Tailscale Setup Guide: Self-Hosted and UniFi Integration

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: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 # 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. ...

January 24, 2026 · 3 min · 549 words · rustikus

Quicktip: Bypass Tailscale Routing for Local LAN

When using Tailscale with Magic DNS enabled, hostname resolution always routes through Tailscale—even when you’re on your home network. This adds unnecessary latency for local connections. The issue is documented in GitHub issue #1227. A workaround is to use split DNS with a custom domain. Configure your local router with local DNS entries and set up public DNS entries that point to Tailscale IPs. When you’re at home, your devices use the router’s DNS. When away, they use public DNS. ...

January 22, 2026 · 1 min · 153 words · rustikus

Nix Setup on macOS: An Overview

A collection of resources for setting up Nix on macOS with nix-darwin and home-manager. The nix-darwin-kickstarter repository is a good starting point for macOS. Run programs without installing them with nix-shell -p cowsay. Remote Deployment: nixos-rebuild announcement Example configurations: jdheyburn/nixos-configs Great examples for: Caddy web server FreshRSS deploy-rs Tailscale integration wimpysworld/nix-config - Production-ready configuration Remote installation with nixos-anywhere: nixos-anywhere uses kexec. If kexec doesn’t work, boot with NixOS ISO instead. Wireless in initrd: Unlocking encrypted drives over WiFi ...

January 14, 2026 · 1 min · 130 words · rustikus