6.9 KiB
NixOS-Infect
What is this?
A script to install NixOS on non-NixOS hosts.
NixOS-Infect is so named because of the high likelihood of rendering a system inoperable. Use with extreme caution and preferably only on newly provisioned systems.
This script has successfully been tested on at least the follow hosting providers and plans:
Should you find that it works on your hoster, feel free to update this README and issue a pull request.
NB: OpenVZ-based virtualization providers are known not to work with
nixos-infect(or any other OS takeover script). This is core to how OpenVZ operates and cannot be resolved.
Motivation
Motivation for this script: nixos-assimilate should supplant this script entirely, if it's ever completed. nixos-in-place was quite broken when I tried it, and also took a pretty janky approach that was substantially more complex than this (although it supported more platforms): it didn't install to root (/nixos instead), left dregs of the old filesystem (almost always unnecessary since starting from a fresh deployment), and most importantly, simply didn't work for me! (old system was being because grub wasnt properly reinstalled)
How do I use it?
- Read and understand the the script
- Deploy any custom configuration you want on your host
- Deploy your host as non-Nix Operating System.
- Deploy an SSH key for the root user.
NB: This step is important. The root user will not have a password when nixos-infect runs to completion. To enable root login, you must have an SSH key configured.
- run the script with:
curl https://raw.githubusercontent.com/elitak/nixos-infect/master/nixos-infect | NIX_CHANNEL=nixos-20.09 bash -x
NB: This script wipes out the targeted host's root filesystem when it runs to completion.
Any errors halt execution.
A failure will leave the system in an inconsistent state,
and so it is advised to run with bash -x.
Hoster notes:
Digital Ocean
You mmay utilize Digital Ocean's "user data" mechanism (found in the Web UI or HTTP API), and supply to it the following example yaml stanzas:
#cloud-config
runcmd:
- curl https://raw.githubusercontent.com/elitak/nixos-infect/master/nixos-infect | PROVIDER=digitalocean NIX_CHANNEL=nixos-20.09 bash 2>&1 | tee /tmp/infect.log
Potential tweaks:
/etc/nixos/{,hardware-}configuration.nix: rudimentary mostly static config/etc/nixos/networking.nix: networking settings determined at runtime tweak if no ipv6, different number of adapters, etc.
#cloud-config
write_files:
- path: /etc/nixos/host.nix
permissions: '0644'
content: |
{pkgs, ...}:
{
environment.systemPackages = with pkgs; [ vim ];
}
runcmd:
- curl https://raw.githubusercontent.com/elitak/nixos-infect/master/nixos-infect | PROVIDER=digitalocean NIXOS_IMPORT=./host.nix NIX_CHANNEL=nixos-20.09 bash 2>&1 | tee /tmp/infect.log
Tested on
| Distribution | Name | Status | test date |
|---|---|---|---|
| CentOS | 6.9 x32 | failure | 2020-03-30 |
| CentOS | 6.9 x64 | failure | 2020-03-30 |
| CentOS | 7.6 x64 | failure | 2020-03-30 |
| CentOS | 8.1 x64 | success | 2020-03-30 |
| CoreOS | 2345.3.0 (stable) | unable | 2020-03-30 |
| CoreOS | 2411.1.0 (beta) | unable | 2020-03-30 |
| CoreOS | 2430.0.0 (alpha) | unable | 2020-03-30 |
| Debian | 10.3 x64 | success | 2020-03-30 |
| Debian | 9.12 x64 | success | 2020-03-30 |
| Fedora | 30 x64 | success | 2020-03-30 |
| Fedora | 31 x64 | success | 2020-03-30 |
| FreeBSD | 11.3 x64 ufs | failure | 2020-03-30 |
| FreeBSD | 11.3 x64 zfs | failure | 2020-03-30 |
| FreeBSD | 12.1 x64 ufs | failure | 2020-03-30 |
| FreeBSD | 12.1 x64 zfs | failure | 2020-03-30 |
| RancherOS | v1.5.5 | unable | 2020-03-30 |
| Ubuntu | 16.04.6 (LTS) x32 | success | 2020-03-30 |
| Ubuntu | 16.04.6 (LTS) x64 | success | 2020-03-30 |
| Ubuntu | 18.04.3 (LTS) x64 | success | 2020-03-30 |
| Ubuntu | 19.10 x64 | success | 2020-03-30 |
Vultr
To set up a NixOS Vultr server, instantiate an Ubuntu box with the following "Startup Script":
#!/bin/sh
curl https://raw.githubusercontent.com/elitak/nixos-infect/master/nixos-infect | NIX_CHANNEL=nixos-20.09 bash
Allow for a few minutes over the usual Ubuntu deployment time for NixOS to download & install itself.
Tested on
| Distribution | Name | Status | test date | Slug | ID |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ubuntu | 18.10 x64 | success | (Unknown) | (Unknown) | (Unknown) |
Hetzner cloud
Hetzner cloud works out of the box. When creating a server provide the following script as "User data":
#!/bin/sh
curl https://raw.githubusercontent.com/elitak/nixos-infect/master/nixos-infect | NIX_CHANNEL=nixos-20.09 bash 2>&1 | tee /tmp/infect.log
Tested on
| Distribution | Name | Status | test date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ubuntu | 20.04 x64 | success | (Unknown) |
InterServer VPS
Tested on
| Distribution | Name | Status | test date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Debian | 9 | success | 2021-01-29 |
| Debian | 10 | success | 2021-01-29 |
| Ubuntu | 20.04 | success | 2021-01-29 |
| Ubuntu | 18.04 | success | 2021-01-29 |
| Ubuntu | 14.04 | success | 2021-01-29 |
Tencent Cloud Lighthouse
Tencent Cloud Lighthouse Hong Kong Region Works out of the box.
Other Regions in China may not work because of the unreliable connection between China and global Internet or GFW.
Tested on
| Distribution | Name | Status | test date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Debian | 10 | success | 2021-03-11 |
OVHcloud
Before executing the install script, you may need to check your mounts with df -h. By default, OVH adds a relatively short in memory tmpfs mount on the /tmp folder, so the install script runs short in memory and fails. Just execute umount /tmp before launching the install script. Full install process described here
| Distribution | Name | Status | test date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Arch Linux | Arch Linux x86-64 | success | 2021-03-25 |
| Debian | 10 | success | 2021-04-29 |