mDNS and Tailscale Fail in Different Ways
A .local name and a Tailscale peer can refer to the same host while depending on different discovery systems.
SSH
SSH Access Is Infrastructure, Not a Deployment Step
Remote deployment is unreliable when host identity, user and access policy are rediscovered every time.
Tailscale Connectivity and Tailscale SSH Are Different Permissions
A peer can be reachable over the tailnet while an SSH login is correctly denied by another policy layer.
SSH Failure Alerts Need Warning and Critical Bursts
A few failed SSH logins are normal on an administered server, while a rapid burst can indicate brute-force activity or a broken automation credential.
When SSH Fails, Separate the Failure Layers
"SSH is not working" can mean several different things: the address is wrong, there is no route, nothing is listening on the port, or authentication failed. Restarting the server is not the universal answer.
My Tailscale Failure Drill for a Home Server: Name, Peer, Policy, Port, Service
I troubleshoot from the network boundary inward so I do not restart a healthy server because one naming or authorization layer failed.
SSH Keys Made My Home Lab Feel Like a Real Network
Moving from local console access to SSH keys changed the lab from a collection of machines into something I could actually operate and troubleshoot remotely.