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If your VPS cannot reach the internet, services are unreachable from outside, or connectivity is intermittent, work through the following steps.

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Step 1: Verify the Server Is Running

Check your server’s power state in the Client Portal. If stopped, start it. See Server Not Responding if the server appears to be running but is completely unreachable.

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Step 2: Test from Both Sides

From your local machine to the server: 
ping YOUR_SERVER_IP
traceroute YOUR_SERVER_IP
From the server to the internet (connect via VNC if SSH is unavailable): 
# Test basic connectivity
ping 8.8.8.8

# Test DNS resolution
ping google.com

# If DNS fails, check resolvers
cat /etc/resolv.conf
This confirms whether the problem is inbound, outbound, or both directions.

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Step 3: Check the Network Interface

# Check interfaces and assigned IPs
ip addr show

# Check default route
ip route show
No IP on the interface — Reconfigure networking: 
netplan apply              # Ubuntu / Debian
systemctl restart NetworkManager  # RHEL-based
No default route — Without a default gateway, the server cannot reach anything outside its local subnet. Check your network configuration files for the correct gateway.

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Step 4: Check Firewall Rules

A misconfigured firewall is one of the most common causes of connectivity issues: 
# List all rules
iptables -L -n -v

# Check default policy
iptables -L -n | grep policy

# Temporarily flush rules to test
iptables -F
Disabling the firewall exposes your server to all inbound traffic. Only do this temporarily to confirm the firewall is the cause, then fix the specific rule rather than leaving it disabled.

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Step 5: Check Service Binding

If the server is reachable but a specific service is not: 
# Check if the service is listening on the expected port
ss -tlnp | grep :PORT
If the service is listening on 127.0.0.1 only, it will not accept external connections. It needs to be configured to listen on 0.0.0.0 or your server’s public IP.

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Step 6: Check DNS Resolution

If you can reach IP addresses but not domain names: 
dig google.com
cat /etc/resolv.conf
If /etc/resolv.conf is empty or unreachable, add public resolvers: 
echo "nameserver 1.1.1.1" > /etc/resolv.conf
echo "nameserver 8.8.8.8" >> /etc/resolv.conf
Some OS configurations regenerate /etc/resolv.conf on reboot. For a persistent fix, configure DNS through your network manager (Netplan or NetworkManager) rather than editing the file directly.

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Step 7: Contact Support

If the network interface is configured correctly, the firewall is not blocking traffic, and the server can reach its gateway but still cannot communicate externally, the issue may be at the infrastructure level. Contact support at console.digitalfyre.com and include:
  • Your server IP address
  • Output of ping 8.8.8.8 from the server via VNC
  • Output of traceroute 8.8.8.8 from the server
  • Output of ip addr show and ip route show
  • When the issue started