Elastic IP (EIP) is an IP address one can reserve for their AWS account. Static IP addresses by nature are associated to a particular machine. However, to keep-up with the dynamic needs of public cloud, users generally use Elastic IP addresses. These IP addresses are called ‘Elastic’ as they can be reassigned or remapped to another instance as an organization keeps launching and terminating resources.
Although EIP is dynamic within the same AWS cloud environment, it is static on a global level i.e. EIP can be reserved by an AWS Account and cannot be used by any other AWS account. EIP is generally used to associate to front-end machines as EIP’s dynamic remapping capabilities help in masking any failures internally.
Why its important to keep track of Elastic IP Addresses
EIPs are totally free from AWS when they are attached to an instance. However, for every unassociated EIP, AWS charges an additional fee unless it is reattached to an Instance. AWS does this because, public IP address is a limited resource and not using the EIP after reserving is seen as a wasteful practice.
How can nOps help you?
nOps is a smart cloud FinOps platform helping you to stay on top of your cloud cost optimization journey. nOps helps users analyse their environment and detect unused Elastic IP addresses and also understand the cost associated with it. Here is how you can do it:
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