Help Center/ Elastic Cloud Server/ User Guide/ EIPs/ Overview
Updated on 2026-01-27 GMT+08:00
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Overview

EIP

The Elastic IP (EIP) service enables your cloud resources to communicate with the Internet using static public IP addresses and scalable bandwidths. EIPs can be bound to or unbound from ECSs, BMSs, virtual IP addresses, NAT gateways, or load balancers. Various billing modes are provided to meet different service requirements.

Each EIP can be used by only one cloud resource at a time. EIPs must be in the same region as the bound resources. EIPs cannot be used across regions.

Figure 1 Accessing the Internet using an EIP

What Are the Differences Between EIPs, Private IP Addresses, and Virtual IP Addresses?

IP addresses include private IP addresses, EIPs, and virtual IP addresses. They are used in different scenarios. For details, see Table 1.

Figure 2 IP address architecture
Table 1 Functions of different IP address types

IP Address Type

Description

Example Value

Private IP address

Private IP addresses come with your ECSs and belong to the VPC subnets of the ECSs. They are used for private communication on the cloud.
  • Private IP address of ECS-A-01: 172.16.0.84
  • Private IP address of ECS-B-01: 172.16.1.12

Virtual IP address
A virtual IP address is a private IP address independently assigned from a VPC subnet. It can be released when no longer needed. You can:
  • Bind one or more virtual IP addresses to a cloud server so that you can use either the virtual or private IP address to access the server. If you have multiple services running on a cloud server, you can use different virtual IP addresses to access them.
  • Bind a virtual IP address to multiple cloud servers. You can use a virtual IP address and an HA software (such as Keepalived) to set up a high-availability active/standby cluster. If you want to improve service availability and avoid single points of failure, you can deploy cloud servers in the active/standby mode or deploy one active cloud server and multiple standby cloud servers. In this arrangement, the cloud servers all use the same virtual IP address. If the active cloud server goes down, the standby cloud server becomes the active server and continues to provide services.

For more information about virtual IP addresses, see Virtual IP Address Overview. For details about how to set up a high availability cluster, see Using a Virtual IP Address and Keepalived to Set Up a High-Availability Web Cluster.

Bind virtual IP address (172.16.0.2) both ECS-A-01 and ECS-A-02. The active/standby switchover of ECS-A-01 and ECS-A-02 can be implemented by using Keepalived.

EIP

EIPs allow cloud resources to access the Internet. They can be flexibly bound to or unbound from instances.

  • You can bind an EIP to a virtual IP address to enable the ECSs with the virtual IP address bound to access the Internet.
  • You can also bind an EIP to the ECSs to enable them to access the Internet.

For more information, see EIP Overview.
  • Bind EIP (122.9.9.85) to virtual IP address (172.16.0.2) to enable ECS-A-01 and ECS-A-02 to access the Internet.
  • Bind EIP (122.9.9.87) to ECS-B-01 to enable ECS-B-01 to access the Internet.

EIP Bandwidth

Bandwidth refers to the maximum amount of data that can be transmitted in a given amount of time (generally one second). A larger bandwidth value indicates a stronger transmission capability. Bandwidth is classified into public bandwidth and private bandwidth.

Private bandwidth is the bandwidth consumed when data is transferred between ECSs in the same region and on the same private network. ECSs can also be connected to cloud databases, load balancers, and OBS through private bandwidth. The private bandwidth size depends on the instance specifications.

For details, see ECS Types.

Public bandwidth is the bandwidth consumed when data is transferred between Huawei Cloud and the Internet. You can configure the public bandwidth when creating an ECS or bind an EIP to an ECS after the EIP is created.

Figure 3 Public bandwidth and private bandwidth
Public bandwidth is classified into inbound bandwidth and outbound bandwidth. For details about the outbound bandwidth and inbound bandwidth, see Figure 4.
  • The metrics about outbound bandwidth on the Cloud Eye console are Outbound Bandwidth and Outbound Traffic.
  • The metrics about inbound bandwidth on the Cloud Eye console are Inbound Bandwidth and Inbound Traffic.
Figure 4 Inbound bandwidth and outbound bandwidth
Table 2 Inbound bandwidth and outbound bandwidth

Type

Description

Outbound bandwidth

Bandwidth consumed when data is transferred from Huawei Cloud to the Internet. For example, the outbound bandwidth is consumed when ECSs provide services accessible from the Internet or when FTP clients download resources from the ECSs. The metrics about outbound bandwidth on the Cloud Eye console are Outbound Bandwidth and Outbound Traffic.

You are only billed for the outbound bandwidth you have used.

NOTE:

Inbound bandwidth

Bandwidth consumed when data is transferred from the Internet to Huawei Cloud. For example, the inbound bandwidth is consumed when downloading resources from the Internet to ECSs and when FTP clients upload resources to the ECSs. The metrics about inbound bandwidth on the Cloud Eye console are Inbound Bandwidth and Inbound Traffic.

The maximum inbound bandwidth depends on the size of the outbound bandwidth.
  • If your specified bandwidth is less than or equal to 10 Mbit/s, the inbound bandwidth will be 10 Mbit/s, and the outbound bandwidth will be the same as the specified bandwidth.
  • If your specified bandwidth is greater than 10 Mbit/s, the outbound and inbound bandwidth will be the same as the specified bandwidth.

The preceding bandwidth limit is not applicable in CN North-Beijing1 and CN East-Shanghai2.

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Parent Topic: EIPs