Question

Can I have multiple domains with a Droplet?

Posted September 12, 2012 26.8k views
Hi, I am very, very new to VPS, I'm just familiar with cPanel on some cheap web hosting companies. I have several domains that manage with just one account on Hostblast. I can have an unlimited number of web sites there, and although it is perhaps the slowest of the cheapest of the web hosting services, with just one account I can manage them all. I've been reading all I can in Digital Ocean and have the impression that for every new Domain Name or website I have to buy a new "Droplet" as they call it. My question is, can I have an unlimited number of websites and parked/hosted domains with just a cheapo $5 account or I have to pay every time that I want to add a new domain? In vpsfx for instance, they assured me I can do it. Thank you a lot. Julio Rodriguez
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12 answers
moisey September 12, 2012
You definitely do NOT need to create a new virtual server for each domain.

If you are new to Linux administration using cPanel would make server administration easier, however running without a control panel and using Apache directly in a LAMP stack you can run a large number of domains.

You would only be limited by the amount of traffic that those domains are pushing at which point you may need to get a larger virtual server to accomodate the extra traffic.

Thanks!
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dorient September 12, 2012
Do you offer cPanel for free or I have to pay for this?
Also, I used XAMPP in my local machine, so if you have something similar (LAMP), I think I can learn to handle it.
To be honest, maybe the term Droplet can be confusing for newbies...
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moisey September 12, 2012
We've had a few users mention that the term droplet maybe confusing and we've been on the fence about it.

While it is confusing a lot of people seem to like it once they start using our platform, so we're kinda delaying making a decision on whether to keep it or not. =]

cPanel is not an open-source product so unfortunately there is always a licensing fee. You can download and install it on your DigitalOcean virtual server but you would be responsible personally for the cPanel licensing fees.

We currently do not have any plans to offer cPanel directly through DigitalOcean yet.
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dorient September 12, 2012
I think I can experiment with LAMP or LEMP. The main confusion was the erroneous assumption of the limitation in the number of domains used.
By the way and sorry for asking too much, if I get your VPS will I be able to connect remotely like having a remote desktop or what?
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etel September 12, 2012
If you are open to working with the command line, you can connect to the droplets via SSH with Terminal (on mac) or PuTTY (on windows).

You can find the instructions on how to launch and access the droplet here: https://www.digitalocean.com/community/articles/how-to-create-your-first-digitalocean-droplet-virtual-server

Otherwise, we do have a few linux desktop operating systems at this point, which have an actual desktop feel in the console access viewer. These are the Operating Systems that have the word Desktop in their names (Ubuntu 11.04 x32 Desktop, Ubuntu 12.04 x64 Desktop, Fedora 16 x64 Desktop)

They are accessible through our HTML5 in-browser viewer by clicking "Console Access" under the Access tab in the control panel.
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jonebarker January 13, 2014
I have a similar questions to this post.
1) I want to migrate a few domains to my droplet. Will adding a domain automatically create subdirectories for each site?
2) I installed a droplet with the wordpress option. Now I'm thinking this is a bad idea since I'm moving 3 wordpress sites to this droplet. Was that a wrong move?
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kamaln7 January 13, 2014
1) I want to migrate a few domains to my droplet. Will adding a domain automatically create subdirectories for each site?
No, you will have to create them automatically.
2) I installed a droplet with the wordpress option. Now I'm thinking this is a bad idea since I'm moving 3 wordpress sites to this droplet. Was that a wrong move?
It certainly wasn't wrong however it would be easier if you were to follow the following article on a fresh droplet.

Check out https://www.digitalocean.com/community/articles/how-to-set-up-multiple-wordpress-sites-on-a-single-ubuntu-vps.
How To Set Up Multiple WordPress Sites on a Single Ubuntu VPS
by Justin Ellingwood
WordPress is a popular content management system (CMS) that can be used to quickly launch blogs and websites. In this guide, we will discuss how to launch two separate blogs, each associated with their own domains, from one VPS.
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daniellekwint March 14, 2014
huh it's so easy I have one droplet 2 domains and on both different sites and I use Vesta CP
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daniellekwint March 14, 2014
both run wordpress and Nginx and Fastcgi as well and some other stuff like cdn and total cache and Nginx and Fastcgi and APC Cache are include VestaCP so you have nothing to do with shell and stuff, just add a Hotsname run Vesta CP and Done = 5 minutes of work. My droplet is $5 dollar.
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jef March 27, 2014
@daniellekwint How did you do it without additional IPs?
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jmwii1981 March 2, 2015

I too, would like to know how to do this without having the need for additional IP addresses. I know enough to be dangerous, but couldn’t figure this part out (at least by doing any web searches). Is there a good resource for this anywhere that I can glance at? Much appreciated in advance!

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rameezt August 11, 2015

i have same question. as i create Lamp server droplet. now i need to point 2 domain with different directory name e.g
var/www/html/mydomain1/
var/www/html/mydomain2/

how could i do that ??

please help me in this.

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  • jmwii1981 January 15, 2016

    It has been several months since I last posted my question, so I hope that I’m getting back in time. My apologies in advance if not. After some further research on how to use Apache and/or NGINX which both can be used to serve your site, it’s actually quite simple to serve multiple domains on one droplet using a combination of DNS settings through DigitalOcean or an external service which points to the IP, and then manipulating the information in configuration files for either Apache or NGINX. There are many articles out there to get you started.

    https://www.digitalocean.com/community/tutorials/how-to-configure-the-apache-web-server-on-an-ubuntu-or-debian-vps

    You basically want to use the default config file in the sites-available directory to create your own config file, then point to the directory where your index.html / index.php files live for the site you wish to serve. It’s pretty simple once you’ve done it. If you need any examples, reply back.

    How To Configure the Apache Web Server on an Ubuntu or Debian VPS
    by Justin Ellingwood
    The Apache web server is the most popular way to serve web content on the internet. The Apache provides a modular and scalable server that can satisfy the needs of large and small sites alike. In this guide, we will go over the main configuration files and some of the options you have when deploying your server.
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