Backup to external NAS place at work: VPN or other options?

VPN
1

My aim is to backup my Synology NAS at home with an (older) NAS which I can put at my office at work. Since I do not have any control over the local network at the office, I wonder how I get them to ‘talk’ to each other. My plan is to use Synology’s Hyper Backup. My basic googling hints that I may setup a VPN between the two which may then be used by Hyper Backup. I know little of such stuff, though. So on to my questions:

  1. Is that correct: can I setup a VPN between them without having control of the external network (to open up ports, etc)?

  2. To complicate things, I am currently using a VPN service, to which my NAS is connected (an OpenVPN protocol/profile). Assuming that the answer to (1) is in the affirmative, can I have both active somehow (directing different services to different VPNs), or do I need to switch between them? Solution?

  3. Is there another option here that I am missing?

Many thanks in advance!

2

How would you set up a VPN if you don’t have control over local network?

(Edit. Accidentally hit return)

Your best bet is to get network access or use QuickConnect.

3
  1. Do you have the blessing from the workplace IT department to put a Synology on your desk?
  2. If yes, then see ZeroTier, it’ll be much easier to deploy than OpenVPN
4

Couldn’t he configure his work NAS to connect to his home NAS over OpenVPN? He could even set it up to use port 443 if normal VPN ports are blocked.

5

I put my 2nd synology at a friends place and indeed needed nothing else than zerotier tp make both nas comnect to eachother.

Only thing that I did before moving my system, was changing its fixed ip address to DHCP, so that once it was powered on and hooked up to the network, iy would get an ip rightaway, instead of having to find ways to have to change it.

So having the 2nd unit already set to dhcp and having zerotier already configured, before moving it to your work, might do the trick, assuming indeed it is allowed to get a dhcp ip address and company firewall can have udp holes punched into.

However good practice is something else, structurally using your employer’s power and internet resources… in my case I offer some space on my backup nas for my friend to use, which is backed up to the nas at my place.

6

Thanks. I do have full control of my local network, so if “pulling” the backup from the NAS at the office is an option, that is indeed possible, since I can open up a port on my local network.

7

It just depends on his network and employer tolerance.

QC is still easiest for OP to try which requires no open ports.

Your suggestion may work but still requires an open port since the Synology OpenVPN is a server expecting to receive connections. Any good network security officer would shut down (or terminate depending on policy) an employee running a server accepting connections.

But it’s highly unlikely any employer checks outbound connections which is why QC would work. He could also create a docker container (on work NAS if a supported model) with an OpenVPN client to connect to his home-based NAS running an OpenVPN server. But even these options can easily be noticed by network security and automatically block those connections.

8

Thanks both, I will check out ZeroTier.

9

Just to clarify, I’m talking about OP having the work NAS act as the client, where it would connect to his home NAS (server). It wouldn’t require anything to open on the work end of things, and he wouldn’t be accessing the NAS directly through the internet, it would just be doing outbound connections to his home NAS.

I agree though it could get dicey with their employer, if not for security reasons, using work electricity/internet for personal reasons.

10

Thanks! So can I setup a NAS to NAS backup using QC? Looking at the different backup alternativets at the Synology KB, I have not seen that option. As you say, since that does not require me to open up any ports, it would be ideal for my purposes. Any hint/link to how this is done?