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  • DO-I-2296 /
  • New idea
1,400 Vote

downgrade option, not just upgrade

We should have the possibility to also downgrade droplets, not just upgrade. Sometimes we need a lot of power for some operations, but then we don't for some time, or maybe not at all anymore, so it would be nice to be able to downgrade a droplet, not just to upgrade it.
The current solution is to create a new one with a smaller plan, but this means configuring, installing and doing all that stuff which takes time and is not portable.

  • Guest
  • Sep 11 2018
  • Will not implement
DigitalOcean General
  • Sep 11, 2018

    Admin response

    Hi everyone, There seems to be some confusion in this thread I wanted to clear up: When resizing using our "Flexible" option you are always able to downgrade to your original size. However, when using our permanent resize or creating a new Droplet you will not be able to downgrade to a smaller size. This is because we never shrink the filesystem of a Droplet to prevent the possibility of data corruption. For more information on our Resize feature check out this community tutorial https://www.digitalocean.com/community/tutorials/how-to-resize-your-droplets-on-digitalocean.
  • Comments (109)
  • Votes (1400)
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  • Max Johnson commented
    13 Mar 08:43am
    we never shrink the filesystem of a Droplet to prevent the possibility of data corruption


    How realistic is this "risk" ?



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  • David Cowden commented
    6 Jan 12:44am
    This is a condescending answer: Why wouldn't we be able to downgrade CPU+Memory only? This is why they add only +10gb at a time for upgrades so they have this excuse. May as well give us +1kb and use this excuse.

    No, it really isn't. It makes perfect sense to me. If droplet sizing is really an issue for you, and just in general: put your files on a volume. Volumes can be moved between droplets as needed and are basically free. Alternatively just copy your files if you don't want to use volumes.

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  • Dylan H commented
    11 Nov, 2020 09:39am
    This is because we never shrink the filesystem of a Droplet to prevent the possibility of data corruption

    This is a condescending answer: Why wouldn't we be able to downgrade CPU+Memory only? This is why they add only +10gb at a time for upgrades so they have this excuse. May as well give us +1kb and use this excuse.

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  • Filip Oščádal commented
    24 Nov, 2019 02:48pm

    it's a dumb idea -> create a new droplet, copy files, test, destroy the old one

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  • Guest commented
    14 Sep, 2019 09:23am

    Just use the minimal one droplet specification and just scale it horizontally.

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  • Mark Murawski commented
    8 Jan, 2019 08:02pm

    There is a better way to handle this, versus downgrading a droplet.

     

    Some instances are built without a floating ip since one was not needed to begin with, but they later become needed.

     

    Give us the ability to move ip addresses from one droplet to another.  If you cancel a droplet you lose the ip address unless you ordered a floating ip.

     

     

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  • Guest commented
    11 Sep, 2018 06:29pm

    The fast-resize down will allow you to resize down to the original size that the droplet was created at, but not lower as that would require shrinking the drive partition.

    Thanks

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  • Guest commented
    11 Sep, 2018 06:29pm

    It's not that much hustle to make a backup, boot up a new droplet and select the backup in question, destroy the old one?

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  • Guest commented
    11 Sep, 2018 06:29pm

    @Robin J.

    It would have a new IP though, would it not?

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  • Guest commented
    11 Sep, 2018 06:29pm

    If i remember well that was an option in the past but now i see its gone. It was a great option.. i used it to go from 512mb to 1gb then 2gb(ram) and then i downgraded back to 1gb because it was better (my usage was lower) . Please DO do it back.

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  • Guest commented
    11 Sep, 2018 06:29pm

    The correct way to downgrade would be to take a snapshot of your droplet, and boot up a new instance with your snapshot. Shouldn't be anything else to it.

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  • Guest commented
    11 Sep, 2018 06:29pm

    If we could downgrade using the API the same droplet that would be awesome because we could use a script that checks the resources, if there is a spike the script would upgrade the droplet, if spike is gone then the script would downgrade.
    We could start big projects on small droplets, once the project grows automatically it will resize the droplet to make sure it has everything it needs.

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  • Guest commented
    11 Sep, 2018 06:29pm

    To downgrade by creating a snapshot and then using it to create a new droplet doesn't make sense either - the IP address will be different, right? That's not a downgrade, that's a new droplet/"host".

    Why is it possible to downgrade in my account? Is that because it's a very new account?

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  • Guest commented
    11 Sep, 2018 06:29pm

    yeah.. I agree.. I do upgrade and downgrade depends on usage. can we please get this option?

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  • Guest commented
    11 Sep, 2018 06:29pm

    Even if it was just an button that automated the shutdown - > snapshot -> deletion -> recreation from snapshot with the same IP.

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  • Guest commented
    11 Sep, 2018 06:29pm

    I think part of the issue is that upgrades don't actually change the amount of allocated space you receive, which is incredibly annoying. So downgrading would essentially mean free space.

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  • Guest commented
    11 Sep, 2018 06:29pm

    Currently you need to create a Snapshot, destroy and recreate... I second this.

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  • Guest commented
    11 Sep, 2018 06:29pm

    What there really should be is a "slow resize" option which might take a little longer but allows you to upgrade/downgrade to any size.

    That way there are less steps and less frustration when you have to do a real upgrade/downgrade that the fast upgrade option doesn't support.

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  • Guest commented
    11 Sep, 2018 06:29pm

    I wonder why you have to do this twice in step b and c: "create a new droplet from the snapshot image" ?

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  • Guest commented
    11 Sep, 2018 06:29pm

    I agree about downgrade option, as far as it (as upgrade) only touch the CPU and RAM.

    Resizing (down) filesystems implies to front with corner cases, file mounts, etc...

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