Remote file share without VPN reddit / selfhosted ---------------------------------------------------------------------- vgracanin · 2023-10-07 08:24 Hi, I have been googling it for a while now but can't seem to find a solution. Here's the deal, I have about 25 users (educational institution), some desktops and some laptops, that work from office and home. What I would need is a common file share that is as simple as a network share but also needs to be accessible remotely. - all the clients are windows PC's, not joined to AD - SMB share over VPN would work but adds the complexity that could be problematic for the clients - web based client access is not an option - locally synchronizing the files would also not work as the PC's are older with little space available - android mobile client is a big plus Google Drive and OneDrive desktop clients have the streaming option. Is there a self hosted alternative to this? Or something completely different that would suit this case? Tnx ---------------------------------------------------------------------- NikStalwart · 2023-10-07 08:57 Curious what complexity you're worried about for VPN access? Wireguard has native Windows clients and can be a 'set-and-forget' thing because, if properly configured, only internal traffic goes over the VPN, so it can be left always-on. Manual management of wireguard will work on your scale (25 users), however, you might consider one of the overlay networks like headscale. I would not recommend innernet for this because, while it does work on Windows, it is more technical. Tailscale client with a headscale control server is a fairly painless process, just give your users a powershell script to update registry and download the tailscale client. Alternatively, pay for actual tailscale and use that. You can also use Microsoft's Sharepoint, if you are in a corporate(ish) Windows environment. For a "Google Drive Stream"-like experience, I've personally used rclone - you just create a 'remote' that you use like a normal folder. But I'm a cli guy and don't know if there's a nice-enough Windows UI for it. And, inb4 someone mentions Nextcloud. It's overkill. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- vgracanin · 2023-10-07 09:40 VPN clients can behave a little janky sometimes and I wanted to be sure users are completely unaware of another layer as they are not the most tech savvy to say at least. I was thinking initially zerotier as I already host zeroui but have to have a look how to push the mapped drive thru zerotier only when the client is remote. Haven't really looked at tailscale/headscale but yeah, might give it a go also. They all have a Microsoft 365 account but it is an educational government account that I have no way of managing, it's more just for Microsoft office licensing. Thanks for the tip ---------------------------------------------------------------------- TBT_TBT · 2023-10-07 10:49 I don‘t think Nextcloud would be overkill, but it would be exactly what I would suggest. Add an OnlyOffice Document server and work remotely on e.g. a Word document together, where different users dan do different stuff on the same document at the same time. Zerotier would also be an option, the users would however need to install the client and join the network. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Macka32 · 2023-10-07 13:45 Cloudreve has web ui + webdav to connect form windows or from phone. And for remote access stup Clodflare tunnel. If you upload via the cloudreve webui you will not hit any problems with cloudflare free tier upload cap. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- NaZGuL_of_Mordor · 2023-10-07 14:19 Webdav? Nextcloud? Otherwise why don't you virtualize all the working stations and let everyone work in a Hyper-V VM? And people outside of your LAN where the DC Is you let them connect with a RDS gateway with certificate? ---------------------------------------------------------------------- vgracanin · 2023-10-07 14:48 >Otherwise why don't you virtualize all the working stations and let everyone work in a Hyper-V VM? And people outside of your LAN where the DC Is you let them connect with a RDS gateway with certificate? Yeah, I haven't thought of webdav, although I think I might prefer seafile for simplicity over nextcloud. And then proxy it over cloudflare tunnel for remote users like u/Macka32 suggested. I must say you gave me a good laugh with the VM's. Yeah I used to work with VMware's VDI solutions, and I love the concept. The problem is time and cost to set it all up, not to mention user education. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- NaZGuL_of_Mordor · 2023-10-07 16:30 If you have a phisical server then its a good solution the RDS GW 😉