---
title: Introduction to Teleport
description: How to install and quickly get up and running with Teleport.
layout: tocless-doc
videoBanner: ki-uVTSocGE
---

Teleport is an identity-aware, multi-protocol access proxy. Teleport understands
the SSH, HTTPS, RDP, Kubernetes API, MySQL, MongoDB and PostgreSQL wire
protocols, plus many others.

With Teleport you can:

- Replace a mix of vaults, passwords, API keys and tokens with short-lived SSH and X.509 certs.
- Have a single access point and Single-Sign-On provider for all of your
  infrastructure, including SSH servers, Kubernetes clusters, databases,
  desktops, web applications, and more.
- Write policies with Terraform or Kubernetes resources for all clouds,
  environments and protocols and manage them with GitOps.
- Record SSH and `kubectl exec` sessions, DB queries, Windows desktop sessions,
  web sessions and API requests.
- Use mutual TLS tunnels to protect your infrastructure endpoints.

<Notice type="info">

If your organization is already using Teleport and you want to learn how to
access infrastructure, read our [Connect your
Client](./connect-your-client/introduction.mdx) guides for instructions.

</Notice>

## Try out Teleport

The fastest way to try out Teleport is to sign up for a free trial of Teleport
Enterprise Cloud and add your first resource. In our [getting started
guide](./choose-an-edition/teleport-cloud/getting-started.mdx), you will
register a local container, access it securely from your browser, record your
SSH session, and play it back.

After getting acquainted with how Teleport enables secure access to your
infrastructure, follow our [Try out
Teleport](./try-out-teleport/introduction.mdx) guides to set up a demo Teleport
cluster in an environment that works best for you, whether this is a
browser-based lab, virtual machine, or local Kubernetes cluster.

Once you are ready to learn more about Teleport, read our [Core Concepts
guide](./core-concepts.mdx), which introduces the components of a Teleport
cluster. You can refer to this glossary as you continue through the
documentation.

## Choose an edition

After trying out Teleport, you are ready to deploy a cluster to your
infrastructure. Teleport has three editions, Teleport Enterprise, Teleport
Enterprise Cloud, and Teleport Community Edition, and you can compare these in
our [Choose an Edition](./choose-an-edition/introduction.mdx) section.

<Notice type="tip">

You can view information specific to an edition of Teleport by using the "Open
Source", "Enterprise", and "Cloud" buttons at the top of the page.

</Notice>

## Deploy a cluster

Once you know which edition you would like to deploy, read our [Deploy a
Cluster](./deploy-a-cluster/introduction.mdx) documentation for how to launch a
fully fledged Teleport cluster in production. (If you are using Teleport
Enterprise Cloud, you can skip this step.) This section shows you the best
practices to follow for a high-availability Teleport cluster, and how to deploy
Teleport on your cloud provider of choice.

## Manage access

Now that you have a running Teleport cluster, set up role-based access controls
to enable secure access to your infrastructure.  You can define roles with
granular permissions and use Teleport's integrations with Single Sign-On
providers to automatically map these roles to users. You can also set up Access
Requests to enable just-in-time access to your infrastructure. Read [Manage
Access](./access-controls/introduction.mdx) to get started.

## Manage your cluster

With your Teleport cluster configured, you can now begin Day Two operations
such as upgrades, adding agents to the cluster, and integrating Teleport with
third-party tools. Read [Manage your
Cluster](./management/introduction.mdx) for more information.

## Add your infrastructure

Teleport is protocol aware and provides functionality that is unique to each
protocol it supports. To enable access to a protocol, deploy the appropriate
Teleport service and configure it to communicate with resources in your
infrastructure. 

Read about how to enable access to:

- [Servers](./server-access/getting-started.mdx)
- [Kubernetes clusters](./kubernetes-access/introduction.mdx)
- [Databases](./database-access/introduction.mdx)
- [Applications](./application-access/introduction.mdx)
- [Remote desktops](./desktop-access/introduction.mdx)

You can also set up [Machine ID](./machine-id/introduction.mdx) to enable
service accounts to access resources in your infrastructure with short-lived
credentials.

## Extend Teleport for your organization

Teleport is highly customizable, exposing much of its functionality via a gRPC
API. For example, you can build API clients to register infrastructure
automatically or manage Access Requests using your organization's unique
workflows. Read how to build applications that interact with Teleport's API in
our [API guides](./api/introduction.mdx).

## Learn more about Teleport

Get more information about Teleport by reading our library of architecture,
reference, and developer guides. See the
[Preview](./preview/upcoming-releases.mdx) section for a glimpse of features we
will release in the next Teleport version. Consult our
[Reference](./reference/introduction.mdx) guides for comprehensive lists of
configuration options, CLI flags, and more. For detailed explanations of how
Teleport works, see the [Architecture](./architecture/introduction.mdx) section.

Finally, if you're interested in adding to Teleport's documentation, view
our [contribution guide](./contributing/documentation.mdx). 

<TileSet>
    <TileList title="For developers" icon="stack">
        <TileListItem href="./connect-your-client/tsh.mdx#sharing-sessions">
            Collaborate through session sharing.
        </TileListItem>
        <TileListItem href="./management/admin/labels.mdx">
            Discover servers and clusters with dynamic labels.
        </TileListItem>
        <TileListItem href="./management/admin/adding-nodes.mdx#adding-a-node-located-behind-nat">
            Connect to computing resources located behind firewalls or without static IPs.
        </TileListItem>
    </TileList>
    <TileList title="For security teams" icon="lock">
        <TileListItem href="./server-access/guides/openssh.mdx">
            Capture sessions and manage certificates for an existing OpenSSH fleet.
        </TileListItem>
        <TileListItem href="./architecture/authentication.mdx#issuing-user-certificates">
            Replace static keys and passwords with short-lived certificates.
        </TileListItem>
        <TileListItem href="./access-controls/guides/webauthn.mdx">
            Enforce two-factor authentication for all of your infrastructure.
        </TileListItem>
    </TileList>
    <TileList title="Reach out" icon="question">
        <TileListItem href="https://github.com/gravitational/teleport/discussions">
            Ask a question in the discussion forum.
        </TileListItem>
        <TileListItem href="https://goteleport.com/slack">
            Join our Slack channel to get help with your setup.
        </TileListItem>
        <TileListItem href="https://github.com/gravitational/teleport/">
            Create an issue on GitHub.
        </TileListItem>
        <TileListItem href="https://goteleport.com/get-started/">
            Reach out to sales for a demo of Teleport Enterprise.
        </TileListItem>
        <TileListItem href="https://goteleport.com/signup/">
            Start a free trial of Teleport Cloud.
        </TileListItem>
    </TileList>
</TileSet>