Tailscale Tutorials

Intro

Tailscale is a Wireguard based VPN that focuses on simplicity and ease of use. By creating secure VPN connections between user devices without the need to open firewall ports, Tailscale is an incredibly user-friendly VPN solution. The purpose of this tutorial is to highlight one specific instance of Tailscale; installing it on a Mikrotik to allow a L2 tunnel over Tailscale.

Why???

Because there are very rare instances where having two devices on opposite sides of the Earth believe that they are directly connected becomes useful. I cannot list them, but maybe you have found one. I know its useful for specific switches in specific networks. But, on a broader scale the first half of this tutorial is focused on getting Tailscale installed on a Mikrotik, which many people have a use for. If you've never messed around with a Mikrotik, I highly encourage it. They are shockingly powerful little routers!

Installing Tailscale on Mikrotik

Getting Started

The Paperwork Stuff

First, come up with a network diagram. You will need to plan out four main subnets: your LAN, your dockers LAN, the Wireguard tunnel subnet, and the EoIP tunnel subnet.

Prerequisites

Before you can install Tailscale on your Mikrotik, ensure you have the following:

  1. A Mikrotik (referrably RB??)
  2. WinBox installed on a computer with an ethernet port
  3. Internet connectivity for downloading Tailscale
  4. Patience and time, this tutorial will take both

Setting up the Mikrotik

Initial install will go as follows:

  1. Install WinBox on your computer
  2. Connect to the Mikrotik via ethernet cable to ether3
  3. Set up a Wireguard interface on the Mikrotik to use with Tailscale
  4. Set up an EoIP tunnel to bridge the Wireguard interface to your LAN
  5. Set up routing and firewall rules as needed