Request a public IP

Your servers run on a private network. A public IP is what makes one of them reachable from the internet under an address of its own.

You need one if you’re hosting a website or any service the public connects to, if you need a predictable address to allow-list somewhere else, or if you need mail to work — mail requires a dedicated address with proper reverse DNS.

You don’t need one for a server that only talks to your other servers.

Ask for one

1. Go to Public IPs.
2. Make a request, with a note about what it’s for.

Addresses are a finite resource we hold from our upstream provider, so this is a request rather than an instant allocation. The note genuinely helps — “mail server, will need reverse DNS” gets you the right address first time.

Once allocated, the address appears under Public IPs against your account.

Point it at a server

An allocated address doesn’t do anything until you tell the firewall where its traffic should go. There are two ways, covered in Route traffic to your server:

• NAT — the whole address belongs to one server. Simplest when you have an address per server.
• Port forwards — individual ports go to individual servers, so one address can serve several.

After that, add a rule allowing the traffic. Translation and permission are separate steps, and missing the second is the most common reason a new address appears not to work.

Reverse DNS

Reverse DNS maps the address back to a hostname. It matters mainly for mail: receiving servers treat a mismatch as a strong spam signal, and many reject outright.

We set this for you — open a ticket from Support with the address and the hostname you want it to resolve to. Make sure the hostname’s forward record points back at the same address, or the pair doesn’t line up and the check still fails.

Releasing one

If you no longer need an address, tell us and we’ll release it. Two things to do first:

• Remove the NAT mapping or port forwards that reference it, or you’ll leave rules pointing at nothing.
• Update DNS to stop advertising it, and allow time for the old records to expire.

Released addresses go back into the pool and are eventually reassigned to someone else, so don’t leave a domain pointing at one.