# External Access

There are a number of steps required to enable external access to the applications running on your NAS:

- Enable Traefik
- Domain name and DNS configuration
- Router configuration
- Enable specific applications for external access

## :skull: :skull: :skull: Warning! :skull: :skull: :skull:

Enabling access to applications externally **does not** automatically secure them. If you can access an application from within your own network without a username and password, this will also be the case externally.

It is your responsibility to ensure that applications you enable external access to are secured appropriately!

## Enable Traefik

Traefik routes traffic from ports 80 (HTTP) and 443 (HTTPS) on your Ansible-NAS box to the relevant application, based on hostname.

Simply set `traefik_enabled: true` in your `all.yml`. By default it listens on ports 80 and 443, but doesn't route any traffic.

## Domain Name and DNS Configuration

Set `ansible_nas_domain` to the domain name you want to use for your Ansible-NAS. You'll need somewhere to host the DNS for that domain - Cloudflare is a good free solution. Once you have an account and Cloudflare is hosting the DNS for your domain, create a wildcard DNS entry (`*.myawesomedomain.com`) and set it to your current IP address.

You then need to enable the Cloudflare Dynamic DNS container (`cloudflare_ddns_enabled: true`) so the wildcard DNS entry for your
domain name is updated if/when your ISP issues you a new IP address.

## Router Configuration

You need to map ports 80 and 443 from your router to your Ansible-NAS box.

How to do this is entirely dependent on your router (and out of scope of these docs), but if you're using Ansible-NAS then this should be within your skillset. :)

## Enable Specific Applications

Every application has a `<application_name>_available_externally` setting in the Advanced Settings section of `all.yml`. Setting this to `true` will configure Traefik to route `<application>.yourdomain.com` to the application, making it available externally.