Tailscale

In today's article, we are going to explore the topic of Tailscale in depth. From its origins to its relevance today, we will dive into every key aspect related to Tailscale. We will analyze its impact on society, culture and the economy, as well as its role in the lives of people in different parts of the world. Through this detailed exploration, we hope to shed light on the lesser-known aspects of Tailscale and provide a comprehensive view of its importance in today's world.

Tailscale Inc.
Company typePrivate
Industry
Founded2019
FounderAvery Pennarun
David Carney
Brad Fitzpatrick Edit this on Wikidata
HeadquartersToronto, Ontario
Key people
Websitetailscale.com Edit this at Wikidata

Tailscale Inc. is a software company based in Toronto, Ontario. Tailscale develops a partially open-source software-defined mesh virtual private network (VPN) and a web-based management service.[a][2][3] The company provides a zero config VPN as a service under the same name.[4][better source needed]

Tailscale
Developer(s)Tailscale Inc.
Stable release
1.82.5[5] / April 17, 2025 (2025-04-17)
Operating systemMicrosoft Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, iOS, tvOS, Plan9
TypeSD-WAN, P2P, VPN, ZTNA
LicenseBSD
Websitetailscale.com

History

Founded in 2019 by Google engineers Avery Pennarun, David Crawshaw, David Carney, and Brad Fitzpatrick,[6] the company secured funding of $12 million in a Series A round in November 2020 led by Accel with seed investors Heavybit and Uncork Capital participating.[7] In May 2022, the company secured a $100 million Series B round, led by CRV and Insight Partners, with participation from existing investors.[6][8]

The company's name is inspired from a research paper The Tail at Scale[b] published by Google.[9]

Software

The open-source software acts in combination with the management service to establish peer-to-peer or relayed VPN communication with other clients using the WireGuard protocol.[10][11] Tailscale can open direct connection to the peer using NAT traversal techniques such as STUN or request port forwarding via UPnP IGD, NAT-PMP or PCP.[12] If the software fails to establish direct communication it falls back to using DERP (Designated Encrypted Relay for Packets) protocol relays provided by the company.[13] The IPv4 addresses given to clients are in the carrier-grade NAT reserved space. This was chosen to avoid interference with existing networks.[14] The Linux client can also send traffic to networks behind itself by disabling SNAT and routing directly to the source IPs. [15]

Supported platforms

The Tailscale client software supports a number of operating systems and embedded software systems,[16] including:

A Kubernetes operator[19] and Docker images[20] are also available.

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Although Tailscale provides VPN software & services, it should not be confused to be what is commonly referred to as a VPN service, however Tailscale's software can be integrated with the Mullvad VPN service[1]
  2. ^ Dean, Jeffrey; André Barroso, Luiz. "The Tail at Scale". Google. Archived from the original on 14 December 2021. Retrieved 9 March 2021.

References

  1. ^ Chiara Castro (2023-09-08). "Mullvad and Tailscale join forces in the name of online security". TechRadar. Retrieved 2024-12-03.
  2. ^ Rogers, Sarah (2021-09-09). "Tailscale VPN review". TechRadar. Archived from the original on 19 September 2021. Retrieved 2022-04-13.
  3. ^ Vaughan-Nichols, Steven. "Tailscale launches Wireguard-secured mesh network". ZDNet. Archived from the original on 23 February 2023. Retrieved 2022-04-13.
  4. ^ Hanselman, Scott. "Using Tailscale on Windows to network more easily with WSL2 and Visual Studio Code". www.hanselman.com. Archived from the original on 2014-08-09. Retrieved 2021-02-01.
  5. ^ "Tailscale changelog"
  6. ^ a b Kyle, Wiggers (5 May 2022). "Tailscale lands $100 million to 'transform' enterprise VPNs with mesh technology". TechCrunch. Archived from the original on 23 February 2023.
  7. ^ Dillet, Romain (10 November 2020). "Tailscale raises $12 million for its WireGuard-based corporate VPN". TechCrunch. Archived from the original on 23 February 2023. Retrieved 2021-02-01.
  8. ^ Tailscale (4 May 2022). "Tailscale raises $100M… to fix the Internet". Tailscale. Archived from the original on 6 May 2022. Retrieved 2022-05-05.
  9. ^ Security Cryptography Whatever: Tailscale with Avery Pennarun & Brad Fitzpatrick. 15 Jan 2022. Event occurs at 45m53s. Archived from the original on 23 February 2023. Retrieved 23 February 2023 – via archive.org.{{cite AV media}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  10. ^ Morgan, Ethel. "Tailscale". ethulhu.co.uk. Archived from the original on 23 February 2023. Retrieved 2021-02-01.
  11. ^ "What is Tailscale? · Tailscale Docs". Tailscale. Retrieved 2024-08-17.
  12. ^ "Troubleshooting device connectivity · Tailscale Docs". Tailscale. Retrieved 2024-08-17.
  13. ^ "Terminology and concepts · Tailscale Docs". Tailscale. Retrieved 2024-08-17.
  14. ^ "IP pool · Tailscale Docs". Tailscale. Retrieved 2024-08-17.
  15. ^ "Disable SNAT · Tailscale Docs". Tailscale. Retrieved 2025-03-15.
  16. ^ "Download · Tailscale". tailscale.com. Retrieved 2024-03-07.
  17. ^ Tailscale. "Access Synology NAS from anywhere". Tailscale. Retrieved 2024-03-07.
  18. ^ "QNAP". tailscale.com. Retrieved 2024-03-07.
  19. ^ Tailscale. "Kubernetes operator". Tailscale. Retrieved 2024-03-07.
  20. ^ "Contain your excitement: A deep dive into using Tailscale with Docker". tailscale.com. Retrieved 2024-03-07.