Should you use a VPN or QuickConnect?

today we're going to take a look at synology quick connect and how it compares to self-hosting your own vpn server there are major differences and we're quickly going to talk through both options so that you can get an understanding of how everything works first up is synology quick connect synology quick connect allows you to access specific synology services without using port forwarding or a vpn without going too much into detail this allows you to utilize synology's tools to create a virtual tunnel between the client you're connecting with and your nas there are various ways that synology quick connect works and i urge you to read synology's white paper if you're using quick connect or would like to use it as it explains it in detail i'll leave a link for it in the description setting up quick connect is extremely easy and can be done by opening the control panel selecting external access then enabling quick connect and picking a quick connect id after you set up quick connect you can select the quick connect settings and enable the quick connect relay service i'd also suggest disabling the port forwarding rule creation as it's never a good idea to have applications automatically port forward on your behalf if you're forced to create the port forwarding rule yourself you'll generally understand how it works and how you can undo it if you'd like with automatic port forwarding role creation you might be left exposed to different security vulnerabilities as you might not even be aware that there are port forwarding rules created in the first place at the bottom you'll see the applications that can be accessed through synology quick connect these are the only applications that you can access and permissions can be controlled through here generally you want to limit this to only the applications that you actively use and remove access to everything else this will ensure that from a security perspective you're only able to connect to the things that you're actively using and nothing else it's important to highlight that you cannot access anything else other than the applications listed here if you set up a plex server and want to access it outside of your local network quick connect won't work the same is true of docker containers and many more applications as synology quick connect is designed and used to access synology applications only the final thing to understand here is that you're relying on synology to maintain the security of quick connect overall there's really not anything you can do to increase security as you're using a middleman in this case synology to access your nas that's not set to scare you but more to highlight that you're somewhat limited in how quick connect works and if you'd like more control or flexibility you might want to look into a vpn when looking at vpns you're in control of everything meaning that you're responsible for securing it and utilizing best practices in general that's not something you really need to worry about since vpns are designed in a way that generally promote best practices to start using openvpn as an example you'll need a certificate username and password to connect by default that's multiple factors which increases security because having the username and password or the certificate won't automatically allow you to connect you would need both which helps to increase the security in itself as far as how vpns work you're basically creating a secure tunnel between your local client and the location where the vpn server is hosted when you're connected depending on the configuration you'll be able to access anything on your local nas or your entire local network this can be another pc or a server the point is that you can function in a way that's similar to sitting at the location where the vpn server is hosted unlike quick connect this means that you can access anything on your nas or local network including plex docker containers or just about anything else you have running the key difference is that you must be connected to that vpn server i want to stress this point because if you think about an application like plex it might be easy to connect to your vpn and access plex from your mobile phone or pc however if you're away and have a smart tv roku or fire stick that you'd like to be able to connect to your plex server with you need to be able to connect to the vpn from that device as well this is true of anyone and anything else as well meaning that if you have synology drive set up and you like everyone in your house to be able to access it from anywhere they would need to first connect to the vpn that means having a username password and certificate for every single one of those users fortunately it's not particularly difficult to set any of that up but it's something that you should keep in mind if you've gotten to this point and are interested in a vpn you must also be aware that there are many different vpn solutions you can use if you want to set it up on your nas you have a few different options with openvpn being my favorite i have a video and article on how you can set it up which i'll leave in the description but please be aware that you can set up different vpn options in many different ways with some options being on your router raspberry pi or even a dedicated server you also have a few different options on what you can use with my favorites being wireguard and openvpn finally if you want to set up a vpn server you have to be able to port forward the exception being if you were to use a tool like tailscale which can be installed on your nas tailscale utilizes the wireguard protocol and allows you to quickly and easily set up a vpn server it takes less than 10 minutes to set up doesn't require port forwarding and allows you to manage everything from their website the key point here is that it's free for an individual user so if you have multiple people that you'd like to connect you'll have to upgrade your membership there's also the important point that tail scale is similar to synology quick connect in the sense that you're relying on the tail scale servers being active in order to connect when comparing that to a traditional vpn like openvpn or wireguard those services are generally hosted from your local network this means that if that device is online and has an internet connection you'll be able to connect to it there won't ever be another factor that can take down the system like there is with tail scale or synology quick connect but once again you're relying on yourself to secure the connection and stay up to date on security best practices so in summary the key difference between synology quick connect and hosting your own vpn server is that quick connect only allows you to access a few synology applications a vpn server on the other hand will allow you to connect to any services on your local network however the setup process is much more involved setting up synology quick connect is ticking a few boxes and picking a quick connect id setting up a vpn server on the other hand depending on the option you select can involve port forwarding configuration file changes peer setups and more the exception being if you were to use a tool like tal scale which simplifies the process as discussed however that has its own downsides as well so with all of this said there really isn't a right or wrong answer and i can only give you my opinion on which is better and to do that i'll highlight what i personally do i've always used the vpn server it started off years ago running openvpn on my synology nas which worked well until i migrated to wireguard on my raspberry pi and finally i used a combination of wireguard and openvpn on pfsense which for those of you that don't know is my router i can access everything from anywhere that i am and secure my connection on public wi-fi none of this is to say that quickconnect is bad as it has its place and is a great tool for many people but you have a lot more flexibility if you pursue a vpn thanks for checking out the video if you liked it please give it a thumbs up if you have any questions feel free to leave them in the comments and i'll do my best to get back to you and if you like this type of content please consider subscribing to the channel thanks guys

Channel: WunderTech

Views: 22,546

Keywords: quickconnect vs vpn

Id: l5YxO86SbRw

Length: 8min 0sec (480 seconds)

Published: Thu Jun 16 2022