Install NetBird on openSUSE MicroOS

#linux #networking #security #tutorial

Prerequisites

Ensure the netbird binary is installed on the laptop or PC intended for use as a remote client.
You will need to generate a Setup Key from the NetBird Dashboard.

Configure the Remote host

Install NetBird binary

The official NetBird installation puts the binary in /usr/bin/netbird. Because /usr/bin is read-only, you'll need to remount it as read-write before running the curl installation script.

# transactional-update shell
transactional update# curl -fsSL https://pkgs.netbird.io/install.sh | sh

Restore the SELinux file contexts

Because SELinux is active by default on openSUSE, a relabeling of the NetBird binary is required for the systemd service to function properly.

1) Resets file security contexts to their default values:

transactional update# ls -ldZ /usr/bin/netbird 
-rwxr-xr-x. 1 1001 1001 unconfined_u:object_r:user_tmp_t:s0 36741304 Mar 26 17:11 /usr/bin/netbird

transactional update# restorecon -v /usr/bin/netbird
Relabeled /usr/bin/netbird from unconfined_u:object_r:user_tmp_t:s0 to unconfined_u:object_r:bin_t:s0

2) Verify that the context is set to unconfined_u:object_r:bin_t:s0:

transactional update# ls -ldZ /usr/bin/netbird 
-rwxr-xr-x. 1 1001 1001 unconfined_u:object_r:bin_t:s0 36741304 Mar 26 17:11 /usr/bin/netbird

3) Exist the shell and reboot:

transactional update# exit
# reboot

4) After a reboot, NetBird should start up automatically:

# systemctl status netbird
● netbird.service - NetBird mesh network client
     Loaded: loaded (/etc/systemd/system/netbird.service; enabled; preset: disabled)
     Active: active (running) since Wed 2026-04-01 08:44:41 +07; 21s ago
 Invocation: e5061c215da54c8486540512dc798163
   Main PID: 1343 (netbird)
      Tasks: 9 (limit: 4465)
        CPU: 19ms
     CGroup: /system.slice/netbird.service
             └─1343 /usr/bin/netbird service run --log-level info --daemon-addr unix:///var/run/netbird.sock --log-file /var/log/netbird>

Apr 01 08:44:41 web-dev-microos systemd[1]: Started NetBird mesh network client.

Setup the connection with setup-key:

# netbird up --setup-key <YOUR-SETUP-KEY>
Connected

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