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When you deploy a new Virtual Machine on Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) Free Tier, Oracle assigns your Virtual Network Interface Card (VNIC) an Ephemeral Public IP Address by default. While an ephemeral IP works fine initially, it carries a major operational flaw: if your instance is terminated, stopped, or undergoes subnet maintenance, your public IP address changes permanently.
A changing public IP address immediately breaks your custom domain DNS A-records, disrupts Let's Encrypt SSL certificate renewals, and disconnects SSH management sessions. To ensure long-term server stability, you must convert your ephemeral address into a free Reserved Public Static IP Address in the OCI Console. In this tutorial, we will cover how to allocate, assign, and bind a permanent static IP to your Oracle VPS in 5 easy steps.
If you are setting up a custom domain for the first time, make sure to read our walkthroughs on Setting Up Custom Domains & Free SSL on Oracle VPS and Opening Web Ports 80 & 443 on Oracle Cloud.
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Understanding Oracle Cloud Infrastructure IP addressing rules is essential for cloud sysadmins:
Oracle Cloud Free Tier tenancies allow you to reserve up to 2 Reserved Public IPv4 addresses at $0 monthly cost!
Log into your Oracle Cloud Console and open your instance network settings:
Inside the VNIC Details page, click on IPv4 Addresses under the left Resources menu. You will see your primary private IP address (e.g., 10.0.0.15) and its assigned Ephemeral Public IP.
In the Edit IPv4 Address pop-up window:
Oracle Cloud will unbind the dynamic ephemeral IP from your instance. Your VM remains active on its private IP address within your Virtual Cloud Network (VCN).
Now we will allocate a permanent Reserved Public IP address and bind it to your instance:
Production-Web-Static-IP).OCI will allocate a brand-new permanent static IPv4 address from your tenancy reservation pool and attach it to your VM. This IP address is now yours permanently!
Click the button below to learn more and get started.
Now that your Oracle VPS possesses a permanent Reserved Public IP address:
A records (both @ and www) to point to the new static IP address.ssh -i ~/.ssh/id_rsa ubuntu@<YOUR_RESERVED_STATIC_IP>.For developers who prefer command line automation, you can also reserve and assign static public IPs using the OCI CLI:
# Allocate a new Reserved Public IP in your compartment
oci network public-ip create --compartment-id --lifetime RESERVED --display-name "MyStaticIP"
# Assign the reserved IP to your private IP OCID
oci network public-ip update --public-ip-id --private-ip-id If your web application is inaccessible after assigning a static IP, verify the following diagnostic steps:
ipconfig /flushdns on Windows or sudo dsnsubscribe -flushcache on macOS to clear stale DNS records.whatsmydns.net to verify worldwide propagation of your new A-record across all edge resolvers.If your Oracle Cloud VPS hosts a mail server or sends outbound transactional emails (such as WordPress registration or WooCommerce order notification emails), having a matching Reverse DNS (PTR) record configured for your Reserved Public IP prevents outbound emails from getting flagged as spam by Gmail, Outlook, and Yahoo filters.
Managing static IPs across multiple cloud virtual machines requires adhering to core networking best practices:
Does Oracle charge money for Reserved Public IPs?
No. Oracle Cloud Always Free Tier permits up to 2 Reserved Public IPv4 addresses at zero monthly cost, provided they remain attached to an active VNIC.
Will my Reserved Static IP survive instance restarts and stop/start operations?
Yes! Unlike ephemeral addresses, a Reserved Public IP remains permanently bound to your VNIC regardless of how many times you stop, restart, or reboot your Virtual Machine.
Can I transfer a Reserved Static IP to a different Oracle VPS instance?
Yes. Because Reserved Public IPs belong to your tenancy compartment rather than a specific VM, you can unbind a reserved IP from an old instance and re-attach it to a new VM in seconds without modifying your domain DNS records.
What happens if I delete my VM instance?
When an instance is terminated, its attached Reserved Public IP reverts to unassigned status in your OCI compartment. It remains in your account for future VM attachment until explicitly deleted.
Can I assign multiple public static IPs to a single Oracle Cloud instance?
OCI allows assigning secondary private IPs to a VNIC, each of which can have a separate Reserved Public IP attached, enabling multi-site hosting on a single instance.
Cloud Infrastructure Engineer and technical writer specializing in VPS setups and network configurations.
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