# IP Address

You can assign private and public IP addresses to Elastic Compute instances. Instances use these addresses to communicate with other resources and Internet.

## Private IPv4 Address

An Elastic Compute instance has one virtual network interface (vNIC) and this vNIC must have one primary private IPv4 address. You can assign up to 10 private IPv4 addresses to one vNIC.

## Elastic IPv4 Address

Elastic IPv4 address including the following IP network types, and a private IPv4 address can bind up to 4 single-line elastic IPv4 addresses, including Premium BGP IPs, CN2 IPs or both.

### Premium BGP IP

Premium BGP IP is a type of elastic IP address implemented through the Border Gateway Protocol (BGP). It enables users to auto manage their network routes with high flexibility and reliability. Premium BGP IP is suitable for network application scenarios requiring scalability and high availability.

### CN2 IP

CN2 IP refers to IP based on the China Telecom network. It provides stable connections through China Telecom's high-quality network infrastructure, making it suitable for users who need to operate in the China region.

### Local IP

A local IP address is provided by a local ISP, with its registered location matching the country of the server's data center. It is ideal for applications with strict IP requirements, such as cross-border e-commerce, where a local IP enables smoother registration and operation.

### Standard BGP IP

Standard BGP IP is a BGP IP service delivered over a blended mix of Cogent and GTT — two global Tier 1 carriers — providing broad international reachability across North America, Europe, and parts of Asia at a more cost-effective per-Mbps price than Premium BGP IP. It is well suited for CDN origin egress, VPN backhaul, backups, and other bandwidth-heavy workloads where a slight increase in latency is acceptable.

## Elastic IP Mode

Each EIP operates in one of two forwarding modes:

* **Standard** (default) — the gateway translates between your EIP and private IP. No guest configuration needed.
* **Bypass** — the EIP is delivered directly to the guest with no translation. Lower latency and higher packet rate, but requires in-guest configuration.

For a detailed comparison, configuration examples, and trade-offs, see [Elastic IP: Standard vs Bypass](/welcome/elastic-compute/networking/standard-vs-bypass-eip.md).

## IP Pool

An elastic IP resource pool auto generated with the creation of a CIDR block for exclusive access. A user can have only one IP pool in a region.

## CIDR Block IPv4

A **CIDR Block IPv4** is a contiguous range of IPv4 addresses that share the same network prefix and bit length. Zenlayer allocates these blocks directly from our global IP pool to support your cloud and networking resources.

**Key characteristics**

* **Zenlayer-owned IP resources**\
  The IPv4 block is owned and managed by Zenlayer. You do not need to bring your own IP space.
* **Flexible assignment**\
  Assign these IPs to virtual machines, load balancers, gateways, or other Zenlayer services.
* **Elastic management**\
  CIDR blocks can be expanded, reallocated, or released according to your project’s needs and regional availability.
* **Optimized global routing**\
  Zenlayer handles all BGP announcements and ensures global reachability and continuity for traffic to and from these IP blocks.

## BYOIP (Bring Your Own IP)

**BYOIP** allows you to onboard and announce your **own public IPv4/IPv6 address blocks** through Zenlayer’s global edge network. This option is ideal if you require full control over routing policies.

## IPv6 Address

If the Elastic Compute instance is connected to a subnet that supports IPv6, its vNIC can also have private IPv6 address or public IPv6 address assigned.


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