Initial installation

A DNF network is set up step by step, and you can stop at any stage: a single workstation is enough to get started.

The path

1. A workstation : the administrator’s machine (this page).
2. A gateway : create a zone and connect other machines to it.
3. Coordination : connect zones via VPN (tailnet).

A single configuration

All nodes are described in one NixOS configuration, on the administrator’s machine. From there, the entire network is deployed and evolved.

Create the project

The project starts from the dnf-boilerplate template: a ready-made structure and a commented etc/config.yaml to fill in.

1. Create the repository

   From the dnf-boilerplate 🡕 template (“Use this template” button), or by cloning.

2. Bootstrap the framework

   nix run github:darkone-linux/darkone-nixos-framework#init
   nix develop github:darkone-linux/darkone-nixos-framework

   What does #init do?

   It creates the .dnf/ symlink to the framework recipes. Then just --list shows all available commands.

3. Initialize secrets

   just configure-admin-host

   Idempotent

   Creates age keys, the .sops.yaml file and a default password. Never recreates what already exists.

Describe the configuration

Everything is declared in etc/config.yaml (network, zones, users, hosts). For a first workstation, one user and one host are enough:

etc/config.yaml

users:
  alice:
    uid: 1000
    name: "Alice"
    profile: "nix-admin"
    groups: ["global"]

hosts:
  - hostname: "poste"
    name: "Poste de l'administrateur"
    profile: "desktop"
    users: ["alice"]
    disko:
      profile: "btrfs-1-disk"
      devices:
        main: "/dev/nvme0n1"

Then regenerate and verify:

just generate      # produces var/generated/*.nix from etc/config.yaml
just check-flake   # nix flake check

Generated files

var/generated/ is produced by the tool: it should never be edited manually. Edit etc/config.yaml, then regenerate.

Install the first workstation

The installation burns an image, boots the machine from it, then applies the complete system.

1. Generate the image

   just build-iso

2. Boot the machine

   Burn the image to a USB drive, connect the computer to the network, boot from the drive, then note its IP address.

3. Apply the system

   # just full-install <host> <user> <ip>
   just full-install poste nix 10.0.0.50

   In just minutes

   full-install installs the system, programs, configurations and users. If it fails, the detailed steps are in the Justfile.

4. Reboot without the drive.

You can stop here

A standalone workstation is already fully usable. The gateway is only needed to create a zone (shared local network).