Network Attached Storage or NAS is a storage unit that serves a network of computers. It is usually used in small and medium companies and serves as the main data storage unit of all the computers connected to the network. One of the most commonly used NAS is the QNAP NAS by the Taiwanese-based company QNAP Systems. The company was established in 2004 and ever since has been specialized in the most advanced NAS products. Usually a network connected storage unit like this has continuous incoming and outgoing traffic of confidential company information when connected to a company’s network. Therefore, this connection needs to be highly secured in order to protect this valuable information from unwanted external risks.The best form of security for any network connected devices is using a Virtual Private Network or VPN service to encrypt this information and keep it highly protected. VPNs support multiple security protocols one of which is the Point-to-Point-Tunneling-Protocol or PPTP.
In this tutorial we will be showing you how to manually setup a PPTP VPN connection directly on the QNAP NAS unit. But before we start you must make sure you have the following:
1- A full subscription to a reliable VPN service
2- The VPN service must support PPTP
3- The VPN service must support high levels of encryption (minimum 128-bit encryption) to ensure a high level of security
Configuring PPTP on the QNAP NAS
1- Using a valid administrator-rights credentials, sign into your QNAP device and go to “Control Panel”
2- Go to “Applications” and select “VPN Client”
3- At the top of the “VPN Client” page, click on the “Add” button
4- From the drop-down menu, select “PPTP”
5- In the field labeled “Profile Name”, enter the preferred name you would like to give to the connection
6- In the field labeled “Server Address” enter the IP address or hostname of the VPN server that you want to connect to (This can be found on your VPN provider’s website)
7- In the fields labeled “Username” and “Password”, enter your VPN credentials
8- Click to open the drop down menu labeled “Authentication” and choose “MS-CHAPv2”
9- Click to open the drop down menu labeled “Encryption” and select “Medium (AES40/128 bit)”
10- Click to check the checkbox labeled “Use default gateway on remote network”
11- Click to check the checkbox labeled “Allow other network devices to connect to the VPN through the NAS” (this is only if you want to have all devices on the network to use the VPN connection
12- Click to check the checkbox labeled “Reconnect when the VPN connection is lost”
13- Click the “Create” button
14- To connect to the VPN server, back in the “VPN Profile” page, click on the blue button labeled “Connect”
Now your QNAP NAS is secured with a VPN connection.
