Getting Started

Getting Started

Get up and running with EderaON in three steps: create an account, get your license, and install.

Read Before You Install first. Edera modifies your bootloader and should only be installed on disposable infrastructure.

Step 1: Create an account

  1. Go to on.edera.dev
  2. Click Create Account
  3. Fill in your details and accept the Limited Use License Agreement
  4. Verify your email address

Step 2: Get your license

  1. Log in to on.edera.dev
  2. Click Create License
  3. Click Show to reveal your license key and image pull commands

Your dashboard provides:

  • License key — used during installation and for pulling images
  • Docker login command — authenticates you to images.edera.dev
  • Docker pull command — pulls the Edera installer image

You can copy your license key or download it as a text file.

Step 3: Install

On your target machine (see supported platforms), run the following:

Run edera-check

Verify your system is ready:

sudo docker run --pull always --pid host --privileged \
  ghcr.io/edera-dev/edera-check:stable preinstall

Authenticate to the Edera registry

Use the docker login command from your dashboard:

sudo docker login -u license -p <YOUR_LICENSE_KEY> images.edera.dev

Pull the installer image 

sudo docker pull images.edera.dev/installer:on-preview@sha256:ab45665541a869cd14a28ea98d6f6098d0a891df1429fb69ea9953e4b0693436

Run the installer 

sudo docker run --rm --privileged --pid=host \
  --env 'TARGET_DIR=/host' \
  --env 'EDERA_LICENSE_KEY=<YOUR_LICENSE_KEY>' \
  --volume '/:/host' \
  --volume '/root/.docker/config.json:/root/.docker/config.json' \
  images.edera.dev/installer:on-preview@sha256:ab45665541a869cd14a28ea98d6f6098d0a891df1429fb69ea9953e4b0693436

The installer will pull and extract Edera components, install the Xen hypervisor and Edera kernel, generate an initramfs, configure GRUB, write your license key, enable services, and reboot the machine.

Verify the installation

After reboot, SSH back in and verify:

# Check you're running the Edera kernel
uname -r
# Expected: 6.x.y-edera

# Check Xen is running
ls /proc/xen
# Expected: directory listing

# Check the daemon is running
sudo systemctl is-active protect-daemon
# Expected: active

Launch a zone 

sudo protect zone launch -n test-zone --wait
sudo protect zone list

Troubleshooting

If the daemon is not running after reboot:

  • Check logs: sudo journalctl -u protect-daemon -n 50
  • Verify Xen booted: ls /proc/xen (if missing, the machine booted into the stock kernel instead of Xen)
  • Verify UEFI boot: [ -d /sys/firmware/efi ] && echo UEFI || echo BIOS

For additional help, file an issue on GitHub.

Next steps

Last updated on
Before You InstallAWS EC2 Guide