How to switch an Edge OS appliance between Edge Connect and Edge Core #

Edge OS ships in two variants: Edge Connect (edge-connect, the streaming appliance that connects to a Nimbra Edge core) and Edge Core (edge-core, which runs the Nimbra Edge control plane on an embedded k3s). They are separate OS images with different disk layouts, so switching from one to the other is a reinstall, not a normal software update.

Switching variants reinstalls the OS and wipes the disk — all configuration (including network), inputs/outputs, and data on the appliance are lost. Note down anything you need to recreate first.

Switching an Edge Core appliance to Edge Connect also deletes the Nimbra Edge installation that runs on it, with all its settings, inputs and outputs. The appliances connected to that installation can no longer be managed from it.

Before you start, check that:

The appliance is a physical Nimbra appliance. Edge OS appliances in a cloud cannot switch variant.
The appliance runs Edge OS R4.2.0 or later. If it runs an earlier version, upgrade it first.
The appliance can reach https://artifacts.nimbra.io over the internet. It downloads the new system from there.

Edge Connect → Edge Core #

Reflash in place using the appliance’s System → Updates page.

Open the appliance UI and go to System → Updates.
Expand Advanced upgrade options, open the Switch system role tab and select Switch to Edge Core. Keep Track set to Stable — use a release, not a release candidate — and select Erase and Switch.
The appliance downloads the edge-core installer bundle, which contains the Core disk image, reboots into the installer, repartitions, writes the image, and reboots into Edge Core.

Finish: set up Nimbra Edge #

After Edge Core boots, open the appliance UI on https://<appliance-ip>:9443 — Core serves the bootstrap UI on port 9443, because 80/443 are used by the control-plane ingress. Log in as admin — the default password is the admin password printed on the label on the box, or neti if the box was shipped with NimOS — and complete the Nimbra Edge page, providing the license key, domain, and admin password to bring up the control plane.

Edge Core → Edge Connect #

The same procedure, with the edge-connect installer bundle. On the appliance System → Updates page, select Switch to Edge Connect instead.

After Edge Connect boots, reach the appliance UI on https://<appliance-ip> (Connect uses 80/443) and connect the appliance to your Nimbra Edge core on the Nimbra Edge page (Nimbra Edge URL + appliance secret), as for any Edge Connect appliance.

Notes #

Network is reset: the reinstall wipes the network configuration, so the appliance comes back at factory defaults and must be set up like the first time — DHCP on the wired interfaces, plus the fixed address 192.168.125.125/24 on eno1. Find the appliance via your DHCP server or reach it at 192.168.125.125, then reconfigure addressing as needed.
The appliance UI port differs by variant: Connect → 80/443, Core → 9443.