netbird Installation Guide Installation Guide

netbird is a free and open-source WireGuard-based mesh VPN. NetBird creates secure private networks with SSO support, serving as an open-source alternative to Tailscale with self-hosting

Hardware Requirements:

CPU: 1 core minimum

RAM: 256MB minimum

Storage: 100MB for installation

Network: STUN/TURN servers

Operating System:

Linux: Any modern distribution (RHEL, Debian, Ubuntu, CentOS, Fedora, Arch, Alpine, openSUSE)

macOS: 10.14+ (Mojave or newer)

Windows: Windows Server 2016+ or Windows 10

FreeBSD: 11.0+

Network Requirements:

Port 33073 (default netbird port)

Management on 33073

Dependencies:

See official documentation for specific requirements

System Access: root or sudo privileges required

This guide supports installation on:

RHEL 8/9 and derivatives (CentOS Stream, Rocky Linux, AlmaLinux)

Debian 11/12

Ubuntu 20.04/22.04/24.04 LTS

Arch Linux (rolling release)

Alpine Linux 3.18+

openSUSE Leap 15.5+ / Tumbleweed

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES) 15+

macOS 12+ (Monterey and later)

FreeBSD 13+

Windows 10/11/Server 2019+ (where applicable)

bash

# Install EPEL repository if needed
sudo dnf install -y epel-release

# Install netbird
sudo dnf install -y netbird

# Enable and start service
sudo systemctl enable --now netbird

# Configure firewall
sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-port=33073/tcp
sudo firewall-cmd --reload

# Verify installation
netbird version

bash

# Update package index
sudo apt update

# Install netbird
sudo apt install -y netbird

# Enable and start service
sudo systemctl enable --now netbird

# Configure firewall
sudo ufw allow 33073

# Verify installation
netbird version

bash

# Install netbird
sudo pacman -S netbird

# Enable and start service
sudo systemctl enable --now netbird

# Verify installation
netbird version

bash

# Install netbird
apk add --no-cache netbird

# Enable and start service
rc-update add netbird default
rc-service netbird start

# Verify installation
netbird version

bash

# Install netbird
sudo zypper install -y netbird

# Enable and start service
sudo systemctl enable --now netbird

# Configure firewall
sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-port=33073/tcp
sudo firewall-cmd --reload

# Verify installation
netbird version

bash

# Using Homebrew
brew install netbird

# Start service
brew services start netbird

# Verify installation
netbird version

bash

# Using pkg
pkg install netbird

# Enable in rc.conf
echo 'netbird_enable="YES"' >> /etc/rc.conf

# Start service
service netbird start

# Verify installation
netbird version

bash

# Using Chocolatey
choco install netbird

# Or using Scoop
scoop install netbird

# Verify installation
netbird version

bash

# Create configuration directory
sudo mkdir -p /etc/netbird

# Set up basic configuration
# See official documentation for detailed configuration options

# Test configuration
netbird version

bash

# Enable service
sudo systemctl enable netbird

# Start service
sudo systemctl start netbird

# Stop service
sudo systemctl stop netbird

# Restart service
sudo systemctl restart netbird

# Check status
sudo systemctl status netbird

# View logs
sudo journalctl -u netbird -f

bash

# Enable service
rc-update add netbird default

# Start service
rc-service netbird start

# Stop service
rc-service netbird stop

# Restart service
rc-service netbird restart

# Check status
rc-service netbird status

bash

# Enable in /etc/rc.conf
echo 'netbird_enable="YES"' >> /etc/rc.conf

# Start service
service netbird start

# Stop service
service netbird stop

# Restart service
service netbird restart

# Check status
service netbird status

bash

# Using Homebrew services
brew services start netbird
brew services stop netbird
brew services restart netbird

# Check status
brew services list | grep netbird

powershell

# Start service
net start netbird

# Stop service
net stop netbird

# Using PowerShell
Start-Service netbird
Stop-Service netbird
Restart-Service netbird

# Check status
Get-Service netbird

See the official documentation for advanced configuration options.

nginx

upstream netbird_backend {
    server 127.0.0.1:33073;
}

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name netbird.example.com;
    return 301 https://$server_name$request_uri;
}

server {
    listen 443 ssl http2;
    server_name netbird.example.com;

    ssl_certificate /etc/ssl/certs/netbird.example.com.crt;
    ssl_certificate_key /etc/ssl/private/netbird.example.com.key;

    location / {
        proxy_pass http://netbird_backend;
        proxy_set_header Host $host;
        proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme;
    }
}

apache

<VirtualHost *:80>
    ServerName netbird.example.com
    Redirect permanent / https://netbird.example.com/
</VirtualHost>

<VirtualHost *:443>
    ServerName netbird.example.com
    
    SSLEngine on
    SSLCertificateFile /etc/ssl/certs/netbird.example.com.crt
    SSLCertificateKeyFile /etc/ssl/private/netbird.example.com.key
    
    ProxyRequests Off
    ProxyPreserveHost On
    
    ProxyPass / http://127.0.0.1:33073/
    ProxyPassReverse / http://127.0.0.1:33073/
</VirtualHost>

haproxy

frontend netbird_frontend
    bind *:80
    bind *:443 ssl crt /etc/ssl/certs/netbird.pem
    redirect scheme https if !{ ssl_fc }
    default_backend netbird_backend

backend netbird_backend
    balance roundrobin
    server netbird1 127.0.0.1:33073 check

bash

# Set appropriate permissions
sudo chown -R netbird:netbird /etc/netbird
sudo chmod 750 /etc/netbird

# Configure firewall
sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-port=33073/tcp
sudo firewall-cmd --reload

# Enable SELinux policies (if applicable)
sudo setsebool -P httpd_can_network_connect on

See official documentation for database configuration requirements.

bash

# Basic system tuning
echo 'net.core.somaxconn = 65535' | sudo tee -a /etc/sysctl.conf
echo 'net.ipv4.tcp_max_syn_backlog = 65535' | sudo tee -a /etc/sysctl.conf
sudo sysctl -p

bash

# Check service status
sudo systemctl status netbird

# View logs
sudo journalctl -u netbird -f

# Monitor resource usage
top -p $(pgrep netbird)

bash

#!/bin/bash
# Basic backup script
BACKUP_DIR="/backup/netbird"
DATE=$(date +%Y%m%d_%H%M%S)

mkdir -p "$BACKUP_DIR"
tar -czf "$BACKUP_DIR/netbird-backup-$DATE.tar.gz" /etc/netbird /var/lib/netbird

echo "Backup completed: $BACKUP_DIR/netbird-backup-$DATE.tar.gz"

bash

# Stop service
sudo systemctl stop netbird

# Restore from backup
tar -xzf /backup/netbird/netbird-backup-*.tar.gz -C /

# Start service
sudo systemctl start netbird

1. Service won't start:

bash

# Check logs
sudo journalctl -u netbird -n 100
sudo tail -f /var/log/netbird/netbird.log

# Check configuration
netbird version

# Check permissions
ls -la /etc/netbird

2. Connection issues:

bash

# Check if service is listening
sudo ss -tlnp | grep 33073

# Test connectivity
telnet localhost 33073

# Check firewall
sudo firewall-cmd --list-all

3. Performance issues:

bash

# Check resource usage
top -p $(pgrep netbird)

# Check disk I/O
iotop -p $(pgrep netbird)

# Check connections
ss -an | grep 33073

yaml

version: '3.8'
services:
  netbird:
    image: netbird:latest
    ports:
      - "33073:33073"
    volumes:
      - ./config:/etc/netbird
      - ./data:/var/lib/netbird
    restart: unless-stopped

Maintenance

bash

# RHEL/CentOS/Rocky/AlmaLinux
sudo dnf update netbird

# Debian/Ubuntu
sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade netbird

# Arch Linux
sudo pacman -Syu netbird

# Alpine Linux
apk update && apk upgrade netbird

# openSUSE
sudo zypper update netbird

# FreeBSD
pkg update && pkg upgrade netbird

# Always backup before updates
tar -czf /backup/netbird-pre-update-$(date +%Y%m%d).tar.gz /etc/netbird

# Restart after updates
sudo systemctl restart netbird

Regular Maintenance

bash

# Log rotation
sudo logrotate -f /etc/logrotate.d/netbird

# Clean old logs
find /var/log/netbird -name "*.log" -mtime +30 -delete

# Check disk usage
du -sh /var/lib/netbird

Official Documentation: https://docs.netbird.org/

GitHub Repository: https://github.com/netbird/netbird

Community Forum: https://forum.netbird.org/

Best Practices Guide: https://docs.netbird.org/best-practices

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Note: This guide is part of the HowToMgr collection. Always refer to official documentation for the most up-to-date information.

1. Prerequisites

2. Supported Operating Systems

3. Installation

RHEL/CentOS/Rocky Linux/AlmaLinux

Debian/Ubuntu

Arch Linux

Alpine Linux

openSUSE/SLES

macOS

FreeBSD

Windows

Initial Configuration

Basic Configuration

5. Service Management

systemd (RHEL, Debian, Ubuntu, Arch, openSUSE)

OpenRC (Alpine Linux)

rc.d (FreeBSD)

launchd (macOS)

Windows Service Manager

Advanced Configuration

Reverse Proxy Setup

nginx Configuration

Apache Configuration

HAProxy Configuration

Security Configuration

Basic Security Setup

Database Setup

Performance Optimization

System Tuning

Monitoring

Basic Monitoring

9. Backup and Restore

Backup Script

Restore Procedure

6. Troubleshooting

Common Issues

Integration Examples

Docker Compose Example

Maintenance

Update Procedures

Regular Maintenance

Additional Resources

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