How to scale netbird

[Silex]

Hello,

In a self hosted netbird I have 25 peers and already my CPU sometimes is at 50% because of the TURN/relay connexions.

How can I scale netbird, e.g have multiple relay servers?

Also, how do I know wether my relaying is currently happening through TURN or relay?

For example this relayed connexion:

{
  "fqdn": "axis-accc8ede87b2.netbird.selfhosted",
  "netbirdIp": "100.70.14.71",
  "publicKey": "123456UrZuTzecBWOZNSfVwnLPkd5oNaFX5PRL8sJyg=",
  "status": "Connected",
  "lastStatusUpdate": "2025-03-06T16:22:52.4087872+01:00",
  "connectionType": "Relayed",
  "iceCandidateType": {
    "local": "",
    "remote": ""
  },
  "iceCandidateEndpoint": {
    "local": "",
    "remote": ""
  },
  "relayAddress": "rels://netbird.domain.com:443",
  "lastWireguardHandshake": "2025-03-06T16:30:59.1114675+01:00",
  "transferReceived": 2213324,
  "transferSent": 105412,
  "latency": 0,
  "quantumResistance": false,
  "networks": null
}

Can I assume it's using the relay server because of the relayAddress ? How would a TURN relaying look like?

For the record here's how this client is connected (windows):

OS: windows/amd64
Daemon version: 0.37.1
CLI version: 0.37.1
Management: Connected to https://netbird.domain.com:443
Signal: Connected to https://netbird.domain.com:443
Relays:
  [stun:netbird.domain.com:3478] is Available
  [turn:netbird.domain.com:3478?transport=udp] is Available
  [rels://netbird.domain.com:443] is Available
Nameservers:
FQDN: stvs-pv-laptop1.netbird.stvs
NetBird IP: 100.70.63.243/16
Interface type: Userspace
Quantum resistance: false
Networks: -
Peers count: 18/24 Connected

[1nerdyguy]

I believe it will use the relay that responds the fastest. So which one you're using depends each time you connect.

[Silex]

Well, in self hosted mode there's only one relay... the one of your netbird server (the relay container).

I can't find documentation about how to spawn multiple relay servers, I guess I could load-balance it through traefik but that does not seem the correct way to do it.

[1nerdyguy]

You're not the first to have this issue. #3383

Basically, right now it's 100% capable to deploy numerous relays. You basicaly spin them up and have to manually edit the management.json on the management server, as outlined here #2566 (comment). or #2566 (comment)

However, the official docs haven't been updated for this. Probably just needs someone to do it and submit a PR at this point.