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Tailscale in the Homelab and Beyond

Why Tailscale?​

You may have come across Tailscale on your internet travels in the past wondered .... what is this tail and why is it scaling? Welp, I am here to demystify the magic that is Tailscale and show you how you can use it in your homelab and beyond - beyond being in production environments and other such places.

Ok, my guy, thanks for the intro, but what is Tailscale? Welp, while the first section of this guide will delve into the very basics of Tailscale, I can give you a quick rundown here. Tailscale is a mesh VPN service that allows you to connect your devices securely and easily. It is built on top of WireGuard, a modern VPN protocol that is known for its speed and security. Tailscale is designed to be easy to use and deploy, making it a great choice for both personal and professional use.

That sounds like it was lifted from the Tailscale website or wikipedia, I admit, but I promise you it was actually only copilot in my VS Code editor that helped me out there. ha! I do that on occasion, but "work smarter, not harder", I was once told.

My first exposure to Tailscale was when I was out adventuring on the internet, building homelab services and thinking .... "gee, I'd really like to get into XYZ service whilst out and about and way from my network. How can I do this safely?" Tailscale was the solution that got me out of the tailspin of solution selection.

Ok, now let's see if the copilot assisted description from above checks out by diving into some of the basics of Tailscale and getting up and running with it in your homelab. We can ... uh ... scale from there.

What is Tailscale? A Quick Primer​

Secure Remote Access:​

  • Tailscale is a mesh VPN service that allows you to connect your devices securely and easily.
  • It is built on top of WireGuard, a modern VPN protocol that is known for its speed and security.
  • Tailscale is designed to be easy to use and deploy, making it a great choice for both personal and professional use.

Zero Trust Networking:​

  • Tailscale uses a zero trust networking model, which means that it assumes that every device on the network is bad, evil, no good, and... -- gasp --, vulnerable. -- fog horn noise --.
  • This means that Tailscale encrypts all traffic between devices, even if they are on the same network.

Cross-Platform Support:​

  • Are you like me and have a device using every platform and os under the sun? Well, Tailscale has you covered ... probably.

Encrypted Communication:​

  • Tailscale uses end-to-end encryption to secure all traffic between devices. That's pretty neato.

Easy to Use:​

  • Tailscale is designed to be easy to use and deploy, making it a great choice for both personal and professional use.

Secure File Sharing:​

  • Tailscale allows you to securely share files between devices, even if they are on different networks.

There is Much more to Tailscale than what I've outlined here, but this should give you a good idea of what it is and how it can be used.