Tailscale on Proxmox VE

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Installing Tailscale on your Proxmox host gives you secure remote access to your entire home lab from anywhere — the Proxmox web interface, all VMs, LXC containers, and services running on them. No port forwarding required.

Make sure you have Tailscale set up first: Tailscale – Getting Started

Step 1 – Install Tailscale on Proxmox

SSH into your Proxmox host and run:

curl -fsSL https://tailscale.com/install.sh | sh

Step 2 – Start and Authenticate

sudo tailscale up

Open the URL shown in the terminal, log in to your Tailscale account, and authorize the device.

Check that it connected:

tailscale status
tailscale ip

Note the Tailscale IP — you’ll use this to reach your Proxmox host remotely.

Step 3 – Access Proxmox Web Interface Remotely

Once Tailscale is running on your Proxmox host, open the web interface from anywhere using the Tailscale IP:

https://100.x.x.x:8006

Or using MagicDNS (if enabled):

https://my-proxmox:8006

You’ll get the full Proxmox web UI — create VMs, manage storage, check logs — all securely over Tailscale.

Step 4 – SSH to Proxmox Remotely

ssh root@100.x.x.x

# Or with MagicDNS
ssh root@my-proxmox

Step 5 – Access VMs and Containers

VMs and LXC containers running on Proxmox are reachable via the Proxmox host’s Tailscale IP — but only if they’re on the same network bridge.

Option A – Install Tailscale on Each VM

For full direct access, install Tailscale on each VM individually. Each VM gets its own Tailscale IP and can be reached directly:

# On the VM
curl -fsSL https://tailscale.com/install.sh | sh
sudo tailscale up

Option B – Use Proxmox as a Subnet Router

Advertise your home lab subnet through Tailscale so all VMs are reachable without installing Tailscale on each one:

sudo tailscale up --advertise-routes=192.168.1.0/24

Then approve the subnet route in the Tailscale admin console under the device settings.

Now all devices on 192.168.1.0/24 — including all your VMs — are reachable from anywhere via Tailscale.

Subnet Router vs Individual Install

Approach	Pros	Cons
Tailscale on each VM	Direct peer-to-peer, most secure	More setup per VM
Subnet router on Proxmox	One install covers all VMs	Traffic routes through Proxmox host

For a home lab, the subnet router approach is often the most practical — one install and your entire lab is accessible.

Keep Tailscale Running After Reboot

Enable Tailscale to start automatically:

sudo systemctl enable tailscaled

Disable key expiry for your Proxmox nodes in the Tailscale admin console — servers should stay connected permanently without needing to re-authenticate.

Useful Commands

Command	What it does
`tailscale status`	Show all connected devices
`tailscale ip`	Show Tailscale IP of this node
`tailscale ping my-laptop`	Test connectivity to another device
`sudo tailscale up --advertise-routes=192.168.1.0/24`	Advertise local subnet
`sudo systemctl restart tailscaled`	Restart Tailscale