Cloning a VPS into a new VPS

What this is#

Deploying a new VPS that starts as an exact copy of one you already have: same operating system, same configuration, same installed software, same data. It's the fastest way to spin up a second server that matches one you've already set up, and our team does the cloning for you, you just request it in a support ticket.

The clone is a full copy of the source's disk. The new VPS keeps its own IP address and the hostname you give it, so anything on the source that's configured around its old IP will want updating on the copy.

Free or $25, depending on the source's distribution#

Whether the clone is free comes down to the systemd version on the source VPS:

• Free: the source runs systemd 232 or newer, which means our automated cloning handles it. In practice that's Ubuntu 18.04 or newer, Debian 9 or newer, and CentOS/AlmaLinux/Rocky 8 or 9.
• $25 fee: anything older, Ubuntu 16.04, Debian 8, CentOS 7, and earlier. These don't support cgroups v2, so the clone is a manual job for our team, and it carries a $25 fee.

Check what you're running#

Two commands work on every distribution:

cat /etc/os-release
systemctl --version | head -n 1

The first prints your distribution and release (look at the PRETTY_NAME line), the second prints the systemd version as the first number, for example systemd 237. If you prefer the distro-specific commands: lsb_release -d on Ubuntu and Debian, cat /etc/redhat-release on CentOS, AlmaLinux, and Rocky.

On an older distro? You have two options#

• Upgrade the OS first, then clone for free. Moving to a qualifying release (Ubuntu 18.04+, Debian 9+, EL8+) makes the clone free, and it's worth doing for its own sake, the releases below the line stopped receiving security updates long ago.
• Clone as-is for $25. If upgrading isn't practical for your setup, we'll do the manual clone once the fee is paid.

How to request a clone#

Open a ticket with the following:

• Source VPS: its hostname and IP.
• Target VPS: if you've already purchased the new VPS, its hostname and IP. If you haven't ordered it yet, tell us the hostname you'll use for it, then deploy the new VPS, and we'll clone onto it once it's active.
• Confirmation that the target can be wiped. Cloning naturally erases everything on the target VPS's disk, it becomes a copy of the source. If there's anything important on the target, back it up before we start.

What happens next:

• If your source qualifies for free cloning, we proceed and let you know in the ticket when it's done.
• If it's a manual clone, we add a $25 invoice to your account. Pay it and reply to the ticket, and we'll proceed.

Downtime during the clone#

To copy a consistent filesystem, the source VPS is stopped for the transfer, a snapshot of a running disk would risk half-written files, so a clean power-off sync is how it's done properly. The source is powered off only for the data transfer itself, and powered back on as soon as it finishes.

The transfer runs over our 10 Gbps network at around 2 Gbps of real throughput, so the power-off window depends on how much disk your source actually uses (not the plan's disk size). That works out to roughly 4 seconds per GB used, and the whole job adds about 5 to 10 minutes of preparation and finalization around the transfer:

If the downtime window matters, df -h / on the source shows your current usage, and trimming what you don't need (old logs, caches, leftover archives) before the clone shrinks the window directly.

Still need help?#

You can open a support ticket. So we can help on the first reply, it's worth mentioning:

• the source VPS's hostname and IP,
• the target VPS (or the hostname you'll order it with),
• your source's distro and systemd version if you've checked them.

Related questions#

• "Can I clone a server to spin up more identical ones?"
• "Can I deploy a new VPS using an existing VPS as a base?"
• "Is cloning my VPS free?"
• "Why does cloning cost $25 on my distro?"
• "How do I check my systemd or distro version?"
• "How long will my VPS be powered off during cloning?"
• "Will cloning erase the data on the target VPS?"
• "How do I request a clone?"