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clan-core/docs/admins/machines.md
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Managing NixOS Machines with Clan

Integrating a new machine into your Clan environment is a very easy yet flexible process, allowing for the centralized management of multiple NixOS configurations.

We'll walk you through adding a new computer to your Clan using a special tool that works through a USB stick.

Installing a New Machine

Clan CLI, in conjunction with nixos-anywhere, provides a seamless method for installing NixOS on various machines. This process involves preparing a suitable hardware and disk partitioning configuration and ensuring the target machine is accessible via SSH.

Step 0. Prerequisites

  • Two Computers: You'll need the computer you're setting up and another one to control the setup process. Both should be able to connect over the network using SSH. This is usually already done if you're working with servers from providers like Hetzner.
  • A clan machine configuration you want to deploy. Check out our templates
  • Identify and prepare the USB Flash Drive

Prepare the USB Flash Drive

  1. Insert your USB flash drive into your computer.

  2. Identify your flash drive with lsblk

    $ lsblk
NAME                                          MAJ:MIN RM   SIZE RO TYPE  MOUNTPOINTS
sdb                                             8:0    1 117,2G  0 disk
└─sdb1                                          8:1    1 117,2G  0 part  /run/media/qubasa/INTENSO
nvme0n1                                       259:0    0   1,8T  0 disk
├─nvme0n1p1                                   259:1    0   512M  0 part  /boot
└─nvme0n1p2                                   259:2    0   1,8T  0 part
  └─luks-f7600028-9d83-4967-84bc-dd2f498bc486 254:0    0   1,8T  0 crypt /nix/store                                                                 /

    In this case it's sdb

  3. Ensure all partitions on the drive are unmounted. Replace sdb1 in the command below with your device identifier (like sdc1, etc.):

sudo umount /dev/sdb1

Creating a Bootable USB Drive on Linux

To create a bootable USB flash drive with the NixOS installer:

Step 1. Build the Installer Image

nix build git+https://git.clan.lol/clan/clan-core.git#install-iso

Step 2. Write the Image to the USB Drive

Use the dd utility to write the NixOS installer image to your USB drive:

sudo dd bs=4M conv=fsync oflag=direct status=progress if=./result/stick.raw of=/dev/sd<X>

In case your USB device is sdb use of=/dev/sdb

Step 3. Boot and Connect

After writing the installer to the USB drive, use it to boot the target machine.

i.e. Plug it into the target machine and select the USB drive as a temporary boot device.

For most hardware you can find the Key-combination below:

  • Dell: F12 (Boot Menu), F2/Del (BIOS Setup)
  • HP: F9 (Boot Menu), Esc (Startup Menu)
  • Lenovo: F12 (ThinkPad Boot Menu), F2/Fn+F2/Novo Button (IdeaPad Boot Menu/BIOS Setup)
  • Acer: F12 (Boot Menu), F2/Del (BIOS Setup)
  • Asus: F8/Esc (Boot Menu), F2/Del (BIOS Setup)
  • Toshiba: F12/F2 (Boot Menu), Esc then F12 (Alternate Method)
  • Sony: F11/Assist Button (Boot Menu/Recovery Options)
  • Samsung: F2/F12/Esc (Boot Menu), F2 (BIOS Setup)
  • MSI: F11 (Boot Menu), Del (BIOS Setup)
  • Apple: Option (Alt) Key (Boot Menu for Mac)
  • If your hardware was not listed read the manufacturers instructions how to enter the boot Menu/BIOS Setup.

During Boot

Select NixOS to boot into the clan installer

After Booting

The installer will display an IP address and a root password, which you can use to connect via SSH.

Alternatively you can also use the displayed QR code.

Step 4. Finishing the installation

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:

clan machines install my-machine <target_host>

🎉 🚀 Your machine is all set up

What's next ?

Coming Soon:

  • Join Your Machines in a Private Network:: Stay tuned for steps on linking all your machines into a secure mesh network with Clan.

Update Your Machines

Clan CLI enables you to remotely update your machines over SSH. This requires setting up a target address for each target machine.

Setting the Target Host

Replace host_or_ip with the actual hostname or IP address of your target machine:

clan config --machine my-machine clan.networking.targetHost root@host_or_ip

Note: The use of root@ in the target address implies SSH access as the root user. Ensure that the root login is secured and only used when necessary.

Updating Machine Configurations

Execute the following command to update the specified machine:

clan machines update my-machine

You can also update all configured machines simultaneously by omitting the machine name:

clan machines update

Setting a Build Host

If the machine does not have enough resources to run the NixOS evaluation or build itself, it is also possible to specify a build host instead. During an update, the cli will ssh into the build host and run nixos-rebuild from there.

clan config --machine my-machine clan.networking.buildHost root@host_or_ip

Excluding a machine from clan machine update

To exclude machines from beeing updated when running clan machines update without any machines specified, one can set the clan.deployment.requireExplicitUpdate option to true:

clan config --machine my-machine clan.deployment.requireExplicitUpdate true

This is useful for machines that are not always online or are not part of the regular update cycle.

TODO:

  • TODO: How to join others people zerotier
    • services.zerotier.joinNetworks = [ "network-id" ]
  • Controller needs to approve over webinterface or cli