How To Install Orbital Sync (2 Pi-hole Sync)

To use Orbital Sync, you'll need two (or more) Pi-holes. Make sure they are set up first.

Orbital Sync runs on Docker Compose, so you'll need to install Docker and Docker Compose on your PRIMARY PI (your main DNS).

We will only make changes on the primary Pi.

SSH into your primary Pi and follow the instructions below.

Update and Upgrade Your Pi

Make sure your pi is updated. Run this command to update and upgrade:

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade

Install Docker

Next, install Docker. Use Docker's official install script by running:

curl -fsSL test.docker.com -o get-docker.sh && sh get-docker.sh

Add user to the 'docker' group (replace 'pi' with your username)

sudo usermod -aG docker pi

Verify docker installation:

docker --version

Install Docker Compose

To install Docker Compose on a Raspberry Pi, you need a slightly different method because the Pi uses ARM architecture.

Install required dependencies:

sudo apt-get install libffi-dev libssl-dev
sudo apt install python3-dev
sudo apt-get install -y python3 python3-pip

Then, install Docker-Compose with:

sudo apt install docker-compose

To check if Docker Compose is installed, run this:

docker-compose --version

Install Orbital Sync

Create a directory where you'll store the Orbital Sync and navigate to that location using the following command:

mkdir -p ~/orbital-sync && cd ~/orbital-sync

Create the docker-compose.yml

Create the docker-compose.yml file using nano:

nano docker-compose.yml

orbital-sync docker-compose file

Replace 9.9.9.9 with your primary Pi’s IP address and 1.1.1.1 with your secondary Pi’s IP address. Then, add the web interface password for both in the HOST PASSWORD fields.

services:
  orbital-sync:
    image: mattwebbio/orbital-sync:1
    environment:
      PRIMARY_HOST_BASE_URL: 'http://9.9.9.9'
      PRIMARY_HOST_PASSWORD: 'your_password1'
      SECONDARY_HOSTS_1_BASE_URL: 'http://1.1.1.1'
      SECONDARY_HOSTS_1_PASSWORD: 'your_password2'
      INTERVAL_MINUTES: 60

I've slightly modified the docker-compose file, but you can check the original one here.

Start the Docker Container

docker compose up -d

This will pull the Orbital Sync Docker image and start the container in detached mode, meaning it will run in the background.

Verify It's Running

docker ps

You should see a container named orbital-sync in the output.

For any help related to orbital sync, check out the GitHub repo here.