If you’re not familiar with Tailscale it’s a very user-friendly “overlay network” that lets you securely connect all your devices no matter where they are over the internet.
No need to forward ports on your router to access your home network anymore. And no need to set up VPNs manually either. Just install Tailscale on all your devices and log in with Gmail or other providers.
Tailscale has official apps for Windows, Mac Android and iOS.
Thanks to a project called Trayscale we now have a GUI app for managing Tailscale on GNU/Linux as well.
TLDR: Unequivocally yes.
I’ve managed to eventually establish a two-point OpenVPN link after reading a lot and fiddling with two dozen settings in both the server and client. I can now generate keys for clients, wrap them into .ovpn files and can get people connected to my server.
However:
If you think that’s hairy, I hear that WireGuard is even more complicated to set up than OpenVPN.
With Tailscale I install one thing on each device and run one command (or tap a checkbox on Android/iOS). It gives me a link to open, to enroll that device. And that’s it. It works.
Not only does it work but it comes out of the box with:
Edit: Yes I know I can use Headscale on a VPS to achieve something very similar to Tailscale. Leaving aside the need for VPS, and while I’m thankful that WireGuard exists and that Headscale is keeping Tailscale honest, and while fully acknowledging my hypocrisy, I’m still going to be a cheap lazy asshole and use Tailscale and get a free ride until Tailscale starts charging. At which point I will weigh their offer against the cheapest VPS out there and either keep using Tailscale or start using Headscale unapologetically while eating crow from all the people shouting “told you so!”. Or maybe I’ll get a CCNA and finish setting up OpenVPN, we’ll see.
I don’t know where you heard that. The exact opposite is true in my experience. OpenVPN is a shitshow compared to Wireguard.
FWIW OpenVPN can use DNS names so you can use DDNS.
Point taken on the rest though. Everything you mentioned IS possible but the point that it’s beyond most hobbyists is valid. I’m really wary of relying on a centrally managed pay service that is ‘free’ (for now).
CGNAT says no.
:shrug:, never had to deal with it
You will have to at some point; whether you want to or not. CGNAT is the future of IPv4.
May IPv4 just die.