Question

Website Unreachable After Droplet Migration

Posted on February 21, 2024
DigitalOcean Functions
Asked by HappyAquaUrchin

Hello everyone,

I recently migrated my website to a new Droplet on DigitalOcean using their provided migration tools. However, after completing the migration process and updating my DNS settings to point to the new Droplet’s IP address, my website has become unreachable.

Here’s what I’ve tried so far:

Double-checked the DNS settings to ensure they are correctly pointing to the new Droplet’s IP address.
Verified that the web server (e.g., Apache, Nginx) on the new Droplet is running and properly configured.
Checked the firewall settings on the new Droplet to ensure that ports 80 (HTTP) and 443 (HTTPS) are open.
Reviewed the error logs on the web server, but didn’t find any relevant errors or warnings.

Despite these efforts, when I try to access my website through a browser, I receive a “site can’t be reached” or a “connection refused” error.

Has anyone encountered a similar issue after migrating a website to a new Droplet on DigitalOcean? Are there any additional steps I should take to diagnose and resolve this problem?

Any advice or insights would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance for your help!

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KFSys

Site Moderator

• February 25, 2024

Heya @happyaquaurchin,

First check if your Domain has started resolving from your new Droplet. The DNS propagation can take up to 24 hours at times:

https://www.digitalocean.com/community/tools/dns

If there are any errrors in your DNS it might even not propagate.

Next, make sure you don’t have any typos in your web server’s configuration regarding your Domain name.

Bobby Iliev

Site Moderator

• February 24, 2024

Hey ,

First off, great job on taking those initial steps to troubleshoot the issue after your Droplet migration. It sounds like you’ve covered the basics pretty well. When dealing with website migrations, there are a few common culprits that can cause the site to be unreachable, even when it seems like everything’s been configured correctly. Let’s dive into a few more things you might want to check:

DNS Propagation: After updating DNS settings, it can take anywhere from a few minutes to up to 48 hours for these changes to fully propagate across the internet. You can use tools like dig or nslookup to confirm if the DNS changes have propagated and are pointing to the new IP address of your Droplet. Additionally, online tools like DNS Checker can give you a quick look at how your DNS is resolving globally:

https://www.digitalocean.com/community/tools/dns

SSL/TLS Configuration: If your site uses HTTPS, ensure that the SSL/TLS certificates have been correctly installed and configured on the new Droplet. A misconfiguration here could lead to connection issues. Tools like SSL Labs’ SSL Test can help you verify that your SSL setup is correct:

https://www.digitalocean.com/community/tutorials/how-to-secure-nginx-with-let-s-encrypt-on-ubuntu-20-04

Web Server Configuration: Double-check the configuration files for your web server (Apache/Nginx) and mainly the virtual host configuration for your domain name. Feel free to share the file here!
Check the Nginx error logs for some more information: