Using the Private IP Address on your Cloud Server

by ross.diaz on 15 March 2011 | 0 Comments

Article Id: 185 | Cloud Servers | Article

Each Cloud Server comes with two addresses that are available for your use. One address is an external ”real-world” IP address that is accessible from the Internet and the other is an internal or "private" IP address. This internal IP address is on a network commonly called ServiceNet and is used within the Cloud.

Why do Cloud Servers have an Internal IP Address?

This IP address is an internal address that is only accessible by the Cloud Server platforms because it allows you to transfer data between Cloud Servers with no bandwidth charges.

Is ServiceNet Free?

Yes! This is a standard service that is offered with each Cloud Server at no additional cost. Your Cloud Server is pre-configured with your private IP address as soon as it is built.

How Do I Find My Private IP Address?

If you log into your Cloud Server, via SSH or the Console, you can type the command ifconfig eth1on most distributions to find your private IP address. Then look for the inet addrline. A sample output is posted here:

# ifconfig eth1

eth1      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 00:18:78:56:34:12 
; inet addr:10.1.98.200  Bcast:10.1.98.255  Mask:255.255.255.0

**** You will need the address on the second line next to 'inet addr:'.

What can I use the private address for?

The private IP address has many uses:

High-availability Heartbeat
Load balancing
Remote database connections
NFS/rsync
Remote backup

As you can see, the possibilities are endless!

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