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FOSDEM PWA

TAPPaaS: A resilient, trusted, automated private cloud based on NixOS

UA2.118 (Henriot) | Day 1 | 15:55 - 16:00 | Speakers: Lars

TAPPaaS: A resilient, trusted, automated private cloud based on NixOS
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Notes

Abstract

With TAPPaaS we are building a small, composable private cloud for homes, communities and small organisations. It should feel like an enterprise‑grade packaged solution, but be built fully with FOSS and declarative Nix/NixOS tooling. Our current design is a 2‑node cluster with a third backup node, using Proxmox as cluster manager, NixOS and flakes for all VMs running platform services. All changes go through GitOps workflows, and services are packaged as NixOS modules that share central identity, secrets, backup and monitoring. We will show the architecture, NixOS/Flake deployment structure and CI/CD pipeline, and how declarative configuration helps with upgrades, failures and restores. This talk is for Nix/NixOS users and operators who want to turn homelab ideas into robust platforms for real organisations. We will share what works and where we struggle, and invite experienced nixers to challenge our choices and point us to patterns and tools we should adopt.

Speakers

Lars

Lars Rossen is one of the founders of the tappaas.org initiative. When not working on open source he provides independents executive advisory in the area of Digital Transformation and Standardization.

Before becoming an independent advisor in the spring of 2025 he was the Chief Architect and SVP for engineering of shared services and components at OpenText where he drove the overall OpenText technical strategy and oversaw the shared components and engineering services through which OpenText achieves alignment across its vast commercial services and products. This includes designing, building, and running the digital factory based on IT4IT for all OpenText engineering. Lars also oversaw OpenText’s hyperscaler and platform strategy and associated platform architecture, as well as UX strategy, performance engineering, DocOps and internationalization programs Lars created the first version of the IT4IT™ Reference Architecture which formed the basis for the standard in The Open Group, and Lars continues to be the lead architect for the IT4IT initiative. This forms a foundation for delivering an open and composable digital factory based on value stream thinking. Lars have published numerous white papers on IT management, and holds 5 patents on technology management. Before OpenText Lars Rossen was the Group CTO for Micro Focus. In this role he was driving the overall Micro Focus technology and integration strategy. as well as driving the implementation of the Digital Factory for Micro Focus. Before joining Micro Focus, Lars was a Fellow at Hewlett Packard Enterprise where he worked for the CTO organization. He defined the software portfolio architecture and strategy. Lars was also part of the core team that defined HPE's CloudSystem strategy and associated solution portfolio. This included creating the innovative Hybrid Cloud Management product suite. Prior to joining the portfolio strategy office, Lars headed up HPE’s Operational Support System practice for Europe, Middle East and Africa. Lars holds an MS in engineering, an executive MBA with focus on technology management, and a PhD in computer science from the technical University of Denmark. Lars currently calls Copenhagen his home, but has lived in HongKong, Scotland and California.

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