Droplet configuration history
Compare accepted revisions and restore compatible configuration without rewinding guest data.
Droplet configuration history retains accepted configuration revisions and their actors. It supports comparison and selected restoration of configuration; it does not capture guest memory or volume contents.
Read a revision
Open Droplet → Configuration → History. Each entry includes revision, request time, actor, source, and linked operation. A revision records name, labels, requested size, image reference at creation, CPU profile, placement requirements, network references, backup selection, and deletion protection.
Observed metrics, guest filesystem writes, and new journal entries do not create configuration revisions. A failed operation can leave an accepted revision whose desired values were never fully applied. Compare observed state alongside the diff before deciding what to restore.
Compare and restore
Select a revision and choose Compare to current. The diff distinguishes editable values, references that no longer exist, and creation-only fields. User-data secrets remain redacted; history cannot reveal a previously masked credential.
Restore configuration opens a proposed change. Names, labels, and protection can be restored while running. Size and CPU profile changes require the stopped workflow. An earlier network reference is usable only if it still belongs to the current project and region.
Infra validates the proposed values against today's quota, image restrictions, and admission policy. A historical configuration is not exempt from current policy. Deleted resources are not recreated automatically to satisfy its references.
Fields that require replacement
Region and boot image cannot be restored through an in-place revision edit. The restore view marks them Replacement required. Use a clone or recovery workflow to build a new droplet, then move application traffic after validation.
Volume contents remain unchanged when a configuration revision is restored.
Restoring a previous size_gib value cannot shrink a volume that has expanded.
Use a retained snapshot to recover old disk data into another volume.
Concurrent edits
The restoration request includes the current ETag. A newer edit returns
revision_conflict and leaves the proposed restoration unapplied. Refresh the
diff against the latest revision rather than assuming the old selection is still
safe to apply.
A successful restoration creates a new revision referencing the selected source revision. It preserves both the intervening history and the revision that was current before restoration.
Ownership and retention
History follows an explicitly transferred droplet; the source project's audit record remains under source retention. Project export permissions determine whether a member can download revision data.
History retention is separate from backups. Keep a reviewed blueprint for reproducible deployment configuration and use Droplet API updates for conditional writes.