Add Machines

Managing machine configurations can be done in the following ways:

• writing nix expressions in a flake.nix file,
• placing autoincluded files into your machine directory,
• configuring everything in a simple UI (upcoming).

Clan currently offers the following methods to configure machines:

Recommended for nix people

• flake.nix (i.e. via buildClan)

  • machine argument
  • inventory argument

• machines/machine_name/configuration.nix (autoincluded if it exists)

See the complete list of auto-loaded files.

Used by CLI & UI

• inventory.json

Global configuration

In the flake.nix file:

• set a unique name.

normal flake templatetemplate using flake-parts

flake.nix

buildClan {
    # Set a unique name
    meta.name = "Lobsters";
    # Should usually point to the directory of flake.nix
    directory = ./.;
}

See Clan with flake-parts for help migrating to flake-parts.

flake.nix

clan = {
    # Set a unique name
    meta.name = "Lobsters";
};

Machine configuration

Adding or configuring a new machine requires two simple steps:

Step 1. Identify Target Disk-ID

1. Find the remote disk id by executing:

   setup computer

   ssh root@<IP> lsblk --output NAME,ID-LINK,FSTYPE,SIZE,MOUNTPOINT
   

   Note

   Replace <IP> with the IP address of the machine if you don't have the avahi service running which resolves mDNS local domains.

   Which should show something like:

   NAME        ID-LINK                                         FSTYPE   SIZE MOUNTPOINT
   sda         usb-ST_16GB_AA6271026J1000000509-0:0                    14.9G
   ├─sda1      usb-ST_16GB_AA6271026J1000000509-0:0-part1                 1M
   ├─sda2      usb-ST_16GB_AA6271026J1000000509-0:0-part2      vfat     100M /boot
   └─sda3      usb-ST_16GB_AA6271026J1000000509-0:0-part3      ext4     2.9G /
   nvme0n1     nvme-eui.e8238fa6bf530001001b448b4aec2929              476.9G
   ├─nvme0n1p1 nvme-eui.e8238fa6bf530001001b448b4aec2929-part1 vfat     512M
   ├─nvme0n1p2 nvme-eui.e8238fa6bf530001001b448b4aec2929-part2 ext4   459.6G
   └─nvme0n1p3 nvme-eui.e8238fa6bf530001001b448b4aec2929-part3 swap    16.8G
   

   Warning

   Make sure to copy the ID-LINK from toplevel disk device like nvme0n1 or sda instead of nvme0n1p1 or sda1

2. Edit the following fields inside the ./machines/jon/configuration.nix and/or ./machines/sara/configuration.nix

   ./machines/jon/configuration.nix

   {
      imports = [
        ./hardware-configuration.nix
        # contains your disk format and partitioning configuration.
        ../../modules/disko.nix
        # this file is shared among all machines
        ../../modules/shared.nix
        # enables GNOME desktop (optional)
        ../../modules/gnome.nix
      ];
   
      # Put your username here for login
      users.users.user.username = "__YOUR_USERNAME__";
   
      # Set this for clan commands that use ssh
      # If you change the hostname, you need to update this line to root@<new-hostname>
      # This only works however if you have avahi running on your admin machine else use IP
      clan.core.networking.targetHost = "root@__IP__";
   
   
      # Replace this __CHANGE_ME__ with the result of the lsblk command from step 1. 
      disko.devices.disk.main.device = "/dev/disk/by-id/__CHANGE_ME__";
   
      # IMPORTANT! Add your SSH key here
      # e.g. > cat ~/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub
      users.users.root.openssh.authorizedKeys.keys = [ "__YOUR_SSH_KEY__" ];
   
      # ...
   }
   

Replace __YOUR_USERNAME__ with the ip of your machine, if you use avahi you can also use your hostname

Replace __IP__ with the ip of your machine, if you use avahi you can also use your hostname

Replace __CHANGE_ME__ with the appropriate ID-LINK identifier, such as nvme-eui.e8238fa6bf530001001b448b4aec2929

Replace __YOUR_SSH_KEY__ with your personal key, like ssh-ed25519 AAAAC3NzaC1lZDI1NTE5AAAAILoMI0NC5eT9pHlQExrvR5ASV3iW9+BXwhfchq0smXUJ jon@jon-desktop

You can also create additional machines using the cli:

$ clan machines create <machinename>

Step 2: Custom Disk Formatting

In ./modules/disko.nix, a simple ext4 disk partitioning scheme is defined for the Disko module. For more complex disk partitioning setups, refer to the Disko templates or Disko examples.

(Optional): Renaming Machine

If you wish to name your machine to something else, do the following steps:

mv ./machines/jon/configuration.nix ./machines/newname/configuration.nix

Note that our clan lives inside a git repository. Only files that have been added with git add are recognized by nix. So for every file that you add or rename you also need to run:

git add ./path/to/my/file

For renaming jon to your own machine name, you can use the following command:

git mv ./machines/jon ./machines/newname

(Optional): Removing a Machine

If you only want to setup a single machine at this point, you can delete sara from flake.nix as well as from the machines directory:

git rm -rf ./machines/sara