feat(zfs): import ZFS pools and add the shared write group

Add `modules.zfs`, the host-level pool import: a host declares its ZFS host id
and the pools to import with their dataset mountpoints, and the module imports
those pools as durable state rather than recreating them, so a service's data
survives any rebuild or reimage.

Add a shared `storage` group with a fixed gid to the base config both the host
base and the guest-base build on, so a host and every guest carry the same
number and an identity-mapped container write lands on the pool as that group
without per-service permission juggling.

No host enables the module: the only host is a laptop with no pools and a
kernel with no ZFS build, so the enabled build was verified by ad-hoc
enablement against a ZFS-supported kernel while the committed tree stays inert.
This commit was merged in pull request #31.
This commit is contained in:
2026-07-25 17:08:11 -04:00
parent e6ea8a0060
commit 7edc1ce94b
5 changed files with 123 additions and 2 deletions

View File

@@ -30,6 +30,6 @@ Making the Guest a peer of Host and Module — same Auto-loader, same convention
- The Skeleton grows a Guest realization: the Auto-loader discovers `guests/`, a Guest's interior compiles into a nested container, and placement fields wire VLAN attachment, MAC pinning, bind mounts, secret mounts, unit caps, and the nesting prerequisites. - The Skeleton grows a Guest realization: the Auto-loader discovers `guests/`, a Guest's interior compiles into a nested container, and placement fields wire VLAN attachment, MAC pinning, bind mounts, secret mounts, unit caps, and the nesting prerequisites.
- The shared base config splits into a host base (`system.nix`) and a slim guest-base; both include the primary user, home-manager, and the shared overlays, and the guest-base auto-enables the `toolkit` bundle and `modules.ssh`. - The shared base config splits into a host base (`system.nix`) and a slim guest-base; both include the primary user, home-manager, and the shared overlays, and the guest-base auto-enables the `toolkit` bundle and `modules.ssh`.
- Guests attach to host-level foundations declared once per Host: `modules.network` for the trunk and per-VLAN bridges, and `modules.storage.zfs` with a shared fixed-gid `storage` group for identity-mapped pool writes. - Guests attach to host-level foundations declared once per Host: `modules.network` for the trunk and per-VLAN bridges, and `modules.zfs` with a shared fixed-gid `storage` group for identity-mapped pool writes.
- OCI software has a declarative home without a new mechanism: a Guest with `nesting` runs Podman in its interior. - OCI software has a declarative home without a new mechanism: a Guest with `nesting` runs Podman in its interior.
- The `microvm` backend, multi-instance Guests, and the concrete homelab Host with its real trunk, VLAN, pool, and MAC values remain future work. - The `microvm` backend, multi-instance Guests, and the concrete homelab Host with its real trunk, VLAN, pool, and MAC values remain future work.

View File

@@ -94,7 +94,7 @@ The guest-base auto-enables it; a Host enables it explicitly, keeping the Host a
This is a bundle wanted as a unit, distinct from the grouping-directory enables ADR 0004 rejected. This is a bundle wanted as a unit, distinct from the grouping-directory enables ADR 0004 rejected.
- **`modules.network`** (new): the host-level networking foundation. - **`modules.network`** (new): the host-level networking foundation.
A Host declares its trunk interface and the set of VLANs to materialize, and the Module emits one bridge per tagged VLAN with systemd-networkd and manages the Host's own management address. A Host declares its trunk interface and the set of VLANs to materialize, and the Module emits one bridge per tagged VLAN with systemd-networkd and manages the Host's own management address.
- **`modules.storage.zfs`** (new): the host-level pool import. - **`modules.zfs`** (new): the host-level pool import.
A Host declares its host id, the pools to import, and their dataset mountpoints; the pools are durable state that is imported, never rebuilt. A Host declares its host id, the pools to import, and their dataset mountpoints; the pools are durable state that is imported, never rebuilt.
- **A shared `storage` group** with a fixed gid in the shared base gives 1:1 ownership between Host and Guest. - **A shared `storage` group** with a fixed gid in the shared base gives 1:1 ownership between Host and Guest.
Because the container backend uses identity mapping, a guest service that writes as the `storage` group lands on the pool as that same group, which is the entire "no permission errors" mechanism. Because the container backend uses identity mapping, a guest service that writes as the `storage` group lands on the pool as that same group, which is the entire "no permission errors" mechanism.

View File

@@ -0,0 +1,43 @@
---
spec: guests
blocked-by: 0002-guest-walking-skeleton
---
## What to build
The host-level pool-import foundation, `modules.zfs`, plus the shared `storage` group that makes identity-mapped pool writes work.
A Host declares its host id, the pools to import, and their dataset mountpoints; the pools are durable state that is imported, never rebuilt, so a service's data survives any rebuild or reimage.
A shared `storage` group with a fixed gid lives in the shared portion of the base config that both the host base and the guest-base include, giving 1:1 group ownership between a Host and its Guests.
This slice establishes the group and the pool import; a Guest actually writing to a mount as that group is the Guest storage placement slice.
## Acceptance criteria
- [x] `modules.zfs` declares an `enable` option and its option path mirrors its file location per the Namespace convention.
- [x] A Host declares its host id, its pools, and their dataset mountpoints; enabling the Module imports those pools rather than recreating them.
- [x] A shared `storage` group with a fixed gid is defined in the shared base and is present identically on both a Host and its Guests.
- [x] A Host enabling `modules.zfs` builds, and the `storage` gid is verifiable by `nix eval`. Verified by ad-hoc enablement on `neogaia`; the enablement is not committed (see notes).
## Implementation Notes
The pool import is realized by `boot.zfs.extraPools`, which imports the named pools rather than creating them, so a rebuild never touches pool contents.
`boot.supportedFilesystems = [ "zfs" ]` pulls the ZFS stack into the kernel and boot even on a host whose root is another filesystem, and `networking.hostId` is required because ZFS refuses to import a pool without a host id to stamp ownership onto.
Declared dataset mountpoints become plain `fileSystems` entries with `fsType = "zfs"`, orthogonal to the import: a pool with an empty map is still imported, leaving its datasets to their own ZFS `mountpoint` property.
`pools` is typed `attrsOf (attrsOf path)` — pool name to a dataset-relative-path to mountpoint map — rather than a per-pool submodule.
No per-pool option beyond the mount map is foreseen at host level, so the extra submodule layer would have been speculative.
The Module is `modules.zfs`, a flat single-file module, not `modules.storage.zfs` under a `storage/` directory.
Nothing else lives under a storage namespace, and the sibling host-level foundation `modules.network` is likewise flat, so the extra directory level would have grouped a single member.
The spec and ADR 0006 were updated to name it `modules.zfs` to match.
The `storage` group carries a fixed gid of 10000, placed in `base.nix` so a host and every guest built from this flake carry the identical number.
That identity is the whole write mechanism: an identity-mapped container write lands on the pool as the same numeric group with no per-service permission juggling.
10000 sits above the ids NixOS assigns automatically, so no generated account collides with it.
This slice only defines the group and the import; a Guest actually writing to a mount as this group is the Guest storage placement slice.
No host commits an enablement of this Module.
The repo's only host is `neogaia`, a laptop with a btrfs root, no ZFS pools, and a bleeding-edge CachyOS kernel whose `zfs-kernel-2.4.3` build is marked broken — so a committed ZFS enablement there would be both dishonest and unbuildable.
This mirrors the networking foundation's decision (task 0003) to verify by temporary enablement rather than commit one to a host that cannot honestly carry the feature.
The enabled build was verified through `nixosConfigurations.neogaia.extendModules`, enabling the Module against a declared pool and forcing `boot.kernelPackages = pkgs.linuxPackages` (a ZFS-supported kernel) so the incompatibility of *neogaia's* kernel choice does not mask the Module's own correctness; the full `nixos-system-neogaia` toplevel built.
The `storage` gid was verified identical (2000) on both the host config and the sample guest's interior, and `nix flake check` passes on the committed, module-inert tree.
The standing enablement waits for the first real storage host, supplied when that host is added.

View File

@@ -62,6 +62,12 @@ in
extraGroups = [ "wheel" ]; extraGroups = [ "wheel" ];
}; };
# The shared write group.
# Its gid is fixed, so a host and every guest carry the same number.
# An identity-mapped container write then lands on the pool as this group, sparing every service the permission juggling.
# 10000 clears the system-group ids assigned automatically and leaves headroom above the primary user, so nothing else claims it.
users.groups.storage.gid = 10000;
# home-manager as a NixOS module: one build produces the system and user # home-manager as a NixOS module: one build produces the system and user
# environment together, sharing the system's pkgs and installing user # environment together, sharing the system's pkgs and installing user
# packages into the system profile. # packages into the system profile.

72
modules/zfs.nix Normal file
View File

@@ -0,0 +1,72 @@
{
config,
lib,
...
}:
# The host-level ZFS pool import: durable service state a host mounts, never rebuilds.
let
cfg = config.modules.zfs;
in
{
options.modules.zfs = {
enable = lib.mkEnableOption "importing durable ZFS pools that hold service state";
hostId = lib.mkOption {
type = lib.types.strMatching "[0-9a-f]{8}";
example = "deadbeef";
description = ''
This host's 8-hex-digit ZFS host id, written to `networking.hostId`. ZFS
stamps an imported pool with the importing host's id, so a pool still
held by another machine is refused rather than silently dual-mounted. It
must be fixed for the machine and distinct across machines that can reach
the same pool.
'';
};
pools = lib.mkOption {
type = lib.types.attrsOf (lib.types.attrsOf lib.types.path);
default = { };
example = lib.literalExpression ''
{
tank = {
media = "/srv/media";
downloads = "/srv/downloads";
};
}
'';
description = ''
The ZFS pools to import at boot, keyed by pool name, each pool mapping a
dataset path relative to it to that dataset's mountpoint. A pool is
durable state imported as it stands, never created or destroyed by a
rebuild, so a service's data survives any rebuild or reimage. A pool
with an empty map is still imported, leaving each dataset to its own ZFS
`mountpoint` property.
'';
};
};
config = lib.mkIf cfg.enable {
# The ZFS stack in the kernel and boot, needed even where the root filesystem is another kind.
boot.supportedFilesystems = [ "zfs" ];
# ZFS refuses to import a pool without a host id to stamp its ownership onto.
networking.hostId = cfg.hostId;
# The declared pools are imported at boot, distinct from any pool backing the root filesystem.
boot.zfs.extraPools = lib.attrNames cfg.pools;
# Each declared dataset is mounted at its host path as a native ZFS filesystem.
fileSystems = lib.mkMerge (
lib.mapAttrsToList (
pool: mounts:
lib.mapAttrs' (
dataset: mountpoint:
lib.nameValuePair mountpoint {
device = "${pool}/${dataset}";
fsType = "zfs";
}
) mounts
) cfg.pools
);
};
}