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Question

Can someone explain Snapshots a little more in depth?

  • Posted July 15, 2013

I’ve observed some odd things about snapshots. And I can’t seem to find a definitive guide on them, either.

So far, it seems that the size of the droplet you’d like to create needs to match the size of the snapshot. Is this right? When attempting to create a droplet of a size other than that of the snapshot, I receive a very generic error message. No reason as to why the error has occurred.

When I created a vanilla LEMP stack, took a snapshot, destroyed the droplet, then spun up a new one (exact same size, of course) that droplet was completely inaccessible. It says “Active” but it’s not even pingable!

How is it even possible to create a droplet from a snapshot and have it give you a new root password? It’s not such a snapshot after all then, is it?

The concept of snapshots is great. In practice, it doesn’t seem to be working out so well for what I need. All I’m trying to do is create a solid stack and snapshot it so I don’t have to rebuild a server every time I want to stage an application.

Is there something I’m missing here? Can I find out more details of how snapshots work, what they require, caveats, etc.?

Thanks in advance to those who wish to respond!!

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lee1 • July 16, 2013

After a considerable amount of testing, I’ve concluded that this must be either an Arch problem, or a network problem. Ubuntu, Fedora and CentOS all work fine now, although they weren’t the other night. Arch continues to have that problem. <br> <br>I’ve created keys of various strengths: 256, 768, 1024, 4096. Most usually, the droplet creation would fail and give a generic error. Very inconsistent behavior, making it difficult to test properly. <br> <br>I logged a ticket and the engineering team is looking in to it.

Kamal Nasser • July 16, 2013

that droplet was completely inaccessible. It says “Active” but it’s not even pingable! <br> <br>If you experience this again, please open up a support ticket. It’ll help us identify what the issue is. <br> <br>> How is it even possible to create a droplet from a snapshot and have it give you a new root password? It’s not such a snapshot after all then, is it? <br> <br>Each droplet has its root password changed on creation, regardless of whether it’s based on a snapshot or a regular OS image. You have to use SSH keys in this case. <br> <br>Please let me know if you have any other doubts.

pablo • July 15, 2013

Have to checked out these articles?: <br> <br><a href=“https://www.digitalocean.com/community/articles/digitalocean-backups-and-snapshots-explained” target=“_blank”>DigitalOcean Backups and Snapshots Explained</a>; or <br> <br><a href=“https://www.digitalocean.com/community/articles/how-to-resize-droplets-using-snapshots” target=“_blank”>How to Resize Droplets Using Snapshots</a>; or <br> <br>try running a Google search w/the following search parameters: <pre>snapshot site:digitalocean.com</pre> <br> <br>RE: “<strong>All I’m trying to do is create a solid stack and snapshot it so I don’t have to rebuild a server every time I want to stage an application.</strong>” <br> <br>Have you considered utilizing <a href=“https://puppetlabs.com/puppet/what-is-puppet” target=“_blank”>Puppet</a>?