Floating IP addresses are reroutable IP addresses which can be dynamically routed to the IP address (Anchor IP address) of an underlying hosting service (e.g. a dedicated server, private rack or colocation service), creating flexibility between the externally visible IP addresses and the internal hosting services.
For example, a customer that has server A with IP address 1.1.1.1 and a server B with IP address 2.2.2.2 (e.g. in 2 different racks/halls in the same DC) will be able to order a Floating IP (e.g. 3.3.3.3) and reroute it to one of the servers at a time through an interface in the Customer Portal or an API call.
Information
A Floating IP address has to be configured to all servers that a customer wants to be able to route it to
There are two (2) types of Floating IP addresses:
- Site Floating IPs, which can be used to route traffic to anchor IP addresses within the same data center. (eg. both anchor IPs (servers) are in AMS-01)
- Metro Floating IPs, which can be used to route traffic to anchor IP addresses, which are located in two different data centers in the same metro area, (eg. anchor IP (server) A is in AMS-01 and anchor IP (server) B is in AMS-02)
Contents
Use cases
At least 2 hosting services need to be deployed to take advantage of a Floating IP address. Data sync can be achieved through Private Networking.
- Unplanned downtime
In case that server A becomes unavailable due to unexpected downtime, you can redirect the Floating IP address to point to the IP address of server B. The traffic will flow to server B and within seconds the application is on line.
- Maintenance / Upgrade (Planned downtime)
In case that maintenance or an upgrade needs to be performed. Before the maintenance window, you can direct the Floating IP address to the IP address of server B. The traffic will flow to server B and maintenance work can be performed to server A without downtime to the application.
When maintenance work is finished in server A, you can direct the Floating IP back to server A and you can proceed with the work in server B.
- Relocation of servers
In case that the server needs to be relocated to another rack, most of the times a change of the main IP address is also needed. With a Floating IP address, the only change is to route it to a new Anchor IP address
Ordering Floating IP addresses
Floating IP addresses can be ordered:
- Through our customer portal (Preferred and an automated process that takes care of delivering a Floating IP addresses in few minutes)
- Through our sales department (Please contact sales@leaseweb.com)
The minimum amount of Floating IP addresses is 1 (/32)
The maximum amount of Floating IP addresses is 256 (/24)
Floating IP addresses are available as CIDR blocks.
Important: The /24 is available for Site Floating IP addresses only. For Metro, it varies per location but in general it’s available between /27 till /32.
Using Floating IPs
Please follow the instructions here.
Data center availability
Site Floating IP addresses can be used to services within the same data center.
Available in below Data centers:
- Amsterdam (AMS-01)
- Washington (WDC-02)
- Frankfurt (FRA-01)
- Frankfurt (FRA-10)
- London (LON-01)
- Montreal (MTL-02)
- New York (NYC-11)
- Chicago (CHI-11)
- Miami (MIA-11)
- Dallas (DAL-13)
- Phoenix (PHX-11)
- Los Angeles (LAX-11)
- San Francisco (SFO-12)
- Seattle (SEA-11)
- Singapore (SIN-01)
- Sydney (SYD-10, SYD-11)
- Tokyo (TYO-10)
Metro Floating IP addresses can be used to services in two (2) data centers in the same metro area.
Available in below metro areas:
- Amsterdam (AMS-01,AMS-02)
- London (LON-01, LON-12)
- Singapore (SIN-01, SIN-10)
- Hong Kong (HKG-10, HKG-12)
Product availability
Floating IP addresses is available for dedicated servers and colocation. It is not available for Cloud services in this release. We plan to support then in the future.
Management tasks for floating IPs
Frequently Asked Questions for Floating IP addresses
FAQ: How many Floating IP addresses can I order
The maximum amount of Floating IP addresses that can be ordered are 256 (/24).
Note: The /24 is available for Site Floating IP addresses only. For Metro, it varies per location but in general it’s available between /27 till /32.
FAQ: Can I upgrade my current IP addresses to Floating?
Floating IP addresses come from a separate block of IP addresses and therefore it is not possible to upgrade your IP to a Floating IP.
FAQ: Can I use the Floating IPs that I have, to another data center in the same Metro area?
Yes, you can use Metro Floating IPs, if you want to use them in the data centers in the same metro area.
