Access File Share Links on your Synology NAS from the internet

File Share Link using your own domain name

Introduction

Synology File Station allows you to create File Share Links. If you don’t configure any external access method on your Synology NAS, these links will look something like this:

https://<yourservername>:5001/sharing/dygIyhcYJ

The value of <yourservername> is the value configured under Control Panel — Network — Server name. The port 5001 mentioned here is the port configured for DSM under Control Panel — Login Portal — DSM port (HTTPS) which is where your NAS handles file links.

The link above is only accessible from within your own network, so it’s not very useful if you want to share a file with someone over the internet.

In the rest of this article I will describe three methods for creating File Share Links that are accessible from outside your own network. They are ranked from easy to more advanced.

1. QuickConnect
2. DDNS
3. Use your own domain name

I’m using DSM 7.2 in which these methods can be configured under Control Panel — External Access.

Method 1: QuickConnect

With QuickConnect your NAS will continuously keep a connection to the QuickConnect server open. For one, this connection is used to update your IP address (similar to a DDNS, more details below). In addition, this connection is used as sort of a tunnel by QuickConnect to allow a direct connection to your NAS without forwarding ports on your router.

When setting up a QuickConnect ID your NAS will get the following public addresses:

• <yourid>.quickconnect.to
• quickconnect.to/<yourid>

This process will also generate the associated SSL certificates (which can be found/assigned in Control Panel — Security — Certificate).

Under Control Panel — External Access — QuickConnect — Advanced Settings you can configure what services are accessible using QuickConnect. If you enable File Sharing then your File Share Links will look something like this:

https://gofile.me/5psAq/dygIyhcYJ

Method 2: DDNS

A DDNS is useful if you don’t have a static IP address. If you set up DDNS your NAS will periodically update your IP address to the DDNS provider, who will link it to a chosen domain name. Like this, your NAS will always be available on that domain name, even when your IP address changes.

On your Synology NAS You can choose from a few providers. If you choose for Synology, then your NAS will get the following public address:

<yourid>.synology.me

If you choose for Synology DDNS, this process will also generate the associated SSL certificates (which can be found/assigned in Control Panel — Security — Certificate). If you choose another provider, you can create/assign a certificate manually at that same place.

Now when you create a File Share Link it will look something like this:

https://<yourid>.synology.me:5001/sharing/dygIyhcYJ

Finally you need to forward port 5001 in your router to <yourinternalnasip>:5001.

Method 3: Use your own domain name

If you happen to have your own domain name, you can configure an A record for a subdomain in the DNS settings for your domain. My provider offers a trivial webform where I can simply configure subdomainfiles.<yourdomain>.com to route to IP address XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX (my public IP address). Keep in mind this is a static mapping: unlike a DDNS this route will break if my public IP address changes.

Using this method you will have to create your own SSL certificate. You can easily do this from Control Panel — Security — Certificate. Your certificate will be signed by Let’s Encrypt. Just add a new certificate for files.<yourdomain>.com and complete the steps.

For the certificate process to work, make sure you temporarily forward port 80 on your router to <yourinternalnasip>:80 because this port is used to make the handshake between your NAS and Let’s Encrypt. You can close this port again after creating the certificate.

!!! Important final step !!!

Now without doing anything, your File Share Links will still look like this:

https://<yourservername>:5001/sharing/dygIyhcYJ

As mentioned in the beginning of this article, this link is only accessible from within your own network. Now if you go to Control Panel — External Access — Advanced you can configure the domain to be used in the File Share Links. Here you enter files.<yourdomain>.com. You can also choose a custom port. Now your File Share Links will look like this:

https://files.<yourdomain>.com:<yourport>/sharing/dygIyhcYJ

Finally you need to forward <yourport> in your router to <yourinternalnasip>:5001.

Happy file sharing!

Luuk