Lan Tian's NixOS Configuration

This repository holds the configuration files for all my NixOS systems.

Features

• Full system root-on-tmpfs, using impermanence
• Nftables instead of iptables
• Secret management with agenix
• QEMU user mode emulation for most architectures
• Nix Flakes with Nixpkgs patching
• Additional kernel modules:
  • Nftables Fullcone NAT sourced from here
  • NVIDIA driver patching based on Nvlax
  • OpenVPN DCO sourced from here
• Post-Quantum Cryptography support for OpenSSL based on Open Quantum Safe

Host Types

My hosts are categorized into three types:

• client: A host running NixOS. Usually a desktop/laptop running a desktop environment.
• server: A host running NixOS without GUI. Usually a VM running on a cloud provider.

Folder Structure

• dns: My custom Nix-to-DNSControl code that generates a DNSControl config.js file, controlling DNS records for my domains.

  • Subdirectories

    • common: Common records shared across domains.
    • core: Core component that converts a Nix attribute set into DNSControl config.js format.
    • domains: Nix definitions controlling individual (groups of) zones.

  • Files

    • toplevel.nix: Entrypoint called in flake.nix.

• helpers: Definitions for short cuts used by code in this repo.

• home: My Home Manager configurations.

  • Subdirectories

    • common-apps: Apps used by all nodes.
    • client-apps: Apps used by client nodes.

  • Files

    • client.nix: Config applied on client nodes.
    • server.nix: Config applied on server nodes.

• hosts: Host-specific NixOS system definitions. Each subdirectory refers to a host. The list of hosts is automatically obtained in flake.nix. Configs here usually control networking parameters, and host-specific tunings.

• nixos: Common NixOS system definitions.

  • Used by all nodes (auto import in client.nix, minimal.nix, server.nix)

    • common-apps: Apps used by all nodes.
    • minimal-components: System options used by all nodes.
      • Components differ from "Apps" that, a component is a fundamental part in the system (often by tuning kernel core parameters), while an app provides service on the userspace level.

  • Used by client nodes (auto import in client.nix)

    • client-apps
    • client-components

  • Used by server nodes (auto import in server.nix)

    • server-apps
    • server-components

  • Supplemental files

    • hardware: Common hardware configuration snippets, including LVM and QEMU VMs.
    • optional-apps: Apps that are used by some nodes. Manual imports required in host-specific definitions.
    • optional-cron-jobs: Cron jobs that are used by some nodes. Manual imports required in host-specific definitions.