Devices

Every computer, server or virtual machine that joins your TxNet shows up in the TxHub dashboard. There you can see whether it is connected, rename it, give it tags, approve the routes it offers, make it sign in again, or remove it.

Open the dashboard at app.txhub.is and choose Machines in the sidebar. Admins and owners see every device in the TxNet. Members see My machines: only the devices they connected themselves.

How devices join#

A device joins your TxNet in one of two ways:

• Someone signs in on it. They install the TxHub app and click Log in…, or run txhub up and open the link. The device belongs to the person who signed in. See Install the app.
• It uses an enrollment key. This is the usual way for servers. The device belongs to the owner of the key and gets the key’s tags. See Enrollment keys.

The device appears in the list as soon as it has joined. There is no separate approval step for new devices: anyone who can sign in to your TxNet, or who holds a valid enrollment key, can add one. What a device may reach once it is on the TxNet is decided by your access policy.

The Add Device button on the Machines page takes you to enrollment keys, where you can create a key for a new device.

The device list#

Each row shows the device’s name, its TxNet IP address, the version of TxHub it runs, and when it was last seen. Admins also see who owns each device. Use the search box to find a device by name, owner, operating system, version, IP address or tag.

Status

Badges

Device details#

Click a device to open its details. Besides its name, owner (Creator), operating system and version, you find:

• Addresses: its TxNet IPv4 and TxNet IPv6 addresses, and its device name as a Short domain and Full domain (for example laptop.acme.tx.net). Each has a Copy button.
• Key expiry: when the device has to sign in again, or No expiry.
• Endpoints and Client Connectivity: the network addresses the device reported and its preferred relay server. This helps when a connection is slow or does not work. See Relay servers.
• Tags, Subnet Routes and Traffic (daily upload and download over the last 30 days).

Rename a device#

A device starts with the name of the computer it runs on. Renaming it also changes its device name, which is what other devices use to reach it, so let people know before you rename a device they rely on.

1. On the Machines page, open the … menu at the end of the device’s row and choose Rename.
2. Type the new name and press Enter.

If another device in the TxNet already uses that name, TxHub makes the device name unique for you. Check the new name on the device’s details page.

Tag a device#

Tags, such as tag:server, group devices so that your access policy can give them access by role instead of by name. A tag can only be applied if it is declared in the access policy, and only by someone the policy lists as an owner of that tag. Admins can apply any declared tag.

1. Open the … menu on the device’s row and choose Manage Tags, or click Manage Tags on the device’s details page.
2. Pick tags from the declared tags, or type one, and save.

On the device’s details page, admins can also choose Declare a new tag…. This adds the tag to the access policy with you as its owner, so you can apply it straight away.

Approve subnet routes and exit nodes#

When a device offers to share a network or to act as an exit node, nothing changes until an admin approves it. This stops a device from quietly taking over traffic for others.

1. Open the device’s details. Under Subnet Routes you see each network it offers.
2. Click Approve next to a network to start using it, or Revoke to stop.
3. If the device offers to be an exit node, click Enable Exit Node. Click Disable Exit Node to stop.

Only admins and owners can approve routes. More detail is on the Subnet routes and Exit nodes pages.

Key expiry#

Each device has a key that proves it belongs to your TxNet. A device that joined by someone signing in has to sign in again after 180 days. Devices that joined with a tagged enrollment key do not expire. You can see the date under Key expiry on the device’s details page.

When a key expires, the device shows Expired and drops off the TxNet. To bring it back, sign in again on the device: click Log in… in the app, or run:

$ sudo txhub up

Expire a device now

If a laptop is lost or someone leaves, you can cut a device off at once. Open the … menu on its row and choose Expire key. The device stays in the list but cannot use the TxNet until someone signs in on it again. This is a good first step when you are not yet sure whether to remove the device.

Remove a device#

Removing a device deletes it from your TxNet. Open the … menu on its row, choose Remove machine and confirm. To add the device again later, sign in on it again or use an enrollment key; it then joins as a new device.

Share a device with another TxNet#

Sharing a device into another TxNet is set up together with TxHub support for now: the other TxNet has to accept the share before it does anything, and that step is not in the dashboard yet. Contact info@txhub.is if you need it. A device with the Shared badge has a share set up; its details page lists where, with a button to stop sharing.

Who can do what#

Troubleshooting#

• A device does not show up. Check that the app says it is connected, or run txhub status on it. Members only see their own devices, so ask an admin if you are looking for someone else’s.
• A device shows Expired. Sign in again on that device, as described under Key expiry.
• A tag cannot be applied. The tag must be declared in the access policy and you must be one of its owners. Ask an admin, or see Access policy.
• A route stays pending. An admin has to approve it on the device’s details page.