NC #1118 Tailscale Exit Nodes and Remote Support, Klack for macOS, Security Bits

You can find this at pbs.bartofisser.net. Way back in 2022, I wrote an article titled, Tailskill is Magic.

I'd like to talk about it again to explain two things, exit nodes and grants.

Grants because I just learned about them and they're solving a real problem for me, and exit nodes because I've repeatedly mentioned the concept many times on the show and I keep promising that I'll explain what they are.

It's actually pretty simple, but I'm finally getting around to doing that.

Since it's been a minute since I explained what tail scale even is, I'll start with an overview and why I still think it's magic.

I want to offer the caveat that I am not an expert on tail scale.

This technology is vastly capable, and I haven't even begun to study everything it can do.

Now, the software is, at the same time, very approachable for the first-time user.

We're going to start out easy, and then we're going to swing by nerd town for a while towards the end.

If you have a deeper understanding of Tailscale than me, I invite you to send in corrections if I misrepresent anything.

All right, Tailscale is a piece of software that can be installed on a Linux, Windows, macOS, iPhone, iPad, Android, or Synology device.

You can even install it on your Apple TV.

Once you open the Tailscale software and log into your account on the newly added device, it becomes part of what they call your Tailnet.

Your Tailnet is a virtual private network of all of your devices that doesn't route traffic through any third-party server.

It's all local to your machines.

But more simply, with the device logged into your TailNet, you can be away from home and access all of the other devices on your network as though you're still at home.

A very simple example would be that you could print something at home while you're at work.

I installed TailScale on the Synology that we keep at our buddy Ron's house.

Short of powering it back on when it gets accidentally shut off, I can do everything on that Synology as though it's right in the next room.

Tailscale can also be used as a proper VPN, routing internet traffic from your remote location into your house and then back out as though you're home.

It requires a simple switch to be flipped to enable what they call an exit node, which is one of the important topics I'm going to cover.

Tailscale, when installed on a device, can be enabled and disabled with a simple switch inside the Tailscale app.

When enabled, the device is assigned a secondary Tailscale IP address.

It'll be started with 100.x.

But at the same time, it retains its original local IP address, you know, like 192.168.blahblah.