Connecting to a Synology NAS' external drive via Tailscale

Submitted by shnuggleberry on #1

Hi folks,

 

I'm brand new to this so apologies for any bad terminology or misunderstanding. Loving it so far... so just seeing how close to the dream set up I can get.

 

Context

I'm wanting to expand the storage of my Shadow PC as its base storage is a mere 256GB which I keep eating up quick with a couple of large games. I have already managed to mount an external hard drive plugged into my MacBook to the Shadow PC by using Tailscale and VirtualHere in tandem - and it works surprisingly great. Managed to install and run the whole of Microsoft Flight Simulator without any issues - with the hard drive plugged into my Mac, shared with Tailscale and then mounted using VirtualHere. The next dream step is being able to plug that drive into my Synology NAS instead of directly into the Mac.

 

Steps taken so far

1. I've installed both Tailscale and VirtualHere via the DSM Package Center on my Synology DS218j

2. Tailscale shows all the devices connected fine, in the same way it shows my MacBook

3. Pasting the Tailscale-provided IP address for the Synology NAS over to VirtualHere (via the Specify Hubs option) seems to work initially, in that it mounts and has a green status icon. However, it shows no other device options in the drop-down and routinely disappears and reappears (assuming it actually is connected in the first place) from the USB hubs list.

 

Having a good browse through these forums, there's a lot of friendly and smart people here... so I'm wondering if anyone might be able to suggest some troubleshooting I could or steps I may have missed? Alternatively.... if I've got the completely wrong idea!

 

Thanks very much in advance for your help, and I'm happy to answer any questions.

 

Elliot

Submitted by Michael on Tue, 2022/12/06 - 20:58

#2

Running virtualhere server on a Synology uses TCP port 17570 (instead of port 7575 like on all the other platforms) so you need to enter the tailscale ip address colon 17570 into the virtualhere client. Did you do that?

Submitted by shnuggleberry on Tue, 2022/12/06 - 21:24

#3

Ahhhh I was so close yet so far! That worked immediately and perfectly - thanks so much, Michael.

Submitted by shnuggleberry on Wed, 2022/12/07 - 03:09

#4

While we're here and just on the off chance - do you know how I might mount the drive (or a part of the drive) that's already installed in my Synology NAS as if a local device using VirtualHere? Or does it only work with devices connect by USB?

Submitted by Michael on Wed, 2022/12/07 - 07:20

#5

Not possible, virtualhere only redirects USB devices. It cant do that with non-usb disks

Submitted by shnuggleberry on Wed, 2022/12/07 - 07:26

#6

Thanks for confirming. Really appreciate your help and time, Michael.