Getting started
What TxHub is and how to get your first devices on a private TxNet: install the app, sign in, and reach your other devices by name.
TxHub connects your computers and servers into one private network, wherever they are. Once a device is on the network, you can reach your other devices by name, as if they were on the same office LAN, without opening ports on your router or firewall.
How it works
Each device runs the TxHub app (or, on a server, the txhub command and its background service). The app creates an encrypted WireGuard tunnel straight to each of your other devices. Your traffic goes directly from device to device; it does not pass through a TxHub server.
A central control plane, run by TxHub ehf in the region your organization chose (Iceland or the United States), keeps the network in order. It checks who signs in, hands out addresses and device names, and tells each device how to find the others and which of them it may talk to. It never sees the contents of your traffic.
When two devices cannot connect directly, for example because both sit behind strict firewalls, their encrypted traffic is passed through a relay server instead. The traffic stays end-to-end encrypted. See Relay servers.
Key words
| Word | What it means |
|---|---|
| TxNet | Your private network: a group of devices that can reach each other. Devices in different TxNets cannot see each other. |
| Device | A computer, server or virtual machine that runs TxHub and has joined a TxNet. The dashboard lists devices under Machines. |
| Organization | Your company or institution on TxHub. It owns its TxNets, its people and its single sign-on setup. |
| Owner, admin, member | Your role in a TxNet. Owners and admins manage devices and settings. Members connect their own devices and use the network. |
| Device name | The name each device gets automatically, such as laptop.acme.tx.net. Use it instead of an IP address. |
For how people, roles and organizations fit together, see Organizations and users.
Set up your first network
You need a TxHub account that belongs to a TxNet. Your organization’s admin either creates an account for you or lets you sign in with your work account. If you are not sure, ask them.
- Sign in to the dashboard. Go to
app.txhub.isand sign in with your work account or your password. See Sign-in and SSO. - Install the app on your first device. Download it from
txhub.is/downloadfor Windows, macOS or Linux. See Install the app. - Sign in from the app. Open the TxHub app and click Log in… (on macOS, Log In…). Your browser opens; sign in there. If you belong to more than one TxNet, pick the one this device should join. On a Linux server, run
sudo txhub upand open the link it prints. - Add a second device. Repeat the last two steps on another computer or server. Both devices now show under Machines in the dashboard (members see My machines).
- Reach one device from the other. Use the other device’s name or its TxNet IP address. The app lists your other devices under My Devices, and so does the command line:
txhub statusping nas
Replace nas with the name of your other device. If the name does not resolve, try the full name, such as nas.acme.tx.net, which is shown in the dashboard on the device’s page.
Good to know
- Signing in to a device adds it to your TxNet as your device. A device that has signed in interactively has to sign in again from time to time; the dashboard shows when under Key expiry. See Devices.
- Being on the same TxNet does not mean every device can reach every other device. Your admins decide that in the access policy.
- Turning the app’s main switch off disconnects this device from the TxNet. Your other devices are not affected.
Where to go next
- Install the app: every platform, the tray menu, updating and uninstalling.
- Devices: rename, tag, expire and remove devices in the dashboard.
- DNS: device names, your own DNS records and split DNS.
- Exit nodes and subnet routes: send internet traffic through another device, or reach a whole office network.
- File sharing: send files between your own devices.
- Access policy: decide who can reach what.
- Troubleshooting: when something does not connect.