FWIW I use both SSM Port Forwarding and Tailscale but Tailscale is easier for both tech and non-tech users IMO.
'Installing the agent client side is no more or less tedious than installing the Tailscale client, IMO anyway.
I made two scripts, one in .Net with a GUI for non-devs to grep a server hostname or tag:name in AWS that resolves to an instance ID for SSH or RDP. And another python script doing the same but without the GUI for the dev team. Works a treat.
But you've already explained why it's a little tedious and now I've documented and understood why. Tailscale MagicDNS does all this nonsense for you. Yeah ok thanks for rubber ducking me I see your point now. :)'
At most you'd need to add some permissions to the instance's role, maybe.
Whereas they're saying that spending time setting up AWS is complicated (for them) and not worth their own personal effort in comparison.
I'm not sure where you read the ad-hominem.
It took me all of 3 seconds to fall in love with Tailscale, but I think I agree with your point. This is a place of knowledge and curiosity, so digging into stuff and setting it up yourself is definitely to be commended.
For me, I just want a solution that works and I simply don’t have the cycles to spend on this specific problem. Happy to outsource, nothing disgusting about that.
the idea that you'd pay a subscription fee greater than aws just to avoid a few hours of learning how to set something up is kinda disgusting in comparison.