Networks

A network is an isolated group of nodes managed through the Tillered Hub. It is the core organisational unit in Tillered Cloud. Every node belongs to exactly one network, and networks are fully isolated from each other.

Automatic mesh creation

When you add a node to a network, Tillered Cloud automatically creates service links between it and the other nodes in the network. You do not create or manage individual links yourself.

This is a key difference from Tillered Self-Hosted, where you manually define services between specific peers. In Cloud, the mesh is maintained for you.

Directional mesh

The auto-created mesh is directional, not all-to-all. The connection rules follow from the node types:

TEN  -->  CEN
TEN  -->  FTN
FTN  -->  CEN
FTN <-->  FTN

In practice this means:

• Every TEN connects to every CEN and every FTN in the network
• Every FTN connects to every CEN and every other FTN
• CENs do not connect to each other
• TENs do not connect to each other

If your network contains 2 TENs and 1 CEN, the mesh has 2 links (each TEN to the CEN). If you add a second CEN, the mesh grows to 4 links.

Network isolation

Networks are completely isolated. Nodes in one network cannot communicate with nodes in another, even if they belong to the same organisation. This isolation is enforced at the overlay level.

To connect sites that should not share a mesh, use separate networks.

Transparent mode

Transparent networking is configured at the network level, not per-link. Because service links are auto-managed, all links in a network must use the same routing model. You cannot mix transparent and non-transparent links within a single network.

Enable transparent mode when adding an FTN node to a network. See Transparent Mode for details on how this works and when to use it.

Creating and managing networks

Networks are created and managed through the Hub. See Hub Networks for step-by-step instructions.