# Nix Environment Setup for Host: 12Kingdoms - Shoukei > :red_circle: **IMPORTANT**: **Once again, you should NOT deploy this flake directly on your > machine :exclamation: Please write your own configuration from scratch, and use my configuration > and documentation for reference only.** This flake prepares a Nix environment for setting my desktop [/hosts/12kingdoms-shoukei](/hosts/12kingdoms-shoukei)(in main flake) up on a new machine. ## Steps to Deploying ### 1. Prepare & boot into the nixos installer Just follow this Guide: - https://github.com/nix-community/nixos-apple-silicon/blob/main/docs/uefi-standalone.md ### 2. Connect to WiFi & SSH If you have another machine, configure the new host through a SSH connection will be much comfortable than using the raw terminal of the nixos installer. So after booting into the nixos installer, let's configure WiFi in the installer using `iwctl` first: > This is copied from > ```bash nixos# iwctl NetworkConfigurationEnabled: enabled StateDirectory: /var/lib/iwd Version: 2.4 [iwd]# station wlan0 scan [iwd]# station wlan0 connect Type the network passphrase for psk. Passphrase: [iwd]# station wlan0 show [...] [iwd] exit ``` And then set a password for the `root` user: ```bash # Switch to root [nixos@nixos:~]$ sudo su # Change the password [root@nixos:~]# passwd New password: Retype new password: passwd: password updated successfully # Get the IP address [root@nixos:~]# ip addr show wlan0 2: wlan0: mtu 1500 qdisc fq_codel state UP group default qlen 1000 link/ether 9c:3e:53:6e:ef:8d brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff inet 192.168.5.13/24 brd 192.168.5.255 scope global dynamic noprefixroute wlan0 # Change default router(if need) ip route del default via 192.168.5.1 ip route add default via 192.168.5.178 ``` The nixos installer has sshd service enabled by default, so we can now connect to it via ssh directly. ### 3. Encrypting with LUKS(everything except ESP) Disk layout before installation: ```bash [root@nixos:~]# sudo parted /dev/nvme0n1 print free Model: APPLE SSD AP0256Z (nvme) Disk /dev/nvme0n1: 251GB Sector size (logical/physical): 4096B/4096B Partition Table: gpt Disk Flags: Number Start End Size File system Name Flags 1 24.6kB 524MB 524MB iBootSystemContainer 2 524MB 66.2GB 65.7GB 3 66.2GB 68.7GB 2500MB 4 68.7GB 69.2GB 500MB fat32 boot, esp 69.2GB 246GB 176GB Free Space 5 246GB 251GB 5369MB RecoveryOSContainer ``` 1. `/dev/nvme0n1p1`: "iBootSystemContainer" - system-wide boot data 2. `/dev/nvme0n1p2`: macOS's root partition. 3. `/dev/nvme0n1p4`: The EFI partition for NixOS. 4. `/dev/nvme0n1p5`: "RecoveryOSContainer" - System RecoveryOS Now let's recreate the root partition via `sgdisk`: ```bash # Create the root partition to fill up the free space # --new=partnum:start:end - 0 means calculate it automatically [root@nixos:~]# sgdisk /dev/nvme0n1 --new=0:0:0 --change-name=0:"NixOS rootfs" The operation has completed successfully. [root@nixos:~]# sudo parted /dev/nvme0n1 print free Model: APPLE SSD AP0256Z (nvme) Disk /dev/nvme0n1: 251GB Sector size (logical/physical): 4096B/4096B Partition Table: gpt Disk Flags: Number Start End Size File system Name Flags 1 24.6kB 524MB 524MB iBootSystemContainer 2 524MB 66.2GB 65.7GB 3 66.2GB 68.7GB 2500MB 4 68.7GB 69.2GB 500MB fat32 boot, esp 6 69.2GB 246GB 176GB NixOS rootfs 5 246GB 251GB 5369MB RecoveryOSContainer ``` And then encrypting the new partition via LUKS: ```bash lsblk # show cryptsetup's compiled in defaults cryptsetup --help # NOTE: `cat shoukei.md | grep luks > format.sh` to generate this script # encrypt the root partition with luks2 and argon2id, will prompt for a passphrase, which will be used to unlock the partition. cryptsetup luksFormat --type luks2 --cipher aes-xts-plain64 --hash sha512 --iter-time 5000 --key-size 256 --pbkdf argon2id --use-random --verify-passphrase /dev/nvme0n1p6 # show status cryptsetup luksDump /dev/nvme0n1p6 # open(unlock) the device with the passphrase you just set cryptsetup luksOpen /dev/nvme0n1p6 crypted-nixos # show disk status lsblk ``` Formatting the root partition: ```bash # If btrfs is not included in the liveos, run this before formatting nix-shell -p btrfs-progs # NOTE: `cat shoukei.md | egrep "create-btrfs" > create-btrfs.sh` to generate this script # format the root partition with btrfs and label it # set sectorsize to match the CPU page size mkfs.btrfs --sectorsize 16384 -L crypted-nixos /dev/mapper/crypted-nixos # create-btrfs # mount the root partition and create subvolumes mount /dev/mapper/crypted-nixos /mnt # create-btrfs btrfs subvolume create /mnt/@nix # create-btrfs btrfs subvolume create /mnt/@tmp # create-btrfs btrfs subvolume create /mnt/@swap # create-btrfs btrfs subvolume create /mnt/@persistent # create-btrfs btrfs subvolume create /mnt/@snapshots # create-btrfs umount /mnt # create-btrfs # NOTE: `cat shoukei.md | grep mount-1 > create-btrfs.sh` to generate this script # Remount the root partition with the subvolumes you just created # # Enable zstd compression to: # 1. Reduce the read/write operations, which helps to: # 1. Extend the life of the SSD. # 2. improve the performance of disks with low IOPS / RW throughput, such as HDD and SATA SSD. # 2. Save the disk space. mkdir /mnt/{nix,tmp,swap,persistent,snapshots,boot} # mount-1 mount -o compress-force=zstd:1,noatime,subvol=@nix /dev/mapper/crypted-nixos /mnt/nix # mount-1 mount -o compress-force=zstd:1,subvol=@tmp /dev/mapper/crypted-nixos /mnt/tmp # mount-1 mount -o subvol=@swap /dev/mapper/crypted-nixos /mnt/swap # mount-1 mount -o compress-force=zstd:1,noatime,subvol=@persistent /dev/mapper/crypted-nixos /mnt/persistent # mount-1 mount -o compress-force=zstd:1,noatime,subvol=@snapshots /dev/mapper/crypted-nixos /mnt/snapshots # mount-1 mount /dev/nvme0n1p4 /mnt/boot # mount-1 # create a swapfile on btrfs file system # This command will disable CoW / compression on the swap subvolume and then create a swapfile. # because the linux kernel requires that swapfile must not be compressed or have copy-on-write(CoW) enabled. btrfs filesystem mkswapfile --size 16g --uuid clear /mnt/swap/swapfile # mount-1 # check whether the swap subvolume has CoW disabled # the output of `lsattr` for the swap subvolume should be: # ---------------C------ /swap/swapfile # if not, delete the swapfile, and rerun the commands above. lsattr /mnt/swap # mount the swapfile as swap area swapon /mnt/swap/swapfile --fixpgsz # mount-1 ``` Now, the disk status should be: ```bash # show disk status [nix-shell:~]# lsblk NAME MAJ:MIN RM SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINTS loop0 7:0 0 302.1M 1 loop /nix/.ro-store sda 8:0 1 0B 0 disk sdb 8:16 1 58.2G 0 disk /iso nvme0n1 259:0 0 233.8G 0 disk ├─nvme0n1p1 259:1 0 500M 0 part ├─nvme0n1p2 259:2 0 61.2G 0 part ├─nvme0n1p3 259:3 0 2.3G 0 part ├─nvme0n1p4 259:4 0 477M 0 part /mnt/boot ├─nvme0n1p5 259:5 0 5G 0 part └─nvme0n1p6 259:14 0 164.3G 0 part └─crypted-nixos 252:0 0 164.3G 0 crypt /mnt/snapshots /mnt/persistent /mnt/swap /mnt/tmp /mnt/nix nvme0n2 259:6 0 3M 0 disk nvme0n3 259:7 0 128M 0 disk # show swap status [nix-shell:~]# swapon -s Filename Type Size Used Priority /mnt/swap/swapfile file 16777200 0 -2 ``` ### 3. Generating the NixOS Configuration and Installing NixOS Clone this repository: ```bash # enter an shell with git/vim/ssh-agent/gnumake available nix-shell -p git neovim --option substituters "https://mirrors.ustc.edu.cn/nix-channels/store" # clone this repository git clone https://github.com/ryan4yin/nix-config.git ``` Then, generate the NixOS configuration: ```bash # nixos configurations nixos-generate-config --root /mnt # we need to update our filesystem configs in old hardware-configuration.nix according to the generated one. cp /etc/nixos/hardware-configuration.nix ./nix-config/hosts/12kingdoms_shoukei/hardware-configuration-new.nix vim ./nix-config ``` Then, Install NixOS: ```bash cd ~/nix-config/nixos-installer/ # run this command if you're retrying to run nixos-install rm -rf /mnt/etc # install nixos # NOTE: the root password you set here will be discarded when reboot nixos-install --root /mnt --flake .#shoukei --no-root-password --show-trace --verbose # install-1 # if you want to use a cache mirror, run this command instead # replace the mirror url with your own nixos-install --root /mnt --flake .#shoukei --no-root-password --show-trace --verbose --option substituters "https://mirrors.ustc.edu.cn/nix-channels/store https://cache.nixos.org/" # install-2 # enter into the installed system, check password & users # `su ryan` => `sudo -i` => enter ryan's password => successfully login # if login failed, check the password you set in install-1, and try again nixos-enter # NOTE: DO NOT skip this step!!! # copy the essential files into /persistent # otherwise the / will be cleared and data will lost ## NOTE: preservation just create links from / to /persistent ## We need to copy files into /persistent manually!!! mv /etc/machine-id /persistent/etc/ mv /etc/ssh /persistent/etc/ # delete the generated configuration after editing rm -f /mnt/etc/nixos rm ~/nix-config/hosts/idols_ai/hardware-configuration-new.nix # NOTE: `cat shoukei.md | grep git-1 > git-1.sh` to generate this script # commit the changes after installing nixos successfully git config --global user.email "ryan4yin@linux.com" # git-1 git config --global user.name "Ryan Yin" # git-1 git commit -am "feat: update hardware-configuration" # copy our configuration to the installed file system cp -r ../nix-config /mnt/etc/nixos # sync the disk, unmount the partitions, and close the encrypted device sync swapoff /mnt/swap/swapfile umount -R /mnt/{nix,tmp,swap,persistent,snapshots,boot} cryptsetup close /dev/mapper/crypted-nixos reboot ``` And then reboot. ## Deploying the main flake's NixOS configuration After rebooting, we need to generate a new SSH key for the new machine, and add it to GitHub, so that the new machine can pull my private secrets repo: ```bash # 1. Generate a new SSH key with a strong passphrase ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -a 256 -C "ryan@shoukei" -f ~/.ssh/shoukei # 2. Add the ssh key to the ssh-agent, so that nixos-rebuild can use it to pull my private secrets repo. ssh-add ~/.ssh/shoukei ``` Then follow the instructions in [../secrets/README.md](../secrets/README.md) to rekey all my secrets with the new host's system-level SSH key(`/etc/ssh/ssh_host_ed25519_key`), so that agenix can decrypt them automatically on the new host when I deploy my NixOS configuration. After all these steps, we can finally deploy the main flake's NixOS configuration by: ```bash sudo mv /etc/nixos ~/nix-config sudo chown -R ryan:ryan ~/nix-config cd ~/nix-config # deploy the configuration via Justfile just s-hypr ``` Finally, to enable secure boot, follow the instructions in [lanzaboote - Quick Start](https://github.com/nix-community/lanzaboote/blob/master/docs/QUICK_START.md) and [nix-config/ai/secure-boot.nix](https://github.com/ryan4yin/nix-config/blob/main/hosts/idols_ai/secureboot.nix)