Private cloud storage without port-forwarding

Privacy Questions
1

Hello,

I would like to sync my important data and documents to and from a private, open source, and secure cloud storage service.

For this, the website recommends Nextcloud. However, the problem with this is that I can not port forward, either due to intentional action by my ISP, or incompetence.

What options are left for me, if any, to still accomplish this goal, without the need for port forwarding?

Thank you for your insight!

2

Can you pls clarify what port you needed to forward to? Because AFAIK Nextoud only operates in the port 80 and 443, something that shouldnt requiring port forwarding because it is the commonly used ports.

3

Those are the only ports I need to foward. I need to forward them so I can access the server from outside my local network

4

You can try pagekite.net. It’s made to work without port-forwarding

5

You could use syncthing for automatic syncing, or something like tailscale or zerotier to have easy, private VPNs between your devices. All the above bypass the need for port forwarding.

6

It seems the transfer quota on this is low unless you pay a lot

7

I already use syncthing, but I would like a cloud storage server accessible from anywhere. tailscale’s privacy policy doesn’t seem great. Perhaps zerotier is an option then. I don’t know what the transfer quota on that is either though.

8

You can self host it

9

Couldn’t you set up a syncthing folder to something that’s within NextCloud? I’m honestly not sure.

And like @HauntSanctuary mentions, you can self host tailscale with the package called headscale.

10

I think I will try tailscale. As I’m unable to forward ports, I can’t self-host tailscale either.

11

Small update: tailscale is working great for me! It’s ridiculous that I can’t port-forward the standard way, but tailscale does the job nonetheless. I see their control server is closed source, which is ok, but oddly enough they recommend headscale, the open source alternative to their own control server. As said before though, I can’t self-host that either as I can’t port forward.

Thanks for everyone’s help!

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12

You’ve already found a solution that works for you, but for future readers another alternative if you don’t need fast speeds are Tor Onion Services.

Writeup on the other benefits as well: Tor Is Not Just for Anonymity

13

I would also discourage you from portforwarding as this can create additional risk. You could use Cloudflare Tunnels (for free). It’s really a nice solution. Feel free to DM me if you need help setting this up ph00lt0@matrix.org

14

Thank you for your suggestion, but I have already found a solution

15

Something new still in testing with tailscale is Funnel, which performs pretty much the same functions as the previously mentioned cloudflare tunnels. When it reaches release status, would be a good way to allow public accessibility to select devices/services you host.

As for what you might want to do that with? Maybe you have a file sharing service you want to be able to use with other people, for example.

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