Floating IPs
A floating IP is a virtual IP address that isn't permanently tied to one node — StorONE moves it between nodes as needed, so clients keep using the same address regardless of which physical node is actually serving it. This is what lets a client connection survive a node failover: the client keeps talking to the same IP, and StorONE points that IP at whichever node is currently able to serve it.
Floating IPs are used for two things:
- Client connectivity — the address hosts actually connect to for iSCSI, NFS, SMB, or object access, instead of connecting to a node's own fixed IP.
- Replication pairing — a floating IP can be paired with a floating IP on a remote system, which is how StorONE keeps NAS/object replication targets reachable at a stable address across a failover. See Pairing floating IPs for replication for that side of things; this page covers the mechanics of the floating IP itself.
On Microsoft Azure, client-facing floating IPs work differently: a load-balancer VM provides the fixed address, and it's configured from the VM's user data rather than with these commands. See Deploying StorONE on Microsoft Azure.
Because a floating IP can run on any node in the cluster, it needs to know which network interface to use on each node it might land on — that's why creating or editing one asks for a node-to-interface mapping rather than a single interface name.
Creating a floating IP
Using the web interface
- Open Inventory > Floating IPs.
- Click Create.
- Under Name, enter a name for the floating IP.
- Under IP Address, enter the Address, Mask, and, if needed, a Gateway.
- Under Interfaces per Node, add one row per node the floating IP might run on, choosing the network interface to use on that node.
- Confirm to create the floating IP.
Using the CLI
floatingips create <name> --address=<ip> --mask=<subnet> [--gateway=<ip>] --nodes=<text...> --interfaces=<text...>
| Option | Description |
|---|---|
<name> |
The name for the new floating IP. |
--address=<ip> |
The IP address of the floating IP. |
--mask=<subnet> |
The subnet mask of the floating IP. |
--gateway=<ip> |
The gateway of the floating IP. |
--nodes=<text...> |
The nodes to host the floating IP on, paired positionally with --interfaces. |
--interfaces=<text...> |
The network interface on each corresponding node, paired positionally with --nodes. |
Examples
Create a floating IP on a two-node cluster, using eth0 on both nodes:
floatingips create clients-vip --address 10.10.20.50 --mask 255.255.255.0 --gateway 10.10.20.1 --nodes s1-node-01,s1-node-02 --interfaces eth0,eth0
Create one where the two nodes use different interface names:
floatingips create clients-vip --address 10.10.20.50 --mask 255.255.255.0 --nodes s1-node-01,s1-node-02 --interfaces eth0,eth1
Editing a floating IP
You can rename a floating IP, change its address/mask/gateway, or update its node-to-interface mapping. One exception: if this floating IP is the inactive side of a replication pair (a "stub" waiting to be activated — see Pairing floating IPs for replication), you can't change its address or mask directly here — make that change on the active side instead.
Using the web interface
- Open Inventory > Floating IPs, select the floating IP, and click Edit.
- Under Parameters, update the name, address, mask, and/or gateway as needed.
- Under Interfaces Per Node, update the node-to-interface mapping if needed.
- Confirm the change.
Using the CLI
floatingips edit <name> [--newname=<name>] [--address=<ip> --mask=<subnet> --gateway=<ip> --nodes=<text...> --interfaces=<text...>]
| Option | Description |
|---|---|
<name> |
The name of the floating IP to edit. |
--newname=<name> |
The new name for the floating IP. |
--address=<ip> |
The new IP address for the floating IP. |
--mask=<subnet> |
The new subnet mask for the floating IP. |
--gateway=<ip> |
The new gateway for the floating IP. |
--nodes=<text...> |
The nodes to host the floating IP on, paired positionally with --interfaces. |
--interfaces=<text...> |
The network interface on each corresponding node, paired positionally with --nodes. |
Examples
Rename clients-vip to nfs-vip:
floatingips edit clients-vip --newname nfs-vip
Change the address:
floatingips edit nfs-vip --address 10.10.20.60 --mask 255.255.255.0
Listing floating IPs
Using the web interface
Open Inventory > Floating IPs. Use the toolbar's filtering options to search by name or IP address.
Using the CLI
floatingips list [<name>] [--ip=<ip>]
| Option | Description |
|---|---|
<name> |
Filter by floating IP name. |
--ip=<ip> |
Filter by IP address. |
Examples
List every floating IP:
floatingips list
Find the floating IP with a specific address:
floatingips list --ip 10.10.20.50
Deleting a floating IP
Using the web interface
- Open Inventory > Floating IPs, select the floating IP, and click Delete.
- Confirm the deletion.
Using the CLI
floatingips delete <name> [--force]
| Option | Description |
|---|---|
<name> |
The floating IP to delete. |
--force |
Skip the confirmation prompt. |
Examples
Delete nfs-vip:
floatingips delete nfs-vip
Delete without a confirmation prompt:
floatingips delete nfs-vip --force
Next: Pairing floating IPs for replication — pairing, unpairing, and activating floating IPs across systems.