@mustard

Droplet’s are essentially VPS’s, which means they’ll function however you set them up. You can setup the web server or backend (of your choice) to accept requests via IP, or you can use a domain. It just depends on what you need. There’s really no limitation there :-).

In terms of using a firewall, it is recommended as the IP’s are public and therefore open to the public. That means that without a firewall running and limiting what ports a visitor can connect to, they could potentially attempt to connect on any port.

Ideally, I setup ufw in the following manor:

Disable the Firewall

ufw disable

Reset the Firewall

ufw reset

Deny All Incoming Requests

ufw default deny incoming

Allow All Outgoing Requests

ufw default allow outgoing

Now, we’ll only allow in a select few ports – 22 (SSH), 80 (HTTP), and 443 (HTTPS).

ufw allow 22/tcp

ufw allow 80/tcp

ufw allow 443/tcp

With ufw now setup, we’ll turn it on.

ufw enable

Now the only ports that anyone is allowed to connect on are 22, 80, and 443. The rest will be denied.