Elastic IP Address (EIP)

An Elastic IP Address (EIP) is a static, public IPv4 address offered by Amazon Web Services (AWS) that can be quickly remapped between various AWS resources, such as EC2 instances or network interfaces. It provides a fixed, internet-reachable endpoint for applications, decoupling their network…

Key facts

First appeared: 2006
Category: technology
Problem solved: Elastic IP Addresses were created to solve the problem of public IP instability in dynamic cloud environments. Prior to EIPs, EC2 instances received a new public IP address every time they were stopped and started, leading to application downtime, manual DNS updates, and brittle configurations for services requiring a consistent external identity.
Platforms: Amazon Web Services (AWS)

Related technologies

AWS VPN Connections
AWS NAT Gateways
Amazon Route 53
AWS Network Load Balancers (NLB)
AWS Direct Connect
AWS EC2 Instances
AWS Global Accelerator

Notable users

Startups building scalable web services
Enterprises running mission-critical applications on AWS
Virtually all AWS customers leveraging EC2 for public-facing applications