Base NixOS 25.05 (by Epok Systems)

Welcome to Base NixOS 25.05, a production-ready Amazon Machine Image (AMI) engineered for modern cloud infrastructure on Amazon Web Services (AWS). Built on NixOS 25.05, the latest stable release of the revolutionary immutable Linux distribution, this AMI combines cutting-edge technology with enterprise-grade security practices to deliver a robust, reliable, and reproducible cloud computing foundation.

Why NixOS for Cloud Infrastructure?

NixOS represents the future of Linux distributions, offering an immutable, declarative approach to system configuration that eliminates configuration drift and ensures perfect reproducibility across environments. Unlike traditional Linux distributions, NixOS treats your entire system configuration as code, enabling you to version control, test, and deploy infrastructure changes with confidence.

Enterprise Security Hardening

This AMI comes pre-configured with security best practices out of the box:

• Firewall Enabled: Built-in firewall protection to secure your instances from unauthorized access
• SSH Hardening: Password authentication disabled, root login disabled, ensuring only key-based authentication
• Minimal Attack Surface: Only essential services enabled, reducing potential vulnerabilities
• ECDSA Key Support: Modern cryptographic standards with ECDSA key support (RSA deprecated)

Cloud-Optimized Configuration

Designed specifically for AWS EC2 environments:

• Default User: Pre-configured ec2-user account with sudo privileges, ready for immediate use
• Cloud-Init Compatible: Seamless integration with AWS cloud-init for automated instance configuration
• Minimal Footprint: Lightweight installation optimized for cost-effective cloud deployments
• XRDP + KDE Plasma Ready: Optional desktop environment support for remote graphical access

Key Features & Benefits

• Immutable Infrastructure: Roll back to any previous system state instantly, ensuring reliability and consistency
• Declarative Configuration: Define your entire system in /etc/nixos/configuration.nix - version control your infrastructure
• Reproducible Builds: Deploy identical systems across development, staging, and production environments
• Powerful Package Management: Access to thousands of packages from the NixOS package repository
• Infrastructure as Code: Perfect integration with Terraform, Ansible, and other IaC tools
• DevOps Ready: Ideal for CI/CD pipelines, containerization, and modern software development workflows
• Desktop Environment Support: Optional XRDP + KDE Plasma for remote desktop access when needed
• Easy Deployment: Launch and configure in minutes, not hours

Use Cases

• Infrastructure as Code Projects: Build reproducible, version-controlled infrastructure
• DevOps & CI/CD Pipelines: Consistent build and deployment environments
• Development Environments: Reproducible development setups across teams
• Security-Critical Applications: Hardened base for applications requiring enhanced security
• Cloud-Native Applications: Modern containerized and microservices architectures
• Remote Desktop Solutions: XRDP-enabled instances for remote graphical access
• Testing & Staging Environments: Identical environments from development to production
• Educational & Training: Learn immutable infrastructure and declarative system management

Getting Started

1. Launch an EC2 instance using this AMI
2. Connect via SSH using your ECDSA key with the default ec2-user account
3. Customize /etc/nixos/configuration.nix to match your requirements
4. Run sudo nixos-rebuild switch to apply changes
5. (Optional) Enable XRDP + KDE Plasma by uncommenting the XRDP module in configuration.nix

Technical Specifications

• OS: NixOS 25.05 (latest stable release)
• Architecture: x86_64
• Default User: ec2-user (with sudo privileges)
• Authentication: SSH key-based (ECDSA recommended)
• Firewall: Enabled by default
• Desktop Environment: KDE Plasma (optional, via XRDP)
• Package Manager: Nix package manager with NixOS channels

Why Choose This AMI?

This AMI saves you hours of configuration time while providing a secure, production-ready foundation for your AWS workloads. Whether you're building immutable infrastructure, implementing Infrastructure as Code practices, or simply need a reliable, secure Linux distribution for your cloud applications, Base NixOS 25.05 delivers the performance, security, and flexibility you need.

Experience the power of immutable infrastructure and declarative system management. Deploy with confidence, scale with ease, and maintain with simplicity.