Migrating my NAS from CoreOS/Flatcar Linux to NixOS
a day ago
- The author migrated his NAS from CoreOS/Flatcar to NixOS due to issues like deprecated cloud-init, container bitrot, dependency on Docker Hub, and inability to run Immich.
- He prototyped the migration in a VM before applying changes to the live system to ensure safety.
- Migration milestones included installing NixOS, setting up remote disk unlock, Samba access, and SSH/rsync backups.
- He gradually transitioned from Docker containers to native NixOS modules for services like Samba, Jellyfin, health checks, and backup scripts.
- NixOS provided benefits such as no central registry, finer-grained rollbacks, and a larger selection of easily configurable packages.
- Additional configurations included Prometheus monitoring, reliable mounting with systemd, and shared user settings across machines.
- He successfully installed Immich on NixOS, which was not possible on CoreOS/Flatcar, and recommends NixOS for managing multiple systems but considers it overkill for a single system.