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Getting started

Defined Networking's Managed Nebula makes it easy to set up a secure, high performance Nebula network in a few steps. This guide will walk you through the process of creating your Managed Nebula account, configuring your network, and getting your devices (hosts) communicating with each other.

1. Create an account​

To create your free account with support for up to 100 hosts, visit admin.defined.net/signup and provide an email address. This email address will be the primary login for the account and can be used to set up SSO to give access to other administrators at your company.

When you submit the signup form you'll receive an email with a "magic link" which will allow you to take the next step of registration—creating a two-factor authentication key. The use of email and a time-based one-time code is more secure than a username/password combination or SMS-based authentication methods. You will need an authenticator app such as Duo Mobile, Authy, or Google Authenticator. After clicking the magic link in the email, scan the QR code with your authenticator app and enter the 6-digit code from the app to verify your registration. Note that you can create additional authenticators as backups in your account settings after logging in.

2. Choose a network range​

Before you can start to add hosts to your Managed Nebula account, you'll need to set up the private network that they will communiate on. The Managed Nebula service will assign IP addresses within the range you choose (or you can assign them yourself). This range cannot be changed after the network is created, and there are some important factors to consider when deciding what range to use. See Choosing a CIDR for more details and guidance. If your chosen range becomes unsuitable in the future, you'll need to create a new network in your account and migrate your hosts.

3. Add a Lighthouse​

To add a lighthouse, navigate to the Lighthouses tab in the admin panel and click Add. Enter the lighthouse details and click Save. After the lighthouse is created, follow the on-screen instructions to install and enroll the appropriate version of DNClient on the lighthouse machine.

Need more help with lighthouses?
See Enrolling a Lighthouse for a detailed, step-by-step guide.

A lighthouse is a special type of host that helps other hosts in your Managed Nebula network discover each other. Every network requires at least one lighthouse to operate.

The lighthouse does not need to be a powerful machine—small cloud instances (such as the smallest DigitalOcean droplet) are sufficient for most home and small-team setups. The lighthouse must have:

  • Outbound internet access to fetch configuration updates
  • A static public IP address
  • Inbound UDP access on a fixed port

4. Create and enroll more hosts​

Once your lighthouse is online, you can begin adding other hosts to your network.

To add a host, navigate to the Hosts tab in the admin panel and click Add. Enter the host details and click Save. After the host is created, follow the on-screen instructions to install and enroll the appropriate version of DNClient on the target machine.

Each host must have an active internet connection so the Managed Nebula service can deliver configuration updates and manage connectivity.

5. Configure access between hosts (optional)​

Host-to-host access is controlled by roles. By default, roles allow hosts to ping each other but block all other traffic. If your hosts need to communicate beyond ping:

  • Edit the role assigned to the host
  • Add firewall rules to allow traffic from all hosts or specific roles

Need more help with roles?
See Creating Firewalls Using Roles for a detailed, step-by-step guide.

Further steps​

And with that, your Managed Nebula network is up and running! Going forward, to ensure your network runs at peak performance and to gain access to new features as we release them, be sure to keep your DNClient updated and keep an eye on our blog for announcmenets.

We also have a powerful API that you can use to automate host creation, manage roles, access audit logs, and more. See our guide on Automating Host Creation, or the full API reference for more information.

Lastly, we would love to hear from you! What problems is Managed Nebula solving for you? Are there features that you would like us to build? Do you need any help? Use our contact form to get in touch!

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