Help Center/ Elastic IP/ User Guide/ Elastic IP User Guide/ Elastic IP/ EIP Overview
Updated on 2026-05-08 GMT+08:00
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EIP Overview

EIP

The Elastic IP (EIP) service enables your cloud resources to communicate with the Internet using static public IP addresses and scalable bandwidths. If a resource has an EIP bound, it can directly access the Internet. If a resource only has a private IP address, it cannot directly access the Internet.

EIPs can be bound to or unbound from ECSs, BMSs, virtual IP addresses, NAT gateways, or load balancers.

Each EIP can be bound to only one cloud resource at a time and both must be in the same region.

You can use public NAT gateways to enable ECSs in the VPC to share an EIP to access the Internet or provide services accessible from the Internet. For details, see Using a Public NAT Gateway to Enable Servers to Share One or More EIPs to Access the Internet.

Pay-per-use EIPs can be transferred across accounts. However, you need to submit a service ticket. For details about how to submit a service ticket, see Submitting a Service Ticket.
  • Only EIPs in the same region can be transferred across accounts.
  • An EIP to be transferred must meet the following requirements:
    • The EIP is billed on a pay-per-use basis.
    • Yearly/Monthly EIPs cannot be transferred across accounts. If an EIP is billed on a yearly/monthly basis, you can change its billing mode to pay-per-use and then apply for a cross-account EIP transfer.

      For details, see Yearly/Monthly to Pay-Per-Use.

    • The EIP must be in the Unbound status.
Figure 1 Connecting to the Internet using an EIP

EIP Quotas

You can log in to the console to query your EIP quotas.

If you want to increase your quota, see How Do I Apply for a Higher Quota?
  • Your request for a larger quota will only be approved if your account has valid orders and you are continuously using cloud resources. If you have released resources immediately after subscribing to them multiple times, your request for quota increase will be declined.
  • If you have increased the EIP quota but you have not used the quota for a long time, Huawei Cloud will reduce the quota to the default value.

Constraints

  • If a yearly/monthly EIP is not renewed after it expires, or if the arrears of a pay-per-use EIP are not paid in a timely manner, the EIP may be released and cannot be recovered.
  • If the used EIP bandwidth exceeds the specified size or is attacked (usually by a DDoS attack), the EIP will be blocked but can still be bound or unbound.
  • An EIP cannot be shared across accounts. Each account can only use and manage its own EIP dedicated bandwidths and shared bandwidths.
  • The maximum bandwidth of a yearly/monthly EIP or a pay-per-use EIP billed by bandwidth cannot exceed 2,000 Mbit/s. The maximum bandwidth of a pay-per-use EIP billed by traffic cannot exceed 300 Mbit/s. The maximum bandwidth of a shared bandwidth cannot exceed 2,000 Mbit/s.
  • Constraints on binding or unbinding an EIP to or from an instance:
    • An EIP can be bound to only one cloud resource at a time, and the EIP and the resource must be in the same region.
    • An EIP that has already been bound to a cloud resource cannot be bound to another resource without first being unbound from the current resource.
  • The EIP remains unchanged:
    • No matter you start or stop the ECS.
    • When you modify its billing mode or bandwidth size.

Binding an EIP to an Instance

Figure 2 Process for binding an EIP to an instance
Table 1 Description of the process for binding an EIP to an instance

No.

Step

Description

1

Assigning an EIP

You can assign an EIP and bind it to a cloud resource to allow the resource to access the Internet.

2

Binding an EIP to an Instance
  • The procedure for binding an EIP varies depending on the instance it is bound to.
  • The EIP and the instance it is bound to must be in the same region.

EIP Billing

EIPs can be billed on a yearly/monthly or pay-per-use basis. The billing options and billing items vary depending on the billing mode. For details, see Billing.

From April 1, 2026 (the date varies by region and is subject to the console notification), pay-per-use EIPs billed by traffic have the following constraints:

  • A single EIP supports a peak bandwidth of up to 300 Mbit/s.
  • The total peak bandwidth of all pay-per-use EIPs billed by traffic of an account in the same region cannot exceed 5 Gbit/s.

If your service requires a higher or guaranteed peak bandwidth, use pay-per-use EIPs billed by bandwidth.

You can also change the billing mode later if it no longer meets your needs. For details, see Changing the EIP Billing Mode.

Related Operations

Binding or Unbinding an EIP: After an EIP is assigned, you can bind it to a cloud resource such as an ECS for Internet access.

Adding EIPs to or Removing EIPs from a Shared Bandwidth: After a shared bandwidth is assigned, you can add multiple pay-per-use EIPs to it so that all EIPs share the same bandwidth. Then, your network operation costs will be lowered and your system O&M as well as resource statistics will be simplified.

Parent Topic: Elastic IP