Aruba Cloud services covered by public IP address management
The guides in this section cover public IP address management for the following Aruba Cloud services:
The procedures described do not apply to
Cloud Servers (Virtual Data Center), for which public IP addresses are managed through the
Elastic IP service.
What public networks and public IP addresses are
An IP address (
Internet Protocol) is a numerical identifier assigned to a network interface that enables devices to communicate over a network.
A public IP address allows a server to communicate over the Internet and, when properly configured, to be reached from outside the network.
A public IP address allows you, for example, to access a server using tools such as
RDP (
Remote Desktop Protocol) for Windows or
SSH (
Secure Shell) for Linux, or to make services and applications hosted on the server accessible.
Public network: a set of public IP addresses belonging to the same address range, for example 95.110.153.0/24.
Public IP address: a single address belonging to a public network, for example 95.110.153.219.
When creating an OpenStack Cloud Server, VMware Cloud Server or Cloud VPS OpenStack, the first public IP address is assigned automatically.
You can subsequently select a public network from those available in the Cloud Server network interface management section and choose which IP addresses to associate or disassociate. The public network you select determines which IP addresses are available for selection.
There are two versions of the IP protocol:
IPv4
Uses 32-bit addresses represented by four decimal numbers separated by dots.
IPv4 example: 192.0.2.10
IPv6
Uses 128-bit addresses represented by eight groups of hexadecimal digits separated by colons.
IPv6 example: 2001:0db8:85a3:0000:0000:8a2e:0370:7344
IPv6 was introduced primarily to address the gradual depletion of available IPv4 addresses.
Main network parameters
The
Aruba Cloud Control Panel provides several parameters that identify network interfaces and describe public IP address configurations.
| Category |
Parameter |
Description |
Usage |
| Network interface |
MAC address |
Identifier of the virtual network interface, represented by six pairs of hexadecimal characters. |
Used to identify a specific Cloud Server network interface, for example during network configuration or troubleshooting. |
| IPv4 |
NetMask |
Subnet mask that identifies the network and host portions of an IPv4 address. |
Used when manually configuring an IPv4 address on a network interface, using the corresponding subnet mask or prefix. |
| IPv4 |
Gateway |
IP address of the network device through which the Cloud Server communicates with other networks. |
Used when the IPv4 gateway must be configured manually. A new gateway must not be added for each additional public IP address. |
| IPv4 |
Reverse DNS |
Mechanism used to resolve an IP address to its associated domain name through a PTR record. |
Used to check whether reverse DNS resolution is configured for the IP address. See the guide Configuring Reverse DNS for a public IP address. |
| IPv6 |
Start range |
Starting address of the IPv6 range assigned to the Cloud Server. |
Used to identify the beginning of the assigned IPv6 range. |
| IPv6 |
End range |
Ending address of the IPv6 range assigned to the Cloud Server. |
Used to identify the upper limit of the assigned IPv6 range. |
| IPv6 |
Gateway |
IPv6 address of the network device through which the Cloud Server communicates with other networks. It may be a link-local address, such as fe80::1. |
Used when the IPv6 gateway must be configured manually on the relevant network interface. |
Obtaining a public IP address
The Aruba Cloud services described in this section provide a public IP address, either IPv4 or IPv6, depending on the features and pricing conditions of the
selected service.
Additional public IP addresses can be purchased for OpenStack Cloud Server and VMware Cloud Server, as described in the guide
Buying new public IPs.
Additional public IP addresses cannot be purchased for Cloud VPS OpenStack. IPv4 and IPv6 addresses can be used according to the conditions of the selected plan.
Availability of IPv4 and IPv6 addresses for Aruba Cloud services
The availability of IPv4 and IPv6 addresses and their pricing conditions vary depending on the Aruba Cloud service used.
| Service |
IPv4 |
IPv6 |
Additional IPv4 addresses |
Additional IPv6 addresses |
| OpenStack Cloud Server |
Included, at an additional cost |
Optional, free of charge |
Available at an additional cost |
Not available |
| VMware Cloud Server |
Included, at an additional cost |
Optional, free of charge |
Available at an additional cost |
Not available |
| Cloud VPS OpenStack Starter |
Optional, at an additional cost |
Included, free of charge |
Not available |
Not available |
| Cloud VPS OpenStack Standard |
Included, free of charge |
Optional, free of charge |
Not available |
Not available |
Differences between IPv4 and IPv6
IPv4 and IPv6 are two versions of the Internet Protocol that enable devices connected to a network to be identified and communicate with one another.
The main difference is the address length and, consequently, the number of available addresses.
| Feature |
IPv4 |
IPv6 |
| Length |
32 bits |
128 bits |
| Address space |
232 addresses |
2128 addresses |
| Format |
Four decimal numbers (from 0 to 255) separated by dots |
Eight hexadecimal groups separated by colons |
| Example |
192.0.2.10 |
2001:0db8:0000:0000:0000:0000:0000:0010 |
| Theoretical number of addresses |
≈ 4.3 × 109 |
≈ 3.4 × 1038 |
| Availability |
Limited and being depleted |
Virtually unlimited |
The large IPv6 address space makes it possible to assign unique addresses to a very large number of devices and reduces the need for NAT (Network Address Translation), which is commonly used in IPv4 networks.
IPv4 and IPv6 can coexist through dual-stack technology, which allows a device to use both protocols.
IPv6 availability does not automatically mean that a service reachable via IPv4 is also reachable via IPv6: appropriate addressing, network configuration and security rules are required.
IPv6 address syntax rules
An IPv6 address consists of 128 bits, normally represented by eight groups of four hexadecimal digits separated by colons (:).
For example:
2001:0db8:85a3:0000:0000:8a2e:0370:7344
The following rules can be used to simplify the representation of IPv6 addresses:
- leading zeros in each group can be omitted
2001:0db8:0000:0000:0000:0000:0000:0001 = 2001:db8:0:0:0:0:0:1
- the longest sequence of consecutive groups consisting entirely of zeros can be replaced with ::. This abbreviation can only be used once in an address
2001:db8:0:0:0:0:0:1 = 2001:db8::1
- letters used to represent hexadecimal digits are written in lowercase and range from a to f.
Applying these rules, the address 2001:0db8:85a3:0000:0000:8a2e:0370:7344
can be represented in abbreviated form as 2001:db8:85a3::8a2e:370:7344
Both representations identify the same IPv6 address.