Dedicated and passthrough devices
Reserve host devices and account for their placement and recovery constraints.
Passthrough assigns a host device directly to a droplet. The device becomes a required placement dependency rather than a generic resource available on every compute node.
Prepare device inventory
Enable IOMMU in host firmware and the kernel, then inspect discovered device groups under Node → Hardware → Devices. A device must be isolated in an acceptable group before Infra offers it for assignment. Passing through one function can require reserving the whole group.
Classify devices by an administrator-defined device class, such as a GPU family or accelerator type. A class describes eligibility. It does not establish that two devices have identical firmware, application state, or licensing behavior.
Assign a device
Stop the droplet and choose Hardware → Attach device. Select a device class or a specific device ID. The preview shows eligible nodes, host reservations, and the effect on migration and recovery.
A concrete ID pins the droplet to that device's node. A class permits a compatible free device on another eligible node during a later stopped placement. Infra reserves an exclusive device before starting the guest and rejects another assignment while that reservation remains active.
Guest requirements
Install the guest driver and application runtime that support the assigned hardware. Infra exposes the virtual machine configuration and device assignment; it does not install proprietary guest drivers or transfer a software license.
A device can preserve state across a guest reset. The host must support the required reset procedure before the device is reassigned. A failed reset leaves the device quarantined and prevents another guest from receiving it.
Migration and maintenance
A droplet with passthrough cannot use ordinary live migration. A node drain reports it as a blocker. Schedule a guest stop, release or save application device state through the vendor procedure, then perform a supported cold move.
A backup captures selected disks, not accelerator memory or external device state. Recovery needs compatible hardware in the destination and any application steps required to recreate that state.
Remove an assignment
Shut down the guest, detach the device, and wait for host reset and reservation cleanup. The guest configuration loses the assignment only after the operation reaches an authoritative result. An unreachable host can require fencing before its exclusive reservation is cleared.
Review CPU profiles and placement groups when defining hardware-specific pools. Keep a spare compatible device where recovery objectives require replacement capacity.