A really old new user

[GregHudson]

G'Day All. My first computer (I had to build from scratch) was a 1979 Motorola Dream 6800 with no external storage. When the power was turned off, I had to start all over again. Oh what fun Later on I progressed to a Tandy TRS-80, then a Hitachi Peach (wow, it had colour!), then IBM's, and then building my own Windows PC's. The last one is about 10 or more years old, but can still run Windows 10, but not 11.

I've just bought a pre-owned Flashtor 12 to replace my 20-ish year old QNAP TS-410. Speaking of which, I thought I found a bargain on Amazon, purchased 2 x Lexar 710 NVMe 2TB, only to find out when I ordered 2 more that there is a 3 unit limit ! (And I needed 12 for my new NAS). I complained to support, and they said I should have checked by ordering 4. Hardly good support. Instead, I sent them back, still unopened. So, no NVMe's yet, I am still waiting for them to arrive.

The Flashtor 12 (Gen 1 I assume) it is sitting here, covers off, waiting for the 12 SSD's, so I thought I'd come here and see what I can find out about this machine. (I didn't get the User Manual, or a power cord)...
My plan is to dump about 6TB from my QNAP on to the Flashtor, which is going to be slow at 1Gbps. (Limitation of the old QNAP).

Question, is it feasible to connect the Flashtor directly to my Mac mini M4 (base version) in the interim, eliminating the potential hazard of connecting the Flashtor to the Internet ?
I've read (on the Asustor web site) about hackers getting into the FS and uploading ransomware. I want to create a new Admin User, and delete the original Admin account (effectively blocking the hackers).
Any tips on how to do this easily (with no NVMe's on board yet).

Thanks & Regards, Greg.

[father.mande]

Hi,

Welcome on board ...
some people are old at 20 and some others young and creative at 70+ ...

It's not a competition ...

Philippe.

[father.mande]

Hi,

Question, is it feasible to connect the Flashtor directly to my Mac mini M4 (base version) in the interim, eliminating the potential hazard of connecting the Flashtor to the Internet ?
I've read (on the Asustor web site) about hackers getting into the FS and uploading ransomware. I want to create a new Admin User, and delete the original Admin account (effectively blocking the hackers).
Any tips on how to do this easily (with no NVMe's on board yet).

Thanks & Regards, Greg.

I don't have Mac (only one VM) .. so
BUT for security ... you don't have more risk to be hacked than any PC, server, domotic, connected object, smarttv ... etc. that can be used as an entry point.

Basic (even complex) security can be do :
... create an administrators user and lock admin
... change ALL know ports to your own ... open on Internet or not
... change sudoers to limit drastically possibility to be root
... manage upnpc IGD to avoid unwanted forwarding ...

Verify your environment ... your Mac can also be an entry point for ransomware ... even it's a healthy carrier ...
... eventually used the multi-port LAN to separate object connected from NAS ad server.
multiple access point, different lan for hardware, etc.

Last you can created your secure (access like a LAN) VPN private not open to external using tailscale (wireguard) ... this permit access with very very limited risk even when you inter-connect NAS or server and any client (Android, IOS, MAc, etc.)
... this solution don't suppress used of ssl certificates and strong password or key connect.

Philippe.

[GregHudson]

G'Day Phillipe, and thanks for the reply.
"you don't have more risk to be hacked than any PC, server, domotic, connected object, smarttv ... etc. that can be used as an entry point."
This is the exact reason I'm looking to disconnect from the net, but still keep my router running, as it is generating IP addresses for attached hardware. With no Internet connection, it is impossible for anyone to attack while I create a new admin (Me).
After creating the new admin, I would then reconnect the router, and start the initialisation procedure to set up the Flashtor. (This is only in my head at the moment - but I may be completely incorrect, which is why I am asking for advice).
Choosing an alternate port number for the standard 8000 would be the next thing to do, but I don't know what a 'subdoers' is. Non admin users? If so, it is not an issue as I am the only user.
I'm also not familiar with "upnpc IDG" but I will look it up...

So, back to my idea of physically disconnecting my cable to the Net while I create a new admin - do you think this is possible ?

NOTE: I now have the 12 NVMe's installed, but I have not yet powered the Asustor up yet...

Regards, Greg.

[snapshot]

The easiest thing to do is probably simply to disconnect your router from the internet. It can then carry on doling out DHCP addresses while you do what's needed on the NAS. The problem with trying to connect your MAC and NAS directly as that they won't have IP addresses. You can manually configure the Mac but not the NAS until you're connected to it which needs DHCP. A bit of a Catch22.

You'll probably be prompted for a new port before you get too far into the configuration and I don't think there's any need to reconnect your router until the NAS initialisation is well under way. Just how are you proposing to configure all those drives?

If you haven't already discovered it, you can download the user manual in your choice of language from https://www.asustor.com/en/service/down ... 0#document

Jonathan