Public floating IP addresses

Last update: October 05 2026Open in Markdown

Public floating IP addresses are static IP addresses that can be attached to devices in private networks to configure internet access to them: to a cloud server, load balancer, managed database cluster node.

The address is floating (Floating IP in the API) because it can be quickly switched between devices in private subnets. When switching, the address does not change and is not deleted.

To connect a public floating IP address, the device must be in a private subnet connected to a cloud router with internet access — learn more in the Prepare private subnet for public floating IP address⁠ section. The public floating IP address is associated with the private IP address of the device. Incoming traffic is processed by the cloud router — the router performs 1:1 NAT via the external IP address allocated when connecting the router to the internet. Incoming traffic can be filtered using a cloud firewall or a security group.

When created, a public floating IP address is automatically allocated from the address pool; it cannot be selected manually.

A public floating IP address can only be used within one project and one pool.

For public floating IP addresses, there are traffic volume limits — bandwidth. You can check it in the Bandwidth table.

You can work with public floating IP addresses in the control panel, using the OpenStack CLI, or Terraform.

Create a public floating IP address

If you create the first public floating IP address in a project and pool, the private network nat and cloud router router-nat will be created automatically.

Control panel

1. In the control panel, in the top menu, click Products and select Cloud Servers.
2. Go to Network → Public Floating IPs tab.
3. Click Create IP address.
4. Select the location where the public floating IP address will be created.
5. Specify the number of public floating IP addresses.
6. Click Create.

OpenStack CLI

1. Open the OpenStack CLI.

2. Create a public floating IP address:

   openstack floating ip create external-network

Prepare a private subnet for connecting a public floating IP address⁠

To configure access to and from the internet via a public floating IP address, you must connect it to a device.

The device must be in a private subnet that meets the following requirements:

• the subnet must be connected to a cloud router that is connected to the internet. If the cloud router is connected to the internet, it performs 1:1 NAT for access from the private network to the internet via the router's external address and for access to the device in the private subnet from the internet via the public floating IP address;
• the private IP address of the cloud router must match the default gateway in the subnet.

If the subnet does not meet the requirements, prepare it for connecting a public floating IP address:

1. Create a cloud router with internet access⁠.
2. Connect the private subnet to the cloud router.

1. Create a cloud router with an internet connection⁠

Control panel

1. In the control panel, in the top menu, click Products and select Cloud Servers.
2. Go to Network → Cloud Routers tab.
3. Click Create router.
4. Select the location where the cloud router will be created.
5. Select the router type.
6. Enter a router name.
7. Select the Connect router to the internet checkbox — an external IP address will be allocated for the router.
8. Click Create.

OpenStack CLI

1. Open the OpenStack CLI.

2. Create a cloud router:

   openstack router create <router_name> --ha --availability-zone-hint <availability_zone>

   Specify:

   • <router_name> — cloud router name;

   • --ha — specify to create a router with the type Redundant. If you do not specify the parameter, a router with the Basic type will be created. You can enable redundancy or disable redundancy after creating the router;

   • optional: --availability-zone-hint <availability_zone> — desired pool segments where router instances will be located. For a router in a multi-AZ pool, allows you to select the availability zone where the instance will be located. The <availability_zone> parameter is a pool segment, for example, ru-6a. For a router with the Redundant type, specify two segments, each in a separate parameter.

3. Connect the cloud router to the internet — an external IP address will be allocated for the router:

   openstack router set --external-gateway external-network <router>

   Specify <router> — ID or name of the cloud router, which can be viewed using the command openstack router list.

2. Connect the subnet to the cloud router

Control panel

1. In the control panel, in the top menu, click Products and select Cloud Servers.

2. Go to the Network section → the Cloud Routers tab.

3. Open the router page.

4. Click Connect Subnet.

5. Select a private subnet.

6. Optional: enter the router IP address — any available IP address from the subnet. If you do not specify an IP address, it will be automatically selected from the available subnet addresses.

   For devices in the subnet to access the internet without configuring additional routes, the cloud router's IP address must match the private subnet gateway. If the subnet gateway is already occupied, you will need to configure a static route via the cloud router in the subnet to access the internet.

   You can view the subnet gateway in the control panel: in the top menu, click Products → Cloud Servers → Network → the Private Networks tab → the network page → the Subnets tab → the subnet card → the Automatic Network Settings section → the Subnet Gateway field.

7. Click Connect.

OpenStack CLI

1. Open the OpenStack CLI.

2. Connect the subnet to the cloud router:

   openstack router add subnet <router> <subnet>

   Specify:

   • <router> — ID or name of the cloud router, can be viewed using the command openstack router list;
   • <subnet> — ID or name of the private subnet, can be viewed using the command openstack subnet list.

Connect a public floating IP address to a cloud server

A public floating IP address can be connected when creating a cloud server or to an existing server.

Control panel

1. Make sure that the cloud server is in a subnet that meets the requirements; for more information, see the Prepare private subnet for public floating IP address⁠⁠ section. You can view the server's subnets in the control panel: in the top menu, click Products → Cloud Servers → server page → Ports tab.
2. In the control panel, in the top menu, click Products and select Cloud Servers.
3. Go to the Network section → Public floating IP addresses tab.
4. On the public floating IP address card, click .
5. Select the cloud server private IP address.
6. Click Save.

OpenStack CLI

1. Open the OpenStack CLI.

2. View the cloud server port ID:

   openstack port list --server <server>

   Specify <server> — the ID or name of the cloud server.

3. Connect a public floating IP address to the cloud server port:

   openstack floating ip set --port <port> <floating_ip_address>

   Specify:

   • <port> — ID of the cloud server port;
   • <floating_ip_address> — ID or public floating IP address, can be viewed using the command openstack floating ip list.

Disconnect a public floating IP address from a cloud server

Control panel

1. In the control panel, in the top menu, click Products and select Cloud Servers.
2. Go to the Network section → Public Floating IPs tab.
3. On the public floating IP address card, click .
4. In the New private address for traffic NAT field, select Disconnect from current.
5. Click Save.

OpenStack CLI

1. Open the OpenStack CLI.

2. Disconnect the public floating IP address from the cloud server port:

   openstack floating ip unset --port <floating_ip_address>

   Specify <floating_ip_address> — the ID or public floating IP address, can be viewed using the command openstack floating ip list.

Connect a public floating IP address to a load balancer

A public floating IP address can be connected when creating a load balancer or to an existing load balancer.

Control panel

1. Make sure that the load balancer is in a subnet that meets the requirements; for more information, see the Prepare private subnet for public floating IP address⁠⁠ section. You can view the load balancer subnets in the control panel: in the top menu, click Products → Cloud Servers → Load Balancers → Load Balancers tab → load balancer page → Settings block → Network field.
2. In the control panel, in the top menu, click Products and select Cloud Servers.
3. Go to the Network section.
4. Open the Public floating IP addresses tab.
5. On the public floating IP address card, click .
6. Select the load balancer private IP address.
7. Click Save.

OpenStack CLI

1. Open the OpenStack CLI.

2. Copy the load balancer port ID. To do this, display information about the load balancer:

   openstack loadbalancer show <loadbalancer>

   Specify <loadbalancer> — ID or name of the load balancer. You can view the list using the command openstack loadbalancer list.

   In the command output, copy the value from the vip_port_id field.

3. Connect a public floating IP address to the load balancer port:

   openstack floating ip set --port <port> <floating_ip_address>

   Specify:

   • <port> — load balancer port ID copied in step 2;
   • <floating_ip_address> — ID or public floating IP address, can be viewed using the command openstack floating ip list.

Disconnect a public floating IP address from a load balancer

Control panel

1. In the control panel, in the top menu, click Products and select Cloud Servers.
2. Go to the Network section → Public Floating IPs tab.
3. On the public floating IP address card, click .
4. In the New private address for traffic NAT field, select Disconnect from current.
5. Click Save.

OpenStack CLI

1. Open the OpenStack CLI.

2. Disconnect the public floating IP address from the load balancer port:

   openstack floating ip unset --port <floating_ip_address>

   Specify <floating_ip_address> — the ID or public floating IP address, can be viewed using the command openstack floating ip list.

Connect a public floating IP address to a cloud database cluster node

Connecting public floating IP addresses is not supported for all DBMSs. The availability and connection process are described in the documentation of the corresponding DBMS in the Managed Databases section.

Disconnect a public floating IP address from a cloud database cluster node

1. In the control panel, in the top menu, click Products and select Cloud Databases.
2. Open the Active tab.
3. Open the database cluster page → Settings tab.
4. In the Node addresses and statuses section, in the node row, click .
5. Click Delete.

Switch a public floating IP address between devices

Control panel

1. In the control panel, in the top menu, click Products and select Cloud Servers.
2. Go to the Network section → Public floating IP addresses tab.
3. On the public floating IP address card, click .
4. Select a new private IP address for NAT.
5. Click Save.

OpenStack CLI

1. Open the OpenStack CLI.

2. Detach the public floating IP address from the current private IP address:

   openstack floating ip unset --port <floating_ip_address>

   Specify <floating_ip_address> — the public floating IP address.

3. Copy the ID of the port with the private IP address to which you want to connect the public floating IP address. To do this, list the ports:

   openstack port list

   In the port line, copy the value in the ID field.

4. Connect the public floating IP address to the private IP address:

   openstack floating ip set --port <port> <floating_ip_address>

   Specify:

   • <port> — ID of the port that you copied in step 3;
   • <floating_ip_address> — ID or public floating IP address, can be viewed using the command openstack floating ip list.

Configure NAT

To configure NAT, you need to configure port forwarding — set up traffic redirection from one port to another. For example, you can configure port forwarding from a public floating IP address to any port in a private subnet — in this case, access to the private port is organized without creating an additional public floating IP address.

Before configuring port forwarding, the public floating IP address must not be associated with a cloud server, load balancer, or other devices.

In Selectel, by default, certain TCP/UDP ports are blocked, and traffic through them is blocked.

OpenStack CLI

1. Open the OpenStack CLI.

2. Configure port forwarding:

   openstack floating ip port forwarding create \
     --internal-ip-address <internal_ip_address> \
     --port <port> \
     --internal-protocol-port <internal_protocol> \
     --external-protocol-port <external_protocol> \
     --protocol <protocol> \
     <floating_ip_address>

   Specify:

   • <internal_ip_address> — IP address of the port in the private subnet to which forwarding will be performed;
   • <port> — ID or name of the port in the private network to which forwarding will be performed, can be viewed using the command openstack port list;
   • <internal_protocol> — protocol of the port in the private subnet;
   • <external_protocol> — protocol of the public floating IP address port being forwarded;
   • <protocol> — protocol: tcp or udp;
   • <floating_ip_address> — ID or public floating IP address whose port is being forwarded. Can be viewed using the command openstack floating ip list.

   Example command:

   openstack floating ip port forwarding create \
     --internal-ip-address 192.168.0.2 \
     --port ed010217-9f78-4002-8703-2112da3fef1f \
     --internal-protocol-port 80 \
     --external-protocol-port 80 \
     --protocol tcp \
     192.0.2.7

Delete a public floating IP address

After deletion, the public floating IP address will be returned to the public floating IP pool.

Control panel

1. In the control panel, in the top menu, click Products and select Cloud Servers.
2. Go to the Network section → Public floating IP addresses tab.
3. On the public floating IP address card, click .
4. Enter the IP address to confirm deletion.
5. Click Delete.

OpenStack CLI

1. Open the OpenStack CLI.

2. Delete the public floating IP address:

   openstack floating ip delete <floating_ip_address>

   Specify <floating_ip_address> — the ID or public floating IP address, can be viewed using the command openstack floating ip list.