Tailscale is a VPN that creates a secure network between your servers, computers, and cloud instances. Unlike many other VPNs, setting up a new network on Tailscale requires minimal user configuration and virtually no experience with networking. To learn more about how Tailscale works under the hood, you can check out this excellent overview on their official blog.

We will be deploying a Tailscale “subnet router” which will allow any services deployed on your Porter cluster to be accessible over the Tailscale network (Tailnet).

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Setting up Tailscale

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Installing Tailscale Addon

  1. On the Porter dashboard, click on the “Addons” tab on the left sidebar.

  1. Click “New Addon”
  2. Select “Tailscale” from the list of addons
  3. Click “Deploy Addon”
  4. Enter a name for the addon, such as “Tailscale”

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Retrieving Tailscale API Key

  1. Visit your Tailscale Admin Panel
  2. Go to Settings -> Auth Keys
  3. Click on Generate one-off key
  4. Copy the API key as we will need it for the next step

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Adding the Tailscale API Key to Porter

  1. On the Porter dashboard, click “Addons”, and click on the “Tailscale” addon
  2. Select the Tailscale Settings tab
  3. Paste the API key from above into the Tailscale Auth Key field, then click Deploy

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Adding Routes to your Tailnet

By default, every time that you click “Provision” on your cluster from the Infrastructure tab, Porter will ensure that all of your Porter-managed applications and Datastores are accessbile over the Tailnet. As each route is added, it must be approved by an admin in the Tailscale Admin Panel.

  1. Visit your Tailscale Admin Panel
  2. Click on Machines
  3. Click on the ABC-subnet-router-relay, where ABC is the name that you gave the Tailscale addon on Porter
  4. Click on the 3 dots on the right side of the ABC-subnet-router-relay, click Review Route Settings
  5. Click Approve All to approve all routes
  6. If you intend to use porter app run or porter datastore connect commands, also check Use as Exit Node.

Your Tailscale Subnet Router should now be online. All of your Porter applications and Datastores should be accessible over the Tailnet.

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