Floating IPs
A public IPv4 address you keep, and point at whichever of your servers should answer for it.
Built, not open to the public yet
This feature is built and has been tested against simulated hosts and a test database. It has not yet been proven on real hardware, and nothing here can be ordered today.
Not there yet
- IPv4 only. Floating IPv6 is planned. Real-hardware testing is still to come.
What a floating IP is
- A public IPv4 address owned by your organisation. It is separate from a server's own address and outlives any server.
- It comes from a pool for the server's location, so you can assign it only to servers in that location. It stays on the host it was first assigned on.
- You can assign it, take it off, move it to another server, or release it.
Safe moves
- Taking an address off a running server, or moving it, asks you to confirm by name. Nothing removes it silently.
- A move is two steps in order: the old server lets go, then the new one takes it, so two servers never answer for one address.
- You cannot release an address while a server still holds it.
- Reverse DNS follows the address to its new holder. It counts for outgoing mail only while a server holds it.
Price
A monthly price, fixed when you add the address. The panel shows it and the first charge before you pay. See pricing. There is a limit on floating IPs per organisation.
Like volumes, it is billed on the server it was bought for. If that server ends while the address is unassigned, you are told, warned again at least 48 hours before release, and the address is released after the grace period. An address a live server holds is never released.
Inside the server
The host routes the address to the server. Whether your operating system needs the address added to an interface depends on the image. Configuration from inside the guest is not automated yet.
Not built
- Floating IPv6.
- Moving the billing to another server.