Overlay: NetBird

NetBird puts the hub on a private network run from NetBird's management console. This page ends with a machine outside the building reaching the LAN behind the hub by the hub's overlay address. NetBird is one of the two overlay engines; the box runs one overlay at a time, and EasyTier is the other.

Before you start

You need a NetBird account, with its management console open in a browser; Open console on the Overlay page opens it. The hub must reach the management plane. Behind a filter the badge reads management unreachable; switch on Send Neutrino Hub's own traffic through the proxy on the Proxy page to get past it. When EasyTier is running, choosing NetBird stops it and closes the port it listened on.

Prepare the network in the console

1. In the console, open Networks and press Add Network.
2. On the new network, under Routing Peers, press Add and choose Install NetBird.
3. Copy the setup key the console shows.

The key has the form AAAAAAAA-BBBB-CCCC-DDDD-EEEEEEEEEEEE, and the panel's field shows that shape as its placeholder.

Choose NetBird and join

1. In the panel, open Overlay.
2. Under Engine, pick NetBird and select Apply engine. When the engine is absent, the hub installs it; the section under the chooser then becomes NetBird's.
3. Under Join a network, paste the setup key, leave the management URL empty for netbird.io, and select Join.

The button reads Joining…, then the badge turns connected, and This gateway on the overlay shows an Overlay address, a Name and the Management plane.

Export the LAN routes

LAN routes lists one subnet per interface in the LAN role, each with a Copy button. A server-mode box has no LAN role, and the section reads No interface has the LAN role.

1. In the console under Networks, add each listed subnet as a Resource of your network.
2. Give the resource an Access Control Policy; the policy names the peers that use the route.

A peer elsewhere then reaches a machine on that subnet by its LAN address.

Read the peer table

Peers lists one row per peer with its name, its overlay address and whether the link is direct or relayed. The row also shows the last handshake as a duration ago and, when there is any, the packet loss as a percentage. An empty table reads No peers yet. Log in on another device with the NetBird app.

Join from outside and re-enroll

Another device joins through NetBird's own app: install it there and log in to the same account, and the device appears in Peers. Exposure on the Network page lists the networks on which the box accepts the overlay's connections.

Re-enroll under This gateway on the overlay takes a fresh setup key and gives the hub a new identity on the network; the old peer entry stays in the console until you delete it there.