headscale/docs/running-headscale-container.md
2022-01-02 19:53:49 +00:00

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# Running headscale in a container
**Note:** the container documentation is maintained by the _community_ and there is no guarentee
it is up to date, or working.
## Goal
This documentation has the goal of showing a user how-to set up and run `headscale` in a container.
[Docker](https://www.docker.com) is used as the reference container implementation, but there is no reason that it should
not work with alternatives like [Podman](https://podman.io).
## Configure and run `headscale`
1. Prepare a direction to hold `headscale` configuration and the [SQLite](https://www.sqlite.org/) database:
```shell
mkdir config
```
2. Create an empty SQlite datebase:
```shell
touch config/db.sqlite
```
3. Create a `headscale` configuration:
```shell
touch config/config.yaml
```
It is strongly recommended to copy the [example configuration](../config.yaml) from the [headscale repository](../)
4. Start the headscale server:
```shell
docker run \
--name headscale \
--detach \
--rm \
--volume $(pwd)/config:/etc/headscale/ \
--publish 127.0.0.1:8080:8080 \
headscale/headscale:<VERSION> \
headscale serve
```
This command will mount `config/` under `/etc/headscale`, forward port 8080 out of the container so the
`headscale` instance becomes available and then detach so headscale runs in the background.
5. Verify `headscale` is running:
Follow the container logs:
```shell
docker logs --follow headscale
```
Verify running containers:
```shell
docker ps
```
Verify `headscale` is available:
```shell
curl http://127.0.0.1:8080/metrics
```
6. Create a namespace ([tailnet](https://tailscale.com/kb/1136/tailnet/)):
```shell
docker exec headscale -- headscale namespaces create myfirstnamespace
```
### Register a machine (normal login)
On a client machine, execute the `tailscale` login command:
```shell
tailscale up --login-server YOUR_HEADSCALE_URL
```
To register a machine when running `headscale` in a container, take the headscale command and pass it to the container:
```shell
docker exec headscale -- \
headscale --namespace myfirstnamespace nodes register --key <YOU_+MACHINE_KEY>
```
### Register machine using a pre authenticated key
Generate a key using the command line:
```shell
docker exec headscale -- \
headscale --namespace myfirstnamespace preauthkeys create --reusable --expiration 24h
```
This will return a pre-authenticated key that can be used to connect a node to `headscale` during the `tailscale` command:
```shell
tailscale up --login-server <YOUR_HEADSCALE_URL> --authkey <YOUR_AUTH_KEY>
```
## Debugging headscale running in Docker
The `headscale/headscale` Docker container is based on a "distroless" image that does not contain a shell or any other debug tools. If you need to debug your application running in the Docker container, you can use the `-debug` variant, for example `headscale/headscale:x.x.x-debug`.
### Running the debug Docker container
To run the debug Docker container, use the exact same commands as above, but replace `headscale/headscale:x.x.x` with `headscale/headscale:x.x.x-debug` (`x.x.x` is the version of headscale). The two containers are compatible with each other, so you can alternate between them.
### Executing commands in the debug container
The default command in the debug container is to run `headscale`, which is located at `/bin/headscale` inside the container.
Additionally, the debug container includes a minimalist Busybox shell.
To launch a shell in the container, use:
```
docker run -it headscale/headscale:x.x.x-debug sh
```
You can also execute commands directly, such as `ls /bin` in this example:
```
docker run headscale/headscale:x.x.x-debug ls /bin
```
Using `docker exec` allows you to run commands in an existing container.