172 lines
5.3 KiB
Markdown
172 lines
5.3 KiB
Markdown
# Running headscale in a container
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!!! warning "Community documentation"
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This page is not actively maintained by the headscale authors and is
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written by community members. It is _not_ verified by `headscale` developers.
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**It might be outdated and it might miss necessary steps**.
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## Goal
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This documentation has the goal of showing a user how-to set up and run `headscale` in a container.
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[Docker](https://www.docker.com) is used as the reference container implementation, but there is no reason that it should
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not work with alternatives like [Podman](https://podman.io). The Docker image can be found on Docker Hub [here](https://hub.docker.com/r/headscale/headscale).
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## Configure and run `headscale`
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1. Prepare a directory on the host Docker node in your directory of choice, used to hold `headscale` configuration and the [SQLite](https://www.sqlite.org/) database:
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```shell
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mkdir -p ./headscale/config
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cd ./headscale
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```
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2. Create an empty SQlite datebase in the headscale directory:
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```shell
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touch ./config/db.sqlite
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```
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3. **(Strongly Recommended)** Download a copy of the [example configuration](https://github.com/juanfont/headscale/blob/main/config-example.yaml) from the headscale repository.
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Using wget:
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```shell
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wget -O ./config/config.yaml https://raw.githubusercontent.com/juanfont/headscale/main/config-example.yaml
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```
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Using curl:
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```shell
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curl https://raw.githubusercontent.com/juanfont/headscale/main/config-example.yaml -o ./config/config.yaml
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```
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**(Advanced)** If you would like to hand craft a config file **instead** of downloading the example config file, create a blank `headscale` configuration in the headscale directory to edit:
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```shell
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touch ./config/config.yaml
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```
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Modify the config file to your preferences before launching Docker container.
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Here are some settings that you likely want:
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```yaml
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# Change to your hostname or host IP
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server_url: http://your-host-name:8080
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# Listen to 0.0.0.0 so it's accessible outside the container
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metrics_listen_addr: 0.0.0.0:9090
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# The default /var/lib/headscale path is not writable in the container
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private_key_path: /etc/headscale/private.key
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# The default /var/lib/headscale path is not writable in the container
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noise:
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private_key_path: /etc/headscale/noise_private.key
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# The default /var/lib/headscale path is not writable in the container
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db_type: sqlite3
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db_path: /etc/headscale/db.sqlite
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```
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4. Start the headscale server while working in the host headscale directory:
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```shell
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docker run \
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--name headscale \
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--detach \
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--volume $(pwd)/config:/etc/headscale/ \
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--publish 127.0.0.1:8080:8080 \
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--publish 127.0.0.1:9090:9090 \
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headscale/headscale:<VERSION> \
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headscale serve
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```
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Note: use `0.0.0.0:8080:8080` instead of `127.0.0.1:8080:8080` if you want to expose the container externally.
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This command will mount `config/` under `/etc/headscale`, forward port 8080 out of the container so the
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`headscale` instance becomes available and then detach so headscale runs in the background.
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5. Verify `headscale` is running:
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Follow the container logs:
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```shell
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docker logs --follow headscale
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```
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Verify running containers:
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```shell
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docker ps
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```
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Verify `headscale` is available:
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```shell
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curl http://127.0.0.1:9090/metrics
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```
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6. Create a user ([tailnet](https://tailscale.com/kb/1136/tailnet/)):
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```shell
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docker exec headscale \
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headscale users create myfirstuser
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```
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### Register a machine (normal login)
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On a client machine, execute the `tailscale` login command:
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```shell
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tailscale up --login-server YOUR_HEADSCALE_URL
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```
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To register a machine when running `headscale` in a container, take the headscale command and pass it to the container:
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```shell
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docker exec headscale \
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headscale --user myfirstuser nodes register --key <YOU_+MACHINE_KEY>
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```
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### Register machine using a pre authenticated key
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Generate a key using the command line:
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```shell
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docker exec headscale \
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headscale --user myfirstuser preauthkeys create --reusable --expiration 24h
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```
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This will return a pre-authenticated key that can be used to connect a node to `headscale` during the `tailscale` command:
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```shell
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tailscale up --login-server <YOUR_HEADSCALE_URL> --authkey <YOUR_AUTH_KEY>
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```
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## Debugging headscale running in Docker
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The `headscale/headscale` Docker container is based on a "distroless" image that does not contain a shell or any other debug tools. If you need to debug your application running in the Docker container, you can use the `-debug` variant, for example `headscale/headscale:x.x.x-debug`.
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### Running the debug Docker container
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To run the debug Docker container, use the exact same commands as above, but replace `headscale/headscale:x.x.x` with `headscale/headscale:x.x.x-debug` (`x.x.x` is the version of headscale). The two containers are compatible with each other, so you can alternate between them.
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### Executing commands in the debug container
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The default command in the debug container is to run `headscale`, which is located at `/bin/headscale` inside the container.
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Additionally, the debug container includes a minimalist Busybox shell.
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To launch a shell in the container, use:
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```
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docker run -it headscale/headscale:x.x.x-debug sh
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```
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You can also execute commands directly, such as `ls /bin` in this example:
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```
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docker run headscale/headscale:x.x.x-debug ls /bin
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```
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Using `docker exec` allows you to run commands in an existing container.
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