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svcvm

service virtual machines for NixOS, derived from microvm.nix.

screenshot

Notice

svcvm is a deliberately minimal derivative of microvm.nix. It removes features that are unnecessary for my deployment model.

svcvm contains substantial portions of code derived from the microvm.nix project. A copy of the original MIT license is available in LICENSES/MIT-microvm-nix. Additional changes introduced here are licensed under GPLv3.

Features

  • create QEMU/KVM virtual machines using the microvm machine type
  • manage these using the svcvm CLI or the various svcvm@ systemd units
  • VMs have the host's Nix Store as a virtiofs readonly share, and a tmpfs root
  • share additional filesystems from the host using virtiofs (eg, for persistent service data)
  • share secrets and credentials (eg, sops-nix secrets) from the host using io.systemd.credentials
  • create vhost-enabled TAP interfaces for routed networking to be used along with NAT (eg, using nftables)

The following features are intentionally unsupported (non-exhaustive list):

  • no standalone usage, only available as a NixOS module
  • no 9p shares, only virtiofs shares
  • no separate Nix Store, host's Store is always shared
  • no writable Nix Store, no Nix within svcvm guests
  • no bridge and macvtap interfaces, only vhost-enabled TAP
  • no graphics, all svcvm guests use -nographic
  • no hypervisors other than QEMU, KVM is always used
  • no platforms other than x86_64-linux
  • no QEMU machines other than microvm

Usage

Consider using microvm.nix instead, since it is much more generic and intended for a wider range of use cases.

This flake is written only for my personal use. The only configuration that matters is the one I actually use in my NixOS configuration, using the downstream lib.mksvcvm layer which provides declarative provisioning, svcready readiness indicators and svcfg service configuration.

Usage instructions are deliberately omitted.