malta-workshop/README.md

🍪 CODE CRISPIES Workshop Infrastructure

This repository contains the infrastructure for the Co-op Cloud workshop, providing three distinct deployment environments with dynamic scaling support.

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🚀 Quick Start

# 1. Start the local development virtual machine (default: 3 containers)
make local-vm-run

# 2. Test with different container counts
PARTICIPANTS=2 make local-vm-test    # Lightweight testing
PARTICIPANTS=15 make local-vm-full   # Full workshop simulation

# 3. Build & flash USB drives for participants
make build-usb
make flash-usb USB_DEVICE=/dev/sdX

# 4. Deploy the production cloud infrastructure
export HCLOUD_TOKEN="your_token_here"
make deploy-cloud

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📁 Project Structure

├── flake.nix              # All Nix configurations (USB, VM, containers)
├── terraform/             # Hetzner Cloud infrastructure
├── scripts/deploy.sh      # Cloud setup automation
├── docs/USB_BOOT_INSTRUCTIONS.md
└── Makefile              # Build & deploy commands

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🌍 Three Environments

1. Cloud (Production)

• What: 15 Hetzner VMs named hopper.codecrispi.es, curie.codecrispi.es, etc.
• Purpose: The live environment for workshop participants.
• Participants: hopper, curie, lovelace, noether, hamilton, franklin, johnson, clarke, goldberg, liskov, wing, rosen, shaw, karp, rich

2. USB Boot (Workshop)

• What: A bootable NixOS live environment with SSH client tools.
• Purpose: Used by participants to connect to their cloud servers.
• Features: Pre-configured with helper functions like connect hopper, recipes command, and workshop-specific tooling.

3. Local (Development)

• What: A self-contained Virtual Machine (VM) that runs on your local computer with configurable container count.
• Purpose: Complete local testing environment that mirrors production setup without needing cloud servers.
• Scalability: Supports 1-15 containers via PARTICIPANTS environment variable.

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🔧 Local Development Workflow

1. Choose Your Scale

   # Lightweight development (2 containers)
   PARTICIPANTS=2 make local-vm-run
   
   # Production simulation (15 containers) - requires 8GB+ RAM
   PARTICIPANTS=15 make local-vm-run
   
   # Use default (3 containers) - good balance
   make local-vm-run
   

2. Work Inside the VM All testing is now done inside the VM's graphical desktop:

   • Open the Terminal to run commands.
   • Open Firefox to view the deployed web applications.

3. Example: Deploying WordPress

   In the VM's Terminal, get a root shell and SSH into a participant's container:

   # Become root (no password needed)
   sudo -i
   
   # Connect to participant 1 (hopper)
   connect hopper
   
   # Or direct SSH (password: root)
   ssh root@192.168.100.11
   

   Inside the container, deploy a WordPress site with abra:

   abra app new wordpress -S --domain=blog.hopper.local
   abra app deploy blog.hopper.local
   

   In the VM's Firefox, navigate to http://blog.hopper.local. You will see the WordPress installation screen.

4. Available Helper Commands

   sudo containers    # List all containers with IPs
   sudo logs          # Show setup logs for all containers  
   sudo recipes       # Display available Co-op Cloud recipes
   sudo help          # Show all available commands
   

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🌐 Cloud Deployment

The cloud environment creates 15 production servers:

# Set required environment variables
export HCLOUD_TOKEN="your_hetzner_token"
export HETZNER_DNS_TOKEN="your_dns_token"  
export DNS_ZONE_ID="your_zone_id"

# Deploy all 15 servers
make deploy-cloud

# Check server status
make status-cloud

Each server is accessible at:

• hopper.codecrispi.es
• curie.codecrispi.es
• lovelace.codecrispi.es
• ... (15 total)

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💾 USB Workshop Environment

Build bootable USB drives for participants:

# Build the ISO
make build-usb

# Flash to USB drive (replace /dev/sdX with your device)
make flash-usb USB_DEVICE=/dev/sdb

The USB environment includes:

• Pre-configured SSH client
• connect <name> command to SSH into assigned servers
• recipes command showing available Co-op Cloud applications
• Workshop-specific networking and WiFi helpers

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⚙️ Environment Variables

Control workshop behavior with environment variables:

# Number of containers (1-15, default: 3)
export PARTICIPANTS=5
make local-vm-run

# Workshop domain for cloud deployment
export WORKSHOP_DOMAIN=myworkshop.com

# USB device for flashing
export USB_DEVICE=/dev/sdb

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🧹 Cleanup & Management

# Clean local build artifacts
make clean

# Destroy Hetzner cloud infrastructure  
make destroy-cloud

# Verify VM builds correctly
make check-vm

# Run development tools
make opencode    # Start development environment
make lint        # Code quality checks

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🔑 Prerequisites

• SSH Key: Ed25519 key at ~/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub

  ssh-keygen -t ed25519
  

• Nix: NixOS or Nix package manager with flakes enabled
• Cloud Tokens: Hetzner Cloud API token for deployment
• Resources:
  • 2-3 containers: 4GB+ RAM
  • 5-10 containers: 8GB+ RAM
  • 15 containers: 16GB+ RAM

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🎯 Workshop Flow

1. Preparation: Deploy cloud infrastructure with make deploy-cloud
2. Distribution: Flash USB drives for participants with make build-usb && make flash-usb
3. Workshop: Participants boot from USB and connect to their assigned cloud servers
4. Development: Use local VM with make local-vm-run for testing and development

The architecture ensures participants get identical environments whether connecting from USB boot drives to cloud servers, or testing locally in the development VM.

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🐛 Troubleshooting

VM Won't Start

# Check if build works
make check-vm

# Try with fewer containers
PARTICIPANTS=2 make local-vm-run

Containers Not Accessible

# Check container status inside VM
sudo containers

# View setup logs  
sudo logs

# Manual SSH test
ssh root@192.168.100.11  # Password: root

Abra Not Working in Container

# Inside container, check installation
ls -la /root/.local/bin/abra
export PATH="/root/.local/bin:$PATH"
abra --version