Tailscale Up (with examples)
Introduction
The tailscale up command is used to connect the client to the Tailscale network. It allows you to establish a secure connection between your device and other devices on the Tailscale network. This article will provide code examples and explanations for different use cases of the tailscale up command.
1: Connect to Tailscale
Code:
sudo tailscale up
Motivation:
By running this command, you can connect your device to the Tailscale network. It enables secure communication with other devices on the network and provides access to resources that are only accessible within the Tailscale network.
Explanation:
The tailscale up command establishes a connection to the Tailscale network. By default, it uses the previous command-line arguments stored in the client configuration file. If there are no stored arguments, it uses the default configuration.
Example Output:
Success: Connected to the Tailscale network.
2: Connect and offer the current machine to be an exit node for internet traffic
Code:
sudo tailscale up --advertise-exit-node
Motivation:
This use case is useful when you want to offer your current machine as an exit node for internet traffic in the Tailscale network. By doing so, other devices can route their internet traffic through your machine.
Explanation:
The --advertise-exit-node flag informs the Tailscale network that the current machine is capable of handling internet traffic for other devices. This allows other devices on the network to route their internet traffic through this machine.
Example Output:
Success: Connected to the Tailscale network.
Your machine is now advertised as an exit node for internet traffic.
3: Connect using a specific node for internet traffic
Code:
sudo tailscale up --exit-node=<exit_node_ip>
Motivation:
Sometimes, you may have multiple exit nodes available in the Tailscale network. In such cases, you can specify a particular node to use for routing internet traffic from your machine.
Explanation:
The --exit-node flag allows you to specify the IP address of the exit node that you want to use for routing internet traffic. Replace <exit_node_ip> with the IP address of the desired exit node.
Example Output:
Success: Connected to the Tailscale network.
Your machine is now using <exit_node_ip> for routing internet traffic.
4: Connect and block incoming connections to the current node
Code:
sudo tailscale up --shields-up
Motivation:
Enabling shields-up mode provides an additional layer of security by blocking incoming connections to your machine. It ensures that only outbound connections are allowed.
Explanation:
The --shields-up flag sets the current node to shields-up mode, which blocks incoming connections. This prevents any unauthorized access to your machine from devices on the Tailscale network.
Example Output:
Success: Connected to the Tailscale network.
Shields are up. Incoming connections to your machine are now blocked.
5: Connect and don’t accept DNS configuration from the admin panel
Code:
sudo tailscale up --accept-dns=false
Motivation:
If you want to control the DNS configuration of your machine manually, you can disable the automatic DNS configuration from the Tailscale admin panel. This use case is helpful if you have custom DNS settings that you want to preserve.
Explanation:
The --accept-dns flag allows you to specify whether to accept DNS configuration from the Tailscale admin panel. By setting it to false, you disable the automatic DNS configuration override from the admin panel.
Example Output:
Success: Connected to the Tailscale network.
DNS configuration from the admin panel is disabled.
6: Connect and configure Tailscale as a subnet router
Code:
sudo tailscale up --advertise-routes=10.0.0.0/24,10.0.1.0/24
Motivation:
Configuring Tailscale as a subnet router allows you to establish communication between different subnets in your network. This is useful when you have multiple IP subnets and want devices connected via Tailscale to access resources in different subnets.
Explanation:
The --advertise-routes flag specifies the IP subnets you want to advertise as routes to other devices in the Tailscale network. In the example above, we advertise two subnets: 10.0.0.0/24 and 10.0.1.0/24.
Example Output:
Success: Connected to the Tailscale network.
Your machine is now advertising routes to 10.0.0.0/24 and 10.0.1.0/24.
7: Connect and accept subnet routes from Tailscale
Code:
sudo tailscale up --accept-routes
Motivation:
By accepting subnet routes from Tailscale, your machine can access resources in other subnets within the Tailscale network. This is useful when you need to communicate with devices in different subnets.
Explanation:
The --accept-routes flag allows your machine to accept subnet routes advertised by other devices in the Tailscale network. This enables communication with devices in different subnets connected via Tailscale.
Example Output:
Success: Connected to the Tailscale network.
Your machine is now accepting subnet routes from Tailscale.
8: Reset unspecified settings to their default values and connect
Code:
sudo tailscale up --reset
Motivation:
If you want to reset any command-line arguments that have been stored and connect to the Tailscale network with the default configuration, you can use the --reset flag.
Explanation:
The --reset flag resets any previously stored command-line arguments to their default values. It allows you to start fresh with the default configuration when connecting to the Tailscale network.
Example Output:
Success: Connected to the Tailscale network.
All unspecified settings are reset to their defaults.
Conclusion
The tailscale up command is a versatile command that allows you to connect to the Tailscale network in different ways. By using the provided code examples and explanations, you can utilize the various features and options available to suit your networking requirements. Whether it’s offering your machine as an exit node, configuring subnet routing, or customizing DNS settings, the tailscale up command provides flexibility and control over your Tailscale network connections.
