139 lines
4.7 KiB
Markdown
139 lines
4.7 KiB
Markdown
# Managing NixOS Machines
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## Add Your First Machine
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To start managing a new machine, use the following commands to create and then list your machines:
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```shellSession
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$ clan machines create my-machine
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$ clan machines list
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my-machine
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```
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## Configure Your Machine
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In the example below, we demonstrate how to add a new user named `my-user` and set a password. This user will be configured to log in to the machine `my-machine`.
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### Creating a New User
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```shellSession
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# Add a new user
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$ clan config --machine my-machine users.users.my-user.isNormalUser true
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# Set a password for the user
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$ clan config --machine my-machine users.users.my-user.hashedPassword $(mkpasswd)
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```
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_Note: The `$(mkpasswd)` command generates a hashed password. Ensure you have the `mkpasswd` utility installed or use an alternative method to generate a secure hashed password._
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## Test Your Machine Configuration Inside a VM
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Before deploying your configuration to a live environment, you can run a virtual machine (VM) to test the settings:
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```shellSession
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$ clan vms run my-machine
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```
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This command run a VM based on the configuration of `my-machine`, allowing you to verify changes in a controlled environment.
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## Installing a New Machine
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Clan CLI, in conjunction with [nixos-anywhere](https://github.com/nix-community/nixos-anywhere), provides a seamless method for installing NixOS on various machines.
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This process involves preparing a suitable hardware and disk partitioning configuration and ensuring the target machine is accessible via SSH.
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### Prerequisites
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- A running Linux system with SSH on the target machine is required. This is typically pre-configured for many server providers.
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- For installations on physical hardware, create a NixOS installer image and transfer it to a bootable USB drive as described below.
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## Creating a Bootable USB Drive on Linux
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To create a bootable USB flash drive with the NixOS installer:
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1. **Build the Installer Image**:
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```shellSession
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$ nix build git+https://git.clan.lol/clan/clan-core.git#install-iso
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```
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2. **Prepare the USB Flash Drive**:
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- Insert your USB flash drive into your computer.
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- Identify your flash drive with `lsblk`. Look for the device with a matching size.
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- Ensure all partitions on the drive are unmounted. Replace `sdX` in the command below with your device identifier (like `sdb`, etc.):
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```shellSession
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sudo umount /dev/sdX*
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```
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3. **Write the Image to the USB Drive**:
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- Use the `dd` utility to write the NixOS installer image to your USB drive:
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```shellSession
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sudo dd bs=4M conv=fsync oflag=direct status=progress if=./result/stick.raw of=/dev/sdX
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```
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4. **Boot and Connect**:
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- After writing the installer to the USB drive, use it to boot the target machine.
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- The installer will display an IP address and a root password, which you can use to connect via SSH.
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### Finishing the installation
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With the target machine running Linux and accessible via SSH, execute the following command to install NixOS on the target machine, replacing `<target_host>` with the machine's hostname or IP address:
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```shellSession
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$ clan machines install my-machine <target_host>
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```
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## Update Your Machines
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Clan CLI enables you to remotely update your machines over SSH. This requires setting up a target address for each target machine.
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### Setting the Target Host
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Replace `host_or_ip` with the actual hostname or IP address of your target machine:
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```shellSession
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$ clan config --machine my-machine clan.networking.targetHost root@host_or_ip
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```
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_Note: The use of `root@` in the target address implies SSH access as the root user.
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Ensure that the root login is secured and only used when necessary._
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### Updating Machine Configurations
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Execute the following command to update the specified machine:
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```shellSession
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$ clan machines update my-machine
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```
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You can also update all configured machines simultaneously by omitting the machine name:
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```shellSession
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$ clan machines update
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```
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### Setting a Build Host
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If the machine does not have enough resources to run the NixOS evaluation or build itself,
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it is also possible to specify a build host instead.
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During an update, the cli will ssh into the build host and run `nixos-rebuild` from there.
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```shellSession
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$ clan config --machine my-machine clan.networking.buildHost root@host_or_ip
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```
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### Excluding a machine from `clan machine update`
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To exclude machines from beeing updated when running `clan machines update` without any machines specified,
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one can set the `clan.deployment.requireExplicitUpdate` option to true:
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```shellSession
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$ clan config --machine my-machine clan.deployment.requireExplicitUpdate true
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```
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This is useful for machines that are not always online or are not part of the regular update cycle.
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