Whether you're troubleshooting the Wi-Fi on a commercial aircraft or validating SLAs across 200 branch offices, the same Orb image just works. At Orb, our vision is to empower everyone with continuous, run-anywhere internet experience monitoring that is:
- Easy to understand
- Simple to deploy
- Cost-effective
- Configurable for your needs
One of our early bets towards realizing this vision was embracing Open Container Initiative (OCI) images. The orbforge/orb image you pull from Docker Hub runs on a NAS in your basement or the multi-WAN router on a 7,000-passenger cruise ship.
OCI containers give you a single, portable package that runs the same everywhere. No dependency conflicts, no platform-specific installers, no "works on my machine." You get reproducible deployments, straightforward updates, and the flexibility to run Orb on anything from a Raspberry Pi to an enterprise router.
A few examples of where we and our community have run Orb via containerization:
- A Synology NAS humming in your closet
- A Podman systemd service on a Fedora server
- A MikroTik router at a branch office
- A Firewalla protecting your home network
- A QNAP NAS at a remote site
- A Docker container on your home server
- An LXC container on Proxmox
- A prplOS router in a customer's home
If your platform supports containers, it supports Orb.
Getting Started
The quickest path to containerized monitoring:
Docker:
curl -fsSL https://orb.net/docs/scripts/docker/docker-compose.yml -o docker-compose.yml && docker-compose up -d
Podman (systemd):
curl -fsSL https://orb.net/docs/scripts/podman/orb-sensor.container -o /etc/containers/systemd/orb-sensor.container
systemctl daemon-reload && systemctl start orb-sensor
Both approaches include automatic updates: WUD for Docker, podman-auto-update for Podman. Once running, the Orb app on your phone discovers the sensor automatically via Bonjour/mDNS. For headless or remote deployments, run docker exec -it orb-sensor /app/orb link to generate a linking URL.
For more details, see our Docker guide or check for your specific target platform in Orb Docs.
Enterprise-ready
Containers aren’t just for homelabbers, software engineers, and DevOps teams. Many enterprise routers, switches, access points, and IoT edge devices run OCI containers.
Safe for embedded hardware
When running on devices utilizing storage with limited write cycles, such as access points and switches, storage wear is a real concern. Orb’s ephemeral mode option eliminates that concern entirely. When enabled, Orb keeps all state in memory and streams data directly to the cloud. No local writes, no storage degradation. Just continuous monitoring that's safe to run on embedded hardware for years.
Monitor multiple interfaces at once
Another powerful use of containers with Orb is monitoring multiple network or VLAN interfaces from a single device. This opens up a range of use cases:
Compare your LEO satellite backhaul against your cellular failover and your aggregated experience — all from one physical (or virtual) device. Measure the real impact of QoS profiles by monitoring different VLANs side by side. Or validate that your student VLAN delivers the same experience as a faculty-only segment.
If you’re interested in learning more, see our multi-interface guide.
Ready to deploy?
Start with our Docker setup guide or explore the OCI image on Docker Hub.
Join our Discord community to ask questions or share with others how you’re using Orb with containers.