Droplets Support

DigitalOcean Droplets are Linux-based virtual machines (VMs) that run on top of virtualized hardware. Each Droplet you create is a new server you can use, either standalone or as part of a larger, cloud-based infrastructure.


Health checks often fail due to firewalls or misconfigured backend server software.
Boot the Droplet from the recovery ISO, then connect using the Recovery Console and delete files to free some disk space.
You can disable the address on your Droplet from the command line or through updating your Droplet’s eth1 interface configuration.
You can access your Droplet’s file manager by connecting to the Droplet using SSH or the Droplet Console.
Ensure your Droplet’s public and private network interfaces are correctly named eth0 and eth1.
You cannot convert a Droplet IP address into a Reserved IP.
You cannot undo restoring a Droplet from a backup, but you can use an existing snapshot to restore a Droplet to a previous point in time.
All Droplets are assigned IPs that are owned by DigitalOcean, which is headquartered in the US.
Adding a volume to your Droplet doesn’t increase its main disk size. You need to resize the Droplet to increase its main disk size.
Older Droplets that did not have VPC enabled prior to October 2020 cannot be added to a VPC network without changing its IP address.
Edit your Droplet’s sshd_config file to change its SSH port.
You cannot retain a Droplet’s IPv4 when you transfer the Droplet to a new region. Use a reserved IP address to maintain a static IP address.
Take a snapshot of your Droplet and then create new Droplet from the snapshot in the new datacenter.
You cannot create Droplets in certain datacenters due to limited capacity. If you have snapshots in a limited capacity datacenter, transfer them to another datacenter to create Droplets from them.
You cannot downsize a Droplet from a snapshot. Data is not always stored sequentially in memory, so reducing the size of a disk can result in data loss or corruption.
You cannot create Droplets with a specific IP address, but you can use reserved IPs for a static address that you can migrate between Droplets.
Create a snapshot of the Droplet, then create a new Droplet from that snapshot.
To rename your Droplet, change the Droplet’s name in the control panel, then change its hostname from the command line using hostnamectl or by editing /etc/hostname and /etc/hosts.
Droplets do not have a dedicated IP address, but you can create a Reserved IP, which is a reassignable static IP address.
Transfer files over SSH with SFTP.
We do not email a Droplet’s root password. You can reset your root password if you don’t remember it.
Diagnose and troubleshoot firewall issues that could be causing network connectivity issues.
To debug your network configuration, verify the Droplet’s network interfaces and check its network configuration file.
If you lose the private SSH key you use to log into a Droplet, you need to re-enable password authentication to recover access.
You may be receiving this error for various reasons, including a missing SSH key or incorrect password.
Older operating systems can pose large security risks.
You can recover your Droplet if you took a snapshot of the Droplet, enabled automated backups, or used SnapShooter for Droplet backups.
No, but you can use reserved IPs to assign the same address to new or redeployed Droplets.
You can review disk usage on your Droplet and then remove unnecessary files.
You cannot resize Droplets to smaller plans, but you can migrate your data to a smaller Droplet.
No, we do not support Windows on Droplets.
Convert your backups to snapshots to save them indefinitely.
We have guides to help you migrate your data from your previous provider.
Use the recovery ISO to access Droplets that fail to boot up or have system problems.
You can typically install an SSL certificate by adding a few lines of configuration to the Droplet’s web server, or by using tools that automatically add the configuration for you.
File system corruption can cause a Droplet to boot into read only mode.
You can reset your Droplet’s password using the control panel or the recovery ISO.
High RAM or CPU usage is normally the result of applications or kernel processes on the Droplet. You can monitor high CPU usage processes on the Droplet and stop them if necessary.
Yes, you can point an unlimited number of domains to a single Droplet, and you can serve multiple websites from a single Droplet.
SMTP port 25 is blocked on all Droplets for new accounts to prevent spam and other abuses of our platform.
You can check to see if a Droplet’s migration has completed by checking its history.
There are three ways to manually back up a Droplet. You can create a DigitalOcean snapshot for an on-demand full disk image, convert an automatic DigitalOcean backup into a snapshot, or use a third-party tool for a partial backup.
You can transfer snapshots of Droplets to others by email address or by team.
Problems with SSH authentication includes permission denied with SSH keys and passwords.
Problems with SSH connectivity include hostname resolution errors and connections being refused or timing out.
Next steps to take if you receive a message from DigitalOcean support because your Droplet is sending an outgoing flood or DDoS.
Problems during SSH protocol initiation include the client suddenly getting dropped or closed, the client returning errors about cipher negotiation, or issues with an unknown or changed remote host.
Problems with SSH shell environments include being unable to fork a process, the system reporting it’s not a valid shell, or issues reaching the home directory.