Knowledge Base

Backend HTTPS for Self-Signed Certificates

Setup Via the UI The toggle sits in the route wizard in Step 2 — Transport, right next to Force HTTPS. Create or edit a...

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Enable Compression

Setup Via the UI The toggle sits in the route wizard in Step 2 — Transport, next to Force HTTPS and Backend HTTPS. Crea...

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Force HTTPS with Let's Encrypt

Setup Via the UI The toggle sits in the route wizard in Step 2 — Transport. Create or edit a route In Step 2 enable the...

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Default credentials and first login

6. First login Open GC_BASE_URL in your browser, for example https://gate.example.com. Username: admin (configurable vi...

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Docker Installation on Various Operating Systems

Table of Contents Prerequisites Directory layout Download the setup files Configure .env First start First login First...

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Configure Domains & DNS

Setup Prerequisite: DNS server inside the VPN The DNS server (Pi-Hole/AdGuard) must be reachable over the WireGuard VPN:...

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Setting up your license key

Applying feature checks The license service is queried in three places: 1. Middleware — server-side API guard // src/rou...

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Ports and Network Configuration

1. Prerequisites Hardware Resource Minimum Recommended CPU 1 vCPU 2 vCPU RAM 1 GB 2 GB Disk 20 GB 40 GB (more...

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Set Up a WireGuard Client

3. Managing peers / clients The Peers & Clients page is split in two: Home Gateways — at the top, as expandable cards w...

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First Home Gateway Setup

You have a NAS, a mini PC or a Raspberry Pi in your home network and want to make services on it (router admin, NAS WebU...

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Upgrade GateControl

11. Updates Automatic update cd /opt/gatecontrol ./update.sh update.sh pulls the latest image from GHCR, recreates the...

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Verifying the installation

8. Verifying the installation Container health cd /opt/gatecontrol docker compose ps Expected: NAME IMAGE...

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Migration from older setups

12. Migration from older setups If you have an older GateControl install with a named Docker volume (the historical defa...

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Managing VPN Peers

Setup Via the UI The toggle sits in the route wizard in Step 4 — Access, directly above the peer checklist. Create or e...

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Setting Up Reverse Proxy Routes

You have a service that you want to reach from the internet under your own domain — e.g. Nextcloud on the NAS as cloud.e...

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Using Request Tracing for Debugging

Usage examples Example 1: Route returns 502 "My Nextcloud at cloud.example.com returns 502" Open the Debug tab, enabl...

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Making Synology NAS Accessible via GateControl

Use cases Synology DSM (port 5001) Synology NAS automatically redirects port 5000 (HTTP) to port 5001 (HTTPS). The DSM c...

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Backup & Restore

Audience: Ops. This chapter describes what is in a backup, how to trigger manual and automatic backups, how restore work...

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Route Auth vs. Basic Auth

Comparison table Property No Auth Basic Auth Route Auth Security level None Medium High Login UI None Browser d...

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Setting Up the AI Bot Blocker

Configuration Enable Bot Blocker Open the route (Edit modal → Security tab) Enable the AI Bot Blocker toggle Choose a m...

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Set Up Geo-Blocking

Setup Via the UI The toggle sits in the route wizard in Step 4 — Access (together with Peer ACL, Rate Limiting and Uptim...

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HTTP vs. L4 Routing — When to Use Which?

Explains the difference between HTTP routing (Layer 7, domain-based) and L4 routing (Layer 4, port-based) — when each ty...

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TLS / Certificates: Understand & Debug

You open /certificates in the admin UI and see a table of your domains with status tags. One domain shows "HTTP without...

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Set up Gateway-Pool Failover

Setup 1. Prerequisites At least 2 gateway peers configured (/peers, peer_type=gateway) Both gateways must be able to re...

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Configure Retry on Error

Setup Via the UI The toggle sits in the route wizard in Step 5 — Reliability (together with Circuit Breaker and Request...

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Understanding the Circuit Breaker

Setup Via the UI The toggle sits in the route wizard in Step 5 — Reliability (together with Retry and Request Mirroring)...

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Request Mirroring for Shadow Deployments

Setup Via the UI The toggle sits in the route wizard in Step 5 — Reliability (together with Retry and Circuit Breaker)....

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Gateway Routes on Layer 4

Since v1.42.0, L4 routes with target_kind=gateway work end-to-end. This lets you publish any TCP or UDP port of a LAN de...

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Gateway Route Backend HTTPS

Since v1.41.11, the Home Gateway container honors the existing Backend HTTPS toggle for gateway routes as well. The gate...

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Client API: Gateway-Companion Integration

API endpoints for communication between GateControl desktop clients (Windows, macOS, Linux) and the GateControl server....

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Gateway Pool: Enable Load Balancing

Load Balancing Mode in Detail Activation A route uses LB only when all three conditions are true: route.target_pool_id...

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Set Up RDP Access to Windows

You want to access a Windows PC (office desktop, home office laptop, Windows Server) via Remote Desktop from outside. Th...

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RDP via Home-Gateway (Option B)

Alternative: Option A — Create an L4 gateway route directly. What it is An RDP route in the Admin UI gets a new access m...

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RDP via L4-Gateway Route (Option A)

Alternative: Option B — RDP route with access mode gateway. When to use A good fit when you want to quickly tunnel an RD...

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RDP Credentials in the Vault

Credential vault Storage With credential_mode='user_only', only username_encrypted is set (the user enters the password...

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Troubleshooting

Audience: Ops in field deployment. The entries follow the pattern symptom → causes → check → fix. Every command is such...

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Gateway Pools: Troubleshooting

Troubleshooting Failover Did Not Happen # 1. Is the peer actually detected as down? sqlite3 /data/gatecontrol.db "SELECT...

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