Features and benefits
Edge Manager is Red Hat’s solution to fleet management, optimized for the network edge and built to support large-scale edge device requirements. It helps close the IT skills gap at the edge, delivering intuitive operations with a user-friendly environment. Edge Manager uses policy-driven, desired-state configuration for both applications and infrastructure.
The solution provides opinionated OS and application-level fleet control, policy-based configurations, and a unified Kubernetes workflow when integrated with Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management for Kubernetes. Key features include infrastructure-level OS control, bootc-based transactional updates (with automatic rollbacks), OS and application catalog, and OS-level lifecycle management. This design, which integrates fleet definition in Git and uses Kubernetes orchestration (via Red Hat OpenShift® or Red Hat build of MicroShift), makes it ideal for managing containerized fleets—especially in disconnected or low-resource environments.
Edge Manager helps customers integrate with existing management systems, supporting remote configuration and over-the-air updates, maximizing the value from thousands of data-generating devices via a centralized management location.
Table 1. Red Hat Edge Manager functions and benefits overview
Functionality | Benefit |
Simple user interface (UI)-driven image building | Guided workflows allow non-IT users to build, deploy, and update Red Hat Enterprise Linux image mode images. This function helps minimize human errors, accelerating the entire image lifecycle and delivering significant gains in fleet management efficiency. |
Declarative approach | By implementing a desired-state configuration model for both applications and infrastructure, a declarative approach helps support edge device management through policy-driven deployment. This approach supports consistent and scalable deployments and maximizes operational efficiency. |
Flexible enrollment methods for early and late bindings | Devices using early binding images connect to the defined service to request enrollment, without depending on any provisioning infrastructure. Alternatively, teams can define the enrollment endpoint and certificate at provisioning time instead of including them in the OS image. |
Agent-based architecture | Supports scalable and comprehensive device management, even with limited network conditions. The agent autonomously manages and monitors the device while periodically communicating with Edge Manager to check for new configurations and report device status. |
Security-focused lifecycle management | Focuses on security for managing edge devices from deployment to decommissioning, including OS and configuration updates and monitoring. |
Security-focused device enrollment | The agent establishes a security-focused, mTLS-protected network connection with the Edge Manager service for device enrollment. |
Resilience pull-mode management | The infrastructure-level OS control, designed with OSTree-based transactional updates and fleet definition in Git, enhances resilience even in disconnected and low-resource environments. |
Application and workload management | Supports the deployment and orchestration of containerized, non-Kubernetes workloads. |
OS and application catalog | Simplifies edge management and deployments, allowing users to click to install or update curated software across the entire fleet, eliminating the need for complex image references. |
Helm application support | Allows fleet administrators to deploy Kubernetes-native applications to edge devices running MicroShift, creating a unified registry for container images and charts. |
Automatic rollbacks | Ensures devices can detect and recover automatically from failed OS updates via rollback mechanisms, maintaining system availability and reducing operational risks. |
Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management for Kubernetes
By integrating Edge Manager with Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management for Kubernetes, IT teams can manage non-Kubernetes workloads and OS configuration on Red Hat Enterprise Linux, alongside Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform.
Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform
Pairing Edge Manager with Red Hat Ansible® Automation Platform creates a powerful control plan for fleet-wide edge operations. Edge Manager provides the foundational OS lifecycle, ensuring consistency and security at scale. Ansible Automation Platform provides the configuration and orchestration of applications and surrounding infrastructure.
