headscale/docs/Running.md

Running headscale

Server configuration

1. Download the headscale binary https://github.com/juanfont/headscale/releases, and place it somewhere in your $PATH or use the docker container

   docker pull headscale/headscale:x.x.x
   

2. When running headscale in a docker container, prepare a directory to hold all configuration

   mkdir config
   

3. Get yourself a DB

   a) Get a Postgres DB running in docker

   docker run --name headscale \
     -e POSTGRES_DB=headscale
     -e POSTGRES_USER=foo \
     -e POSTGRES_PASSWORD=bar \
     -p 5432:5432 \
     -d postgres
   

   or b) Prepare a SQLite DB file

   touch config/db.sqlite
   

4. Create a WireGuard private key, headscale configuration, and a DERP map file. Refer to tailscale sample for more guidance.

   wg genkey > config/private.key
   
   cp config.yaml.[sqlite|postgres].example config/config.yaml
   
   cp derp-example.yaml config/derp.yaml
   

5. Create a namespace

   headscale namespaces create myfirstnamespace
   

   or docker:

   docker run \
     -v $(pwd)/config:/etc/headscale/ \
     -p 127.0.0.1:8080:8080 \
     headscale/headscale:x.x.x \
     headscale namespaces create myfirstnamespace
   

   or if your server is already running in docker:

   docker exec <container_name> headscale namespaces create myfirstnamespace
   

6. Run the server

   headscale serve
   

   or docker:

   docker run \
     -v $(pwd)/config:/etc/headscale/ \
     -p 127.0.0.1:8080:8080 \
     headscale/headscale:x.x.x headscale serve
   

Nodes configuration

If you used tailscale.com before in your nodes, make sure you clear the tailscaled data folder

systemctl stop tailscaled
rm -fr /var/lib/tailscale
systemctl start tailscaled

Adding node based on MACHINEKEY

1. Add your first machine

   tailscale up --login-server YOUR_HEADSCALE_URL
   

2. Navigate to the URL returned by tailscale up, where you'll find your machine key.

3. In the server, register your machine to a namespace with the CLI

   headscale -n myfirstnamespace nodes register YOURMACHINEKEY
   

   or docker:

   docker run \
     -v $(pwd)/config:/etc/headscale/ \
     headscale/headscale:x.x.x \
     headscale -n myfirstnamespace nodes register YOURMACHINEKEY
   

   or if your server is already running in docker:

   docker exec <container_name> headscale -n myfirstnamespace nodes register YOURMACHINEKEY
   

Alternative: adding node with AUTHKEY

1. Create an authkey

   headscale -n myfirstnamespace preauthkeys create --reusable --expiration 24h
   

   or docker:

   docker run \
     -v $(pwd)/config:/etc/headscale/ \
     headscale/headscale:x.x.x \
     headscale -n myfirstnamespace preauthkeys create --reusable --expiration 24h
   

   or if your server is already running in docker:

   docker exec <container_name> headscale -n myfirstnamespace preauthkeys create --reusable --expiration 24h
   

2. Use the authkey on your node to register it

   tailscale up --login-server YOUR_HEADSCALE_URL --authkey YOURAUTHKEY
   

If you create an authkey with the --ephemeral flag, that key will create ephemeral nodes. This implies that --reusable is true.

Please bear in mind that all headscale commands support adding -o json or -o json-line to get nicely JSON-formatted output.