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| This tutorial is written for people who want to run NixOS on a Linode instance. We assume you are using the KVM hypervisor instead of the older hypervisor, Xen.
| | #REDIRECT [[NixOS friendly hosters]] |
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| In this tutorial, we will show you how to set up NixOS on Linode by setting up disk, installing Nix onto the rescue OS, and use Nix to install NixOS onto your disks.
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| == Create a Linode Instance ==
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| Linode uncreatively calls each virtual server a Linode itself. We'll be calling them a Linode instance. Create one of whichever size you prefer and wherever you prefer to locate it. Linode will direct you to the Dashboard tab of the [https://manager.linode.com/ Linode Manager].
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| == Setup Disks ==
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| === Create Disk Images ===
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| On the Dashboard tab, there is an option Create a new disk. You will need to create a single disk.
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| * label: nixos
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| * type: ext4
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| * size: Maximum
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| Note: The label is arbitrary.
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| === Boot into Finnix ===
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| Now that you have the disks created, it's time to boot the Linode instance. Go to the Rescue tab in the ''Linode Manager'', and select ''Reboot into Rescue Mode'', which uses Finnix as an OS.
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| Now that it's started, connect to it via ''SSH''. In the ''Remote Access'' tab of the ''Linode Manager'', there's either ''Lish via Ajaxterm'' or ''Lish via SSH''. The SSH option is much more pleasant to use since Ajaxterm disconnects after a couple minutes of idle. Pick one, and connect. If it asks for a password, give your Linode password.
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| Once in, it'll say <code>Welcome to Finnix!</code> amongst other things.
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| ''Note'': The Lish shell does not let you scroll back and if you write or paste a line that is longer than the line length, it'll write over the beginning of your line visually. Even if you ssh into it through a terminal that doesn't have these issues, you will get them. Just be glad you only need to use Lish to set up NixOS, not use it.
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| === Repartitioning ===
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| With this single disk, we are going to repartition it into four different disks: A disk for <code>grub</code>, a boot disk, a swap disk, and the actual nixos disk. To do this, we will use <code>gdisk</code>. Without a swap disk, the actual installation with run out of memory.
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| gdisk /dev/sda
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| To create new partitions, type <code>n</code> and follow the instructions. The following table shows the values you need. When finished, write your changes and exit with <code>w</code>. This will create four devices, <code>/dev/sda1</code> through <code>/dev/sda4</code>.
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| Number Start (sector) End (sector) Size Code Name
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| 1 2048 4095 1024.0 KiB EF02A BIOS boot partition
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| 2 4096 1028095 500.0 MiB 8300 Linux filesystem
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| 3 1028096 3125247 1024.0 MiB 8200 Linux swap
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| 4 3125248 50331614B 22.5 GiB 8300 Linux filesystem
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| '''A:''' Note that the BIOS boot partition with `EF02` is mandatory because the direct disk boot approach requires that you set aside this sector for your BIOS.
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| '''B:''' The end sector for the final partition is dependent upon the size of the Linode you are creating. This sector is the final sector on the smallest available Linode instance.
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| After creating, we now need to format them, since <code>gdisk</code> does not actually format them.
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| mkfs.ext4 -L nixos /dev/sda4
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| mkfs.ext4 -L boot /dev/sda2
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| mkswap -L swap /dev/sda3
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| === Mounting ===
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| The devices now need to be mounted, and swap turned on.
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| mount /dev/sda4 /mnt
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| mkdir /mnt/boot
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| mount /dev/sda2 /mnt/boot
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| swapon /dev/sda3
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| == Install Nix ==
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| We are going to install ''Nix'' into your Rescue System and use that to install ''NixOS'' onto your <code>nixos</code> disk. ''Nix'' can be used without ''NixOS'', and that is what we are doing here - installing ''Nix'' so that it can install ''NixOS'' which will come with its own ''Nix''.
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| === Create Temp User ===
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| Installing Nix as root does not work. Create a new user so that you can install Nix. This new user will '''not''' exist once the process is finished.
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| We will also need a group <code>nixbld</code> and a set of users in that group.
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| adduser nix
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| You will need to set a password. It will never be asked for, but you need to have one anyways.
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| groupadd -r nixbld
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| for n in $(seq 1 10); do useradd -c "Nix build user $n" \
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| -d /var/empty -g nixbld -G nixbld -M -N -r -s "$(which nologin)" \
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| nixbld$n; done
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| ''Note:'' If you paste this all in at once, only the <code>adduser</code> command will execute. Do the <code>adduser</code>command separately from the other commands.
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| === Download and Build ===
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| Now, to install ''Nix'' itself, we need to set up an environment to install in and then download and run the ''Nix'' installer as the <code>nix</code> user.
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| Now do the Nix install:
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| update-ca-certificates
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| mkdir /nix
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| chown -R nix /nix
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| su - nix
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| bash <(curl https://nixos.org/nix/install)
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| exit
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| ''Note:'' Yes, we are piping curl into bash. You'll have to trust that the nixos.org website isn't hacked.
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| Now that ''Nix'' is installed, the rest must be done as <code>root</code>, which the <code>exit</code> puts you back into. From here on, you do not need the <code>nix</code> user at all.
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| === Create a Nix Profile ===
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| Next up, create a ''Nix profile'' for the root user, remove the default ''nixpkgs'' channel, and add the nixos channel.
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| . ~nix/.nix-profile/etc/profile.d/nix.sh
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| nix-channel --remove nixpkgs
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| nix-channel --add http://nixos.org/channels/nixos-17.09 nixos
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| nix-channel --update
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| == Optional: Install vim for editing (>= 2048mb linode) ==
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| If you want to use <code>vim</code> to edit text instead of <code>nano</code>, install it.
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| nix-env -i vim_configurable
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| ''Note:'' Because the size of your linode determines the size of the / ramdisk, only a linode larger or equal to 2048 will fit vim.
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| == Install nixos-install packages ==
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| Next up, let's actually get the NixOS installation file. Create a configuration file for ''Nix'' that is mostly empty, set some shell variables, and then install some packages.
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| cat <<EOF > /root/configuration.nix
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| { fileSystems."/" = {};
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| boot.loader.grub.enable = false;
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| }
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| EOF
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| export NIX_PATH=nixpkgs=/root/.nix-defexpr/channels/nixos:nixos=/root/.nix-defexpr/channels/nixos/nixos
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| export NIXOS_CONFIG=/root/configuration.nix
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| nix-env -i -A config.system.build.nixos-install \
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| -A config.system.build.nixos-option \
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| -A config.system.build.nixos-generate-config \
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| -f "<nixos>"
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| == Configure NixOS ==
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| Now that you have the NixOS installation packages installed, it's time to build the configuration for your system.
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| If you already have a configuration file that you saved somewhere else, you can put it in <code>/mnt/etc/nixos/configuration.nix</code> directly. If you do so, jump down to Install NixOS!
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| === Generate configuration files ===
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| These will generate your configuration files in <code>/mnt/etc/nixos/</code>.
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| export NIX_PATH=nixpkgs=/root/.nix-defexpr/channels/nixos:nixos=/root/.nix-defexpr/channels/nixos/nixos
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| nixos-generate-config --root /mnt
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| === Fix hardware-configuration.nix ===
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| The hardware scan fails to find the correct setup for us. As such, replace the <code>hardware-configuration.nix</code> file with the following:
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| imports =
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| [ <nixpkgs/nixos/modules/profiles/qemu-guest.nix>
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| ];
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| Note: The only part that changes is the thing in <code><></code> brackets.
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| === Fix Kernel Modules Setting ===
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| Make sure in your <code>hardware_configuration.nix</code>, you have the following line. You can add other kernel modules if you want.
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| boot.initrd.availableKernelModules = [ "virtio_net" "virtio_pci" "virtio_blk" "virtio_scsi" "9p" "9pnet_virtio" "ata_piix" "virtio_pci" ];
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| The NixOS 2014.12 <code>qemu-guest</code> hardware module is missing the virtio_scsi module.
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| === Make sure GRUB and Linux use serial console for lish ===
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| As lish requires output to a serial console, some further changes are required in configuration.nix to ensure that you can use lish to administer nixos.
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| boot.kernelParams = [ "console=ttyS0" ];
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| boot.loader.grub.extraConfig = "serial; terminal_input serial; terminal_output serial";
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| Without the first line, you will never see the Linux kernel load in the lish console, and without the second line you will never see the GRUB menu.
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| === Tell GRUB the boot device ===
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| In configuration.nix, uncomment the following line:
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| boot.loader.grub.device = "/dev/sda";
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| Longview Service (Optional)
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| To enable [https://manager.linode.com/longview/ Longview] metrics:
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| services.longview.enable = true;
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| services.longview.apiKey = "01234567-89AB-CDEF-0123456789ABCDEF";
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| The apiKey value can be found in Longview settings. The Longview service is not yet available in the stable channel.
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| === Other Changes ===
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| Do other changes. Get your users set up as you want them. Get databases and what not set up. Set up your ports. Anything you care about really.
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| == Install NixOS! ==
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| Whoo! Everything's ready now. Just install nixos with its very own command.
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| unset NIXOS_CONFIG
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| nixos-install
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| === Set Root Password ===
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| You should set the root password here. If you forget, you can use Linode's "Reset Root Password" option in the Rescue tab after finishing the install.
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| nixos-install --chroot
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| (chroot)$ passwd
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| Enter new UNIX password: ...
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| ...
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| ...
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| (chroot)$ exit
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| == Shut Down Finnix ==
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| The installation is finished. So, Shut down the linode.
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| The last steps before booting the system is creating a configuration profile in the Linode Manager:
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| * Boot Settings
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| ** Kernel: Direct Disk
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| * Block Device Assignment
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| ** /dev/sda: nixos (or whatever you named it at the beginning)
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| ** root device: /dev/sda
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| Change other configuration options to your preference.
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| Here's is a sample configuration options:
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