Finally looking into Tailscale

I have had a home virtual private network (VPN) for nearly a decade. I’ve used it to access my home environment from all over the world. It has been relatively low maintenance, but when there is something shiny and new(ish) I want to investigate it.

Recently, I heard some very positive things about Tailscale, so I thought I’d give it a chance. Tailscale is a partially open-source, software-defined mesh (peer to peer) VPN service. The company provides a zero config “VPN as a service”. It is free for personal use. I could always set up my VPN again if they change that.

I’ve found Tailscale to provide nearly seamless access to my Linux, Android and Windows machines. Right now, I use it to monitor my 3D printing when I am out of the house since I can access the Web server within my 3D printer remotely. I could run my ham gear remotely as well.

It literally took minutes to setup on each device. The hardest thing for me to wrap my mind around was how easy it was to use. Each device gets its own VPN defined IP address that you can ‘just use’ like it is on your device’s network (no matter what network it is currently connected up with) – mind blown 🤯.

I can even show you a picture of my configuration since you’ll not be able to access it.

I have a headless Raspberry Pi sitting on my network that provides local access to my home devices, much like I had a headless Pi working as my VPN.

There are many videos and overview documents out there if you want to know more. I believe it is a game changer.