Operating System

Learn about Hephaestus, our NixOS-based operating system configurations and custom VM images.

Overview

RPCU uses Hephaestus, our NixOS forge, to provide declarative, reproducible operating system configurations optimized for OpenStack infrastructure.

What is Hephaestus?

Hephaestus is our NixOS-based system that provides:

• Declarative Configuration - Define your entire OS configuration as code
• Reproducible Builds - Same configuration always produces identical results
• Atomic Updates - Upgrade or rollback entire system states safely
• Custom Images - VM images optimized for OpenStack and RPCU infrastructure

Key Benefits of NixOS

Declarative Configuration

Everything from packages to system services is defined in Nix configuration files, making infrastructure truly immutable and version-controlled.

Reproducibility

Build the same configuration anywhere and get identical results, eliminating "works on my machine" problems.

Rollback Capability

Every system generation is preserved, allowing instant rollback to previous working states if issues arise.

Strong Consistency

Nix's functional approach ensures dependencies are always correct and conflicts are impossible.