diff --git a/content/posts/caddy-tailscale-alternative-cloudflare-tunnel/index.md b/content/posts/caddy-tailscale-alternative-cloudflare-tunnel/index.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..59dcafc --- /dev/null +++ b/content/posts/caddy-tailscale-alternative-cloudflare-tunnel/index.md @@ -0,0 +1,112 @@ +--- +title: "Caddy + Tailscale as an Alternative to Cloudflare Tunnel" +date: 2024-09-22 +# lastmod: 2024-09-22 +draft: true +description: "This is a new post about..." +featured: false +toc: true +reply: true +categories: Self-Hosting +tags: + - caddy + - cloud + - containers + - docker + - networking + - selfhosting + - tailscale +--- +Earlier this year, I [shared how I used Cloudflare Tunnel](/publish-services-cloudflare-tunnel/) to publish some self-hosted resources on the internet without needing to expose any part of my home network. Since then, I've [moved many resources to bunny.net](https://srsbsns.lol/i-just-hopped-to-bunnynet/) ([including this website](/further-down-the-bunny-hole/)). I left some domains at Cloudflare, primarily just to benefit from the convenience of Cloudflare Tunnel, but I wasn't thrilled about being so dependent upon a single company that controls so much of the internet. + +However a [post on Tailscale's blog this week](https://tailscale.com/blog/last-reverse-proxy-you-need) reminded me that there was another easy approach using solutions I'm already using heavily: [Caddy](/tags/caddy) and [Tailscale](/tags/tailscale). Caddy is a modern web server (that works great as a reverse proxy with automatic HTTPS), and Tailscale [makes secure networking simple](/secure-networking-made-simple-with-tailscale/). Combining the two allows me to securely serve web services without any messy firewall configurations. + +So here's how I ditched Cloudflare Tunnel in favor of Caddy + Tailscale. + +### Docker Compose config +To keep things simple, I'll deploy the [same speedtest app I used to demo Cloudflare Tunnel](https://runtimeterror.dev/publish-services-cloudflare-tunnel/#speedtest-demo) on a Docker host located in my [homelab](/homelab). + +Here's a basic config to run [openspeedtest](https://github.com/openspeedtest/Docker-Image) on HTTP only (defaults to port `3000`): + +```yaml +# torchlight! {"lineNumbers":true} +services: + speedtest: + image: openspeedtest/latest + container_name: speedtest + restart: unless-stopped + ports: + - 3000:3000 +``` + +### A Tailscale sidecar +I can easily add [Tailscale in a sidecar container](/tailscale-serve-docker-compose-sidecar/) to make my new speedtest available within my tailnet: + +```yaml +# torchlight! {"lineNumbers":true} +services: + speedtest: + image: openspeedtest/latest + container_name: speedtest + restart: unless-stopped + ports: # [tl! --:1] + - 3000:3000 + network_mode: service:tailscale # [tl! ++] + + tailscale: # [tl! ++:12] + image: tailscale/tailscale:latest + container_name: speedtest-tailscale + restart: unless-stopped + environment: + TS_AUTHKEY: ${TS_AUTHKEY:?err} + TS_HOSTNAME: ${TS_HOSTNAME:-ts-docker} + TS_STATE_DIR: /var/lib/tailscale/ + volumes: + - ./ts_data:/var/lib/tailscale/ +``` + +Note that I no longer need to ask the host to expose port `3000` from the container; instead, I bridge the `speedtest` container's network with that of the `tailscale` container. + +And I create a simple `.env` file with the secrets required for connecting to Tailscale using a [pre-authentication key](https://tailscale.com/kb/1085/auth-keys): + +```shell +# torchlight! {"lineNumbers":true} +TS_AUTHKEY=tskey-auth-somestring-somelongerstring +TS_HOSTNAME=speedtest +``` + +After a quick `docker compose up -d` I can access my new speedtest at `http://speedtest.tailnet-name.ts.net:3000`. Next I just need to put it behind Caddy. + +### Caddy configuration +I already have [Caddy](https://caddyserver.com/) running on a server in [Vultr](https://www.vultr.com/) ([referral link](https://www.vultr.com/?ref=9488431)) so I'll be using that to front my new speedtest server. I add a DNS record in Bunny for `speed.runtimeterror.dev` pointed to the server's public IP address, and then add a corresponding block to my `/etc/caddy/Caddyfile` configuration: + + +```text +speed.runtimeterror.dev { + bind 192.0.2.1 # replace with server's public interface address + reverse_proxy http://speedtest.tailnet-name.ts.net:3000 +} +``` + +{{% notice note "Caddy binding" %}} +Since I'm already using Tailscale Serve for other services on this server, I use the `bind` directive to explicitly tell Caddy to listen on the server's public IP address. By default, it will try to listen on *all* interfaces and that would conflict with `tailscaled` that's already bound to the tailnet-internal IP. +{{% /notice %}} + +The `reverse_proxy` directive points to speedtest's HTTP endpoint within my tailnet; all traffic between tailnet addresses is already encrypted, and I can just let Caddy obtain and serve the SSL certificate automagically. + +Now I just need to reload the Caddyfile: + +```shell +sudo caddy reload -c /etc/caddy/Caddyfile # [tl! .cmd] + INFO using config from file {"file": "/etc/caddy/Caddyfile"} # [tl! .nocopy:1] + INFO adapted config to JSON {"adapter": "caddyfile"} +``` + +And I can try out my speedtest at `https://speed.runtimeterror.dev`: + +![OpenSpeedTest results showing a download speed of 194.1 Mbps, upload speed of 147.8 Mbps, and ping of 20 ms with 0.6 ms jitter. A graph displays connection speed over time.](speedtest.png) + +*Not bad!* + +### Conclusion +Combining the powers (and magic) of Caddy and Tailscale makes it easy to publicly serve content from private resources without compromising on security *or* extending vendor lock-in. This will dramatically simplify migrating the rest of my domains from Cloudflare to Bunny. diff --git a/content/posts/caddy-tailscale-alternative-cloudflare-tunnel/speedtest.png b/content/posts/caddy-tailscale-alternative-cloudflare-tunnel/speedtest.png new file mode 100644 index 0000000..85e909e Binary files /dev/null and b/content/posts/caddy-tailscale-alternative-cloudflare-tunnel/speedtest.png differ