79 lines
2.1 KiB
Markdown
79 lines
2.1 KiB
Markdown
---
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layout: post
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title: "Easy NixOS remote deployments"
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date: 2023-11-14
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comments: true
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tags: nixos, nix, flakes
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---
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There exists a [mutitude](https://github.com/NixOS/nixops)
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[of](https://github.com/DBCDK/morph) [tooling](https://github.com/krebs/krops)
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to remotely manage nixos machines, each with its own features and compromises.
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In my experience, for a simple deployment of few hosts
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`nixos-rebuild --target-host` is pretty powerful.
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This is the workflow I've been using to manage my personal systems:
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I bootstrap the machines manually by following the [nixos install
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guide](https://nixos.org/manual/nixos/stable/#sec-installation), and copy over
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the generated configuration to `config/<hostname>/configuration.nix`.
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On the root directory create `flake.nix`:
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```nix
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{
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description = "systems needed";
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inputs = {
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# extra inputs go here
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};
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outputs = { self, nixpkgs }@attrs: {
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# this is where we add new machines
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nixosConfigurations = {
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# host fancyHostname
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fancyHostname = nixpkgs.lib.nixosSystem {
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system = "x86_64-linux";
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specialArgs = attrs;
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modules = [
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# This points to the actual machine configuration
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(import ./config/nixmachine/configuration.nix)
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];
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};
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};
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};
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}
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```
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From there, hosts can deployed over SSH!
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```
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nixos-rebuild switch --target-host root@fancyHostname --flake '.#fancyHostname'
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```
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More hosts can be added by adding them to the `nixosConfigurations` attribute set.
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```
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nixosConfigurations = {
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fancySecondHost = { ... }
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...
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}
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```
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## Should I do this?
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I think this is an easier workflow for me to manage and debug, However a lot of
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things in this space has non-linear learning curves and has sparse documentation
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at best.
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So maybe a tool with better documentation might work well for you?
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This also relies heavily on `flakes`, which is "experimental". In my experience,
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ground reality is everyone uses flakes, but good documentation is hard to come by
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I've herd good things about Nix [Flakes Book](https://nixos-and-flakes.thiscute.world/), but
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haven't read it
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*This was first published at <https://pencil.lalalala.in/dbalan/easy-nixos-remote-deployments>*
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