Droplet Features

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.


Linux Distributions

We support the following Linux distributions:

Ubuntu Debian CentOS AlmaLinux Rocky Linux Fedora
24.04 (LTS) x64
23.10 x64
22.04 (LTS) x64
20.04 (LTS) x64
12.0 x64
11.0 x64
10.3 x64
9 Stream x64
8 Stream x64
8.6
9
8 x64
9 x64
39 x64
40 x64

Tags

Tags are custom labels you apply to Droplets that have multiple uses:

  • Filtering. Tagging multiple Droplets with the same label lets you organize your resources and view a filtered list of Droplets that share that particular tag.

  • Automatic inclusion in firewall rules and load balancer backend pools. Automatically include Droplets in a firewall or load balancer configuration by tag, minimizing administration overhead when adding new Droplets to your infrastructure.

  • API call execution on multiple Droplets at once. Initiate an action across all Droplets with the same tag using the DigitalOcean API. Identifying groups of Droplets and administering all of them at once reduces the time required to manage resources.

Reserved IPs

DigitalOcean Reserved IPs are publicly-accessible static IP addresses that you can assign to Droplets. A reserved IP provides an additional static address you can use to access a Droplet without replacing or changing the Droplet’s original public IP address.

Volumes Block Storage

DigitalOcean Volumes Block Storage is a flexible, convenient way of managing additional storage (in units called volumes) for your Droplets. Volumes are independent resources that you can move between Droplets within the same region. You can increase the size of a volume without powering down the Droplet it’s attached to. They’re most useful when you need more storage space but don’t need the additional processing power or memory that a larger Droplet would provide.

Firewalls

DigitalOcean Cloud Firewalls are a free, network-based, stateful firewall service for your DigitalOcean Droplets. They block all traffic that isn’t expressly permitted by a rule. You can define the Droplets protected by a firewall individually or by using tags.

Load Balancers

DigitalOcean Load Balancers are a fully-managed, highly available load balancing service. Load balancers distribute traffic to groups of Droplets, which decouples the overall health of a backend service from the health of a single server to ensure that your services stay online.