OVHcloud introduced Bring Your Own IP. The service helps migrate IPv4 addresses to OVHcloud.
OVHcloud is a European cloud provider of dedicated servers, managed databases and Kubernetes solutions. Each service is delivered with a complementary IPv4 and IPv6 address. Customers can opt to add their own addresses. OVHcloud launched a new service to help customers import addresses in bulk. Bring Your Own IP (BYOIP) is now available.
OVHcloud BYOIP
In exchange for a monthly fee, customers get access to an import function in the OVHcloud Control Panel. Addresses can be imported and configured through the dashboard. In addition to the OVHcloud Control Panel, the IPFO API allows users to automatically import, configure and deploy addresses.
Each OVHcloud service allows up to 256 additional IP addresses. Additional addresses have several advantages. A spare address allows organizations to configure a failover IP, which lets a service swap IP addresses without disruption. Failover IPs are useful for high-availability systems and migrations between datacenters.
Imported IP addresses remain the property of the customer. It’s always possible to withdraw IP addresses and use them outside of OVHcloud. The minimum subscription term is one month. There are no implementation or configuration fees.
Lack of IPv4 addresses
OVHcloud launched the service in response to the increasing scarcity of IPv4 addresses. Each device needs a unique IP address to connect to the internet. The stock of unique IPv4 addresses ran out in 2019. IPv6 was introduced to solve the problem. IPv6 addresses are widely available, but some organizations prefer IPv4.
Although new IPv4 addresses are no longer available, existing addresses allow organizations to continue using the standard. As a result, existing IPv4 addresses are stored and traded en masse. Today, many organizations have a stack of IPv4 addresses in storage. OVHcloud’s service helps organizations utilize the stockpile.