Using Tailscale for Global Elixir Cluster Distribution

Richard Taylor shares his experience with clustering Elixir Phoenix applications in a distributed environment. Initially, he started with Docker overlay networks and DNSPoll for node auto-discovery. However, to expand the clustering over multiple clouds and devices globally, he recommends using Tailscale, a VPN service that simplifies the process. By following Tailscale's setup instructions and configuring the Elixir nodes with specific hostnames, devices can be seen in the Tailscale Dashboard and nodes can be manually connected over a Tailscale network using the provided IP addresses. For production deployments, Taylor introduces libcluster_tailscale, a strategy for the libcluster library that automates node discovery and connection using the Tailscale API. This enables the deployment of Elixir applications worldwide with automated discovery and connectivity.