Edge servers with 1 GB of RAM and a unreliable, slow uplink need more than a general-purpose container tool. In this guide, we’ll look at nerdctl, balenaEngine, Incus, systemd-nspawn, and K3s, including how to install each tool and when it makes more sense than Podman.
Imagine you manage a few dozen small ARM boxes in shops, each with limited flash storage and a 4G connection that drops several times a day. Podman can run containers on these devices perfectly fine.
But it doesn’t help with edge-specific problems such as interrupted image pulls that fail halfway on a weak link or devices that need to be managed as a group or running lightweight system containers.