Setting Up Headscale with Docker Compose

Introduction to Headscale

Headscale is an open-source implementation of the Tailscale control server, providing a self-hosted way to manage your Tailscale networks. This guide walks you through deploying Headscale using Docker Compose, setting up the necessary configurations, and managing users and devices on your network.

Docker Compose Configuration for Headscale

Docker Compose File (docker-compose.yml)

version: '3.5'
services:
  headscale:
    container_name: headscale
    image: headscale/headscale:0.22.3
    volumes:
      - ./config:/etc/headscale/  # Configuration files
      - ./data:/var/lib/headscale # Data persistence
    ports:
      - "27896:8080"  # Exposes Headscale on port 27896 of the host
    command: headscale serve
    restart: unless-stopped

Key Components

• Image: Uses the specific version 0.22.3 of Headscale.
• Volumes:
• ./config: Directory for configuration files, specifically config.yaml.
• ./data: Stores persistent data used by Headscale.
• Ports: Maps port 8080 from the container to port 27896 on the host, making Headscale accessible via the host IP.

Pre-Deployment Setup

1. Create Directories: Ensure the config and data directories are created beforehand to prevent Docker from assigning them root permissions, which can lead to permission issues:

mkdir -p ./headscale/config
mkdir -p ./headscale/data

1. Configuration File Setup (config.yaml): Place a config.yaml file inside the config directory. This file should be configured as per your network settings and requirements.

Sample config.yaml

For the sample config, visit the official GitHub repo.

---
# headscale will look for a configuration file named `config.yaml` (or `config.json`) in the following order:
#
# - `/etc/headscale`
# - `~/.headscale`
# - current working directory

# The url clients will connect to.
# Typically this will be a domain like:
#
# https://myheadscale.example.com:443
#
server_url: https://headscale.yourdomain.com

# Address to listen to / bind to on the server
#
# For production:
listen_addr: 0.0.0.0:8080
# listen_addr: 127.0.0.1:8080

# Address to listen to /metrics, you may want
# to keep this endpoint private to your internal
# network
#
metrics_listen_addr: 127.0.0.1:9090

# Address to listen for gRPC.
# gRPC is used for controlling a headscale server
# remotely with the CLI
# Note: Remote access _only_ works if you have
# valid certificates.
#
# For production:
grpc_listen_addr: 0.0.0.0:50443
# grpc_listen_addr: 127.0.0.1:50443

# Allow the gRPC admin interface to run in INSECURE
# mode. This is not recommended as the traffic will
# be unencrypted. Only enable if you know what you
# are doing.
grpc_allow_insecure: false

# Private key used to encrypt the traffic between headscale
# and Tailscale clients.
# The private key file will be autogenerated if it's missing.
#
private_key_path: /var/lib/headscale/private.key

# The Noise section includes specific configuration for the
# TS2021 Noise protocol
noise:
  # The Noise private key is used to encrypt the
  # traffic between headscale and Tailscale clients when
  # using the new Noise-based protocol. It must be different
  # from the legacy private key.
  private_key_path: /var/lib/headscale/noise_private.key

# List of IP prefixes to allocate tailaddresses from.
# Each prefix consists of either an IPv4 or IPv6 address,
# and the associated prefix length, delimited by a slash.
# It must be within IP ranges supported by the Tailscale
# client - i.e., subnets of 100.64.0.0/10 and fd7a:115c:a1e0::/48.
# See below:
# IPv6: https://github.com/tailscale/tailscale/blob/22ebb25e833264f58d7c3f534a8b166894a89536/net/tsaddr/tsaddr.go#LL81C52-L81C71
# IPv4: https://github.com/tailscale/tailscale/blob/22ebb25e833264f58d7c3f534a8b166894a89536/net/tsaddr/tsaddr.go#L33
# Any other range is NOT supported, and it will cause unexpected issues.
ip_prefixes:
  - 100.64.0.0/10 # you can change this value to any private ip range you want.
  - fd7a:115c:a1e0::/48

# DERP is a relay system that Tailscale uses when a direct
# connection cannot be established.
# https://tailscale.com/blog/how-tailscale-works/#encrypted-tcp-relays-derp
#
# headscale needs a list of DERP servers that can be presented
# to the clients.
derp:
  server:
    # If enabled, runs the embedded DERP server and merges it into the rest of the DERP config
    # The Headscale server_url defined above MUST be using https, DERP requires TLS to be in place
    enabled: false

    # Region ID to use for the embedded DERP server.
    # The local DERP prevails if the region ID collides with other region ID coming from
    # the regular DERP config.
    region_id: 999

    # Region code and name are displayed in the Tailscale UI to identify a DERP region
    region_code: "headscale"
    region_name: "Headscale Embedded DERP"

    # Listens over UDP at the configured address for STUN connections - to help with NAT traversal.
    # When the embedded DERP server is enabled stun_listen_addr MUST be defined.
    #
    # For more details on how this works, check this great article: https://tailscale.com/blog/how-tailscale-works/
    stun_listen_addr: "0.0.0.0:3478"

  # List of externally available DERP maps encoded in JSON
  urls:
    - https://controlplane.tailscale.com/derpmap/default

  # Locally available DERP map files encoded in YAML
  #
  # This option is mostly interesting for people hosting
  # their own DERP servers:
  # https://tailscale.com/kb/1118/custom-derp-servers/
  #
  # paths:
  #   - /etc/headscale/derp-example.yaml
  paths: []

  # If enabled, a worker will be set up to periodically
  # refresh the given sources and update the derpmap
  # will be set up.
  auto_update_enabled: true

  # How often should we check for DERP updates?
  update_frequency: 24h

# Disables the automatic check for headscale updates on startup
disable_check_updates: true

# Time before an inactive ephemeral node is deleted?
ephemeral_node_inactivity_timeout: 30m

# Period to check for node updates within the tailnet. A value too low will severely affect
# CPU consumption of Headscale. A value too high (over 60s) will cause problems
# for the nodes, as they won't get updates or keep alive messages frequently enough.
# In case of doubts, do not touch the default 10s.
node_update_check_interval: 10s

# SQLite config
db_type: sqlite3

# For production:
db_path: /var/lib/headscale/db.sqlite

# # Postgres config
# If using a Unix socket to connect to Postgres, set the socket path in the 'host' field and leave 'port' blank.
# db_type: postgres
# db_host: localhost
# db_port: 5432
# db_name: headscale
# db_user: foo
# db_pass: bar

# If other 'sslmode' is required instead of 'require(true)' and 'disabled(false)', set the 'sslmode' you need
# in the 'db_ssl' field. Refers to https://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/libpq-ssl.html Table 34.1.
# db_ssl: false

### TLS configuration
#
## Let's encrypt / ACME
#
# headscale supports automatically requesting and setting up
# TLS for a domain with Let's Encrypt.
#
# URL to ACME directory
acme_url: https://acme-v02.api.letsencrypt.org/directory

# Email to register with ACME provider
acme_email: ""

# Domain name to request a TLS certificate for:
tls_letsencrypt_hostname: ""

# Path to store certificates and metadata needed by
# letsencrypt
# For production:
tls_letsencrypt_cache_dir: /var/lib/headscale/cache

# Type of ACME challenge to use, currently supported types:
# HTTP-01 or TLS-ALPN-01
# See [docs/tls.md](docs/tls.md) for more information
tls_letsencrypt_challenge_type: HTTP-01
# When HTTP-01 challenge is chosen, letsencrypt must set up a
# verification endpoint, and it will be listening on:
# :http = port 80
tls_letsencrypt_listen: ":http"

## Use already defined certificates:
tls_cert_path: ""
tls_key_path: ""

log:
  # Output formatting for logs: text or json
  format: text
  level: info

# Path to a file containg ACL policies.
# ACLs can be defined as YAML or HUJSON.
# https://tailscale.com/kb/1018/acls/
acl_policy_path: ""

## DNS
#
# headscale supports Tailscale's DNS configuration and MagicDNS.
# Please have a look to their KB to better understand the concepts:
#
# - https://tailscale.com/kb/1054/dns/
# - https://tailscale.com/kb/1081/magicdns/
# - https://tailscale.com/blog/2021-09-private-dns-with-magicdns/
#
dns_config:
  # Whether to prefer using Headscale provided DNS or use local.
  override_local_dns: true

  # List of DNS servers to expose to clients.
  nameservers:
    - 1.1.1.1

  # NextDNS (see https://tailscale.com/kb/1218/nextdns/).
  # "abc123" is example NextDNS ID, replace with yours.
  #
  # With metadata sharing:
  # nameservers:
  #   - https://dns.nextdns.io/abc123
  #
  # Without metadata sharing:
  # nameservers:
  #   - 2a07:a8c0::ab:c123
  #   - 2a07:a8c1::ab:c123

  # Split DNS (see https://tailscale.com/kb/1054/dns/),
  # list of search domains and the DNS to query for each one.
  #
  # restricted_nameservers:
  #   foo.bar.com:
  #     - 1.1.1.1
  #   darp.headscale.net:
  #     - 1.1.1.1
  #     - 8.8.8.8

  # Search domains to inject.
  domains: []

  # Extra DNS records
  # so far only A-records are supported (on the tailscale side)
  # See https://github.com/juanfont/headscale/blob/main/docs/dns-records.md#Limitations
  # extra_records:
  #   - name: "grafana.myvpn.example.com"
  #     type: "A"
  #     value: "100.64.0.3"
  #
  #   # you can also put it in one line
  #   - { name: "prometheus.myvpn.example.com", type: "A", value: "100.64.0.3" }

  # Whether to use [MagicDNS](https://tailscale.com/kb/1081/magicdns/).
  # Only works if there is at least a nameserver defined.
  magic_dns: true

  # Defines the base domain to create the hostnames for MagicDNS.
  # `base_domain` must be a FQDNs, without the trailing dot.
  # The FQDN of the hosts will be
  # `hostname.user.base_domain` (e.g., _myhost.myuser.example.com_).
  base_domain: headscale.example.com

# Unix socket used for the CLI to connect without authentication
# Note: for production you will want to set this to something like:
unix_socket: /var/run/headscale/headscale.sock
unix_socket_permission: "0770"
#
# headscale supports experimental OpenID connect support,
# it is still being tested and might have some bugs, please
# help us test it.
# OpenID Connect
# oidc:
#   only_start_if_oidc_is_available: true
#   issuer: "https://your-oidc.issuer.com/path"
#   client_id: "your-oidc-client-id"
#   client_secret: "your-oidc-client-secret"
#   # Alternatively, set `client_secret_path` to read the secret from the file.
#   # It resolves environment variables, making integration to systemd's
#   # `LoadCredential` straightforward:
#   client_secret_path: "${CREDENTIALS_DIRECTORY}/oidc_client_secret"
#   # client_secret and client_secret_path are mutually exclusive.
#
#   # The amount of time from a node is authenticated with OpenID until it
#   # expires and needs to reauthenticate.
#   # Setting the value to "0" will mean no expiry.
#   expiry: 180d
#
#   # Use the expiry from the token received from OpenID when the user logged
#   # in, this will typically lead to frequent need to reauthenticate and should
#   # only been enabled if you know what you are doing.
#   # Note: enabling this will cause `oidc.expiry` to be ignored.
#   use_expiry_from_token: false
#
#   # Customize the scopes used in the OIDC flow, defaults to "openid", "profile" and "email" and add custom query
#   # parameters to the Authorize Endpoint request. Scopes default to "openid", "profile" and "email".
#
#   scope: ["openid", "profile", "email", "custom"]
#   extra_params:
#     domain_hint: example.com
#
#   # List allowed principal domains and/or users. If an authenticated user's domain is not in this list, the
#   # authentication request will be rejected.
#
#   allowed_domains:
#     - example.com
#   # Note: Groups from keycloak have a leading '/'
#   allowed_groups:
#     - /headscale
#   allowed_users:
#     - [email protected]
#
#   # If `strip_email_domain` is set to `true`, the domain part of the username email address will be removed.
#   # This will transform `[email protected]` to the user `first-name.last-name`
#   # If `strip_email_domain` is set to `false` the domain part will NOT be removed resulting to the following
#   user: `first-name.last-name.example.com`
#
#   strip_email_domain: true

# Logtail configuration
# Logtail is Tailscales logging and auditing infrastructure, it allows the control panel
# to instruct tailscale nodes to log their activity to a remote server.
logtail:
  # Enable logtail for this headscales clients.
  # As there is currently no support for overriding the log server in headscale, this is
  # disabled by default. Enabling this will make your clients send logs to Tailscale Inc.
  enabled: false

# Enabling this option makes devices prefer a random port for WireGuard traffic over the
# default static port 41641. This option is intended as a workaround for some buggy
# firewall devices. See https://tailscale.com/kb/1181/firewalls/ for more information.
randomize_client_port: false

Post-Deployment Configuration

1. Create a User: To create a user, execute the following command within the running Headscale container:

docker exec headscale headscale users create myfirstuser

1. Generate Pre-Auth Keys: Generate pre-authorization keys for new devices to join the network:

docker exec headscale headscale preauthkeys create -e 24h -u myfirstuser

This will provide an auth key that is valid for 24 hours.

1. Setup Tailscale on Client Devices:
2. Download and install the Tailscale client on the device from Tailscale Downloads.

3. Authenticate the client using the provided auth key:

   sudo tailscale up --login-server=https://headscale.yourdomain.com --authkey <your_auth_key>
   

Making Headscale Public

To make Headscale publicly accessible (for example, using Cloudflare Zero Trust with Nginx Proxy Manager), ensure server_url in config.yaml is set to a publicly accessible domain and properly configured in your DNS and proxy settings.

Conclusion

This setup guide provides a straightforward approach to deploying and configuring Headscale on your network, offering a robust, self-hosted alternative to manage your Tailscale-compatible devices.