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homelab/README.md
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darmanandClaude Opus 4.8 d70df14c8a README: document the per-host post-deploy steps
Everything here is something the flake cannot do for you, and all of it
was learned by hitting it: a host that builds and boots cleanly is not
necessarily a host that works.

The sudo check applies to every host and is the one that cost the most.
mutableUsers is true, so /etc/shadow is written once at user creation --
if the sops secret wasn't readable at that moment the account is locked
forever and no rebuild will fix it. That happened twice, and recovery was
netcup's rescue system for neptun and pulling the SD card for mercury.

neptun's netcup firewall is stateless and denies inbound UDP by default,
which drops every DNS and NTP reply while reporting nothing anywhere.
Also covers the Authentik/headscale/headplane bootstrap, which is a
chain of manual steps producing values the config needs.

jupiter gets the tailscaled stale-state trap: after the headscale
database is recreated the daemon still reports Running, and the
autoconnect unit exits early without sending the new pre-auth key.

mercury gets the SD-card failure mode, since silent flash corruption
surfaces as SIGILL from random binaries with a clean dmesg.

Also drops a stray code fence that had been dangling at EOF.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 <noreply@anthropic.com>
2026-07-20 19:45:36 +02:00

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# homelab
Flake-based NixOS config. Hosts: `jupiter` (ZimaBlade, NAS + services),
`neptun` (netcup VPS: public reverse proxy, Authentik, headscale),
`mercury` (Raspberry Pi 3B+, DNS/DHCP), `terra` (desktop).
## Structure
```
flake.nix # inputs + nixosConfigurations (jupiter, neptun, kexec, ...)
common.nix # shared base: user, ssh, nix, firewall, timezone
services/ # one reusable module per service, by category
media/ jellyfin, audiobookshelf, the *arrs, sabnzbd, seerr, ...
network/ caddy, samba, avahi, pihole, unbound
vpn/ tailscale, headscale (control server), headplane (its web UI)
identity/ authentik (OIDC provider, from the authentik-nix flake)
dev/ gitea
desktop/ hyprland
containers.nix # podman backend, shared across categories
hosts/
jupiter/ # ZimaBlade NAS
configuration.nix # host bits + imports common + the services it runs
disk-config.nix # disko: eMMC partitions
hardware-configuration.nix
secrets.nix # sops-nix wiring
vm.nix # VirtualBox test image (jupiter-vbox)
neptun/ # netcup public reverse proxy + tailnet node
configuration.nix disk-config.nix hardware-configuration.nix secrets.nix
secrets/ # age-encrypted sops files, one per host
scripts/ # deploy, edit_secrets
```
Hosts compose by importing `common.nix` + whichever `services/*` modules they
run. Each service module opens its own firewall ports.
## Test in VirtualBox (no hardware needed)
```
nix build .#nixosConfigurations.jupiter-vbox.config.system.build.virtualBoxOVA
VBoxManage import result/*.ova --vsys 0 --vmname jupiter-vbox
VBoxManage startvm jupiter-vbox --type headless
```
Login `darman` / `test`. Forward ports with `VBoxManage modifyvm ... --natpf1`.
## First install on the ZimaBlade — nixos-anywhere + disko
Wipes the OS disk and installs the flake over SSH. No USB needed if the box
already runs Linux (ZimaOS) reachable by root SSH — nixos-anywhere kexecs into
an installer, partitions via disko, installs.
> ⚠️ The OS disk in `disk-config.nix` is WIPED. Set `device` to the OS disk
> ONLY (by-id). Back up / physically identify the NAS data disk first — it must
> NOT appear in disko. `lsblk -o NAME,SERIAL,SIZE,MODEL` to identify.
1. Set the real OS disk id in `hosts/jupiter/disk-config.nix`
(`ls -l /dev/disk/by-id`), and the data-disk mount in `configuration.nix`.
2. Add your login SSH pubkey to `users.users.darman.openssh.authorizedKeys.keys`.
3. Set the real samba password:
```
export SOPS_AGE_KEY_FILE=~/.config/sops/age/keys.txt
nix shell nixpkgs#sops -c sops secrets/jupiter.yaml # edit, commit
```
4. Stage the pre-generated host key so sops can decrypt on boot #1
(private key lives off-repo in `~/.config/homelab/jupiter/`):
```
install -Dm600 ~/.config/homelab/jupiter/ssh_host_ed25519_key \
/tmp/extra/etc/ssh/ssh_host_ed25519_key
install -Dm644 ~/.config/homelab/jupiter/ssh_host_ed25519_key.pub \
/tmp/extra/etc/ssh/ssh_host_ed25519_key.pub
```
5. Run from your laptop:
```
nix run github:nix-community/nixos-anywhere -- \
--flake .#jupiter \
--extra-files /tmp/extra \
--generate-hardware-config nixos-generate-config ./hosts/jupiter/hardware-configuration.nix \
--target-host root@<zimablade-ip>
```
`--extra-files` plants the host key before first boot (its age identity is
already a recipient in `.sops.yaml`, so `/run/secrets/samba_password`
decrypts on boot #1). `--generate-hardware-config` pulls the target's real
kernel modules into the placeholder. Commit the result. Reboot into NixOS.
Manual alternative (USB ISO): boot installer, `disko` the disk, then
`nixos-install --flake .#jupiter`.
## Deploy (the `./deploy` wrapper)
All arguments mandatory — no default host, no default config.
```
./deploy kexec <host> # headless kexec into a RAM installer (RO-root box)
./deploy install <config> <host> # first install; wipes OS disk, ships host key
./deploy switch <config> <host> # rebuild + activate on a running host
./deploy boot|test <config> <host> # stage for next boot / activate without boot entry
./deploy image <config> # build an SD-card image (mercury)
./deploy flash <config> <dev> # build SD image, write it, drop the sops age key
```
`switch`/`boot`/`test` prompt for darman's password (`wheelNeedsPassword`).
`<config>` is a `nixosConfigurations` name (`jupiter`, `neptun`). Its pre-generated
SSH host key lives at `~/.config/homelab/<config>/ssh_host_ed25519_key`.
Examples:
```
./deploy switch jupiter jupiter.sol
./deploy install neptun 159.195.64.117
```
Rollback: `nixos-rebuild switch --rollback` on the host, or pick a prior
generation at boot.
## Post-deploy steps (per host)
Things the flake cannot do for you. Skipping these leaves a host that builds
and boots but doesn't work.
### Every host, immediately after a first install
```
ssh darman@<host> sudo -v # DO NOT SKIP
```
`users.mutableUsers` is `true`, so `/etc/shadow` is written **once**, when the
user is created. If the sops secret wasn't readable at that moment the account
gets `!` (locked) permanently — `deploy switch` will never fix it, because the
activation script only sets a password for users not already in `/etc/shadow`.
Combined with `wheelNeedsPassword = true` and `PermitRootLogin = "no"` that
means no way to escalate, and recovery is physical: netcup's rescue system for
neptun, or pulling the SD card for mercury. Verify sudo while you still have
another way in.
### neptun (netcup VPS)
1. **Edge firewall.** In netcup's panel, inbound `ACCEPT` for TCP 22/80/443/2222
**and a rule accepting inbound UDP**. The firewall is stateless: without the
UDP rule every DNS and NTP *reply* is dropped, and nothing on the box reports
an error — it looks like headscale crash-looping on its DERP fetch and Caddy
failing ACME. `grep -A1 '^Udp:' /proc/net/snmp` showing `InDatagrams 0` is the
tell. Rules apply on VM restart, not on save. This is safe: `nixos-fw` is
stateful and default-deny, so it remains the real policy.
Also open UDP 3478 (STUN) and 41641 (tailscale direct).
2. **Authentik** creates `akadmin` on first start; log in at
`https://auth.mgaction.town` with `authentik_bootstrap_password` from sops.
The username is hardcoded upstream and the bootstrap runs once — later
changes to the env vars are ignored.
3. **Bootstrap the tailnet** (headscale starts with an empty database):
```
sudo headscale users create darman
sudo headscale preauthkeys create --user darman --reusable --expiration 24h
```
Put that key in **every** host's sops file as `tailscale_authkey` and rebuild.
4. **Headplane API key** — defaults to 90d, after which headplane silently stops
listing nodes:
```
sudo headscale apikeys create --expiration 999d # -> headplane_headscale_api_key
```
5. **Headplane OIDC.** In Authentik create an OAuth2/OpenID provider
(confidential, redirect `https://vpn.mgaction.town/admin/oidc/callback`,
**a signing key must be selected** or discovery exposes no JWKS) and an
application with slug **`headplane`** — the slug is what makes the issuer
`.../application/o/headplane/` in `services/vpn/headplane.nix`. Client ID goes
in that file, client secret into sops.
6. **Pin jupiter's tailnet address.** `networking.hosts` in
`hosts/neptun/configuration.nix` carries jupiter's IP, because neptun runs
`--accept-dns=false` and cannot use MagicDNS. Until it matches
`headscale nodes list`, the `abs.` and `git.` vhosts fail to proxy.
### jupiter
- `chown -R gitea:gitea /mnt/data/AppData/gitea` after the first deploy (the
repos were copied in over CIFS as `darman:users`).
- **Re-enrolling after the headscale database was recreated:** `tailscaled`
keeps its old node key and reports `Running`, and the autoconnect unit exits
early on that state without ever sending the new pre-auth key. Force it:
```
sudo tailscale logout && sudo systemctl restart tailscaled-autoconnect
```
### mercury (Raspberry Pi 3B+)
- `./deploy flash mercury /dev/sdX` writes the dedicated age key to the root
partition. Without `~/.config/homelab/mercury/age.txt` it silently skips that
step and **no secret decrypts on the box** — check `ls /run/secrets` after
first boot.
- It boots from an SD card, so config changes are `./deploy switch mercury <ip>`
(an aarch64 build — needs `extra-platforms` + binfmt on the laptop, see the
gotchas in `CLAUDE.md`) rather than a reflash.
- **Suspect the card first** when binaries crash with `Illegal instruction` or
services fail inexplicably. Failing flash returns corrupt data with no I/O
errors in `dmesg`:
```
sudo nix-store --verify --check-contents # add --repair to fix
```
A card that has corrupted one path will corrupt more. Replace it and reflash;
only pihole's runtime state (query history, dynamic leases) is lost — the
static leases are declarative.
## Adding a service
Copy the `whoami` block in `oci-containers.containers`, swap image/ports/volumes.
Native NixOS module exists for many apps (Nextcloud, Jellyfin, Grafana...) —
prefer `services.<app>` over a container when available. Add a `caddy`
`virtualHosts` block to expose it.
## Notes
- Backend is Podman with `dockerCompat` — `docker` CLI works, no daemon.
- Samba keeps its own password DB. `services.samba` never sets it; a systemd
oneshot (`samba-smbpasswd`) provisions it. Host reads the password from
`/run/secrets/samba_password` (**sops-nix**); the VM falls back to plaintext
`/etc/samba/smb-password`.
- Secrets: `secrets/jupiter.yaml` is age-encrypted (safe to commit) to two
recipients in `.sops.yaml` — the **admin** key (edit on laptop,
`~/.config/sops/age/keys.txt`) and the **jupiter host** key (derived from its
SSH host key via `ssh-to-age`, decrypts at runtime). Private keys live
off-repo and are gitignored. Rotate/add recipients with `sops updatekeys`.
- Data disk: plain `fileSystems."/mnt/data"` in configuration.nix — kept out of
disko so it is never formatted. Reference by `by-id` / `by-uuid`.
- `system.stateVersion` = `26.05`, install-time schema. Do NOT bump on upgrades.
- Terraform is not used: a single bare-metal box has no provider API. disko +
nixos-anywhere cover provisioning natively.