Skip to main content

​
Overview

Floating IPs provide publicly routable addresses that map to instance private IPs through NAT on the router. They can be allocated from the external IP pool, associated with any instance port, and disassociated or reassigned at any time without downtime — making them ideal for blue-green deployments, traffic failover, and elastic workloads.
Prerequisites
  • A router with an external gateway configured (Routers and Gateways)
  • An instance with a port on a router-attached subnet
  • The instance’s security group must allow the protocols you want to reach it on

​
Allocate a Floating IP

Navigate to Floating IPs

Log in to the Xloud Dashboard (https://connect.<your-domain>) and navigate to Project → Network → Floating IPs.

Allocate from the pool

Click Allocate IP to Project.
FieldValue
PoolSelect the external or public network
DNS NameOptional — for DNS-integrated deployments
DescriptionOptional — label the IP’s intended use
The floating IP appears in the list with status DOWN (not yet associated).

​
Associate with an Instance

Associate from the Floating IPs list

Click Associate next to the allocated IP.
FieldValue
Port to be AssociatedSelect the instance port (identified by instance name and fixed IP)
If an instance has multiple ports, select the port on the network that is attached to your router. A floating IP can only be associated with a port on a routed subnet.

Verify association

The floating IP status changes to ACTIVE. The associated instance and fixed IP appear in the Mapped Fixed IP Address column.
You can now reach the instance at the floating IP address from outside the cluster.

​
Disassociate and Release

​
Disassociate from an Instance

Navigate to Project → Network → Floating IPs, click Disassociate next to the active IP. The IP returns to DOWN status and is available for reassignment.

​
Release Back to the Pool

Navigate to Project → Network → Floating IPs, select the unassociated IP, and click Release Floating IPs from the Actions dropdown.
Releasing a floating IP returns it to the shared pool. The address may be reallocated to another project immediately. Ensure no production traffic depends on it before releasing.

​
Floating IP Lifecycle

​
Validation

After associating a floating IP, verify end-to-end connectivity:
Test SSH connectivity via floating IP
ssh -i ~/.ssh/my-key.pem ubuntu@203.0.113.45
Test HTTP connectivity
curl -I http://203.0.113.45
Successful connection confirms the floating IP is correctly associated, the router NAT rules are in place, and the instance’s security group allows the tested protocol.

​
Next Steps

Network Security Groups

Ensure your security group allows inbound traffic on the ports you want to reach

Routers and Gateways

Configure the router external gateway required for floating IP NAT

Network Troubleshooting

Resolve floating IP unreachable and association failures

DNS Configuration

Associate DNS names with floating IPs for discoverable service endpoints