README.md

@@ -235,3 +235,46 @@ Afterwards the secret should be available in `/run/secrets/example-key`.
 If the accessing process is not root it must be member of the group `config.users.groups.keys`
 for systemd services this can be archived by setting `serviceConfig.SupplementaryGroups = [ config.users.groups.keys.name ];`
 it the service configuration.
+
+## impermanence
+
+These machines are setup with `"/"` as a tmpfs. This is there to keep the machines clean. So no clutter in home
+directories, no weird ad-hoc solutions of botching something into `/opt/` or something like this. All will be
+gone at reboot.
+
+But there are some files that we want to survive reboots, for example logs or ssh keys. The solution to this is
+to have a persistent storage mounted at `/persist` and automatically bind mount the paths of persistent things
+to the right places. To set this up we are using the impermanence module. In our configuration this is loaded with
+some default files to bind mount (ssh keys, machine-id some nixos specific things). That we have on all machines.
+
+If you keep your application data (like recommended) on a separate partition, the chances are you don't need
+to interact with this, as most configuration files will be in the nix store anyway. If the application wants these nix
+store files in certain directories, you should use `environment.etc` family of options (consult the nixos documentation
+for this). This is for mutable files that are not core application data. (Like ssh keys, for a mailserver one could
+think about the hash files (not the db files) of an alias map (if one doesn't want to manage that with
+the nix store), things like that).
+
+This should not be (but could be) used for large application databases. It would be more appropriate to mount
+its own filesystem for things like that. For small configuration files that are not in the nix-store,
+that might be the appropriate solution.
+
+By default the storage is called `persist` and the default path for it is `/persist`. These can be changed
+with the `impermanence.name` and `impermanence.storagePath` options. To add paths to this storage you do the
+following.
+
+```
+environment.persistence.${config.impermanence.name} = {
+  directories = [
+    "<your path to a directory to persist>"
+  ];
+  files = [
+    "<your path to a file to persist>"
+  ];
+};
+```
+For this to work `config` must be binded by the function arguments of you module. So the start of your module looks
+something like this:
+```
+{lib, pkgs, config, ...} :
+<module code >
+```

flake.lock

@@ -33,6 +33,21 @@
         "type": "indirect"
       }
     },
+    "impermanence": {
+      "locked": {
+        "lastModified": 1694622745,
+        "narHash": "sha256-z397+eDhKx9c2qNafL1xv75lC0Q4nOaFlhaU1TINqb8=",
+        "owner": "nix-community",
+        "repo": "impermanence",
+        "rev": "e9643d08d0d193a2e074a19d4d90c67a874d932e",
+        "type": "github"
+      },
+      "original": {
+        "owner": "nix-community",
+        "repo": "impermanence",
+        "type": "github"
+      }
+    },
     "nixos-mailserver": {
       "inputs": {
         "blobs": "blobs",
@@ -123,6 +138,7 @@
     "root": {
       "inputs": {
         "flake-parts": "flake-parts",
+        "impermanence": "impermanence",
         "nixos-mailserver": "nixos-mailserver",
         "nixpkgs": "nixpkgs",
         "sops-nix": "sops-nix"

flake.nix

@@ -14,6 +14,9 @@
       url = "github:Mic92/sops-nix";
       inputs.nixpkgs.follows = "nixpkgs";
     };
+    impermanence = {
+      url = "github:nix-community/impermanence";
+    };
   };
 
   outputs = inputs@{ flake-parts, ... }:

nixos/flake-module.nix

@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@
           imports = [
             (import (./. + "/machines/${name}/configuration.nix") inputs)
             inputs.sops-nix.nixosModules.sops
+            inputs.impermanence.nixosModules.impermanence
           ];
         };
     in lib.genAttrs machines makeSystem);

nixos/modules/impermanence.nix

@@ -0,0 +1,47 @@
+{lib, config, ...} :
+
+let 
+  inherit (lib)
+    mkEnableOption
+    mkIf
+    mkOption
+    types
+    ;
+  cfg = config.impermanence;
+in
+
+{
+imports = [ ];
+
+options.impermanence = {
+  enable = mkEnableOption "impermanence";
+  storagePath = mkOption {
+    type = types.path;
+    default = "/persist";
+    description = "The path where persistent data is stored";
+  };
+  name = mkOption {
+    type = types.str;
+    default = "persist";
+    description = "the name of the persistent data store";
+  };
+};
+
+config = mkIf cfg.enable {
+  environment.persistence.${cfg.name} = {
+    persistentStoragePath = cfg.storagePath;
+    directories = [
+      "/var/log"
+      "/var/lib/nixos"
+    ];
+    files = [
+      "/etc/ssh/ssh_host_ed25519_key"
+      "/etc/ssh/ssh_host_ed25519_key.pub"
+      "/etc/ssh/ssh_host_rsa_key"
+      "/etc/ssh/ssh_host_rsa_key.pub"
+    ];
+  };
+  environment.etc.machine-id.source = "${cfg.storagePath}/machine-id";
+};
+
+}

nixos/roles/default.nix

@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ imports = [
   ./admins.nix
   ./nix_keys.nix
   (modulesPath + "/virtualisation/xen-domU.nix")
+  ../modules/impermanence.nix
   ];
 nix = {
   extraOptions = ''
@@ -27,6 +28,8 @@ users = {
   users.root.hashedPassword = "!";
 };
 
+impermanence.enable = true;
+
 sops.age.sshKeyPaths = [ "/etc/ssh/ssh_host_ed25519_key" ];
 
 environment = {