The guide from the official wiki on how to install NixOS at Linode is very manual, and that can get a bit time consuming if you have to do it a lot of times.
I have therefore made a script that does the same, but is more automated.
nixos-hires.png
1. Create a new instance
Press the Add a Linode link in the interface.
2. Add a disk
Press Create a new Disk in the interface, give it a name, for an example nixdisk, type=ext4, size=maximum. Click the create button.
3. Boot Finnix
Click the tab named Rescue, and click the button saying Reboot into Rescue Mode.
4. Get remote access
Click the tab named Remote Access, and click Launch Lish Console, you will get a popup that looks like this:
screenie_1467214794_495297.png
5. Run install script
I have a script hosted on Github here: https://gist.github.com/kaspergrubbe/b42e5e1ccd276fea8d99e4865f0bcb21
I had to ignore certificates, because the version of Finnix Linode uses seems to not have up-to-date certificates, this is not recommended. You can try to run apt-get install ca-certificates to resolve the issue, but that gave errors for me.
wget --no-check-certificate https://gist.githubusercontent.com/kaspergrubbe/b42e5e1ccd276fea8d99e4865f0bcb21/raw/871117fe6c1af97f4ec3b0f0f1d719fa3a2a460a/nixos_setup.sh
Follow that up with:
bash nixos_setup.sh
The script stops inside the chrooted environment of NixOS, so you will have to run passwd to set the password of your root-user.
6. Shut down the machine
- Go to the
Dashboard-tab on Linode and clickShut down. - Click
Create a new Configuration Profile - Set
Kernel = Direct disk - Set
/dev/sda = nixdisk(or whatever you labeled your disk in step 2) - Set
Distro Helper = no - Set
Auto-configure Networking = no - Press
Save changes
7. You are now done!
You will now be back on the dashboard for the instance, click the Boot-button.
You can now SSH into the machine using the password you set.
Kudos
Don't move!