January 2021 Summaries

Tailscale has introduced a new feature called Sharing, now in public beta, which allows users to securely and conveniently grant others access to devices within their private network without exposing them to the public internet. This feature is aimed at tech enthusiasts, friends, and companies who wish to share access to specific devices, such as dogcams or private Minecraft servers, with minimal security risks. Sharing works by generating invite links that allow only the invited user to connect to the shared device, with connections being encrypted and private. The feature has security measures in place, such as device-to-user shares, quarantined shared devices, and adherence to existing access control lists (ACLs). While currently in beta, with plans for further enhancements like MagicDNS integration and subnet sharing, Tailscale encourages users to explore the possibilities of Sharing, as evidenced by creative use cases during its private beta testing.

The article provides a detailed guide on setting up a Java Edition Minecraft server using NixOS and Tailscale on a Digital Ocean droplet. It explains NixOS's modular configuration system, allowing users to manage the entire setup from a single file, and how Tailscale, a peer-to-peer VPN, is integrated to securely connect machines. The guide involves creating a configuration file called host.nix, setting Tailscale to start on boot, and using a systemd oneshot job for authentication. It further details configuring the firewall to allow only Minecraft traffic over Tailscale and setting up the Minecraft server with specific options like server properties and EULA agreement. The process includes replacing an Ubuntu installation with NixOS using nixos-infect and automatic configuration via user data. Steps to launch the server on Digital Ocean, including selecting the appropriate image, plan, and data center, are outlined, along with instructions on managing the Minecraft server using mcrcon and potential future enhancements with node sharing.

Tailscale, a zero-config VPN, experienced significant growth and development in 2020, transitioning from a prototype to a fully operational service that simplifies peer-to-peer connections through innovations like rewritten peer discovery and NAT traversal logic, as well as DERP relay servers for challenging network scenarios. The company expanded its team from three founders to over 20 employees globally and secured $15 million in funding, allowing for continued improvements and the rollout of features like MagicDNS and an Android app. Notable community contributions included guides for running Tailscale with Jellyfin, Ansible, k3s clusters, and Pi-Hole DNS routing. Looking forward, Tailscale plans to introduce a public sharing feature, a new API for network automation, support for IPv6, and default route capabilities, indicating an ambitious agenda for the upcoming year.

When Brad Fitzpatrick joined Tailscale, he discovered that the company's initial database solution involved storing data in a single large JSON file, which was simple but not scalable. As performance issues arose, they considered traditional databases like MySQL or PostgreSQL but opted for etcd due to its ability to fit into server memory and its compatibility with Go, the language in which their control plane was written. The switch to etcd allowed for more efficient data handling by breaking down the data lock and writing only changed data, enhancing both performance and scalability. Although etcd lacks the robust indexing systems of standard SQL databases, Tailscale developed in-memory indexes that are transactionally consistent to address this. The migration to etcd was smooth, resulting in significant improvements, particularly in commit latency, and paving the way for future enhancements such as blue-green deployment to maintain rapid development cycles.