Installing Atomic Server on nixOS Latest

In this tutorial, we will walk you through the steps to install Atomic Server on the latest version of nixOS.

Prerequisites

• A Linux-based operating system
• A user account with sudo privileges
• Basic knowledge of the command line interface

Step 1: Install nixOS

If you haven't already installed nixOS on your system, install it by following the appropriate guide for your system.

• For VirtualBox users: https://nixos.wiki/wiki/VirtualBox.
• For users who want to dual boot: https://nixos.org/manual/nixos/stable/#partitioning

Step 2: Install Rustup

Rustup is a tool that installs Rust on your system. To install Rustup, open your terminal and run the following command:

 curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -sSf https://sh.rustup.rs | sh

This command will download and run an installation script. Follow the prompts to complete the installation process.

Step 3: Clone the Atomic Server repository

You need to clone the Atomic Server repository from GitHub. Open your terminal and run the following command to clone the repository:

 git clone git@github.com:atomicdata-dev/atomic-data-rust.git

Step 4: Build Atomic Server

Next, navigate to the Atomic Server directory that you just cloned using the following command:

 cd atomic-data-rust/

Then, use cargo to build the server:

 cargo build --release --bin server

Step 5: Create a service for Atomic Server

To create a service for Atomic Server, create a new file in the /etc/nixos/ directory with the name atomic.nix using the following command:

 sudo nano /etc/nixos/atomic.nix

In this file, paste the following:

systemd.services.atomic = {
    description = "Atomic Server";

    wantedBy = [ "multi-user.target" ];

    environment.ATOMIC_RG_CONCURRENCY = "20"; // optional
    environment.ATOMIC_PG_CONCURRENCY = "20"; // optional

    serviceConfig.Type = "simple";
    serviceConfig.ExecStart = "${pkgs.rust}/bin/cargo run --release --bin server";
};

Save and exit the file. This creates a service for Atomic Server that will run on boot.

Step 6: Enable the service

Next, enable the service by adding it to the nixOS configuration file. Open the /etc/nixos/configuration.nix file using the following command:

 sudo nano /etc/nixos/configuration.nix

Add the following to the services section of the file:

 services.atomic = {
    enable = true;
 };

Save and exit the file.

Step 7: Reload the configuration

Lastly, reload the nixOS configuration file to activate the new configuration by running the following command:

 sudo nixos-rebuild switch

Conclusion

At this point, Atomic Server should be installed and running on your nixOS system. You can access the Atomic Server by navigating to localhost:3030 in your web browser.

If you want to self-host in an easy, hands free way, need an external IP address, or simply want your data in your own hands, give IPv6.rs a try!

Alternatively, for the best virtual desktop, try Shells!