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 3 hours 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 2 hours 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 2 hours 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 2 hours 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 2 hours 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 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

That's just networking jargon