Question

Droplet default hostname?

What I’m trying to do: Access a Droplet via the hostname. For example, when I create a new App, Digital Ocean automatically creates a Live App URL accessible via a dynamically provisioned hostname (e.g. my-app-name-ID.ondigitalocean.app). Is it possible to access a Droplet via a similar hostname?

What I’ve tried so far: From everything I’ve read, it looks like I need to associate the Droplet to a domain that I own, but am hoping I can leverage a subdomain that’s automatically created by Digital Ocean (as they do with Apps). Want to confirm this before I start jumping in and messing with DNS records.

Thank you.


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KFSys
Site Moderator
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March 29, 2023

Hey @billygenerativelabs,

If you are looking to add a Domain to your Droplet, you can follow this article here

https://docs.digitalocean.com/support/how-do-i-rename-a-droplet-or-change-its-hostname/

It gives a couple of options as to how to proceed. As for dynamically creating a subdomain just like the App platform, this is not possible at the moment however it’s a really good idea!

The best thing to do to get your voice heard regarding this would be to head over to our Product Ideas board and post a new idea, including as much information as possible for what you’d like to see implemented.

https://ideas.digitalocean.com/

Hope that helps! - KFSys.

Hey @billygenerativelabs,

While some other cloud providers assign a subdomain to each new VM which can be used as its public domain name, DigitalOcean assigns only a public IP address to the droplets. If you wish to use a domain name to point to the droplet, you would have to purchase a domain name yourself and assign it to the droplet.

Hope this helps!

doctl might be helpful here…

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