--- title: Operating System Management with Elemental --- Elemental enables cloud-native host management. Elemental allows you to onboard any machine in any location, whether its in a datacenter or on the edge, and integrate them seamlessly into Kubernetes while managing your workflows (e.g., OS updates). ## Elemental with Rancher Elemental in Rancher: - Is Kubernetes native, which allows you to manage the OS via Elemental in Kubernetes clusters. - Is nondisruptive from a Kubernetes operational perspective. - Is declarative and GitOps friendly. - Allows OCI Image-based flows, which are trusted, deterministic, and predictable. - Works at scale. It enables fleet-sized OS management. ### When should I use Elemental? - Elemental enables cloud-native OS management from Rancher manager. It works with any OS (e.g., SLE Micro vanilla). - Elemental allows cloud-native management for machines in datacenters and on the edge. - Elemental is flexible and allows platform teams to perform all kind of workflows across their fleet of machines. ## Elemental with Rancher Prime - Deeply integrated already as GUI Extension in Rancher. - Extends the Rancher story to the OS. Working perfectly with SLE Micro for Rancher today.