tailscale/docs/k8s/README.md

# Overview

There are quite a few ways of running Tailscale inside a Kubernetes Cluster.
This doc covers creating and managing your own Tailscale node deployments in cluster.
If you want a higher level of automation, easier configuration, automated cleanup of stopped Tailscale devices, or a mechanism for exposing the [Kubernetes API](https://kubernetes.io/docs/concepts/overview/kubernetes-api/) server to the tailnet, take a look at [Tailscale Kubernetes operator](https://tailscale.com/kb/1236/kubernetes-operator).

:warning: Note that the manifests generated by the following commands are not intended for production use, and you will need to tweak them based on your environment and use case. For example, the commands to generate a standalone proxy manifest, will create a standalone `Pod`- this will not persist across cluster upgrades etc. :warning:

## Instructions

### Setup

1. (Optional) Create the following secret which will automate login.<br>
   You will need to get an [auth key](https://tailscale.com/kb/1085/auth-keys/) from [Tailscale Admin Console](https://login.tailscale.com/admin/authkeys).<br>
   If you don't provide the key, you can still authenticate using the url in the logs.

   ```yaml
   apiVersion: v1
   kind: Secret
   metadata:
     name: tailscale-auth
   stringData:
     TS_AUTHKEY: tskey-...
   ```

1. Tailscale (v1.16+) supports storing state inside a Kubernetes Secret.

   Configure RBAC to allow the Tailscale pod to read/write the `tailscale` secret.

   ```bash
   export SA_NAME=tailscale
   export TS_KUBE_SECRET=tailscale-auth
   make rbac | kubectl apply -f-
   ```

### Sample Sidecar

Running as a sidecar allows you to directly expose a Kubernetes pod over Tailscale. This is particularly useful if you do not wish to expose a service on the public internet. This method allows bi-directional connectivity between the pod and other devices on the Tailnet. You can use [ACLs](https://tailscale.com/kb/1018/acls/) to control traffic flow.

1. Create and login to the sample nginx pod with a Tailscale sidecar

   ```bash
   make sidecar | kubectl apply -f-
   # If not using an auth key, authenticate by grabbing the Login URL here:
   kubectl logs nginx ts-sidecar
   ```

1. Check if you can to connect to nginx over Tailscale:

   ```bash
   curl http://nginx
   ```

   Or, if you have [MagicDNS](https://tailscale.com/kb/1081/magicdns/) disabled:

   ```bash
   curl "http://$(tailscale ip -4 nginx)"
   ```

#### Userspace Sidecar

You can also run the sidecar in userspace mode. The obvious benefit is reducing the amount of permissions Tailscale needs to run, the downside is that for outbound connectivity from the pod to the Tailnet you would need to use either the [SOCKS proxy](https://tailscale.com/kb/1112/userspace-networking) or HTTP proxy.

1. Create and login to the sample nginx pod with a Tailscale sidecar

   ```bash
   make userspace-sidecar | kubectl apply -f-
   # If not using an auth key, authenticate by grabbing the Login URL here:
   kubectl logs nginx ts-sidecar
   ```

1. Check if you can to connect to nginx over Tailscale:

   ```bash
   curl http://nginx
   ```

   Or, if you have [MagicDNS](https://tailscale.com/kb/1081/magicdns/) disabled:

   ```bash
   curl "http://$(tailscale ip -4 nginx)"
   ```

### Sample Proxy

Running a Tailscale proxy allows you to provide inbound connectivity to a Kubernetes Service.

1. Provide the `ClusterIP` of the service you want to reach by either:

   **Creating a new deployment**

   ```bash
   kubectl create deployment nginx --image nginx
   kubectl expose deployment nginx --port 80
   export TS_DEST_IP="$(kubectl get svc nginx -o=jsonpath='{.spec.clusterIP}')"
   ```

   **Using an existing service**

   ```bash
   export TS_DEST_IP="$(kubectl get svc <SVC_NAME> -o=jsonpath='{.spec.clusterIP}')"
   ```

1. Deploy the proxy pod

   ```bash
   make proxy | kubectl apply -f-
   # If not using an auth key, authenticate by grabbing the Login URL here:
   kubectl logs proxy
   ```

1. Check if you can to connect to nginx over Tailscale:

   ```bash
   curl http://proxy
   ```

   Or, if you have [MagicDNS](https://tailscale.com/kb/1081/magicdns/) disabled:

   ```bash
   curl "http://$(tailscale ip -4 proxy)"
   ```

### Subnet Router

Running a Tailscale [subnet router](https://tailscale.com/kb/1019/subnets/) allows you to access
the entire Kubernetes cluster network (assuming NetworkPolicies allow) over Tailscale.

1. Identify the Pod/Service CIDRs that cover your Kubernetes cluster. These will vary depending on [which CNI](https://kubernetes.io/docs/concepts/cluster-administration/networking/) you are using and on the Cloud Provider you are using. Add these to the `TS_ROUTES` variable as comma-separated values.

   ```bash
   SERVICE_CIDR=10.20.0.0/16
   POD_CIDR=10.42.0.0/15
   export TS_ROUTES=$SERVICE_CIDR,$POD_CIDR
   ```

1. Deploy the subnet-router pod.

   ```bash
   make subnet-router | kubectl apply -f-
   # If not using an auth key, authenticate by grabbing the Login URL here:
   kubectl logs subnet-router
   ```

1. In the [Tailscale admin console](https://login.tailscale.com/admin/machines), ensure that the
   routes for the subnet-router are enabled.

1. Make sure that any client you want to connect from has `--accept-routes` enabled.

1. Check if you can connect to a `ClusterIP` or a `PodIP` over Tailscale:

   ```bash
   # Get the Service IP
   INTERNAL_IP="$(kubectl get svc <SVC_NAME> -o=jsonpath='{.spec.clusterIP}')"
   # or, the Pod IP
   # INTERNAL_IP="$(kubectl get po <POD_NAME> -o=jsonpath='{.status.podIP}')"
   INTERNAL_PORT=8080
   curl http://$INTERNAL_IP:$INTERNAL_PORT
   ```

## Multiple replicas

Note that if you want to use the `Pod` manifests generated by the commands above in a multi-replica setup (i.e a multi-replica `StatefulSet`) you will need to change the mechanism for storing tailscale state to ensure that multiple replicas are not attemting to use a single Kubernetes `Secret` to store their individual states.

To avoid proxy state clashes you could either store the state in memory or an `emptyDir` volume, or you could change the provided state `Secret` name to ensure that a unique name gets generated for each replica.

### Option 1: storing in an `emptyDir`

You can mount an [`emptyDir` volume](https://kubernetes.io/docs/concepts/storage/volumes/#emptydir) and configure the mount as the tailscale state store via `TS_STATE_DIR` env var. 
You must also set `TS_KUBE_SECRET` to an empty string.

An example:

```yaml
kind: StatefulSet
metadata:
  name: subnetrouter
spec:
  replicas: 2
  ...
  template:
    ...
    spec:
      ...
      volumes:
      - name: tsstate
        emptyDir: {}
      containers:
      - name: tailscale
        env:
        - name: TS_STATE_DIR
          value: /tsstate
        - name: TS_KUBE_SECRET
          value: ""
        volumeMounts:
        - name: tsstate
          mountPath: /tsstate
```

The downside of this approach is that the state will be lost when a `Pod` is
deleted. In practice this means that when you, for example, upgrade proxy
versions you will get a new set of Tailscale devices with different hostnames.

### Option 2: dynamically generating unique `Secret` names

If you run the proxy as a `StatefulSet`, the `Pod`s get [stable identifiers](https://kubernetes.io/docs/concepts/workloads/controllers/statefulset/#stable-network-id).
You can use that to pass an individual, static state `Secret` name to each proxy:

```yaml
kind: StatefulSet
metadata:
  name: subnetrouter
spec:
  replicas: 2
  ...
  template:
    ...
    spec:
      ...
       containers:
      - name: tailscale
        env:
        - name: TS_KUBE_SECRET
          valueFrom:
            fieldRef:
              apiVersion: v1
              fieldPath: metadata.name
```

In this case, each replica will store its state in a `Secret` named the same as the `Pod` and as `Pod` names for a `StatefulSet` do not change if `Pod`s get recreated, proxy state will persist across cluster and proxy version updates etc.