DigitalOcean is a cloud-hosting firm based in the United States that provides developers with dependable and simple-to-use virtual servers and object storage. It was launched in 2011 in New York City, at a time when cloud infrastructure services were becoming popular, and has since prospered because of its user-friendly solutions that make life easier for developers and company owners alike. DigitalOcean’s hosting was designed with developers in mind, so expect plenty of assistance and tools. It also makes no difference how big or little your company is. According to the firm, it doesn’t matter if you have one virtual server or ten thousand – the solutions perform flawlessly across all of your industries and are simple to use for any of your staff. It also does not take the stage; instead, it remains out of the way so that your team can focus on the most critical cloud apps in a speedier and more effective manner. Every year, it works with a wide range of software suppliers, including GitHub, Twilio, and Dev. to, Intel, AppWrite, and DeepSource. Ben and Moisey Uretsky founded ServerStack in 2003 with the goal of creating a new solution that would merge web hosting and virtual servers and appeal to business owners and software professionals. In 2011, Uretskys founded DigitalOcean, a company that provides cloud hosting and server provisioning for software developers. It is a unique cloud hosting firm that provides cloud computing services to corporate organizations so that they may develop independently by installing DigitalOcean programs that run concurrently across numerous cloud servers without losing speed! In January 2018, it was recognized as the world’s third-largest cloud hosting service in terms of web-facing machines.
OVERVIEW
Contents
DigitalOcean Inc. is an American cloud infrastructure firm with operations all over the world and headquarters in New York City. Developers, entrepreneurs, and small and medium-sized businesses SMBs can use cloud infrastructure through Digital Ocean. DigitalOcean also hosts Hacktoberfest, a month-long celebration of open-source software. It is a cloud infrastructure company that provides cloud computing services to organizations. It is used to scale without sacrificing speed by deploying DigitalOcean programs that run simultaneously across several cloud servers. As of January 2018, it was recognized as the third-largest Cloud hosting service for web-facing PCs. Ben and Moise Uretsky, the founders of DigitalOcean, designed the server stack in 2003. The vast majority of enterprises catered solely to corporate clients, many of which require cloud infrastructure to run their servers. Users of the platform may administer their apps using either the CLI or a web-based UI. The DigitalOcean IaaS platform is a favoured solution for various large commercial clients globally because of its dependability. Users may choose Droplet size, location, and application data centres, among other things.DigitalOcean infrastructure is a well-known cloud service provider with headquarters in the United States. Its corporate location is in New York City, and they have data centers all over the globe to provide seamless cloud services across the world.
What Is the Function of Digitalocean?
- Digital Ocean is a cloud infrastructure company that also offers networking, storage, and virtual private servers. The company provides a wide range of services aimed to make the deployment and maintenance of cloud resources as simple and easy as possible, including a per-hour pricing structure.
- It is popular among customers and is commonly used for app and website hosting because of its ease of use. This service costs $0.01 per GB of bandwidth. This service guarantees 99.99% uptime for virtual machines and storage. It is aware of the need for developers to function properly as well as the fundamental reasons for their problems.
- On their community page, there is a big developer community that supports one another. The extensive, well-organized documentation is one of the website’s greatest aspects. Even after you turn off your Digital Ocean instance, it will continue to charge. Because the environment is not favourable to industry, competing with clouds in this manner is difficult.
- Digital Ocean currently has eight deployment locations across North America, Europe, and Asia. Oceania and South America have no data center locations. The company does not provide a free service tier. In comparison to other cloud providers, Digital Ocean’s goods and services are extremely restricted.
- The cost in Kubernetes is determined by the cluster resources. Customers will have unfettered access to the main node, which will be administered as part of Digital Ocean’s network. The monthly rent for Block Storage is $0.1 per GB. Cancellation of membership incurs a weekly or monthly cost.
- Digital Ocean’s Managed Databases team provides fully managed database clusters. Clusters, among other things, provide end-to-end SSL, backup nodes, and points-in-time recovery (PITR). Users of Digital Ocean may handle load balancing and traffic filtering via networking, as well as control the flow of application traffic via their own private networks.
- The monthly cost of a load balancer in the Small, Medium, and Large price ranges differs. Static Internet Protocol addresses that are available to the general public via Digital Ocean are known as floating IPs.
- These addresses may be assigned to Droplets in the data center, which can subsequently be used to map them to other Droplets. The Container Registry allows users to conveniently and securely manage and save their personal containers.
- Monitoring may track a variety of characteristics such as disc use, disc IO, CPU usage, memory consumption, and bandwidth. Teams is a multi-user, two-factor authenticated, secure collaboration solution that makes collaboration simple.
How can I create a DigitalOcean account?
To sign up for a DigitalOcean account.
- Go to DigitalOcean’s website.
- Click Sign Up in the upper right corner. The Sign Up page will be shown.
- Choose a method for registering with DigitalOcean.
- When you click Email, a new window will appear. Fill up the blanks with your full name, email address, and desired password.
- If you choose another option, make sure you follow the instructions for that technique.
- Continue by clicking the Continue button. A page with an email confirmation will appear.
- If an account with your email address already exists, the website will display an error message and redirect you to the Login page.
- Look for a confirmation message in your email.
- Click the link in the email message. The page Verify your Identity appears.
- Fill up your billing information. Add a Card to add a credit card, or Pre-Pay with PayPal to pay using PayPal®.
- Keep your billing information secure. The Project page will display security.
- It is necessary to have a smartphone and an authenticator app, such as Google Authenticator, or the ability to receive SMS messages.
Enable two-factor authentication
To enable two-factor authentication on your account, complete these steps:
- On the left sidebar, select Settings. The Settings dialogue box will open.
- To the right of the warning message concerning a secure sign-in mechanism, click the Update Now button.
- Enable two-factor authentication by clicking the Enable Two-factor Authentication button. The Select an authentication method window will appear.
- We recommend using the Authentication App. Then, click the Next button. In the Connect your app window, a QR code will be shown.
- Scan the QR code with your Authenticator app.
- The Authenticator app will display a six-digit code. Enter the 6-character code in the code text box and click the Submit button. The Add Backup dialogue box will appear.
- After selecting Backup codes, click Next.
- After downloading as a.txt file, click Finish.
- When you login into DigitalOcean, you must now provide a six-digit number to verify your identity.
Making a Droplet on DigitalOcean
- You may have to pay to create an account on DigitalOcean, but the service will be worth it. After successfully establishing an account, pick Droplet from the dropdown menu and click the create button.
- Then you’ll be presented with a number of options, including the operating system you want to install on your server. You may install a variety of operating systems, including Ubuntu, Fedora, Centos, Debian, FreeBSD, and others, in addition to the version you pick.
- Then you must choose a plan and define the quantity of RAM, storage space, and CPU cores you want on your virtual server. The various plans will cost you different amounts of money based on the resources you will use.
- Then, from the list offered, choose a data center; these data centers are situated all over the world, and you may choose any of them. (While not needed, we recommend that you choose a data center that is geographically close to you.)
- Following that, you will be asked to choose an additional networking option. You can use private networking if your project is private and exclusive; but, if you want your project to be online, you can use IPV6 networking.
- Then you may choose the type of authentication you want to use. If you choose the one-time password option, DigitalOcean will provide you with a root password to access your server. You may also employ ssh keys authentication, which is more secure and technical than the one-time password technique. You can utilize a one-time password process if you’re new to ssh.
- We’re coming toward the end, and you’ll be asked to give your droplet a name and a number. You may also use the same configuration to create more droplets. Backups for your droplet may also be created, but this will cost you money.
- Then choose Create Droplet. You have successfully generated a DigitalOcean droplet.
- That was the process for establishing a droplet on DigitalOcean, however, it is only one stage of a much bigger process. We have just created a platform for our server; now we must install the required applications.
PRODUCTS OF THE DIGITALOCEAN
In addition to Droplets, DigitalOcean offers the following products:
Kubernetes.
DigitalOcean Kubernetes is a managed Kubernetes service that allows customers to establish Kubernetes clusters.
A platform for app development.
App Platform is a PaaS solution for publishing code to the provider’s servers. App Platform can also automatically evaluate code from GitHub, public repositories, and GitLab and create cloud-based apps and container images.
Storage.
DigitalOcean offers two types of storage. Block storage allows customers to allocate greater volumes to droplets, whereas object storage is a storage solution that allows users to store enormous data volumes.
Content distribution network
Users can connect to a network of edge servers that distribute data via the Spaces content delivery network (CDN).
Database management.
This fully managed database cluster service eliminates the need for administrators to manage, configure, and install databases.
Networking.
There are tools for regulating application traffic flow via private networks, load balancing, and traffic filtering. Among the technologies provided are DigitalOcean Virtual Private Cloud, cloud firewalls, load balancers, domain name service, and floating IPs.
Developer’s tools.
This toolkit is primarily concerned with resource management and ecosystem integration. Among the tools offered are an API, client libraries, a command-line interface, custom images, GitHub Actions, Terraform Provider, and a container registry.
How Do They Work During a Pandemic?
DigitalOcean is a fantastic and forward-thinking company in many ways since they blend remote and on-site labour to make the ideal team. They have offices in eight different locations across the world and allow their employees to work from home or in the office, allowing them to spend time with their families or pursue personal objectives in between professional obligations. It’s fascinating to see a firm like DigitalOcean forging forward and adding the option to work from home so early on, especially given that numerous studies show that by 2020, half of the population in the majority of Western countries would be working remotely or as self-employed. Many experts feel that remote work will set the norm for other businesses in comparable (and even other) industries since it allows you to employ some of the sharpest minds who would otherwise be unable to work for the firm. Of course, DigitalOcean has frequent video conferences and talks with its remote employees to keep in touch, but they also do it to make them feel like a part of the company. They also send Christmas and milestone gifts to their distant staff and make arrangements for neighbors to attend local events. The fact that this company treats its staff with the utmost respect is an obvious benefit.
DIGITALOCEAN FEATURES
Ease of Use
Another benefit of Digital Ocean is the simplicity and convenience of use of its goods and services. The user interface and user experience are both outstanding and well-designed. A new Droplet can be deployed in under a minute. The console is extremely user-friendly and simple to use. Analytics and statistics are available, as well as an easy-to-use administration panel. Furthermore, there are several tutorials that explain how to get started with Digital Ocean, making it a straightforward chore for both expert and rookie developers.
Professionals Documentation
The simplest way to learn about any resource is to examine the official documentation. DigitalOcean’s documentation is extensive and informative. There are tutorials, installation instructions, how-to manuals, and walkthroughs. This functionality will be useful to developers who use any cloud platform. Its documentation covers every issue that might perplex a software developer who is familiar with the cloud platform’s language and vocabulary, from establishing a simple LAMP stack to deploying a complex Kubernetes cluster. Its one-of-a-kind capability is one of the most useful tools for cloud platform developers.
Active Online Community
Despite their immaturity, new remarkable technologies are constantly integrated into the DigitalOcean framework. Local professionals are available to help with their wealth of knowledge, allowing individuals to travel around freely and with few constraints.
Outstanding performance
It is the first startup to offer SSD-based virtual PCs. Every developer expects top-tier performance from the cloud hosting business he or she uses. They don’t want to waste time on server administration, and DigitalOcean is the platform that doesn’t disappoint. It was one of the first to offer SSD-based virtual machines, and it was the first service provider to use IPv6 before anybody else. The droplets offered by DigitalOcean have a startup time of fewer than 55 seconds. For their cloud servers, they employ powerful Hex core machines with customized ECC RAM and RAID SSD storage. It also enables private networking among VMs for the operation of distributed systems and database clusters IN a FEW ZONES
Reasonable Prices
It is not extremely expensive. It offers distinct hosting options as compared to other cloud computing companies. Despite providing budget-friendly arrangements for software developers, it gave a great performance, which contributed to their success.
DIGITALOCEAN’S BENEFITS
Backups for Everyday Use
DigitalOcean performs daily backups, and you can always retrieve data dating back up to seven days. Despite the fact that DigitalOcean has a greater uptime than other hosting companies, it is better to be safe than sorry.
Maximum Security
Your data and traffic are always secure. Many other hosts either do not emphasize this sufficiently or do not supply it at all. Because with DigitalOcean, your data is completely secure from start to finish. It is a major benefit to keeping such bad connections and malware out of your site’s infrastructure. DigitalOcean has made encryption of its volumes the default setting. To add an additional layer of protection, like with most of their features, you must go through a lesson, follow the instructions, and have some coding experience.
Excellent “Average” Uptime of 99.97%
DigitalOcean shines in terms of uptime, averaging 99.97% over the previous six months of monitoring. That means they have consistently maintained 100% uptime since March 2022, with the exception of June 2022, when it was just 99.83%, and July, when it was 99.98%. Without these months, Digital Ocean’s performance would have been perfect.
Price Adjustability
We think it’s amazing because you can genuinely customize everything you pay for, including your website storage, CPU usage, bandwidth, database, memory, and so on. Being an experienced user and knowing exactly what you need, your goals, what you don’t need, and so on is a strong benefit.
DigitalOcean WordPress installation
The WordPress website builder tool is used to create over 43% of all websites on the internet. It is the most user-friendly and popular website builder for novices. DigitalOcean has a WordPress application available in their marketplace. WordPress installation on DigitalOcean is simple and easy to use. Simply set up a droplet, install WordPress, and then configure WordPress to include the domain name, username, and password, as well as the SSL certificate.
Snapshots from Digital Ocean
Snapshots are disc images of your account’s DigitalOcean Droplets and volumes that are created on demand. Snapshots are basically a clone of the original and provide a full duplicate of a DigitalOcean Droplet or volume. You may use the same files and data to create new Droplets and volumes. As a result, take a photo of the droplet or volume from which you want to clone a website, then convert the photo into a new droplet. Snapshots cost $0.05 GB per month for Droplets and $0.05 GiB per month for volumes.
DigitalOcean’s Drawbacks
DigitalOcean support
Given that DigitalOcean’s self-managed service and developer platform are its top focuses. Support for DigitalOcean is inadequate. They promote 24-hour customer assistance but only provide emails and tickets. There is no phone or chat support. Even with email assistance, they are not responsible for troubleshooting or configuring your servers. In any case, if you love reading, DigitalOcean has a large knowledge base, tutorials, and community covering almost all you would need to know.
Basic features are missing.
Because DigitalOcean caters to a more sophisticated clients than other hosts, they do not give a slew of basic services that many other providers would offer or take care of for you when you sign up.
Items like as:
- includes free hosting and a domain name
- The capacity to register domain names
- Site migrations are completely free.
As a result, they can help you with some of these challenges. However, don’t expect to receive a lot of support services if you sign up.
Locations are few.
In comparison to other cloud providers, Digital Ocean offers fewer deployment zones. It is divided into eight regions that span North America, Europe, and Asia. There are no data centers in South America or Oceania. The geographical limitations of Digital Ocean may or may not be detrimental to your business. If your businesses are mostly located in the United States or Europe, Digital Ocean will be a suitable option. For enterprises in South America, New Zealand, and Australia, the closest data center location may affect overall latency and performance.
cPanel is difficult to use.
As previously stated, DigitalOcean is not for inexperienced users. Although there is a learning curve and it is not suitable for novices. To construct a website nowadays, you essentially need a cPanel unless you’re competent with programming languages. You must first create a Droplet in DigitalOcean of your choice (DigitalOcean servers). Following that, you must install cPanel by following a lengthy manual that involves registering your account, installing the execution file, adding a number of code instructions (yes, coding is required), and so on. In addition to everything else, you’ll have to pay a third party for access to cPanel. If you don’t know how to code and aren’t a developer, we recommend hiring a professional developer or skipping DigitalOcean and looking for options that better meet your needs.
FAQ
How can I contact support with questions?
OpenVPN Access Server features a dedicated support ticket system, with experts available around the clock to answer any issues you may have. To access our support ticket system, you must first register a free account. You may login and submit a ticket after creating an account or logging in if you already have one. We will contact you as soon as possible.
Can I set up a high availability set up?
OpenVPN Access Server provides a high-availability solution through the use of clustering features. Multiple Access Server nodes have the same configuration, and each client is connected to an available node using a single DNS round-robin address. For further information, see Understanding Clustering with OpenVPN Access Servers.
Can I allow clients to keep their IP addresses?
If you build up a private network for your Droplets, they will be able to interact directly with one another. If one of the nodes in that network is running Access Server and you want the other nodes to be able to directly address a specific VPN client, you may do so by manually setting a route on the Droplet that wants to target the VPN client subnet. As far as we know, there is no default gateway that can be used to configure a global static route, thus any Droplet that needs to address a connected VPN client directly must have a route configured manually:
- Navigate to VPN Settings > Routing from the Admin Web UI.
- Choose Yes, Routing is used.
- Specify the private network on your DigitalOcean private network.
- Add a route to the Droplet that wants to directly address VPN clients by referring the VPN client subnet to the Access Server’s private IP address in your DigitalOcean private network.
In the User Permissions page, you might want to consider assigning specific VPN clients static IP addresses so that every time a VPN client connects, it always has the same predictable IP address.
Can I create an SSH key?
For security reasons, we recommend using an SSH key rather than a one-time password. DigitalOcean offers a facility for uploading your SSH Key. Within the same application, you may discover instructions for creating a key on Linux, macOS, or Windows. These may be accessed by selecting “Create Key” while creating your Droplet. PuTTY may also be used to generate SSH keys.
What alternatives do I have for creating a droplet?
If this is your first time configuring OpenVPN Access Server, we recommend going with the Standard Droplet setup. In our fast start guide, under the section Creating a Droplet, we give useful information about the various alternatives.
CONCLUSION
If you’re just an ordinary person looking to establish an online presence, there are significantly more user-friendly choices available that will cost you far less. For someone who is knowledgeable about the IT sector, there does not appear to be a faster or more effective offering than DigitalOcean. There are certain drawbacks, but if uptime and performance are important to you, DigitalOcean is one of your best alternatives. This should have given you a better knowledge of DigitalOcean’s operations and what they can accomplish for you. It is critical to observe that they actually like communicating and satisfying consumers and that you are constantly at the top of their priority list. It won’t take long, but the very basic and easy-to-use interface, as well as the system’s emphasis on speed and efficiency, will surely make your life easier. DigitalOcean, one of the top cloud computing companies, offers a wide range of services and products that you may use. We recommend DigitalOcean to any website owners searching for a high-quality and trustworthy web hosting solution.
