SwarmPilot - Docker Swarm cluster in one script

6. Jun 2026

In this small blog post I want to show my small bash script that can initialize a docker swarm cluster (up to nine nodes) with a user interface (portainer) a reverse proxy (traefik or nginx proxy manager) and a high available storage (syncthing4Swarm).

The docker swarm cluster can also be installed in a "rootless"-mode (user namespace).

Architecture

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 (required automatic access via ssh password to configure other nodes): sudo apt install sshpass
  • openssl must be installed on all nodes (required for rootless mode certificates and Traefik dashboard password hash generation): sudo apt install openssl

Please follow the link or click on the button to the SwarmPilot repository for detailed install instructions:
https://forgejo.hostlab.tech/suitdeer/SwarmPilot

Forgejo - SwarmPilot
High Available NFS Server with DRBD