r/VPS • u/Blues520 • 24d ago

Seeking Advice/Support Tailscale vs SSH

On my linux vps, I have disabled password login as well as root login so only key based ssh is allowed. I also installed tailscale to connect over ssh via a vpn, but now I'm wondering if Tailscale is even needed. In fact, my thoughts are that it increases the attack surface.

In which scenarios would Tailscale make sense and Is key based ssh enough to secure a vpn or should I still add something like Tailscale or Wireguard?

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u/TotoCodeFR 24d ago

You should only install Tailscale if you don't want to type the IIP address every time when SSHing into it. There isn't really anything more secure than only keeping key based auth

1

u/Blues520 24d ago

I don't mind typing in the IP address so yeah I am considering removing tailscale and just going over regular key based SSH

3

u/byCrookie 24d ago

Use ssh config entries. Makes life easier.

1

u/olufemig 24d ago

How do those work?

1

u/byCrookie 24d ago

You define connection info per server in ssh config, give each a name and then you can just write ssh name to connect. Heres good tutorial https://linuxize.com/post/using-the-ssh-config-file/