.. highlight:: sh .. ifconfig:: zfs_root_test # For the CI/CD test run of this guide, # Enable verbose logging of bash shell and fail immediately when # a commmand fails. set -vxeuf .. In this document, there are three types of code-block markups: ``::`` are commands intended for both the vm test and the users ``.. ifconfig:: zfs_root_test`` are commands intended only for vm test ``.. code-block:: sh`` are commands intended only for users NixOS Root on ZFS ======================================= **Note for arm64**: Currently there is a bug with the grub installation script. See `here `__ for details. **Note for Immutable Root**: Immutable root can be enabled or disabled by setting ``zfs-root.boot.immutable`` option inside per-host configuration. **Customization** Unless stated otherwise, it is not recommended to customize system configuration before reboot. Preparation --------------------------- #. Disable Secure Boot. ZFS modules can not be loaded if Secure Boot is enabled. #. Download `NixOS Live Image `__ and boot from it. .. code-block:: sh sha256sum -c ./nixos-*.sha256 dd if=input-file of=output-file bs=1M #. Connect to the Internet. #. Set root password or ``/root/.ssh/authorized_keys``. #. Start SSH server .. code-block:: sh systemctl restart sshd #. Connect from another computer .. code-block:: sh ssh root@192.168.1.91 #. Target disk List available disks with .. code-block:: sh find /dev/disk/by-id/ If virtio is used as disk bus, power off the VM and set serial numbers for disk. For QEMU, use ``-drive format=raw,file=disk2.img,serial=AaBb``. For libvirt, edit domain XML. See `this page `__ for examples. Declare disk array .. code-block:: sh DISK='/dev/disk/by-id/ata-FOO /dev/disk/by-id/nvme-BAR' For single disk installation, use .. code-block:: sh DISK='/dev/disk/by-id/disk1' .. ifconfig:: zfs_root_test :: # for github test run, use chroot and loop devices DISK="$(losetup --all| grep nixos | cut -f1 -d: | xargs -t -I '{}' printf '{} ')" # if there is no loopdev, then we are using qemu virtualized test # run, use sata disks instead if test -z "${DISK}"; then DISK=$(find /dev/disk/by-id -type l | grep -v DVD-ROM | grep -v -- -part | xargs -t -I '{}' printf '{} ') fi #. Set a mount point :: MNT=$(mktemp -d) #. Set partition size: Set swap size in GB, set to 1 if you don't want swap to take up too much space .. code-block:: sh SWAPSIZE=4 .. ifconfig:: zfs_root_test # For the test run, use 1GB swap space to avoid hitting CI/CD # quota SWAPSIZE=1 Set how much space should be left at the end of the disk, minimum 1GB :: RESERVE=1 #. Enable Nix Flakes functionality :: mkdir -p ~/.config/nix echo "experimental-features = nix-command flakes" >> ~/.config/nix/nix.conf #. Install programs needed for system installation :: if ! command -v git; then nix-env -f '' -iA git; fi if ! command -v jq; then nix-env -f '' -iA jq; fi if ! command -v partprobe; then nix-env -f '' -iA parted; fi .. ifconfig:: zfs_root_test :: # install missing packages in chroot if (echo "${DISK}" | grep "/dev/loop"); then nix-env -f '' -iA nixos-install-tools fi System Installation --------------------------- #. Partition the disks. Note: you must clear all existing partition tables and data structures from the disks, especially those with existing ZFS pools or mdraid and those that have been used as live media. Those data structures may interfere with boot process. For flash-based storage, this can be done by uncommenting the blkdiscard command below: :: partition_disk () { local disk="${1}" #blkdiscard -f "${disk}" parted --script --align=optimal "${disk}" -- \ mklabel gpt \ mkpart EFI 2MiB 1GiB \ mkpart bpool 1GiB 5GiB \ mkpart rpool 5GiB -$((SWAPSIZE + RESERVE))GiB \ mkpart swap -$((SWAPSIZE + RESERVE))GiB -"${RESERVE}"GiB \ mkpart BIOS 1MiB 2MiB \ set 1 esp on \ set 5 bios_grub on \ set 5 legacy_boot on partprobe "${disk}" udevadm settle } for i in ${DISK}; do partition_disk "${i}" done .. ifconfig:: zfs_root_test :: # When working with GitHub chroot runners, we are using loop # devices as installation target. However, the alias support for # loop device was just introduced in March 2023. See # https://github.com/systemd/systemd/pull/26693 # For now, we will create the aliases maunally as a workaround looppart="1 2 3 4 5" for i in ${DISK}; do for j in ${looppart}; do if test -e "${i}p${j}"; then ln -s "${i}p${j}" "${i}-part${j}" fi done done #. Setup encrypted swap. This is useful if the available memory is small:: for i in ${DISK}; do cryptsetup open --type plain --key-file /dev/random "${i}"-part4 "${i##*/}"-part4 mkswap /dev/mapper/"${i##*/}"-part4 swapon /dev/mapper/"${i##*/}"-part4 done #. Create boot pool :: # shellcheck disable=SC2046 zpool create \ -o compatibility=grub2 \ -o ashift=12 \ -o autotrim=on \ -O acltype=posixacl \ -O canmount=off \ -O compression=lz4 \ -O devices=off \ -O normalization=formD \ -O relatime=on \ -O xattr=sa \ -O mountpoint=/boot \ -R "${MNT}" \ bpool \ mirror \ $(for i in ${DISK}; do printf '%s ' "${i}-part2"; done) If not using a multi-disk setup, remove ``mirror``. You should not need to customize any of the options for the boot pool. GRUB does not support all of the zpool features. See ``spa_feature_names`` in `grub-core/fs/zfs/zfs.c `__. This step creates a separate boot pool for ``/boot`` with the features limited to only those that GRUB supports, allowing the root pool to use any/all features. Features enabled with ``-o compatibility=grub2`` can be seen `here `__. #. Create root pool :: # shellcheck disable=SC2046 zpool create \ -o ashift=12 \ -o autotrim=on \ -R "${MNT}" \ -O acltype=posixacl \ -O canmount=off \ -O compression=zstd \ -O dnodesize=auto \ -O normalization=formD \ -O relatime=on \ -O xattr=sa \ -O mountpoint=/ \ rpool \ mirror \ $(for i in ${DISK}; do printf '%s ' "${i}-part3"; done) If not using a multi-disk setup, remove ``mirror``. #. Create root system container: - Unencrypted :: zfs create \ -o canmount=off \ -o mountpoint=none \ rpool/nixos - Encrypted: Pick a strong password. Once compromised, changing password will not keep your data safe. See ``zfs-change-key(8)`` for more info .. code-block:: sh zfs create \ -o canmount=off \ -o mountpoint=none \ -o encryption=on \ -o keylocation=prompt \ -o keyformat=passphrase \ rpool/nixos You can automate this step (insecure) with: ``echo POOLPASS | zfs create ...``. Create system datasets, manage mountpoints with ``mountpoint=legacy`` :: zfs create -o mountpoint=legacy rpool/nixos/root mount -t zfs rpool/nixos/root "${MNT}"/ zfs create -o mountpoint=legacy rpool/nixos/home mkdir "${MNT}"/home mount -t zfs rpool/nixos/home "${MNT}"/home zfs create -o mountpoint=legacy rpool/nixos/var zfs create -o mountpoint=legacy rpool/nixos/var/lib zfs create -o mountpoint=legacy rpool/nixos/var/log zfs create -o mountpoint=none bpool/nixos zfs create -o mountpoint=legacy bpool/nixos/root mkdir "${MNT}"/boot mount -t zfs bpool/nixos/root "${MNT}"/boot mkdir -p "${MNT}"/var/log mkdir -p "${MNT}"/var/lib mount -t zfs rpool/nixos/var/lib "${MNT}"/var/lib mount -t zfs rpool/nixos/var/log "${MNT}"/var/log zfs create -o mountpoint=legacy rpool/nixos/empty zfs snapshot rpool/nixos/empty@start #. Format and mount ESP :: for i in ${DISK}; do mkfs.vfat -n EFI "${i}"-part1 mkdir -p "${MNT}"/boot/efis/"${i##*/}"-part1 mount -t vfat -o iocharset=iso8859-1 "${i}"-part1 "${MNT}"/boot/efis/"${i##*/}"-part1 done System Configuration --------------------------- #. Clone template flake configuration .. code-block:: sh mkdir -p "${MNT}"/etc git clone --depth 1 --branch openzfs-guide \ https://github.com/ne9z/dotfiles-flake.git "${MNT}"/etc/nixos .. ifconfig:: zfs_root_test :: # Use vm branch of the template config for test run mkdir -p "${MNT}"/etc git clone --depth 1 --branch openzfs-guide-testvm \ https://github.com/ne9z/dotfiles-flake.git "${MNT}"/etc/nixos # for debugging: show template revision git -C "${MNT}"/etc/nixos log -n1 #. From now on, the complete configuration of the system will be tracked by git, set a user name and email address to continue :: rm -rf "${MNT}"/etc/nixos/.git git -C "${MNT}"/etc/nixos/ init -b main git -C "${MNT}"/etc/nixos/ add "${MNT}"/etc/nixos/ git -C "${MNT}"/etc/nixos config user.email "you@example.com" git -C "${MNT}"/etc/nixos config user.name "Alice Q. Nixer" git -C "${MNT}"/etc/nixos commit -asm 'initial commit' #. Customize configuration to your hardware :: for i in ${DISK}; do sed -i \ "s|/dev/disk/by-id/|${i%/*}/|" \ "${MNT}"/etc/nixos/hosts/exampleHost/default.nix break done diskNames="" for i in ${DISK}; do diskNames="${diskNames} \"${i##*/}\"" done sed -i "s|\"bootDevices_placeholder\"|${diskNames}|g" \ "${MNT}"/etc/nixos/hosts/exampleHost/default.nix sed -i "s|\"abcd1234\"|\"$(head -c4 /dev/urandom | od -A none -t x4| sed 's| ||g' || true)\"|g" \ "${MNT}"/etc/nixos/hosts/exampleHost/default.nix sed -i "s|\"x86_64-linux\"|\"$(uname -m || true)-linux\"|g" \ "${MNT}"/etc/nixos/flake.nix cp "$(command -v nixos-generate-config || true)" ./nixos-generate-config chmod a+rw ./nixos-generate-config # shellcheck disable=SC2016 echo 'print STDOUT $initrdAvailableKernelModules' >> ./nixos-generate-config kernelModules="$(./nixos-generate-config --show-hardware-config --no-filesystems | tail -n1 || true)" sed -i "s|\"kernelModules_placeholder\"|${kernelModules}|g" \ "${MNT}"/etc/nixos/hosts/exampleHost/default.nix .. ifconfig:: zfs_root_test :: # show generated config cat "${MNT}"/etc/nixos/hosts/exampleHost/default.nix #. Set root password .. code-block:: sh rootPwd=$(mkpasswd -m SHA-512) .. ifconfig:: zfs_root_test :: # Use "test" for root password in test run rootPwd=$(echo yourpassword | mkpasswd -m SHA-512 -) Declare password in configuration :: sed -i \ "s|rootHash_placeholder|${rootPwd}|" \ "${MNT}"/etc/nixos/configuration.nix #. You can enable NetworkManager for wireless networks and GNOME desktop environment in ``configuration.nix``. #. Commit changes to local repo :: git -C "${MNT}"/etc/nixos commit -asm 'initial installation' #. Update flake lock file to track latest system version :: nix flake update --commit-lock-file \ "git+file://${MNT}/etc/nixos" #. Install system and apply configuration .. code-block:: sh nixos-install \ --root "${MNT}" \ --no-root-passwd \ --flake "git+file://${MNT}/etc/nixos#exampleHost" .. ifconfig:: zfs_root_test :: if (echo "${DISK}" | grep "/dev/loop"); then # nixos-install command might fail in a chroot environment # due to # https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/issues/220211 # it should be sufficient to test if the configuration builds nix build "git+file://${MNT}/etc/nixos/#nixosConfigurations.exampleHost.config.system.build.toplevel" nixos-install \ --root "${MNT}" \ --no-root-passwd \ --flake "git+file://${MNT}/etc/nixos#exampleHost" || true else # but with qemu test installation must be fully working nixos-install \ --root "${MNT}" \ --no-root-passwd \ --flake "git+file://${MNT}/etc/nixos#exampleHost" fi .. ifconfig:: zfs_root_test :: # list contents of boot dir to confirm # that the mirroring succeeded find "${MNT}"/boot/efis/ -type d #. Unmount filesystems :: umount -Rl "${MNT}" zpool export -a #. Reboot .. code-block:: sh reboot .. ifconfig:: zfs_root_test :: # For qemu test run, power off instead. # Test run is successful if the vm powers off if ! (echo "${DISK}" | grep "/dev/loop"); then poweroff fi #. For instructions on maintenance tasks, see `Root on ZFS maintenance page <../zfs_root_maintenance.html>`__.