***Guide***A setup for serving a website through Tailscale using NGINX

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A setup for serving a website through Tailscale using NGINX. Here’s a breakdown of the steps to ensure everything is configured properly:

  1. DNS Configuration:

    • A Record: You have created an A record with the host www pointing to your Tailscale IP. This means any request to www.yourdomain.com will resolve to your Tailscale IP.
    • CNAME Record: You have created a wildcard CNAME record (*) pointing to your domain. This means any subdomain request will resolve to your main domain, which should then resolve to your Tailscale IP.

  2. NGINX Configuration:

    • Ensure that NGINX is configured to listen on the correct port and interface for your Tailscale IP.
    • Make sure you have the necessary server block in your NGINX configuration to handle requests to your domain and any subdomains.

  3. Tailscale Configuration:

    • Verify that the clients who need to access your website are part of your Tailnet and have access to the Tailscale IP where NGINX is running.
    • Check your Tailscale ACLs (Access Control Lists) to ensure there are no restrictions preventing access to the Tailscale IP.

  4. Firewall and Port Forwarding:

    • Ensure that your Tailscale device’s firewall allows traffic on the ports NGINX is using (usually port 80 for HTTP and port 443 for HTTPS).
    • If you’re using a router or another firewall device, ensure that it is not blocking traffic to these ports on your Tailscale IP.

  5. NGINX Server Block Example:
    Here’s an example NGINX server block that you can use as a reference:

    server {
    listen 80;
    server_name yourdomain.com *.yourdomain.com;

    location / {
        proxy_pass http://localhost:8080;  # Or wherever your backend service is running
        proxy_set_header Host $host;
        proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme;
    }
}

If all of these configurations are correct, your domain should route traffic through the Tailnet and NGINX should serve the website to any client that is part of your Tailnet.