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How do I download a software to a droplet and use it.

Posted on September 7, 2020

I am totally new to coding!!! I’ve been told to get a VPS to host software I have purchased called SEO Autopilot on because I can’t download it to my Mac. I really have no idea what I’m doing but would really like to learn. I wish to know how to add the software which is on my Mac to the droplet I have already created.



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Hi there @ashleyjoyner67 ,

Welcome to the community! Great you are looking to learn a new system. Digitalocean runs Linux machines in the cloud which means you would have to use a protocol that is available to you, to transfer data. In most of the cases this is SSH/SFTP. Normally you would drag and drop a file from 1 location to the other locally, now you will have to transfer every piece of a file to the servers location. You can do this threw command line, using SSH commands (since you have a macbook this is easier). Or use an application with a GUI like:

Linux usually runs SSH/SFTP on port 22 so make sure you use this port and protocol. You would need to use the username and password you got from digitalocean. Hope this gets you started! ~Bjorn

Hi @ashleyjoyner67,

The easiest way would be using FTP. FTP is short for File transfer protocol. It basically allows you to transfer files using different programs from one place to another.

The most commonly used program is FileZilla. You can download it here -> Download Link

Having said that before you can use it, you’ll need to either setup a new user on your droplet, or use your root user. Usually, it’s better not to use root but to create another user that has the proper priviliges. There is a pretty good tutorial on how you can create the user here :

https://www.digitalocean.com/community/tutorials/initial-server-setup-with-ubuntu-20-04

Regards, KFSys

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