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Setting up a dev server from a DigitalOcean snapshot

This guide explains how to create a new development server (e.g., dev.addaxai.com) from an existing DigitalOcean droplet snapshot.

1. Back up production

Before cloning the server, take both a database dump and a full DigitalOcean snapshot. The dump is portable and fast to restore if anything goes wrong with a schema migration. The snapshot is a full disk image (database, MinIO files, uploads, configs) so you can restore the entire server if needed.

  1. Create a database dump. On the source server, export the postgres database to a file. This is your most important backup.
cd /opt/addaxai-connect && docker compose exec postgres pg_dump -U addaxai addaxai_connect > backup.sql
  1. Power off the droplet. DigitalOcean recommends powering off before taking a snapshot to ensure full disk consistency. This stops all services and the OS itself, so you will lose your SSH session. When prompted for a password, enter the app_user_password from ansible/group_vars/dev.yml.
cd /opt/addaxai-connect && docker compose down && sudo shutdown -h now

  1. Take a DigitalOcean snapshot. In the DigitalOcean dashboard, go to your droplet, click Snapshots, name it (e.g., addaxai-connect-YYYY-MM-DD), and create one. Wait for it to complete.

  2. Power on the droplet. Back in the DigitalOcean dashboard, click the power on button. Wait until the status shows it's running again before continuing.

  3. Bring services back up. SSH back into the source server and start the docker compose stack. Powering off ran docker compose down, which removed the containers, so they do not come back on their own after boot.

cd /opt/addaxai-connect && docker compose up -d

2. Create the droplet

In the DigitalOcean dashboard:

  1. Go to Droplets → Create Droplet
  2. Choose Custom images (or Snapshots tab) and select your snapshot
  3. Pick a plan (minimum 8 GB RAM / 2 vCPU, per README)
  4. Choose a datacenter region (same as the source snapshot for speed)
  5. Add your SSH key under Authentication
  6. Name the droplet (e.g., addaxai-connect-dev)
  7. Click Create Droplet and note the assigned IP address

3. Add an SSH alias

Add to your local ~/.ssh/config:

Host dev
    HostName <NEW_DROPLET_IP>
    User ubuntu

Verify you can connect:

ssh dev

If the snapshot had a different SSH key, you may need to add yours first:

doctl compute ssh <DROPLET_ID> --ssh-command "cat >> ~/.ssh/authorized_keys" < ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub

4. Point DNS to the new droplet

Add an A record in your DNS provider:

Type: A
Name: dev
Value: <NEW_DROPLET_IP>
TTL: 300

Verify propagation:

dig +short dev.addaxai.com

Wait until this returns the new IP before continuing.

5. Stop services and clean up old state

The snapshot carries over the old server's data and SSL certificates. SSH in and clean up:

ssh dev

cd /opt/addaxai-connect && docker compose down

Check that all containers have stopped:

docker compose ps

This should return an empty list. If any containers are still running, run docker compose down again.

Remove old SSL certificates (new ones will be generated for the new domain):

sudo rm -rf /etc/letsencrypt/live/* /etc/letsencrypt/renewal/* /etc/letsencrypt/archive/*

Check they're gone:

sudo certbot certificates

This should say "No certificates found".

6. Update the domain in the .env file

cd /opt/addaxai-connect
sed -i 's/^DOMAIN_NAME=.*/DOMAIN_NAME=dev.addaxai.com/' .env
sed -i 's|^MINIO_PUBLIC_ENDPOINT=.*|MINIO_PUBLIC_ENDPOINT=https://dev.addaxai.com/minio|' .env
sed -i 's|^CORS_ORIGINS=.*|CORS_ORIGINS=https://dev.addaxai.com,http://localhost:3000,http://localhost:5173|' .env

Verify the values were set correctly:

grep -E '^(DOMAIN_NAME|MINIO_PUBLIC_ENDPOINT|CORS_ORIGINS)=' .env

You should see the new domain in all three lines.

7. Update nginx and get a new SSL certificate

Update the server name in the nginx config:

sudo sed -i 's/server_name .*/server_name dev.addaxai.com;/' /etc/nginx/sites-available/addaxai-connect.conf

Test that the nginx config is valid:

sudo nginx -t

You should see "syntax is ok" and "test is successful". If not, check the config file for errors. Then reload:

sudo systemctl reload nginx

Get a new SSL certificate for the new domain:

sudo certbot --nginx -d dev.addaxai.com

Verify the certificate was issued:

sudo certbot certificates

You should see dev.addaxai.com listed with a valid expiry date.

8. Start services

cd /opt/addaxai-connect && docker compose up -d

Wait a few seconds, then check that all containers are running:

docker compose ps

All services should show Up or running. If any show Restarting or Exit, check their logs:

docker compose logs <service_name> --tail 20

9. Verify the deployment

# check HTTPS is working
curl -I https://dev.addaxai.com/health

# check all containers are running
docker compose ps

# check the frontend loads (from your local machine)
open https://dev.addaxai.com

Things to watch out for

  • Old cron jobs: the snapshot may have cron jobs from the source server (e.g., demo date shifting). Check with crontab -l and ls /etc/cron.d/.
  • FTPS passive IP: if you need FTPS, update the passive IP to the new droplet's public IP in /etc/pure-ftpd/conf/ForcePassiveIP and restart pure-ftpd.
  • MinIO data: the snapshot includes existing MinIO data (images, crops, thumbnails). If you want a clean slate, also remove the MinIO volume: docker volume rm addaxai-connect_minio_data.
  • Redis data: Redis is ephemeral by default but may have queued jobs from the snapshot. Restarting containers clears this.
  • Firewall: UFW rules carry over. Verify with sudo ufw status that the rules are appropriate.