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DigitalOcean Supported Services

NightOps supports automated start/stop management for the following DigitalOcean services.

Supported Services Overview

ServiceStop MethodStart MethodData PreservedConfig Preserved
DropletsPower OffPower OnYesYes
Managed DatabasesScale DownScale UpYesYes
KubernetesScale to 0Restore SizeYes (with PVC)Yes

Droplets

DigitalOcean Droplets can be powered off and on without losing configuration or attached volume data.

API Operations

OperationAPI EndpointDescription
ListGET /v2/dropletsList all Droplets
StopPOST /v2/droplets/{id}/actions (power_off)Power off a Droplet
StartPOST /v2/droplets/{id}/actions (power_on)Power on a Droplet
StatusGET /v2/droplets/{id}Check Droplet status

What's Preserved

  • Block storage volumes and data
  • Networking configuration
  • Floating IPs (if assigned)
  • Tags and metadata
  • Backups and snapshots

Caveats

Billing

Powered-off Droplets still incur storage costs for the reserved disk space. Only compute costs are saved.

IP Address

The Droplet's public IP is preserved on power off/on. However, if you destroy and recreate, a new IP is assigned.


Managed Databases

Managed Database clusters cannot be stopped, but can be scaled down to the smallest plan during off-hours.

API Operations

OperationAPI EndpointDescription
ListGET /v2/databasesList all database clusters
Scale DownPUT /v2/databases/{id}/resizeReduce to smallest size
Scale UpPUT /v2/databases/{id}/resizeRestore original size
StatusGET /v2/databases/{id}Check cluster status

Supported Engines

  • PostgreSQL
  • MySQL
  • Redis
  • MongoDB

What's Preserved

  • All data
  • Connection strings
  • Users and permissions
  • Trusted sources (firewall)

Caveats

Resize Time

Resizing a database cluster takes 5-15 minutes and involves a brief connection interruption.

Minimum Size

There's a minimum cluster size that cannot be reduced further. Cost savings depend on the difference between your production and minimum sizes.


Kubernetes (DOKS)

DigitalOcean Kubernetes node pools can be scaled to zero while preserving the control plane.

API Operations

OperationAPI EndpointDescription
ListGET /v2/kubernetes/clusters/{id}/node_poolsList node pools
StopPUT /v2/kubernetes/clusters/{id}/node_pools/{pool_id}Scale to 0 nodes
StartPUT /v2/kubernetes/clusters/{id}/node_pools/{pool_id}Restore node count
StatusGET /v2/kubernetes/clusters/{id}Check cluster status

What's Preserved

  • Cluster configuration
  • Node pool definitions
  • Kubernetes workload definitions
  • Persistent Volume Claims (with DO Volumes)

Caveats

Control Plane Cost

The Kubernetes control plane is free on DigitalOcean, but the cluster still exists even with zero nodes.

Stateful Workloads

Workloads requiring persistent storage need DigitalOcean Volumes attached via PersistentVolumeClaims.

Scale-Up Time

Scale-up takes 2-4 minutes for new nodes to become ready.


Unsupported Services

ServiceReason
App PlatformNo pause functionality; billing continues for reserved resources
SpacesObject storage; no stop mechanism needed (pay per usage)
Load BalancersDelete changes IP; requires reconfiguration
FunctionsServerless; no stop needed (pay per invocation)

Next Steps