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Client Setup

In this section, you will learn how to set up a client using Narrowlink. Please note that this section covers only the basic configuration of the client. For more advanced configurations, such as integrating with SSH or VPN, please refer to the extended tutorial.

Create a Token​

info

If you already have a token, you can skip this step and proceed to the next step to configure the client.

To configure the client, you need to create a token using the Token Generator component. Follow the same steps as for generating an agent token, but modify the token-generator.yaml file as shown below to generate a client token:

secret: [1,2,3,4] # The secret for signing tokens, It must be the same as the gateway token secret, it is as byte array
tokens: # list of tokens
  #- !Agent # agent token
  # ...
  - !Client # client token
    uid: 00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000 # client uid, please use a unique uid for each user
    name: client_name_2 # client name, please use a unique name for each client
    exp: 1710227806 # expiration time in seconds since epoch

This token defines that it belongs to the user space with 00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000001 user id (uid) and client_name_1 as the client name. The token will expire on 1704067200 (Monday, January 1, 2024 0:00:00 GMT). The access control policy allows the client to access all agents1. You can change these values to your desired values. The user space is used to isolate agents and clients; therefore, each user must have a unique uid. Also, each client must have a unique name.

tip

Note that users can have multiple clients and agents. You don't need to define the uid globally in the gateway; as soon as an agent or client connects with a uid, the gateway allocates a user space for that uid, and when the agent or client disconnects, the user space will be removed.

Run the token generator with the following command to obtain the client token:


narrowlink-token-generator token-generator.yaml

Configure the Client​

Next, configure the client by creating a file named client.yaml in the folder where you will run the client, and insert the following content:

endpoints:
  - !SelfHosted # Self hosted endpoint, more options coming soon
    gateway: gateway.domain.example:443 # address of the gateway
    token: eyJ0eX....kNHYQ_4 # token for authentication

Replace the token field with the obtained token, and replace the gateway field with the address of the gateway.

Finally, run the client with the following command to get a list of the agents:

narrowlink list

Result:

agent_name
  Address: "127.0.0.1:44236",
  Connection Ping: 1ms

You can also use narrowlink list -h to get more information about the command or use narrowlink -h to get a list of all commands.

That's it! You have successfully configured the client. Now, you can set up a local proxy server to route your traffic through the agent. For more information, please refer to the "Share Network Access" section. Additionally, you can check the Extended Tutorial or Client sections in the documentation for more information.

Footnotes​

  1. Clients can be restricted to access specific agents and their destinations by using access control policies. Please refer to Access Control section for more information. ↩