ptimof/syncthing

Docker container for Synching

ptimof/syncthing

A syncthing Docker container.

This container is intended to be run on a server that will be shared by a group of people. Although this container can be used on a personal workstation, it will not be very convenient. It's best to download a native distribution for your machine from Syncthing.

Video: Syncthing Overview and Demo

Building the image

docker build -t ptimof/syncthing

Or just pull the latest from Docker Hub:

docker pull ptimof/syncthing

Host system preparation

On the host machine, create the user and group syncthing with UID and GID of 800:

groupadd -g 800 syncthing
useradd -m -u 800 -g 800 syncthing

If 800 is already taken, or a different UID/GID is desired, the Dockerfile useradd and groupadd commands will need to be modified to match.

Creating the container

docker create --name syncthing -p 8080:8080 -p 22000:22000 -p 21025:21025/udp -v /home/syncthing:/home/syncthing ptimof/syncthing

Running the container

As syncthing is more intended as a personal file syncing system, configuration is more like an application on a PC than a sysadmin-controlled machine.

Config files are located in ~/syncthing/.config/syncthing, and files of note are:

• config.xml: the main configuration file
• key.pem and cert.pem: TLS files

This directory must be writable by the syncthing user on the host computer.

Running for the first time

The very first run on a host system of this container will create two directoryies:

• ~/syncthing/.config/syncthing (mode 700)
• ~/syncthing/Sync (mode 700)

At this point, there are no active shares, but the admin UI is exposed to any IP, and has no password. The very first activity that should immediately be done is to set a username/password for the UI.

To run the admin UI, use a browser to connect to http://[your_host]:8080/

Further configuration

The Dockerfile is configured to allow passing arguments directly to syncthing. Documentation on configuring syncthing is scarce (it is early in it's development cycle). There should be no need to change the command line parameters as they stand, however config and environment parametsr can be gleaned from the source for for syncthing.

The config.xml file, on the otherhand, appears to have a few tags that are not controlled by the admin UI. The best place to decode this is on the Syncthing forum.

Workstation tips

• Example setup scripts
• Windows Tray
• MacOS Menu Item