VPN Firewall for QNAP server with easy Mac access

[Paul in Japan]

Hi all,
I have been tasked with setting up a data server to share data between several institutions. For this purpose I have purchased and setup a QNAP TS-453-Pro for this purpose. Our IT people insist that the security of the QNAP is insufficient to connect directly up to the internet (and they are probably correct) and they suggest purchasing a firewall router. I would like to get something that is Mac friendly. I am thinking of requiring a VPN login to the router that allows access to the QNAP. I need something that is robust but is relatively straight to setup and maintain. I was thinking of getting a Zyxtel USG 20 Firewall for this purpose.
The USG20 supports both IPSEC and SSL VPN. SSL VPN sounds like a great idea -- only a browser being necessary to connect, but it was not clear from the manual how it works and I suspect that it uses something microsoft specific.
I also read about the CISCO ASA5505 as being a good choice, but it wasn't clear from reading the info on CISCO's homepage as to whether or not licensing software for end users would be necessary. I have also used a CISCO product as a end-user that downloads a JAVA applet to Safari and enables a VPN tunnel to be created. It worked flawlessly, but I am not sure of what model CISCO gateway it was and for that matter the price.

Any suggestions would be greatly received. IPSEC on the Mac should be built in so perhaps the USG20 would be fine -- IPSEC VPN for the Mac (builtin in MacOS) and SSL VPN for the windows clients.

Thanks for any help in advance.

 

[iJon]

Hi all,
I have been tasked with setting up a data server to share data between several institutions. For this purpose I have purchased and setup a QNAP TS-453-Pro for this purpose. Our IT people insist that the security of the QNAP is insufficient to connect directly up to the internet (and they are probably correct) and they suggest purchasing a firewall router. I would like to get something that is Mac friendly. I am thinking of requiring a VPN login to the router that allows access to the QNAP. I need something that is robust but is relatively straight to setup and maintain. I was thinking of getting a Zyxtel USG 20 Firewall for this purpose.
The USG20 supports both IPSEC and SSL VPN. SSL VPN sounds like a great idea -- only a browser being necessary to connect, but it was not clear from the manual how it works and I suspect that it uses something microsoft specific.
I also read about the CISCO ASA5505 as being a good choice, but it wasn't clear from reading the info on CISCO's homepage as to whether or not licensing software for end users would be necessary. I have also used a CISCO product as a end-user that downloads a JAVA applet to Safari and enables a VPN tunnel to be created. It worked flawlessly, but I am not sure of what model CISCO gateway it was and for that matter the price.

Any suggestions would be greatly received. IPSEC on the Mac should be built in so perhaps the USG20 would be fine -- IPSEC VPN for the Mac (builtin in MacOS) and SSL VPN for the windows clients.

Thanks for any help in advance.

I'm a big Cisco Meraki fan and would suggest that. They are expensive, but it comes with 24/7 support, ongoing firmware updates, lifetime warranty, managed in the cloud, and they are freaking easy to setup. It's the only networking equipment I use and recommend to clients now.

Not sure what your budget is, but take a look at the MX64.

meraki.cisco.com

 

[Paul in Japan]

I'm a big Cisco Meraki fan and would suggest that. They are expensive, but it comes with 24/7 support, ongoing firmware updates, lifetime warranty, managed in the cloud, and they are freaking easy to setup. It's the only networking equipment I use and recommend to clients now.

Not sure what your budget is, but take a look at the MX64.

meraki.cisco.com

Thanks for the tip. I looked up pricing for the server and it is (as usual) very pricing here in Japan running to over $1000 for a three year subscription (at a discount outlet) for a server with only two or three people connecting at a time, this seems like a little overkill. Are there any other alternatives with a more decent price/performance ratio? I really like the cisco easy connect when I used it at a government facility here as it works with Macs and Windows without a lot of grief. Is there something similar out there at a better price point?

 

[iJon]

Any router with a firewall and port forwarding will do the trick.

 

[awair]

How about:

1) Standard router with port forwarding - QNAP will run various VPN server options? or,
2) Tomato based router (Asus works well) using OpenVPN Server?

This is what I'm considering, so if you get it working can you produce a tutorial ...
(pretty please!)