Overview
This section explains the ideas you need before configuring a device: how the OS is structured, how persistence works, and which platforms are supported.
A managed, reconciled operating system
SPEKTRA Edge OS is designed to be operated remotely and at scale. Instead of logging into each device to make changes by hand, you describe the desired state of a device on the SPEKTRA Edge platform, and the device continuously reconciles itself to match. This is the same model whether you manage one device or thousands.
Two consequences are worth keeping in mind from the start:
- The system runs from a read-only image. The core operating system is not meant to be modified in place. This keeps every device in a known, consistent state and makes upgrades and rollback reliable.
- Your configuration and data live on separate, persistent storage. Anything you need to keep across reboots is stored outside the system image.
How persistence works
Understanding what persists is the single most useful thing to know about the OS, because it explains why some changes “disappear” and others stick.
There are three kinds of storage on a device:
| Storage area | Contents | Survives reboot? | Survives OS upgrade? |
|---|---|---|---|
System image/isodevice/isos | The operating system itself | Yes (read-only) | Replaced by the new version |
Configuration/isodevice/config | Device identity, network, storage, time, and other settings; administrator password; boot/shutdown hooks | Yes | Yes |
Data/isodevice/data | Container images, workload data, logs | Yes | Yes |
The practical rules that follow:
- Ad-hoc changes to the live system do not persist. If you log into a device and edit a file that belongs to the system image, your change is gone after the next reboot. This is intentional.
- To make a durable change, use the configuration mechanisms described in this guide — the dashboard/API for most settings, and files in the configuration area for the rest.
- Upgrades and rollback are safe by design. Because the system image is swapped as a unit while your configuration and data are preserved, you can move between OS versions without losing your setup. See OS upgrades.
If a manual change to a device reverted after a reboot, it almost certainly modified the read-only system image. Apply the change through configuration instead so it is reapplied automatically on every boot.
Settings supplied as files
Most configuration reaches a device through the dashboard or the API. A few
things are instead provided as files in /isodevice/config, which is why they
survive both reboots and upgrades.
| Setting | File on the device | Documented in |
|---|---|---|
| Storage mapping | /isodevice/config/disk_mapping.yaml | Storage |
| Network configuration | /isodevice/config/interfaces.yaml (Netplan format) | Networking |
| Time / NTP | /isodevice/config/chrony.conf | Time synchronization |
| Boot / shutdown hooks | Executable scripts in /isodevice/config/hooks/ | Boot & shutdown hooks |
File-based configuration exists for the cases the dashboard does not cover, such as hooks, and for baking defaults into an image. For anything the dashboard or API can set, prefer that route so the configuration is centrally tracked. When disk encryption is enabled, these files are protected at rest.
Supported platforms
SPEKTRA Edge OS is built for the hardware families below. When you create an image or register hardware, the platform identifies the target by its device type, which combines the hardware family with the CPU architecture.
| Hardware family | CPU architecture | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Generic | x86-64 | Standard UEFI x86-64 hardware and virtual machines. |
| Raspberry Pi | ARM64 | Boots via Raspberry Pi firmware. |
The device type determines which OS images are compatible with a given device. You select it when creating an install image and when pinning an OS version.
Which device types are actually offered is a property of your SPEKTRA Edge deployment, not a fixed list, so treat the dashboard as authoritative. To see the catalog from the command line:
cuttle devices list device-types -o json
If your hardware is not listed, or you need SPEKTRA Edge management on a Linux machine you already maintain, install the droplet agent instead of the full OS image — see Install the droplet agent. That path manages applications and reporting but leaves the operating system to you.
Related
- Device setup & provisioning — the choices embedded in an install image, which become a device’s starting configuration.
- Storage — the default disk layout, and adding your own partitions and mounts.
Next steps
Continue with device setup & provisioning to bring hardware online, or jump to the area you need from the guide overview.