cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/14160134

I want to reset my server soon and I’m toying with the idea of using a different operating system. I am currently using Ubuntu Server LTS. However, I have been toying with the idea of using Fedora Server (I use Fedora on my laptop and made good experiences with it) or even Fedora CoreOS. I also recently installed NixOS on my desktop computer and find the declarativeness pretty cool (but I’m still a complete beginner) and could imagine that it would fit well into a server setup.

I have quite a few services running on my server, such as Nextcloud, Conduit (Matrix), Jellyfin, etc. and all in containers. I would also rather not install programs without containers, because 1. compose is super easy to maintain and set up, 2. it remains very clear with containers (and compose) and 3. I believe that containers are more secure. But since I also want to make the services inside the containers available, I currently have Nginx installed as a reverse proxy (not in the container, but on the system) and always create certificates with certbot so that I can use HTTPS encryption.

In the paragraph above I actually described exactly the use-case of Fedora CoreOS, but I have no experience with the system and how it works. That’s why I’m still a bit hesitant at considering the OS at the moment. I can imagine that NixOS with its declarative nature seems well suited, since, as I have heard, you can configure containers as well as Nginx and with Nginx also https certificates declaratively. But I could also use a base system like before (Fedora Server or Ubuntu Server) and simply install podman, nginx and certbot and manage everything that way.

Have you had any experience with Fedora Server, Fedora CoreOS, NixOS or a completely different operating system for servers and what are/were your impressions with this setup? Or do you just want to share your knowledge here? I would be delighted.

  • MoritzOPEnglish
    1•1 month ago

    Like you, I also planned to use containers for most everything, but… I eventually decided not to.

    What was your reasoning for not using containers?

    • @algernon
      4•1 month ago

      Better NixOS integration, less resources used, similar levels of containment. The containers I planned to use don’t provide any additional safety than the system services. In many cases, I could harden the system services more. Like, if a container has a /bin/bash in it, it’s hard to remove that, while I can pretty easily prevent my systemd service from accessing it.

      Like, systemd.services.<name>.confinement is pretty darn strong. If enabled, NixOS will set up a tmpfs-based chroot with just the required runtime store paths for the service. Good luck doing something similar in a container!