How to Install Teleport on NixOS

Teleport is a secure remote access solution that is designed for engineers and IT professionals who need to access servers, applications, and other devices on their network from anywhere in the world. In this tutorial, we will go through the steps to install Teleport on a NixOS system.

Prerequisites

Before we begin, make sure you have the following:

  • A NixOS system with root access
  • An internet connection

Step 1: Add Teleport to NixOS

First, we need to add Teleport to the NixOS configuration file. Open the file /etc/nixos/configuration.nix using your preferred text editor.

Add the following lines to the configuration file:

  # Teleport
  services.teleport.enable = true;
  services.teleport.config = {
    auth_servers = [
      {
        addr = "auth.example.com:3025";
        public_addr = "auth.example.com:3025";
      }
    ];
  };

Replace auth.example.com with the address of the Teleport authentication server.

Save and close the file.

Step 2: Apply the Teleport Configuration

Once you have added the Teleport configuration to the NixOS configuration file, we need to apply the changes.

Run the following command to update the NixOS system configuration:

sudo nixos-rebuild switch

Step 3: Start Teleport

After applying the configuration changes, start the Teleport service by running the following command:

sudo systemctl start teleport

You can also enable the Teleport service to start automatically on system boot by running the following command:

sudo systemctl enable teleport

Step 4: Access the Teleport Web UI (Optional)

Teleport comes with a web-based user interface that you can use to manage your clusters and access your servers. To access the Teleport Web UI, follow these steps:

  1. Open your web browser and navigate to https://<your-server-ip>:3080, replacing <your-server-ip> with the IP address of your NixOS system.

  2. Log in using the credentials you created during the Teleport installation.

  3. You should now be able to access the Teleport Web UI and manage your clusters.

Congratulations! You have successfully installed Teleport on your NixOS system. You can now use Teleport to securely log in to your servers and manage your infrastructure remotely.