From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 From: Christopher Allan Webber Subject: Re: Hosting a GuixSD server on commodity hosting platforms, a journey Date: Sat, 03 Dec 2016 13:13:40 -0600 Message-ID: <87fum47rmj.fsf@dustycloud.org> References: <878ts212ic.fsf@dustycloud.org> <871sxt1sho.fsf@dustycloud.org> <87shq76kkl.fsf@dustycloud.org> <3c51a2c0-a3a0-da12-22a7-e2b2739520ca@cbaines.net> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Return-path: Received: from eggs.gnu.org ([2001:4830:134:3::10]:42077) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1cDFkl-0006Pc-8t for help-guix@gnu.org; Sat, 03 Dec 2016 14:13:44 -0500 Received: from Debian-exim by eggs.gnu.org with spam-scanned (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1cDFkk-0002EZ-7s for help-guix@gnu.org; Sat, 03 Dec 2016 14:13:43 -0500 Received: from dustycloud.org ([2600:3c02::f03c:91ff:feae:cb51]:59764) by eggs.gnu.org with esmtps (TLS1.0:DHE_RSA_AES_256_CBC_SHA1:32) (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1cDFkk-0002Dh-2R for help-guix@gnu.org; Sat, 03 Dec 2016 14:13:42 -0500 In-reply-to: List-Id: List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Errors-To: help-guix-bounces+gcggh-help-guix=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Sender: "Help-Guix" To: Tobias Geerinckx-Rice Cc: help-guix@gnu.org Tobias Geerinckx-Rice writes: > Chris[es], > > [If =E2=80=98commodity=E2=80=99 means =E2=80=98whatever this OpenStack = thing might be=E2=80=99, or > anything involving comparison of pets to cattle, this is not that. But > this caught my eye:] > > On 02/12/16 20:51, Christopher Baines wrote: >> Thanks for looking in to this Chris! I'm using Bytemark for personal=20 >> servers, and have tried and failed to install Guix from a Debian >> live cd. > > Interesting. That should work. > > I've been running a pure (from scratch) GuixSD VPS[0] for the better > half of a year. I bootstrapped from a provider-supplied SystemRescueCD > image, since it has all required packages pre-installed, but any sane > live system should do. Hey great! And yeah, at this point, maybe if I'm looking at booting from a .ISO file, while generating a .ISO file is a noble goal still, I problably should just try installing from another distro. > Partition and format the target device. Mount that. Upload > shiny-new-system.scm. Get your swapon. Bind mount /gnu, /var/guix and > /tmp from temporary directories on /mnt, to prevent =E2=80=98guix syste= m init > /mnt=E2=80=99 filling up the RAM disc. Watch the builds scroll by. Rebo= ot. Done. > > If I forgot anything, it can't have been much. > > A similar approach should work on all hosting providers that support > booting live CDs that can run out of RAM. I suspect one could =E2=80=98= snapshot=E2=80=99 > the base system on providers that support it, to spin up additional > instances faster. I haven't tried; installing from scratch is just as > easy and keeps the bits fresh. > > No idea how this relates to =E2=80=98commodity hosting=E2=80=99: System= RescueCD happens > to require console access to set the root password for SSH, but after > that the entire deployment can be scripted. Mine are. > > It's as far from underdocumented (to the point of being proprietary) > image layouts and shiny =E2=80=98API=E2=80=99s as possible, which is a = nice bonus. :-) > > Kind regards, > > T G-R Sounds good :) > [0]: : I happily endorse them, and can't wait t= o > send them a =E2=80=98Please add GuixSD-1.0.iso=E2=80=99 ticket when the= time comes. Wow cool, some of those are quite cheap!