SwarmPilot

ℹ️ For all that are currently using the suitdeer/syncthing4swarm-docker image, please switch to syncthing4swarm/syncthing4swarm-docker image. (My pull request repository was merged into the main repository 😄)

1. Update the syncthing4swarm.yaml file inside the SwarmPilot folder.

   Replace the the line image: suitdeer/syncthing4swarm:latest

   with image: syncthing4swarm/syncthing4swarm:latest

2. Update the syncthing4swarm docker service:

   cd SwarmPilot
   sudo docker stack deploy --resolve-image=always -c syncthing4swarm.yaml syncthing4swarm

For all that are new (after 07.03.2026) you do not need to do anything 😄

Deploy your Swarm cluster with one script — automatically

SwarmPilot helps you to deploy a high available docker swarm cluster from 1 to 9 nodes with the following components:

Components

Docker

Docker is a technology that bundles a software program with all the other software that application needs to run, such as an operating system, third-party software libraries, etc. Software bundled like this is called a container.

Keepalived

Used for managing a virtual IP address for all cluster nodes

Syncthing4Swarm

Ensures persistent volume synchronization

Portainer

It provides an intuitive graphical user interface and extensive API for managing resources such as containers, images, and networks via a Web interface 9443 (HTTPS)

Nginx Proxy Manager

Used for a central reverse proxy and SSL termination for other docker services on this cluster. Web interface at 81 (HTTP)

Topology

Requirements

• Ubuntu Server installed on all nodes
• SSH access on all nodes
• Root access on all nodes
• Additional unused IP address for keepalived (virtual IP of the docker swarm cluster)
• sshpass must be installed on all nodes: sudo apt install sshpass

Quick Start

Run only on one node:

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/SuitDeer/SwarmPilot.git
cd SwarmPilot

# Deploy to Swarm
sudo chmod +x swarmpilot.sh
sudo ./swarmpilot.sh

Setup Video

setup-demo-video.mp4

Setup a demo stack on cluster

Please use the nginx_ingress overlay network for your stacks if you need ssl termination via Nginx Proxy Manager.

Example:

If your stack containers need persistent volumes please first create the root directory in the syced syncthind directory:

sudo mkdir /var/syncthing/data/<FOLDER_NAME>

services:
  webserver:
    image: nginxdemos/hello
    volumes:
     - /var/syncthing/data/<FOLDER_NAME>:/var/www/html
    networks:
      - nginx_ingress
    ports:
      - 8082:80
networks:
  nginx_ingress:
    external: true

Because the Nginx Proxy Manager-container and the your new docker stack containers now connected to the same overlay network nginx_ingress you can reference your containers in Nginx Proxy Manager via their servicenames.

services:
  webserver: <---- This is the service-name of the container
...............

Maintanance

Upgrade Syncthing4Swarm Stack

cd SwarmPilot
sudo docker stack deploy --resolve-image=always -c syncthing4swarm.yaml syncthing4swarm

Upgrade Portainer Stack

cd SwarmPilot
sudo docker stack deploy --resolve-image=always -c portainer.yaml portainer

Upgrade Nginx Proxy Manager Stack

cd SwarmPilot
sudo docker stack deploy --resolve-image=always -c nginxproxymanager.yaml nginxproxymanager

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Detailed Script Workflow Steps

The swarmpilot.sh script automates the entire cluster setup process through the following steps:

Step 1: User Input Collection

• Local Node IP: The IP address of the node running the script
• Node Count: Number of nodes in the cluster (1-9, including the local node)
• Remote Node Information: For each remote node, the script collects:
  • IP address
  • Username
  • Password (validated for length 8-128 characters)

Step 2: Pre-flight Checks

• Verifies sshpass is installed on the local node
• Checks sshpass installation on all remote nodes
• Ensures SSH connectivity to all nodes

Step 3: Docker Installation

• Updates package lists
• Installs required dependencies (ca-certificates, curl)
• Adds Docker GPG key and repository
• Installs Docker Engine, CLI, containerd.io, and Docker plugins
• Enables and starts Docker service
• Validates installation with hello-world test

Step 4: Docker Swarm Initialization

• Initializes Docker Swarm on the local node with the specified advertise address
• Retrieves the manager join token
• Joins all remote nodes to the swarm using the join token

Step 5: Keepalived Configuration (for clusters > 1 node)

• Prompts for virtual IP address for the cluster
• Calculates priorities for each node (local node: 255, remote nodes: 254, 253, etc.)
• Installs and configures keepalived on all nodes:
  • Detects network interface automatically
  • Creates keepalived configuration with unicast peers
  • Sets state (MASTER for local node, BACKUP for remote nodes)
  • Enables and starts keepalived service
• Configures automatic failover between nodes

Step 6: Syncthing4Swarm Installation

• Creates /var/syncthing/data directory on all nodes
• Creates syncthing4swarm.yaml configuration file
• Deploys Syncthing4Swarm Docker stack
• Installs Syncthing4Swarm on all remote nodes
• Monitors container health until all containers are healthy

Step 7: Portainer Installation

• Creates portainer data directory
• Creates portainer.yaml configuration file
• Deploys Portainer stack
• Exposes Portainer on ports 9443 (HTTPS) and 8000 (HTTP)
• Verifies Portainer accessibility

Step 8: Nginx Proxy Manager Installation

• Creates data directories for Nginx Proxy Manager
• Creates nginxproxymanager.yaml configuration file with:
• Deploys Nginx Proxy Manager stack
• Exposes on ports 80 (HTTP), 81 (Web UI), and 443 (HTTPS)
• Verifies Nginx Proxy Manager accessibility