How To Tag DigitalOcean Droplets
Introduction
DigitalOcean offers tags, a feature allowing you to apply custom labels to a Droplet. You can tag more than one Droplet with the same label, then use it to view a filtered list of Droplets that share that particular tag. In addition to filtering, the DigitalOcean API allows you to initiate an action across multiple Droplets with the same tag. Identifying groups of Droplets and administering all of them at once reduces the time required to manage resources.
Note: The availability of the tags feature in the control panel is being rolled out in stages. If you do not see the options outlined in the tutorial, please continue to check back as the feature will be made available to all customers very soon. Thanks!
Tagging a Droplet from the Droplets page
To begin, log into the DigitalOcean Control Panel and click the More link to the right of the Droplet that you want to tag.
Next, click the Add tags option from the pop-up menu.
An Add Tags overlay window appears. In the Type tags here input box, enter a label to tag the Droplet. Choosing terms that describe what function a Droplet serves will help you to locate and administer the Droplets that share common roles. We have found that developers consider some of the following when tagging Droplets:
- Environment - Production, Staging or Development
- Application - Web server (Apache), Database server (MariaDB), et cetera
- Purpose - A project name or any other key term that describes the use of the Droplet
- Person - The individual or team responsible for managing the Droplet
Add multiple terms by pressing the SPACEBAR
or ENTER
key after each one.
With your desired tag in place, click the Save Tags button.
You will return to the Droplets section of the control panel where a Tags column now exists.
Additionally, when a Droplet has multiple tags assigned to it, the first one appears in the Tags column followed by a plus symbol and the number of additional tags. Clicking on the number reveals the other tags.
At this point, you have completed the necessary steps to tag a Droplet. You can edit the tags by performing the same actions.
Tagging a Droplet by Selecting it
You can also access the tags option by clicking on the name of a Droplet from the Droplet section of the control panel:
Note: The following screenshots reflect assigning a tag to a Droplet for the first time.
The new page contains a list of option on the left-hand side. Click Tags at the bottom.
Next, click the Add Tags button.
In the Add Tags input box, enter a label to tag the Droplet and click the Save Tags button.
You will return to the Tags section with a list of the saved tags.
Click the Droplets link in the top-left corner of the page to go back to the Droplets section of the control panel.
Tagging a Droplet during Creation
When you create a new Droplet, you can label it as well. Click the Create Droplet button in the top-right corner of any page in the control panel.
At the bottom of the page in the Choose a hostname portion of the Finalize and create section, click the Add Tags link.
In the Type tags here field, enter a label to tag the Droplet.
Next, click the Create button.
We have now explored the three avenues for working with tags in the DigitalOcean control panel.
Filtering Droplets by a Tag
From the Droplets page, select a tag shared by multiple Droplets.
Presented is a filtered list of Droplets based on that tag assignment.
Conclusion
In this tutorial, we covered navigating the DigitalOcean control panel and assigning a tag to a Droplet. After tagging your Droplets, you can begin using them with the DigitalOcean API. For more information about tags and our API, please view our How To Use Droplet Tagging with the DigitalOcean API tutorial.
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