Hey Elastic folks,
I need help deploying Elastic Cloud Enterprise (ECE) 4.0.3 on a local VM, but the installation consistently fails due to a compatibility error.
Environment
– OS: RHEL 9.7 (VM)
– Container Runtime:
– – Podman 4.x (tested)
– – Podman 5.x (tested)
– Installation Type: Single-node / localhost
– User: Non-root (elastic)
Installation Command
bash <(curl -fsSL https://download.elastic.co/cloud/elastic-cloud-enterprise.sh) install --availability-zone MY_ZONE-1 --memory-settings '{"runner":{"xms":"1G","xmx":"1G"},"allocator":{"xms":"4G","xmx":"4G"},"zookeeper":{"xms":"4G","xmx":"4G"},"director":{"xms":"1G","xmx":"1G"},"constructor":{"xms":"4G","xmx":"4G"},"admin-console":{"xms":"4G","xmx":"4G"}}'
Error Received
[Wed Jan 21 05:58:34 PM PKT 2026] Validating ECE version 4.0 compatibility with OS and Docker/Podman.
[Wed Jan 21 05:58:34 PM PKT 2026] ECE version 4.0.3 is not compatible with RHEL-9 and Docker-podman-remote version 5.2.
Please consult https://www.elastic.co/support/matrix#elastic-cloud-enterprise
Documentation Followed
I have followed the official Elastic documentation for configuring ECE on RHEL hosts:
Link: https://www.elastic.co/docs/deploy-manage/deploy/cloud-enterprise/configure-host-rhel
According to the Elastic Support Matrix for Elastic Cloud Enterprise, RHEL 9 with Podman is listed as supported, which is why I expected this installation to work.
Link: Support Matrix | Elastic
Issue / Question
According to the installer, ECE 4.0.3 is not compatible with RHEL 9 and Podman 4.x/5.x. I would like clarification on this.
– Can you confirm whether ECE 4.0.x is officially supported on RHEL 9 with Podman?
– Is this a known installer validation issue with newer Podman versions (4.x / 5.x)?
– Are there any workarounds or installer flags to bypass this compatibility check?
– Is this a known ECE 4.0.x installer bug?
Any clarification or guidance would be greatly appreciated.
Elastic Orchestration > Elastic Cloud Enterprise (ECE) #rhel9 #podman