Docker on Pink Noise

Tailscale Setup Guide: Self-Hosted and UniFi Integration

Sat, 24 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Tailscale is a modern VPN built on WireGuard with automatic mesh networking. For complete self-hosting, use Headscale—an open-source Tailscale control server implementation.

UniFi Devices: If you run UniFi hardware (Dream Machine, Dream Router, etc.), install Tailscale directly on your gateway:

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# Install the latest version of Tailscale on UniFi OS 2.x+
curl -sSLq https://raw.github.com/SierraSoftworks/tailscale-udm/main/install.sh | sh

# Start Tailscale
tailscale up

# Advertise routes to your local network
tailscale up --advertise-routes=10.0.0.0/24 --advertise-exit-node

The installation automatically restarts after UniFi updates, runs via systemd on UniFi OS 2.x+, and supports Tailscale SSH. It works on UniFi Dream Machine, Dream Router, Cloud Key Gen 2, and similar devices.

Auto-mounting Encrypted External Drive in NixOS

Sun, 11 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Note: This article is heavily based on The Uncommitted Changes Blog by Pankaj Raghav. All credit goes to the original author.

Setting up auto-mounting for a LUKS-encrypted external drive on NixOS requires coordinating LUKS decryption, udev device detection, and systemd mounting. Here’s how to configure it so the drive automatically decrypts and mounts when connected.

First, encrypt the drive if you haven’t already:

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cryptsetup luksFormat /dev/sda1
## Enter password
cryptsetup open /dev/sda1 vault
dd bs=512 count=4 if=/dev/random of=/root/keyfile.key iflag=fullblock
cryptsetup luksAddKey /dev/sda1 /root/keyfile.key
sudo mkfs.btrfs -L vault /dev/mapper/vault

The keyfile allows automatic decryption without typing a password each time. Your device layout will look like: