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Overview

A floating IP maps a public IP address from an external network to your load balancer’s virtual IP (VIP) port. This is the standard method for exposing a load balancer to external clients. Once associated, the floating IP routes all inbound traffic to the load balancer, which distributes it across backend members according to the listener and pool configuration.
Prerequisites
  • An active Xloud account with appropriate permissions
  • Access to the Xloud Dashboard (https://connect.<your-domain>) or CLI configured with credentials
  • API credentials sourced (source admin-openrc.sh)
Before associating a floating IP, ensure:
  • The load balancer status is ACTIVE
  • At least one listener is configured and ACTIVE
  • A floating IP has been allocated from an external network in your project

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Associate a Floating IP

Retrieve the VIP port

Navigate to Project → Network → Load Balancers. Open your load balancer and note the VIP Port ID from the overview panel.

Allocate a floating IP

Navigate to Project → Network → Floating IPs. Click Allocate IP to Project and select your external network pool.

Associate the floating IP to the VIP

Click Associate next to the allocated floating IP. In the Port to be associated dropdown, select the load balancer VIP port identified in step 1.
The floating IP is now associated with the load balancer VIP. External traffic to the floating IP is forwarded to the load balancer.

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Test External Access

After associating the floating IP, verify traffic reaches your backend members:
Test HTTP access via floating IP
curl -v http://<floating-ip-address>/health
Test HTTPS access via floating IP
curl -v https://<floating-ip-address>/health
The health endpoint responds with HTTP 200 — traffic is flowing through the load balancer to backend members.

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Disassociate a Floating IP

Navigate to Project → Network → Floating IPs. Click Disassociate next to the floating IP attached to your load balancer.

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DNS Configuration

Map a domain name to the floating IP for production services:
If using Xloud DNS, create an A record pointing to the floating IP:
Create DNS A record
openstack recordset create \
  --type A \
  --records <floating-ip-address> \
  --ttl 300 \
  example.com. \
  api.example.com.
See the Xloud DNS guide for full DNS management instructions.

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Next Steps

Listeners

Add HTTPS termination to your listener before exposing it publicly.

Xloud DNS

Create DNS records pointing to your load balancer floating IP.

Xloud Key Manager

Store TLS certificates used by HTTPS listeners.

Troubleshooting

Resolve floating IP association failures and connectivity issues.