I’m seeing a lot of this same comment here, so I went to check out this tailscale thing, which clearly I must need.

Can anybody explain what Tailscale is, does, or why everybody seems to have it?

Looking at their website, it’s just a huge wall of business jargon. Really! Read it. It’s nothing but a list of enterprise terminology. There’s a “how it works “ page full of more (different) jargon, acronyms and buzzwords, but no simple explanation of why everybody on this thread seems to be paying money for this thing?

Any help? Should I just pay them my $6/month and hope I figure it out at some point?

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davnicwil 2 minutes ago | parent | next [-]

they have an excellent set of short intro videos [0] on youtube, that's what I used to get an overview and get set up.

[0] https://youtu.be/sPdvyR7bLqI?si=2kIpHtNuJ52jEdmm

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KnuthIsGod 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Basically it is managed Wireguard. Tailscale does say it, but it is buried under marketing speak.

	▲	quaintdev 32 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		This. People are doing the same thing that OP mentioned in this thread.

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tomjen3 3 minutes ago | parent | prev | next [-]

It’s a point to point vpn that works between devices even without a direct network connection.

Their personal free plan is more than enough.

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PeterStuer an hour ago | parent | prev | next [-]

A system by wich you can expose things on your private network (e.g. your home lan) so you can selectively and securely make them accesible from other places (e.g. over the Internet). You can do all this without tailscale by just configuring secure encrypted tunnels (wireshark, traefic, ...) yourself, but services like tailscale provide you with easy gui configuration for that.

I personally use Pangolin, which is similar https://github.com/fosrl/pangolin

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Lammy an hour ago | parent | prev | next [-]

It's a cryptographic key exchange system that allows nodes to open Wireguard tunnels between each other. They have a nice product, but I don't like how it spies on your “private” network by default: https://tailscale.com/kb/1011/log-mesh-traffic

If you want to self-host, use NetBird instead.

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gertrunde an hour ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Basic version is it's a sort of developer focused zero trust network service.

Encrypted overlay network based on wireguard tunnels, with network ACLs based around identity, and with lots of nice quality-of-life features, like DNS that just works and a bunch of other stuff.

(Other stuff = internet egress from your tailscale network ('tailnet') through any chosen node, or feeding inbound traffic from a public IP to a chosen node, SSH tied into the network authentication.

There is also https://github.com/juanfont/headscale - which is a open source implementation of some of tailscale's server side stuff, compatible with the normal tailscale clients.

(And there are clients for a very wide range of stuff).

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jasonkester an hour ago | parent [-]

I can’t tell if you’re trying to help, or just getting into the spirit of the website’s “how it works (using ten pages of terminology and acronyms we just made up)” page.

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viccis an hour ago | parent | next [-]

None of the terminology or acronyms that user used were made up or unique to this. I think you are blaming other people for your unfamiliarity with this kind of tech.

It is simply a managed service that lets you hook devices up to an overlay network, in which they can communicate easily with each other just as though they were on a LAN even if they are far apart.

For example, if you have a server you'd like to be able to SSH into on your home network, but you don't want to expose it to the internet, you can add both it and your laptop to a Tailscale network and then your laptop can connect directly to it over the Tailscale network no different than if you were at home.

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jasonkester 37 minutes ago | parent [-]

Sorry if I appeared rude. That was very much tongue in cheek.

But notice how you just did a much better job of explaining what this thing does without using any jargon at all. The jargon helps if everyone already knows what you’re talking about. It hurts if anyone doesn’t.

That’s what I’m poking fun at. There’s a trait in lots of engineers I’ve worked with over the years to be almost afraid to talk about tech stuff in layman terms. Like they’re worried that someone will think less of them because they used words instead of an acronym. Like they won’t get credit for knowing what a zero trust network is if they describe the concept in a way that regular people might understand.

One of those guys was certainly in charge of this company’s website copy.

	▲	aembleton 11 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		> But notice how you just did a much better job of explaining what this thing does without using any jargon at all. There was plenty of jargon and acronyms like LAN and SSH. You're just used to those ones.

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arcanemachiner an hour ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Your ignorance of the topic is no excuse to be rude to someone who's trying to help you.

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jaapz 44 minutes ago | parent | prev [-]

That's just networking jargon

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remco_sch 34 minutes ago | parent | prev | next [-]

It's a virtual network switch/router with DHCP, DNS, and lots more enterprisey features on top. You 'plug' devices into it using a VPN connection.

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konradb an hour ago | parent | prev | next [-]

I don't think you need to pay $6 a month to try it out.

Install it on all the machines you want. When you are running it on the machine, it is networked to the other machines that are running it. Now make an 'exit node' on one of those machines by selecting it in the UI, and all your gear can access the internet via that exit node. Your phone can run it. Your apple tv can run it. You can have multiple exit nodes. So you can have a worldwide network and not once did you have to open ports in firewalls etc.

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jasonkester an hour ago | parent [-]

So, somewhere on that website, there’s a free version that can be downloaded onto a desktop and run without signing up for their service?

I think I understand what it does now. So, basically you leave a computer running at home, and this thing lets you pretend to be running your internet stuff through it while you’re on the road?

	▲	konradb a minute ago \| parent \| next [-]
		> So, somewhere on that website, there’s a free version that can be downloaded onto a desktop and run without signing up for their service? If you go to https://tailscale.com/pricing?plan=personal The first plan on the left called 'Personal' is free. It uses a central orchestrator which is what requires you to sign up. If you prefer to self host your orchestrator you can look into Headscale, an alternative that seeks to be compatible with the clients. > So, basically you leave a computer running at home, and this thing lets you pretend to be running your internet stuff through it while you’re on the road? That's one thing you can do with it, yes. You can also run custom DNS entries across it, ACLs, it is very flexible.
	▲	omnimus 42 minutes ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		The service is free up to certain amount of connected people and devices. You most likely don't need to pay for it. I am pretty heavy user and don't. It is virtual private network orchestrator. It allows you to connect to other devices that you add to your network as long as they are connected to the internet. So your office computer, home server or NAS. If you have some home automation like home assistant you can connect to it from anywhere. That kind of stuff.

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frio an hour ago | parent | prev | next [-]

You don't need to get too far down the page to see "VPN", which is what it is. But on top of that primitive, it's also a bunch of software and networking niceties.

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npodbielski an hour ago | parent | prev [-]

It just virtual private network.