Limits of created ISO in airgapped environments?

[jomeier]

Hi,

from the docs I understand, that Elemental can't build ISO images, that work in airgapped environments.

Is that correct?

Could you explain, where this limitation comes from, please? Which components require an internet connection for what?

Will Elemental be able to create ISO Images, that work in air gapped environments in the near future? Similar to how SUSE Edge Image Builder can do that already?

This is a very important use case.

Thanks and greetings,

Josef

[frelon]

Hi @jomeier!

The ISO images extract their own root filesystem to the target system, which means they should work in airgapped scenario. The installer can also extract other images (OCI, tarball) if instructed in the install command, and then there will have to be a connection to the registry.

Hope this helps!

[jomeier]

@frelon
Thanks for the quick answer. This sounds good.
So that means, that we could also Package Kubernetes and Kubernetes apps and their Container Images together in the ISO, for example Longhorn Storage without needing the Internet to do so at Installation time?

[frelon]

@frelon
Thanks for the quick answer. This sounds good.
So that means, that we could also Package Kubernetes and Kubernetes apps and their Container Images together in the ISO, for example Longhorn Storage without needing the Internet to do so at Installation time?

Absolutely, you can use the --overlay flag in build-iso/customize command to include files and also the --install-overlay flag to pass the overlay info to the automatic installation. I'm not sure we test the entire chain yet so if you run into any issues we are happy to receive feedback!

[jomeier]

Cool! We would be eager to test it. Currently it seems not to be possible, because the build procedure of the ISO requires a VPN Connection to SUSE, but as soon as it is possible, we will test it and provide feedback ☺️Von meinem iPhone gesendetAm 11.09.2025 um 23:33 schrieb Fredrik Lönnegren ***@***.***>:frelon left a comment (SUSE/elemental#172) @frelon Thanks for the quick answer. This sounds good. So that means, that we could also Package Kubernetes and Kubernetes apps and their Container Images together in the ISO, for example Longhorn Storage without needing the Internet to do so at Installation time? Absolutely, you can use the --overlay flag in build-iso/customize command to include files and also the --install-overlay flag to pass the overlay info to the automatic installation. I'm not sure we test the entire chain yet so if you run into any issues we are happy to receive feedback! —Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub, or unsubscribe.You are receiving this because you were mentioned.Message ID: ***@***.***>

[frelon]

Cool! We would be eager to test it. Currently it seems not to be possible, because the build procedure of the ISO requires a VPN Connection to SUSE, but as soon as it is possible, we will test it and provide feedback ☺️

Nice! We do provide public images based on openSUSE Tumbleweed as well that can be used for testing without needing any VPN: registry.opensuse.org/devel/unifiedcore/tumbleweed/containers/uc-base-os-kernel-default:latest, but you would need to package your own Kubernetes etc.