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Tailscale — Full Remote Access via VPN

Tailscale creates a private mesh VPN between your machines using WireGuard under the hood. Every device gets a stable 100.x.x.x IP that works from any network.

How It Works​

Your Laptop (any WiFi)
100.x.x.10
      │
      │  WireGuard encrypted tunnel
      │  (peer-to-peer when possible, relayed otherwise)
      │
      ▼
MAAS Controller
100.x.x.1  ←──── stable Tailscale IP
10.0.0.1   ←──── local cluster IP
      │
      ▼
All cluster services become reachable via 100.x.x.1

No port forwarding. No public IP. Works through NAT and firewalls.

Step 1 — Create a Tailscale Account​

Go to tailscale.com and sign up (free, up to 100 devices).

Step 2 — Install Tailscale on the MAAS Controller​

ssh ubuntu@10.0.0.1  # or however you access your controller

curl -fsSL https://tailscale.com/install.sh | sh

sudo tailscale up

A URL will appear — open it in your browser and authenticate with your Tailscale account.

After auth, note the Tailscale IP assigned to the controller:

tailscale ip -4
# Example: 100.72.14.33

Step 3 — Install Tailscale on Your Remote Machine​

Linux:

curl -fsSL https://tailscale.com/install.sh | sh
sudo tailscale up

macOS:

Download from tailscale.com/download or:

brew install tailscale

Windows / iOS / Android:

Available in respective app stores.

Step 4 — Verify the Connection​

From your remote machine:

ping 100.72.14.33   # use your controller's actual Tailscale IP

Then test cluster access:

# MAAS UI
curl -s -o /dev/null -w "%{http_code}" http://100.72.14.33:5240/MAAS
# → 200

# SSH into a node (through controller as jump host)
ssh -J ubuntu@100.72.14.33 ubuntu@10.0.0.2

# kubectl (copy kubeconfig first)
kubectl get nodes

Step 5 — Configure kubectl for Remote Use​

Copy kubeconfig from the control plane through the Tailscale tunnel:

scp -J ubuntu@100.72.14.33 ubuntu@10.0.0.2:/etc/rancher/k3s/k3s.yaml ~/.kube/config

Edit ~/.kube/config — replace the server address:

# Before:
server: https://127.0.0.1:6443

# After:
server: https://10.0.0.2:6443

Then add a route so your machine knows to reach 10.0.0.x through Tailscale:

# On the MAAS controller — advertise the cluster subnet
sudo tailscale up --advertise-routes=10.0.0.0/24

# In the Tailscale admin console → approve the route for this device

After route approval, from your remote machine:

kubectl get nodes
# All 3 nodes visible — no VPN client config needed beyond tailscale up

Services Accessible via Tailscale​

Replace 100.72.14.33 with your actual controller Tailscale IP:

ServiceURL
MAAS UIhttp://100.72.14.33:5240/MAAS
Homer Dashboardhttp://100.72.14.33:7902
Grafanahttp://100.72.14.33:3000
ArgoCDhttp://100.72.14.33:8080
SSH (controller)ssh ubuntu@100.72.14.33
SSH (nodes via jump)ssh -J ubuntu@100.72.14.33 ubuntu@10.0.0.2
kubectlworks after subnet route approval

Tailscale Admin Console​

Manage all your devices and routes at login.tailscale.com/admin:

✔ See all connected devices
✔ Approve subnet routes (10.0.0.0/24)
✔ Set ACLs (restrict which device can reach what)
✔ View last seen / connection status

How Subnet Routing Works (Why 10.0.0.x Is Reachable Remotely)​

10.0.0.x is a private IP — normally unreachable from any device outside the home network. With Tailscale subnet routing enabled, this changes completely.

When you ran sudo tailscale up --advertise-routes=10.0.0.0/24 and approved the route in the admin console, Tailscale told every connected device: "any traffic to 10.0.0.x, send it through the tunnel to the controller."

MacBook Air (any WiFi)
    │  wants 10.0.0.2:30902
    │
    ▼
Tailscale tunnel → 100.88.123.8 (MAAS controller)
    │  knows 10.0.0.2 is on its local cluster network
    │
    ▼
set-hog (10.0.0.2) → Homer pod on port 30902

This is why http://10.0.0.2:30902 (Homer dashboard) opens in your browser from a MacBook on a completely different WiFi — the controller acts as a gateway into the cluster network through the encrypted tunnel.

Without Tailscale, that URL would time out. With it, the entire 10.0.0.0/24 subnet is transparently accessible from any Tailscale-connected device, anywhere in the world.

Verified Access Points (Controller Tailscale IP: 100.88.123.8)​

WhatURL / Command
MAAS UIhttp://100.88.123.8:5240/MAAS
Homer dashboardhttp://10.0.0.2:30902
SSH into controllerssh ktayl@100.88.123.8
SSH into node (via jump)ssh -J ktayl@100.88.123.8 ubuntu@10.0.0.2
Ping cluster nodesping 10.0.0.2 / 10.0.0.4 / 10.0.0.7

Done When​

✔ tailscale ip -4 returns a 100.x.x.x address on the controller
✔ ping 100.88.123.8 works from remote machine (0% packet loss)
✔ ping 10.0.0.2 works from remote machine (subnet routing confirmed)
✔ http://100.88.123.8:5240/MAAS opens in browser from remote machine
✔ http://10.0.0.2:30902 opens Homer dashboard from remote machine
✔ ssh ktayl@100.88.123.8 connects from remote machine