Linux Fu: Heads Or Tails For VPN

Tailscale makes WireGuard-based mesh networking easy, but its free tier has limits and relies on third-party infrastructure. Headscale is an open-source, self-hosted implementation of the Tailscale control server that works with existing Tailscale clients — you just point them at your own server. The post walks through how Tailscale's control plane and DERP relay architecture work, how to install Headscale on a Linux server (Debian/Ubuntu packages available, SQLite by default), how to connect clients including Android, and how to add Headplane — a web UI for Headscale — for a dashboard experience similar to Tailscale's official interface. Running your own DERP relay is possible but optional. The recommended path is to try Tailscale first, then migrate to Headscale if you want full control.

Source: https://hackaday.com/2026/08/10/linux-fu-heads-or-tails-for-vpn. 8 Sync News only summarizes and links out; content copyright belongs to the authors and original sources.