Remote Tunneling Guide: frp vs ZeroTier vs Tailscale for Accessing Your NAS

The Complete Remote Access Guide: frp, ZeroTier, and Tailscale

In today's increasingly digital life, the NAS (network-attached storage) or PC in your home often holds important data, photos, and media. However, most home broadband connections do not come with a public IP, so the moment you leave home you can no longer reach those devices.

"NAT traversal"technology exists exactly for this. This article reviews and walks you through deploying today's three most popular options: frp, ZeroTier, and Tailscale — so you can "go home" from anywhere.

Part 1: Comparing the options

Before you start tinkering, it is essential to understand how these tools differ so you can pick the one that fits you best.

📝 Buying advice:
- If you want to share a website hosted on your NAS with friends, go with frp.
- If you just want to stream media and manage your server remotely yourself, go with Tailscale.

Part 2: frp in practice (advanced)

frp is the most popular high-performance reverse proxy today. Configuration is a bit more involved, but it gives you the most control.Note: this guide uses the toml format recommended by frp v0.52.0+.

1. Preparation

• Server: a cloud server (VPS) with a public IP.
• Client: the NAS or PC at home.
• Software: download from GitHub Releases.

2. Server configuration (deployed on the VPS)

After extracting the software, edit the frps.toml file:

# frps.toml
bindPort = 7000           # port used for serverclient communication

# authentication (very important!)
auth.method = "token"
auth.token = "SetYourStrongPasswordHere123" # replace with a strong password

# dashboard configuration (optional)
webServer.addr = "0.0.0.0"
webServer.port = 7500
webServer.user = "admin"
webServer.password = "admin123"

Start the server:./frps -c frps.toml

3. Client configuration (deployed on the NAS)

Edit the frpc.toml file to connect to your VPS:

# frpc.toml
serverAddr = "x.x.x.x"    # enter your VPS public IP
serverPort = 7000         # must match the server bindPort

auth.method = "token"
auth.token = "SetYourStrongPasswordHere123" # must match the server

# === proxy rules ===

# example 1: remote SSH access
[[proxies]]
name = "ssh"
type = "tcp"
localIP = "127.0.0.1"
localPort = 22
remotePort = 6000         # connecting to VPS:6000 reaches your home SSH

# example 2: NAS admin page
[[proxies]]
name = "nas-web"
type = "tcp"
localIP = "192.168.1.100" # the NAS LAN IP
localPort = 5000
remotePort = 5000         # connecting to VPS:5000 opens the NAS

Start the client:./frpc -c frpc.toml

Part 3: Simple networking with Tailscale/ZeroTier

If you don't want to buy a VPS or write any code, start here.

Option A: Tailscale (recommended)

1. Sign up: go to the Tailscale website and sign in with your Google/Microsoft account.
2. Install: install the Tailscale client on both your NAS and your phone/computer.
3. Connect: sign in to the same account.
4. Use it: Tailscale assigns an IP in the 100.x.x.x range — just access that IP directly.

Option B: ZeroTier

1. Create a network: register on the website and create a Network to get your Network ID.
2. Join the network: enter the ID on every device to join.
3. Authorize (critical): go back to the web console and tick the Auth checkbox for the new device.

Part 4: Security and pitfalls

Exposing your LAN to the public internet carries risk. Always follow these principles:

• Use strong passwords: the frp token and your NAS account passwords must be sufficiently complex.
• Block the port: never expose SMB (port 445) directly to the public internet — it is an easy way to get ransomware.
• Enable HTTPS: for web services, pair it with Nginx Proxy Manager to configure an SSL certificate.

Once configured, you can reach your home NAS through your server's domain + port (frp) or its LAN IP (Tailscale). Happy tinkering!

Related reading: The Complete Guide to Connecting to Your NAS over IPv6 · IPv6 Reachability Report by Province