FAQ
I want to try Edera—how do I get access?
Edera 1.0 is now generally available.
If you’re interested in access or becoming one of our design partners, please reach out via our contact form.
What are the system requirements for running Edera?
Edera is designed for flexibility and minimal host dependencies. Since we install a microkernel to manage containers in guest VMs, there are no userspace package requirements on the host.
Currently supported environments include:
- Kubernetes versions: n-3 support (Kubernetes 1.30 – 1.33)
- Azure: Azure Linux 2 and 3 (LTS)
- AWS: EKS with Amazon Linux 2 and 2023
- Linode: Kubernetes with n-3 support
- Linux kernel: 4.x and newer
- Userspace requirements: None — Edera runs in guest VMs with its own microkernel
Edera is built to work with modern Kubernetes environments and cloud-native infrastructure with minimal friction. Have a specific setup in mind? Reach out to us and we’ll help validate it.
How is Edera implemented?
Edera is built on a lightweight hypervisor derived from Xen, with most components rewritten in Rust to meet modern cloud-native needs.
At the core of Edera’s architecture is the concept of zones — lightweight virtual machines that each run their own Linux kernel and a minimal init service. These zones are made up of a kernel and system extensions, all delivered as standard OCI images.
Instead of relying on heavyweight virtualization, Edera uses Linux’s built-in paravirtualization (via the Xen PV protocol) to launch zones quickly and run them with near-native performance.
Edera does not require hardware virtualization, which is often unavailable in customer environments. Thanks to paravirtualization, we can still isolate workloads and control resources like memory and interrupts — tasks that normally require hardware support.
When hardware virtualization is available, Edera can use it to match bare-metal performance. Without it, there’s a minor performance tradeoff — but you still get stronger isolation and security than what’s possible with traditional container isolation using namespaces and cgroups.
How do I install Edera?
- For installing on EKS, see our install guide
- For installing on Linode, see our install guide
How does memory ballooning work in Edera?
For a technical deep dive, see our memory ballooning overview.
For usage and configuration details, check out our memory management guide.
Can I demo Edera?
Yes, you can sign up here to get hands-on with Edera. You can also watch a demo of Edera on our YouTube page.
How does Edera work without nested virtualization?
Edera is built around a secure microkernel written in Rust. It introduces a concept called zones, which are lightweight virtual machines.
One of these zones — the root zone — runs your standard node operating system. This means you don’t need to replace or modify your OS. From the root zone, Edera can create and manage other zones that host application workloads. Each zone has its own Linux kernel and dedicated resources, isolated and managed by Edera Protect.
Is this like a stripped-down Linux with gVisor on top?
Not exactly.
gVisor intercepts and emulates syscalls to isolate workloads. Edera operates at a lower level: we manage a full virtualized environment for each zone. There’s no syscall interception — instead, the guest kernel runs in paravirtualized mode using features already built into Linux.
Device drivers function normally, and the hypervisor provides a virtual interface — enabling strong isolation and security without requiring hardware virtualization support.