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https://github.com/svanderburg/disnix

Disnix: A Nix-based distributed service deployment tool
https://github.com/svanderburg/disnix

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Disnix: A Nix-based distributed service deployment tool

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README 

        
Disnix

======

Disnix is a distributed service deployment extension for the Nix package manager.



Nix builds packages from Nix expressions and manages intra-dependencies on 

single systems. Disnix extends the Nix approach to distributed service-oriented

systems by managing inter-dependencies  of a distributed system and performs the

distribution and activation of distributed system components.



It uses Nix expressions that capture the services, the infrastructure and the

distribution of services to machines to automate the entire deployment process.



Prerequisites

=============

In order to build Disnix from source code, the following packages are required:



* [libxml2](http://xmlsoft.org)

* [libxslt](http://xmlsoft.org)

* [glib](https://developer.gnome.org/glib)



When building directly from a Git clone, you also need:



* [help2man](https://www.gnu.org/software/help2man)

* [doclifter](http://www.catb.org/esr/doclifter)



To be able to build software with Disnix, Nix and Nixpkgs are required:



* [Nix](http://www.nixos.org/nix)

* [Nixpkgs](http://www.nixos.org/nixpkgs)



To run the Disnix service you need the following packages:



* [Dysnomia](https://github.com/svanderburg/dysnomia), for activation and deactivation of services

* [OpenSSH](http://www.openssh.org), for using the `disnix-ssh-client`



These dependencies can be acquired with the Nix package manager, your host

system's package manager or be compiled from sources. Consult the documentation

of your distribution or the corresponding packages for more information.



Installation

============

Disnix is a typical autotools based package which can be compiled and installed

by running the following commands in a shell session:



```bash

$ ./configure

$ make

$ make install

```



When building from the Git repository, you should run the bootstrap script

first:



```bash

$ ./bootstrap

```



For more information about using the autotools setup or for customizing the

configuration, take a look at the `./INSTALL` file.



Disnix must be installed on a *coordinator* machine that initiates deployment as

well as all *target* machines in the network to which service components can be

deployed.



On the target machines, you must also run the `disnix-service` to make deployment

operations remotely accessible. The Disnix service requires a protocol wrapper

to actually do this. The default wrapper in the Disnix distribution is the SSH

wrapper. More information on this can be found in the Disnix manual.



Moreover, it also requires Dysnomia to be installed so that services can

activated and deactivated.



The coordinator machine requires the presence of a copy of Nixpkgs to make

building of service components possible. In order to find the location of

Nixpkgs, the `NIX_PATH` environment variable must be refer to the location where

Nixpkgs is stored. This can be done by running the following command-line

instruction:



```bash

$ export NIX_PATH="nixpkgs=/path/to/nixpkgs"

```



On NixOS, this environment variable has already been configured.



Usage

=====

In order to deploy a service-oriented system, a developer has to write Nix

expressions that capture the *services* of which a distributed system consists,

the *infrastructure* that descibes the machines in a network (including their

properties) and a *distribution* of service components to machines in the

network.



By invoking `disnix-env` with these Nix expressions as parameters, services are

automatically built from source code (including all its intra-dependencies),

distributed to the target machines and activated in the right order. In case of a

failure a rollback is performed:



```bash

$ disnix-env -s services.nix -i infrastructure.nix -d distribution.nix

```



See the tutorials on the webpage for more information on deploying a

service-oriented system with Disnix.



Disnix itself has a modular architecture, which supports various extensions that

can be used to make integration with the host environment better and deployment

activities more convenient. Refer to the Disnix manual to see what extensions can

be used.



Manual

======

Disnix has a nice Docbook manual that can be compiled yourself. However, it is

also available [online](http://hydra.nixos.org/job/disnix/disnix-trunk/tarball/latest/download-by-type/doc/manual).



License

=======

Disnix is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms

of the [GNU Lesser General Public License](http://www.gnu.org/licenses/lgpl.html)

as published by the [Free Software Foundation](http://www.fsf.org) either version

2.1 of the License, or (at your option) any later version. Disnix is distributed

in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the

implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the

GNU Lesser General Public License for more details.