Track nix-cache's real deployment as lxc-nix-cache, not proxmox-nix-cache

The old proxmox-nix-cache VM was destroyed and nix-cache is being
redeployed as an LXC container going forward. Without this update,
create-proxmox-resource.sh's duplicate-host check (which only reads this
static list, not live Proxmox state) kept refusing to create
lxc-nix-cache even though nothing named nix-cache actually exists on the
node anymore.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Sonnet 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>

README.md

@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ list:
 | `linode-minimal` | Minimal NixOS host profile on a Linode VPS (real, deployed) |
 | `proxmox-minimal` | Minimal NixOS host profile on Proxmox (real, deployed — previously the flat `nix-minimal` target) |
 | `lxc-minimal` | Minimal NixOS host profile in a Proxmox LXC container |
-| `linode-nix-cache` / `proxmox-nix-cache` / `lxc-nix-cache` | Local Nix binary cache and remote builder (`proxmox-nix-cache` is the real, deployed one — previously the flat `nix-cache` target) |
+| `linode-nix-cache` / `proxmox-nix-cache` / `lxc-nix-cache` | Local Nix binary cache and remote builder (`lxc-nix-cache` is the real, deployed one — previously `proxmox-nix-cache`, itself previously the flat `nix-cache` target) |
 | `linode-server` / `proxmox-server` / `lxc-server` | Storage, NFS, backup, and monitoring exporter host (`proxmox-server` is the real, deployed one — previously the flat `server` target) |
 | `linode-docker` / `proxmox-docker` / `lxc-docker` | Docker host for the main container stack (`proxmox-docker` is the real, deployed one — previously the flat `docker` target) |
 | `linode-gui` / `proxmox-gui` / `lxc-gui` | Cinnamon desktop workstation (`proxmox-gui` is the real, deployed one — previously the flat `nixos` target) |

docs/nix-cache.md

@@ -59,6 +59,15 @@ On `nix-cache`, install the matching public key used by `nixremote` authorized k
 The committed `nixremote` authorized keys are public SSH keys only. Keep the
 matching private keys on client hosts and out of the repository.
 
+nix-cache's own SSH *host* key is trusted declaratively via
+`programs.ssh.knownHosts` in `modules/nix-cache/remote-builder-client.nix`,
+sourced from `vars.nixCacheHostKey` (`variables.nix`) — every client rebuild
+picks it up automatically, so distributed builds don't fail with "Host key
+verification failed" on a client that has never manually SSH'd to nix-cache
+before. If nix-cache's host key is ever rotated or the host rebuilt from
+scratch, update `vars.nixCacheHostKey` to match its new
+`/etc/ssh/ssh_host_ed25519_key.pub`.
+
 ## Manual verification
 
 After deployment:

modules/common/aliases.nix

@@ -17,6 +17,26 @@ let
       --refresh \
       --flake git+https://${vars.lanDomain}/beatzaplenty/nixos.git#$(cat /etc/flake-target)
   '';
+
+  # lxc-* hosts pre-seed their SSH host key at build time (see
+  # modules/platforms/lxc.nix) so sops-nix's .sops.yaml recipient matches on
+  # first boot -- without it, secrets permanently fail to decrypt (see that
+  # file's comment for the confirmed failure). That requires --impure plus
+  # NIXOS_HOST_KEYS_DIR pointing at the repo's host-keys/ dir, same pattern
+  # docs/auto-installer.md uses for the installer ISO. A function, not a
+  # shellAlias, since the target name has to interpolate into the middle of
+  # the flake attribute path, not just append after it. Must be run from the
+  # repo root, same as every other host-keys/ command in this repo.
+  buildImageFn = ''
+    buildImage() {
+      if [ -z "$1" ]; then
+        echo "usage: buildImage <flake-target>  (e.g. lxc-docker)" >&2
+        return 1
+      fi
+      NIXOS_HOST_KEYS_DIR="$(pwd)/host-keys" nix build --impure \
+        ".#nixosConfigurations.$1.config.system.build.tarball"
+    }
+  '';
 in
 {
   programs.bash = {
@@ -25,5 +45,6 @@ in
       "Switch-nix" = mySwitchCmd;
       "Test-nix" = myTestCmd;
     };
+    initExtra = buildImageFn;
   };
 }

modules/nix-cache/remote-builder-client.nix

@@ -5,6 +5,14 @@
   #   sudo install -d -m 0700 /root/.ssh
   #   sudo install -m 0600 ./nixremote /root/.ssh/nixremote
   #   sudo ssh -i /root/.ssh/nixremote nixremote@nix-cache nix-store --version
+  # Trust nix-cache's SSH host key declaratively so the nix-daemon (root)
+  # can connect the first time without a manual ssh-keyscan/known_hosts
+  # step on every new client.
+  programs.ssh.knownHosts.${vars.nixCacheHost} = {
+    hostNames = [ vars.nixCacheHost ];
+    publicKey = vars.nixCacheHostKey;
+  };
+
   nix = {
     distributedBuilds = true;
 

variables.nix

@@ -19,6 +19,15 @@
 
   remoteBuilderUser = "nixremote"; # remote builder SSH user
 
+  # nix-cache's own SSH host public key (not a secret — the private half
+  # never leaves the host). Wired into every client's
+  # programs.ssh.knownHosts by modules/nix-cache/remote-builder-client.nix
+  # so distributed builds don't hit "Host key verification failed" on a
+  # fresh client that has never manually ssh'd to nix-cache before. Update
+  # this if nix-cache's host key is ever rotated or the host is rebuilt
+  # from scratch.
+  nixCacheHostKey = "ssh-ed25519 AAAAC3NzaC1lZDI1NTE5AAAAIHrMKZlIGUd3pH9G3AqbsruqUGjxIXMAZw52u9MwiBCn lxc-nix-cache";
+
   # Public keys authorized to SSH in as remoteBuilderUser on the nix-cache
   # host (modules/nix-cache/server.nix) — one per client host that's allowed
   # to use it as a distributed builder.
@@ -157,7 +166,7 @@
   deployedTargets = [
     "linode-minimal"
     "proxmox-minimal"
-    "proxmox-nix-cache"
+    "lxc-nix-cache"
     "proxmox-server"
     "proxmox-docker"
     "proxmox-gui"