Can I start and shutdown NAS remotely ?

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andy8
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Can I start and shutdown NAS remotely ?

Post by andy8 »

Hi,

I have a quick question. I manually press my NAS Start button to kick-start the device and I am able to remotely use it (via EZ Connect).
I can also shutdown the NAS remotely from the operating system.

But, how am I able to start my NAS remotely ? Is this possible at all ?

Thanks,
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Nazar78
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Re: Can I start and shutdown NAS remotely ?

Post by Nazar78 »

You can use WOL or WOW, Wake-on-LAN (WOL). Note however although I'm using WOL, I use it only for ACPI S3 state (suspend to RAM) but I have never tested it when the NAS is in power off ACPI S5 state. Some device supports WOL in S5 (there's still power going into the ethernet/USB etc for wakeup purposes), not sure about Asustor though as I don't usually shutdown my devices, you can always try to test.
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andy8
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Re: Can I start and shutdown NAS remotely ?

Post by andy8 »

Really interesting use-case Nazar :)
Thanks for sharing this with me, I will test and update here if it works for me.
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Re: Can I start and shutdown NAS remotely ?

Post by snapshot »

There's a useful Windows program called WakeOnLAN that I use to start a switched-off NAS for the weekly backup. I think I could also use it to switch the NAS off at the end of the backup but I haven't tried this. Note that it only works with native ports, not with add-in 10Gb/s cards. This is not an Asustor problem as I've also had it with a Synology NAS but I believe both companies' 10Gb/s cards use the same chipset so that might be the answer.
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Re: Can I start and shutdown NAS remotely ?

Post by andy8 »

Thanks for the update @snapshot. I will try the program 'WakeOnLAN'.

I found that using the program Asustor Control Center helped to start my NAS remotely and shutdown as well.
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andy8
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Re: Can I start and shutdown NAS remotely ?

Post by andy8 »

Hi, I was able to switch on my NAS remotely (but only if I am residing from within the same LAN network). If I happen to be outside the LAN network, say for example from a Starbucks/cafe outside my network - I am not able to switch on my NAS at all.

I found out the following: https://www.asustor.com/en-gb/solution/wake_on_wan
I found that my NAS model seems to have this feature, but how do I enable this ?

I also tried AI Master iOS app, to experiment wake up (but it doesn't work if, I am outside my LAN network). I would like to switch on my NAS if I am travelling, from say a hotel or some other location away from home. Please let me know if someone has succesfully enabled this. Thanks
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Re: Can I start and shutdown NAS remotely ?

Post by Nazar78 »

This feature utilizes UDP port 9 to broadcast the magic packets. Port forward this port on your router.

There's several methods to accomplish this:-

1. Do the UDP port 9 forwarding above then use some mobile or PC apps to trigger the WOL. Cons are some ISP may block this port or have no router support.

2. Use VPN instead of port forwarding. Then you can use those WOL mobile/PC apps or even run the wake up commands from the terminal like etherwake or wakeonlan. Safe but you'll have to connect to your home VPN every time.

3. Some routers like Asus WRT have such network tools to wake your devices. You just need to enable remote access from the WAN. This is not recommended as you're exposing your router admin
page to the internet.

4. Have some fun, program your own. Long ago, I was using some webapp I created to manage waking up my devices, http://teanazar.com/2015/10/setting-up- ... ke-on-lan/. Now I did a different approach by programming a listener API to wait for wakeup voice commands, OK Google, turn on my <device-name>, which then API will intercept and send the magic packets broadcast to my LAN. Works great especially from the Google Home Nest or my mobile when I'm outside or overseas. You can host this anywhere, on the NAS, WRT router, Rpi or even a cheap modified IP cam.
Image
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Internal:
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External 5 Bay USB3:
- 4x2TB Seagate modded RAID0 Btrfs-Compression
- 480GB Intel SSD for modded dm-cache (initramfs auto update patch) and Apps

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andy8
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Re: Can I start and shutdown NAS remotely ?

Post by andy8 »

Hi Nazar, thanks for sharing these descriptions in detail - I am learning a lot from you. Thanks very much.

Could I please ask the following for Step 1,
1. Do the UDP port 9 forwarding above then use some mobile or PC apps to trigger the WOL. Cons are some ISP may block this port or have no router support.
I can apply port forwarding for Port 9 on my router, but can you please share some names of mobile/PC apps that will allow me to trigger the WOL then ? I would like to experiment this :)
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Re: Can I start and shutdown NAS remotely ?

Post by Nazar78 »

Any mobile or PC apps that allows you to send magic packets to your public IP UDP port 9 (or some device, 7) should work. E.g. this https://play.google.com/store/apps/deta ... .wakeonlan or https://www.microsoft.com/store/productId/9N8XNP90KV5N. Unless of course if your ISP or Mobile telco blocks this particular port. You'll then need to do packet inspection to determine this or easily using netcat (install from Entware repo via the App Central, run with sudo or root `opkg update && opkg install netcat`) listen for UDP port 9 then trigger a UDP message on that port 9 from a remote location i.e. your mobile using some GNU tools like netcat itself or the WOL app.

Image
AS5304T - 16GB DDR4 - ADM-OS modded on 2GB RAM
Internal:
- 4x10TB Toshiba RAID10 Ext4-Journal=Off
External 5 Bay USB3:
- 4x2TB Seagate modded RAID0 Btrfs-Compression
- 480GB Intel SSD for modded dm-cache (initramfs auto update patch) and Apps

When posting, consider checking the box "Notify me when a reply is posted" to get faster response
andy8
Posts: 46
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Location: United Kingdom

Re: Can I start and shutdown NAS remotely ?

Post by andy8 »

Hi Nazar, thank you very much for the help and explaination.

I have tried port forwarding UDP port 9 on my Sky Hub router and I can succesfully enable the sending of magic packets if I reside in the same LAN network, using the app you recommended - Simple Wake On LAN.

I use a Windows 10 OS-laptop, and I'm trying to follow a step that I could emulate using Windows.

But, the moment I step out of LAN or use any other network (remotely), it stops working and I can't start my NAS anymore from shut-down state. But since it works from within my own LAN network, I am not able to say that my ISP has blocked the port 9 usage (as it seems to work).

I am not sure how to progress from here. My strongest use-case for this is to ensure this works remotely.

Then I tried this step:
2. Use VPN instead of port forwarding. Then you can use those WOL mobile/PC apps or even run the wake up commands from the terminal like etherwake or wakeonlan. Safe but you'll have to connect to your home VPN every time.
With a VPN (I use Surfshark), it still didn't work for me.

Is there any other suitable methods available ? I wouldn't even mind if there is some paid tools available for me to achieve this much easier. Thanks :)
AS5304T - 16GB DDR4 - [16TB]
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