Vultr Reserved IPs

Introduction

Use this guide to learn about Vultr's Reserved IP feature. Reserved IPs are useful for moving an IP address to a new instance, or achieving high availability with a floating IP.

Notes:

• IP addresses are reserved in a single location and cannot be moved between locations.

• There is an additional charge for reserved IPs. See the Customer Portal for current pricing.

Reserve an IP Address

To reserve an IP address, navigate to the Customer Portal Products page.

1. Select the Network tab.

2. Choose Reserved IPs on the left menu.

3. Select Add Reserved IP from the blue "+" menu button.

   

4. Add Reserved IP is a two-part form. Use the top section to add a new reserved IP, or the bottom section to convert an existing IP to reserved.

Add a New Reserved IP

Select the location and type of address. Please choose a label for this reserved IP to identify it on the other portal management screens.

• You cannot move a reserved IP between locations.

• You may reserve either an IPv4 address or a /64 IPv6 subnet.

• You can attach a reserved IP to a single machine at a time.

• If the IP is unattached to an instance, you can use it as a floating IP with BGP for high availability.

• You can destroy new IP allocations immediately. However, the IP will count towards your allotted IP quota for a minimum of 24 hours.

Click the Add button to reserve your address.

Convert an Existing IP to Reserved

Use the bottom section of the form to convert the IP from a running instance to a reserved IP. Use the drop-down and corresponding convert button to reserve IPv4 or IPv6 addresses. The IP will remain the primary IP address for the instance. It is not required to restart the instance.

Deploy New Instance with Reserved IP

When assigned during deployment, a reserved IP becomes the server's primary IP address.

• Use the IP Address option to assign a reserved IP from the same location as the server deployment.

• If you have no reserved IPs in the deployment location, choose Assign New IP to reserve a new IP address.

  

Assign a Reserved IP to an Instance

To assign a reserved IP to a running instance:

1. Navigate to the Reserved IPs tab.

   

2. Click the pencil icon on the right to open the Manage Reserved IP page.

   

3. Select a server from the drop-down list, then click Attach.

4. If desired, update the reverse DNS.

   📝Note: You must restart the server via the control panel before using the IP address. Rebooting via SSH is not sufficient.

Configure the reserved IP

After restarting the server, manually configure the IP address as the secondary address.

1. Navigate to the server information screen.

2. Click the Settings tab.

3. Choose IPv4 from the left menu.

4. Click the network configuration link.

5. Choose your operating system from that page and follow the instructions to assign the reserved IP as the secondary IP address. In the example screenshot below, 203.0.113.100 is the reserved IP.

   

Detach a Reserved IP from an Instance

It's possible to release a reserved IP from a running instance, but it may require destroying the running instance to release the address.

Reserved IP as the primary address

If the reserved IP is the primary address, you must destroy the instance to release the IP.

👉 Important: Make backups first! Use our snapshot feature and verify it completes successfully before proceeding. Make additional off-site backups of valuable data before destroying your server instance. Vultr cannot recover destroyed instances.

Reserved IP as a secondary address

If the reserved IP is the secondary address, you can detach the IP without destroying the instance.

1. Navigate to the Reserved IPs tab.

2. Open the Manage Reserved IP page by clicking the pencil icon to the left of the IP.

3. Click the Detach button. You will need to restart your instance and manually remove your operating system's configuration.

   

Move an IP Address to a New Instance

You can move an IP address to a new instance in the same location. Please read and understand all steps before proceeding.

1. Convert the instance IP to reserved. This step preserves the IP address before destroying the instance.

2. Optional: If moving the IP to an exact copy of this instance, use our snapshot feature to make a backup.

   • You might use this option to upgrade to a larger plan, for example.

   • Verify the snapshot completes successfully before proceeding. Make additional off-site backups of valuable data. Test your backups! Vultr cannot recover destroyed instances.

3. Destroy the instance to release the IP address. This step destroys all data on the instance.

4. Assign the reserved IP to a new instance. Choose one of these two methods:

   • Deploy a new instance in the same location and assign the reserved IP. Optional: Use the snapshot created in step two and choose an instance plan the same size or larger than the original server.

   OR

   • Assign the reserved IP to a running instance as a secondary address. You'll need to restart the server and manually configure the network configuration.

Delete a Reserved IP

To remove the IP address reservation and stop future charges, delete the reserved IP address.

• If the reserved IP is unattached, you will lose access to the address.

• If attached as primary, you may delete the reservation. The address will convert to unreserved.

  • In most cases, the address will remain the same. However, if the address is critical, you should reserve it.

• If attached as secondary, you must remove it from the instance before deleting the reservation.

To delete a reserved IP address:

1. Navigate to the Reserved IPs tab.

2. Click the trash icon to the left of the IP address.

3. Confirm that you want to delete the address reservation.

Manage Reserved IPs via API

The Vultr API offers several endpoints to manage reserved IPs.

• Create a new reserved IP.

• List all reserved IPs in your account.

• Get information about a reserved IP.

• Attach a reserved IP to an instance.

• Detach a reserved IP.

• Convert the IP address on an instance into a reserved IP.

• Delete a reserved IP.