Orbit

A real-time system monitoring dashboard that displays live performance metrics, process information, and Docker container status through an intuitive web interface.

Features

• System Information - OS details, hostname, CPU model, architecture, uptime
• CPU Metrics - Real-time usage gauge, per-core utilization, historical chart, temperature
• Memory Metrics - RAM and swap usage with detailed breakdown
• Disk Metrics - Per-partition usage with mount points
• Network Metrics - Interface throughput (RX/TX) with totals
• Process List - Top processes sorted by CPU or memory usage
• Docker Containers - Container status, resource usage, port mappings

All metrics update every 2 seconds via WebSocket for a responsive, real-time experience.

Tech Stack

Component	Technology
Backend	Node.js, Express, Socket.io
Frontend	React, Vite, Recharts
Icons	Lucide React
System Metrics	systeminformation
Docker Integration	dockerode
Styling	CSS with dark theme

Quick Start

Docker Hub Deployment (Recommended)

The easiest way to run Orbit is by pulling the image from Docker Hub and running with Docker Compose.

services:
  orbit:
    image: orbitmonitor/orbit:latest
    container_name: orbit
    ports:
      - "3001:3001"
    volumes:
      # Mount Docker socket to enable container monitoring
      - /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock:ro
      # Mount host's /etc/hostname to read actual hostname
      - /etc/hostname:/host/etc/hostname:ro
      # Mount host root filesystem to monitor disk usage
      - /:/hostfs:ro
    environment:
      - NODE_ENV=production
    restart: unless-stopped
    # Required for accessing host system metrics
    pid: host
    # Allows reading system information
    privileged: false
    security_opt:
      - no-new-privileges:true

Open http://localhost:3001 in your browser.

Build it Yourself

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/kdorepos/Orbit.git
cd Orbit

# Build and run with Docker Compose
docker compose up --build

Open http://localhost:3001 in your browser.

Configuration

Environment Variables

Variable	Default	Description
PORT	3001	Server port
NODE_ENV	development	Environment mode

Docker Socket Access

To monitor Docker containers, the Docker socket must be mounted:

volumes:
  - /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock:ro

If Docker monitoring isn't needed, the dashboard will gracefully show a "Docker Not Available" message.

Host System Metrics

For accurate system metrics when running in Docker, the container uses:

pid: host  # Access to host process information

API Endpoints

REST API

Endpoint	Description
GET /api/health	Health check
GET /api/system/info	Static system information

WebSocket Events

Event	Direction	Description
system:info	Server → Client	Static system info (on connect)
metrics:system	Server → Client	CPU, memory, disk, network (every 2s)
metrics:processes	Server → Client	Top processes (every 2s)
metrics:docker	Server → Client	Docker containers (every 2s)

Security Considerations

• The Docker socket mount provides read-only access (ro flag)
• No authentication is included by default - add a reverse proxy with auth for public deployments
• The container runs with no-new-privileges security option
• Consider network isolation if exposing to untrusted networks