tailscale Installation Guide Installation Guide

tailscale is a free and open-source zero config VPN. Built on WireGuard, Tailscale provides mesh VPN that works like magic, serving as a user-friendly alternative to traditional VPNs

Hardware Requirements:

CPU: 1 core minimum

RAM: 256MB minimum

Storage: 100MB for installation

Network: DERP relay access

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 41641 (default tailscale port)

None

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 tailscale
sudo dnf install -y tailscale

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

# Configure firewall
sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-port=41641/tcp
sudo firewall-cmd --reload

# Verify installation
tailscale version

bash

# Update package index
sudo apt update

# Install tailscale
sudo apt install -y tailscale

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

# Configure firewall
sudo ufw allow 41641

# Verify installation
tailscale version

bash

# Install tailscale
sudo pacman -S tailscale

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

# Verify installation
tailscale version

bash

# Install tailscale
apk add --no-cache tailscale

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

# Verify installation
tailscale version

bash

# Install tailscale
sudo zypper install -y tailscale

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

# Configure firewall
sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-port=41641/tcp
sudo firewall-cmd --reload

# Verify installation
tailscale version

bash

# Using Homebrew
brew install tailscale

# Start service
brew services start tailscale

# Verify installation
tailscale version

bash

# Using pkg
pkg install tailscale

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

# Start service
service tailscaled start

# Verify installation
tailscale version

bash

# Using Chocolatey
choco install tailscale

# Or using Scoop
scoop install tailscale

# Verify installation
tailscale version

bash

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

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

# Test configuration
tailscale version

bash

# Enable service
sudo systemctl enable tailscaled

# Start service
sudo systemctl start tailscaled

# Stop service
sudo systemctl stop tailscaled

# Restart service
sudo systemctl restart tailscaled

# Check status
sudo systemctl status tailscaled

# View logs
sudo journalctl -u tailscaled -f

bash

# Enable service
rc-update add tailscaled default

# Start service
rc-service tailscaled start

# Stop service
rc-service tailscaled stop

# Restart service
rc-service tailscaled restart

# Check status
rc-service tailscaled status

bash

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

# Start service
service tailscaled start

# Stop service
service tailscaled stop

# Restart service
service tailscaled restart

# Check status
service tailscaled status

bash

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

# Check status
brew services list | grep tailscale

powershell

# Start service
net start tailscaled

# Stop service
net stop tailscaled

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

# Check status
Get-Service tailscaled

See the official documentation for advanced configuration options.

nginx

upstream tailscale_backend {
    server 127.0.0.1:41641;
}

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

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

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

    location / {
        proxy_pass http://tailscale_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 tailscale.example.com
    Redirect permanent / https://tailscale.example.com/
</VirtualHost>

<VirtualHost *:443>
    ServerName tailscale.example.com
    
    SSLEngine on
    SSLCertificateFile /etc/ssl/certs/tailscale.example.com.crt
    SSLCertificateKeyFile /etc/ssl/private/tailscale.example.com.key
    
    ProxyRequests Off
    ProxyPreserveHost On
    
    ProxyPass / http://127.0.0.1:41641/
    ProxyPassReverse / http://127.0.0.1:41641/
</VirtualHost>

haproxy

frontend tailscale_frontend
    bind *:80
    bind *:443 ssl crt /etc/ssl/certs/tailscale.pem
    redirect scheme https if !{ ssl_fc }
    default_backend tailscale_backend

backend tailscale_backend
    balance roundrobin
    server tailscale1 127.0.0.1:41641 check

bash

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

# Configure firewall
sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-port=41641/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 tailscaled

# View logs
sudo journalctl -u tailscaled -f

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

bash

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

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

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

bash

# Stop service
sudo systemctl stop tailscaled

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

# Start service
sudo systemctl start tailscaled

1. Service won't start:

bash

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

# Check configuration
tailscale version

# Check permissions
ls -la /etc/tailscale

2. Connection issues:

bash

# Check if service is listening
sudo ss -tlnp | grep 41641

# Test connectivity
telnet localhost 41641

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

3. Performance issues:

bash

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

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

# Check connections
ss -an | grep 41641

yaml

version: '3.8'
services:
  tailscale:
    image: tailscale:latest
    ports:
      - "41641:41641"
    volumes:
      - ./config:/etc/tailscale
      - ./data:/var/lib/tailscale
    restart: unless-stopped

Maintenance

bash

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

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

# Arch Linux
sudo pacman -Syu tailscale

# Alpine Linux
apk update && apk upgrade tailscale

# openSUSE
sudo zypper update tailscale

# FreeBSD
pkg update && pkg upgrade tailscale

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

# Restart after updates
sudo systemctl restart tailscaled

Regular Maintenance

bash

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

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

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

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

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

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

Best Practices Guide: https://docs.tailscale.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

Related Vpn Guides

openvpn Installation Guide

WireGuard Installation Guide