qnap NAS based on TS-112P version of the disk station using 4.2.1 (20160201) firmware version. The instructions were made for connection to the US #936 server. Note that if you connect to the other server, you need to name it in all the steps accordingly.

Connect to your Qnap control panel:

1. In order to connect your Qnap NAS device to VPN we will need to access its control panel. The easiest way to do that is using the Qfinder app provided together with Qnap NAS system. Please run the app and wait a few moments for the Qfinder to find the Qnap connected to your local network. A few moments after opening the app you it should list your NAS device. Double click on it in the list and its control panel will be opened in your default internet browser.

2. You will now be able to log in to your Qnap control panel.

3. In order to set up the VPN connection, you will need to use your administrator account.
 

Here is a tutorial on how to connect a QNAP NAS via OpenVPN:

1. We recommend using our recommend server utility here: /servers/tools/. You will be able to download the configuration files, as per the screenshot: 

We will be connecting to US #936 server using UDP protocol. The contents of the file are as follows:

If you want to connect to a different server, please change the line

remote 207.244.71.97 1194

to contain the IP address of the server you want to connect to. You also need to change the CA (text  between "<ca>" and "</ca>" lines) and TLS (text  between "<tls-auth>" and "</tls-auth>" lines) keys to these of the server you want to connect to.

You can find the IP addresses as well as CA and TLS keys of the server you want to connect in the .ovpn configuration files that can be downloaded from /ovpn/
(note: the .ovpn file you download from the website cannot be used instead of the file we created, as they have slightly different content)

2. Create a second text file with your username and password. We named the file "nordvpnpass.txt". Enter your username in the first line and password in the second line of the file:

NordVPN_Username
NordVPN_Password

You can find your NordVPN service credentials at the Nord Account dashboard. Copy the credentials using the buttons on the right.


 

3. Access your QNAP user interface. Open the File Station on your QNAP, navigate to the /Download/ directory and create a new folder named "VPN" by clicking the "+" sign at the top of the window. You should now move the created .ovpn file (in our case, us936.nordvpn.com.udp.ovpn) and nordvpnpass.txt file you have created to this directory.
 

4. You also need to create another text file called "ca.crt" that has to contain the CA certificate of the server. You can copy the same certificate as used in the .ovpn configuration file. In our case, since we are connecting to US #936 server, our ca.crt file contains this information content

:

 

5. Access your QNAP user interface again and go to Control Panel -> Applications -> VPN Client.

6. In the VPN Client menu from the "Add" Drop down menu select "OpenVPN".

7. Fill out the OpenVPN client settings: 

7.1 Enter "US936UDP" as a Profile Name. You can name the profile however you like, however it is most helpful to name it for the server and settings used;

7.2 Type in the IP address of the server. You need to enter the same IP address as used in the "remote" line in step #1;

7.3 Enter your NordVPN credentials;

7.4 Change the Encryption to "Highest (AES 256 bit)";

7.5 Upload the ca.crt file you have created earlier;

7.6 Enable "Allow other network devices in the same subnet to connect to the VPN through the NAS".

8. You will now need to connect to your QNAP disk station using SSH tunnel. For that you can use Putty, WinSCP (Windows) or Terminal (Mac OS X, Linux). In our cases we will be using Putty client for Windows (You can download Putty here ).

In the "Host Name (or IP address)" field enter the local IP address of your QNAP (in our case, 192.168.1.60) and click "Open".

9. Enter the username and password of your QNAP administrator account.
 

10. Use this command to open the "vpn_openvpn_client.sh" file.

vi /etc/init.d/vpn_openvpn_client.sh

Then press "A".

 

Important!! Copying the text to the vi editor tends to leave out some of the first characters of the copy-pasted text. You may need to manually type in the missing part of the copied text.

Now you need to change the beginning of this file from

to

Once you complete editing the file press "Esc" and enter this command ":wq". It will save all the changes you have made to the file.

Also, restarting your QNAP disk station will reset all changes made to this file. Therefore, you will need to repeat this step after each QNAP restart to connect to VPN.

 

11. You can now connect to the VPN using this command:

openvpn --config /share/Download/VPN/us936.nordvpn.com.udp.ovpn
 

12. Executing the command will not generate any message in the Putty window. Therefore, you need to open the openvpn.log file in the /Download/VPN directory to confirm that you got connected to the VPN. The last line of the log file should be "Initialization Sequence Completed"