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is there a reason you can't just boot from usb? it sounds like the perfect match. I've built immutable bootsticks in the past that run in ram only (but with other distros). hetzner for instance lets you rent usb-sticks for their dedicated servers

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FWIW, it’s been a little while since I’ve messed with the low-level details of BIOS/UEFI to kernel+united to USB root disk handoff, but I’m always slightly concerned that the system will mess up and hand off to the wrong device. For a system that uses USB for anything else, this opens up an attack/screwup vector in which the wrong disk gets used, leading to all manner of problems.

Also, an external dangly thing is asking for trouble (getting dislodged). An internal device solves this.

In any case, the Talos people seem to recognize this as a problem and are working on it.

fwiw an internal usb slot isn't unheard of on server-class motherboards.

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