Configure static external IP addresses

---

You can assign static external IP addresses to your virtual machine (VM) instances. You can also change, list, and release static IP addresses for your VMs. To reserve a static external IP address, see Reserve a static external IP address.

External IP addresses can be static or ephemeral. If a VM requires a fixed external IP address that does not change, do the following:

1. Obtain a static external IP address. You can reserve new external IP addresses or promote existing ephemeral external IP addresses.
2. Assign the reserved IP address to an existing VM, or assign it when creating a new VM.

If you require a static IP address on your internal Compute Engine network, see Reserve a static internal IP address instead.

Before you begin

• Read about IP addresses.
• Read about quotas and limits for static external IP addresses.
• Read about external IP address pricing.
• If you haven't already, set up authentication. Authentication is the process by which your identity is verified for access to Google Cloud services and APIs. To run code or samples from a local development environment, you can authenticate to Compute Engine as follows.
  

  Select the tab for how you plan to use the samples on this page:

  Console

  When you use the Google Cloud console to access Google Cloud services and APIs, you don't need to set up authentication.

  gcloud

  1. Install the Google Cloud CLI, then initialize it by running the following command:

     gcloud init

     Note: If you installed the gcloud CLI previously, make sure you have the latest version by running gcloud components update.
  2. Set a default region and zone.

  Terraform

  To use the Terraform samples on this page from a local development environment, install and initialize the gcloud CLI, and then set up Application Default Credentials with your user credentials.

  1. Install the Google Cloud CLI.

  2. To initialize the gcloud CLI, run the following command:

     gcloud init

  3. Create local authentication credentials for your Google Account:

     gcloud auth application-default login

  For more information, see Set up authentication for a local development environment.

  REST

  To use the REST API samples on this page in a local development environment, you use the credentials you provide to the gcloud CLI.

  Install the Google Cloud CLI, then initialize it by running the following command:

  gcloud init

Required roles

To get the permissions that you need to configure and manage static IP addresses, ask your administrator to grant you the following IAM roles on your project:

• To create and update VMs: Compute Instance Admin (v1) (roles/compute.instanceAdmin.v1)

For more information about granting roles, see Manage access.

These predefined roles contain the permissions required to configure and manage static IP addresses. To see the exact permissions that are required, expand the Required permissions section:

Required permissions

The following permissions are required to configure and manage static IP addresses:

• compute.instances.update on the VM instance
• compute.instances.updateNetworkInterface on the VM instance
• compute.instances.addAccessConfig on the VM instance
• compute.instances.deleteAccessConfig on the VM instance
• compute.networks.list on the network
• compute.subnetworks.use on the subnet
• compute.subnetworks.list on the subnet
• To create VMs:
  • compute.instances.create on the project
  • To use a custom image to create the VM: compute.images.useReadOnly on the image
  • To use a snapshot to create the VM: compute.snapshots.useReadOnly on the snapshot
  • To use an instance template to create the VM: compute.instanceTemplates.useReadOnly on the instance template
  • To assign a legacy network to the VM: compute.networks.use on the project
  • To specify a static IP address for the VM: compute.addresses.use on the project
  • To assign an external IP address to the VM when using a legacy network: compute.networks.useExternalIp on the project
  • To specify a subnet for the VM: compute.subnetworks.use on the project or on the chosen subnet
  • To assign an external IP address to the VM when using a VPC network: compute.subnetworks.useExternalIp on the project or on the chosen subnet
  • To set VM instance metadata for the VM: compute.instances.setMetadata on the project
  • To set tags for the VM: compute.instances.setTags on the VM
  • To set labels for the VM: compute.instances.setLabels on the VM
  • To set a service account for the VM to use: compute.instances.setServiceAccount on the VM
  • To create a new disk for the VM: compute.disks.create on the project
  • To attach an existing disk in read-only or read-write mode: compute.disks.use on the disk
  • To attach an existing disk in read-only mode: compute.disks.useReadOnly on the disk

You might also be able to get these permissions with custom roles or other predefined roles.

Limitations

• Only one resource at a time can use a static external IP address.

• There is no way to check whether an IP address is static or ephemeral after it has been assigned to a resource. You can compare the IP address against the list of static external IP addresses reserved to that project. Use the gcloud compute addresses list sub-command to see a list of static external IP addresses available to the project.

• Each VM can have multiple network interfaces, and each interface can have the following IP addresses assigned:

  • An internal IPv4 address (required)
  • An external IPv4 address
  • An IPv6 address range, either internal or external, but not both

• You cannot change the name of a static IP address.

• Assigned external IP addresses exist on the same physical host as the VM and exist in the same region as the VM for all purposes, including routing, latency, and pricing. This is true regardless of internet geolocation lookup information.

Note: Network interfaces can receive traffic from multiple forwarding rules, which might serve other external IP addresses. Any number of external IP addresses can reference a network interface through these forwarding rules, but each network interface can be assigned only one external IPv4 address and one external IPv6 address range.

For more information about load balancing and forwarding rules, read the load balancing documentation.

View available static external IP addresses

To list static external IP addresses that you have reserved for your project, follow these steps.

Console

1. In the Google Cloud console, go to the IP addresses page.

   Go to IP addresses

2. Click External IP addresses.

gcloud

Use the gcloud compute addresses list command:

• To list all IP addresses, use the following command:

  gcloud compute addresses list

• To list all global IP addresses, use the following command:

  gcloud compute addresses list --global

• To list all regional IP addresses in a given region, use the following command:

  gcloud compute addresses list \
      --regions=REGION
  

  Replace REGION with the region that you want to list addresses for. You can list addresses of multiple regions by specifying comma-separated region names:

  gcloud compute addresses list \
      --regions=REGION1,REGION2,..REGION_n_
  

API

• To list regional IPv4 or IPv6 addresses, call the addresses.list method:

  GET https://compute.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/PROJECT_ID/regions/REGION/addresses
  

  Replace the following:

  • PROJECT_ID: the project ID for this request
  • REGION: the name of the region for this request

• To list all addresses in all regions, call the addresses.aggregatedList method:

  GET https://compute.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/PROJECT_ID/aggregated/addresses
  

• To list global IPv4 or IPv6 addresses, call the globalAddresses.list method:

  GET https://compute.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/PROJECT_ID/global/addresses
  

  Replace the following:

  PROJECT_ID: the project ID for this request

Configure static external IP addresses

The following sections describe how to configure static external IP addresses for your VMs.

Create a VM that uses a static external IP address

After you have reserved a static external IP address, you can assign it to a VM.

Console

1. In the Google Cloud console, go to the Create an instance page.

   Go to Create an instance

2. Specify the VM details.

3. Expand the Advanced options section.

4. Expand the Networking section.

5. In the Network interfaces section, expand a network interface to edit it.

6. To assign an IPv4 address, do the following:

   1. Select a network.
   2. Select the IP address from the External IPv4 address list.

7. To assign an IPv6 address, do the following:

   1. Select a network that contains an IPv6 subnet.
   2. Select a dual-stack subnet from the Subnetwork list.
   3. For IP stack type, select IPv4 and IPv6 (dual-stack).
   4. Select the newly reserved external IPv6 address from the External IPv6 address list. Alternatively, select CREATE IP ADDRESS and reserve a new static external IPv6 address.
   5. For Network Service Tier, select Premium.

8. To finish modifying the default network interface, click Done.

9. Continue with the VM creation process.

gcloud

You can create a VM and assign a static regional external IP address that you have already reserved.

• To assign a static external IPv4 address, do the following:

  gcloud compute instances create VM_NAME --address=IP_ADDRESS
  

  Replace the following:

  • VM_NAME: the name of the VM.
  • IP_ADDRESS: the IP address to assign to the VM. Use the reserved static external IP address, not the address name.

• To assign a static external IPv6 address, do the following:

  gcloud compute instances create VM_NAME \
      --subnet=SUBNET \
      --stack-type=IPV4_IPV6 \
      --external-ipv6-address=IPV6_ADDRESS \
      --external-ipv6-prefix-length=96 \
      --ipv6-network-tier=PREMIUM \
      --zone=ZONE
  

Terraform

You can use the google_compute_instance resource to assign an external IP address.

resource "google_compute_instance" "default" {
  name         = "dns-proxy-nfs"
  machine_type = "n1-standard-1"
  zone         = "us-central1-a"

  boot_disk {
    initialize_params {
      image = "ubuntu-1404-trusty-v20160627"
    }
  }

  network_interface {
    network = "default"
    access_config {
      nat_ip = google_compute_address.default.address
    }
  }
}

REST

To assign a static external IPv4 address to a new VM, do the following:

In your request to create a new VM, explicitly provide the networkInterfaces[].accessConfigs[].natIP property and the external IPv4 address that you want to use. For example:

{
  "name": "VM_NAME",
  "machineType": "zones/ZONE/machineTypes/MACHINE_TYPE",
  "networkInterfaces": [{
    "accessConfigs": [{
      "type": "ONE_TO_ONE_NAT",
      "name": "External NAT",
      "natIP": "IPV4_ADDRESS"
     }],
    "network": "global/networks/default"
  }],
  "disks": [{
      "autoDelete": "true",
      "boot": "true",
      "type": "PERSISTENT",
      "initializeParams": {
          "sourceImage": "SOURCE_IMAGE"
      }
}]
}

To assign a static external IPv6 address to a new VM, do the following:

In your request to create a new VM, explicitly provide the networkInterfaces[].ipv6AccessConfigs[].externalIpv6 property and the external IPv6 address that you want to use. For example:

{
  "name": "VM_NAME",
  "machineType": "zones/ZONE/machineTypes/MACHINE_TYPE",
  "networkInterfaces": [{
          "accessConfigs": [{
              "name": "external-nat",
              "type": "ONE_TO_ONE_NAT"
          }],
          "ipv6AccessConfigs": [{
        "externalIpv6": "IOV6_ADDRESS",
        "externalIpv6PrefixLength": 96,
        "name": "external-ipv6-access-config",
        "networkTier": "PREMIUM",
        "type": "DIRECT_IPV6"
          }],
      "stackType": "IPV4_IPV6",
      "subnetwork":"SUBNETWORK
  }],
  "disks": [{
    "autoDelete": "true",
    "boot": "true",
    "mode": "READ_WRITE",
    "type": "PERSISTENT",
    "initializeParams": {
        "sourceImage": "SOURCE_IMAGE"
    },
  }],
 }

Change or assign an external IP address to an existing VM

You can change or assign an external IP address, either ephemeral or static, to an existing VM.

A VM can have multiple interfaces and each interface can have an external IP address. If the VM already has an external IP address, you must remove that address first. Then, you can assign a new external IP address to the existing VM.

Console

1. In the Google Cloud console, go to the VM instances page.

   Go to VM instances

2. Click the name of the VM that you want to assign an external IP to. The Instance details page displays.

3. From the Instance details page, complete the following steps:

   1. Click Edit.
   2. Expand Network interfaces.
   3. Select the required external IP address to assign to the VM:
      1. For External IPv4 address, select either Ephemeral or a static external IPv4 address.
      2. For External IPv6 address, select either Ephemeral or a static external IPv6 address.
   4. Click Done.

4. Click Save.

gcloud

1. Optional: Reserve a static external IP address.

   If you want to assign a static external IP address, you must reserve an address and make sure that the address is not in use by another resource. If necessary, follow the instructions to reserve a new static external IP address or to unassign a static external IP address.

   If you intend to use an ephemeral external IP address, you can skip this step, and Compute Engine randomly assigns an ephemeral external IP address.

2. Remove any existing IP address assignment, as described in Unassign a static external IP address.

3. Assign the new external IP address.

   • To assign an IPv4 address, use the instances add-access-config sub-command:

     Note: Don't replace IP_ADDRESS with the name of the static IP address. You must use the actual IP address.

     gcloud compute instances add-access-config VM_NAME \
       --access-config-name="ACCESS_CONFIG_NAME" --address=IP_ADDRESS
     

     Replace the following:

     • VM_NAME: the name of the VM.
     • ACCESS_CONFIG_NAME: the name to call this access config. Make sure to include the full name between quotes.
     • IP_ADDRESS: the IP address to add.

     If you want Compute Engine to assign an ephemeral external IP address rather than using a static external IP address, omit the --address IP_ADDRESS property:

     gcloud compute instances add-access-config VM_NAME \
       --access-config-name="ACCESS_CONFIG_NAME"
     

   • To assign an IPv6 address range, use the instance network-interfaces update sub-command:

     gcloud compute instances network-interfaces update VM_NAME \
       --network-interface==NIC \
       --ipv6-network-tier=PREMIUM \
       --stack-type=IPV4_IPV6 \
       --external-ipv6-address=IPV6_ADDRESS \
       --external-ipv6-prefix-length=96 \
       --zone=ZONE
     

     Replace the following:

     • VM_NAME: the name of the VM.
     • NIC: the name of the network interface.
     • IPV6_ADDRESS: the IPv6 address to assign to the VM. Specify the first IPv6 address in the /96 range.
     • ZONE: the zone of the VM.

REST

You can change the external IPv4 or IPv6 address of a VM by adding a new access configuration for that VM.

1. Remove any existing IP address assignment, as described in Unassign a static external IP address.

2. Delete the existing access configuration by making a POST request to the instances.deleteAccessConfig method.

   POST https://compute.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/PROJECT_ID/zones/ZONE/instances/VM_NAME/deleteAccessConfig
   

3. Add a new access configuration to the network interface of the VM by making a POST request to the instances.addAccessConfig method.

   • For IPv4 addresses, make the following request:

     POST https://compute.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/PROJECT_ID/zones/ZONE/instances/VM_NAME/addAccessConfig
     {
     "natIP": "IPV4_ADDRESS",
     "name": "ACCESS_CONFIG_NAME"
     }
     

   • For IPv6 addresses, update the networkInterfaces[].ipv6AccessConfigs[].externalIpv6 property and the external IPv6 address that you want to use.

     See Assign a static external IP address to a new VM

Restrict external IP addresses to specific VMs

For certain workloads, you might have essential requirements that include security and network restrictions. For example, you might want to restrict external IP addresses so that only specific VMs can use them. This option can help to prevent data exfiltration or maintain network isolation. Using an Organization Policy, you can restrict external IP addresses to specific VMs with constraints to control use of external IP addresses for your VMs within an organization or a project.

Caution: Restricting external IPs to specific VMs can prevent existing GKE clusters and managed instance groups (MIGs) from adding new VMs. If a GKE cluster or a MIG is configured to create VMs that have external IP addresses, autohealing and autoscaling actions fail.

The constraint for controlling external IP address on VMs is:

constraints/compute.vmExternalIpAccess

To use the constraint, you specify a policy with an allowedList of VMs that can have external IP addresses. If you don't specify a policy, all external IP addresses are allowed for all VMs. When the policy is in place, only the VMs that are listed in the allowedValues list can be assigned an external IP address, either ephemeral or static, and other Compute Engine VMs in the organization or project that are not explicitly defined in the policy are prohibited from using external IP addresses.

VMs are identified in the allow and deny lists using the VM's URI:

projects/PROJECT_ID/zones/ZONE/instances/VM_NAME

Specifications for restricting external IP addresses

• You can apply this list constraint only to VMs.
• You cannot apply the constraint retroactively. All VMs that have external IP addresses before you enable the policy retain their external IP addresses.
• This constraint accepts either an allowedList or a deniedList but not both in the same policy.
• It is up to you or an administrator with the required permissions to manage and maintain the VM lifecycle and integrity. The constraint only verifies the VM's URI, and it does not prevent the VMs in the allowlist from being altered, deleted, or recreated.

Permissions needed for restricting external IP addresses

To set a constraint on either the project or the organization level, you must have been granted the orgpolicy.policyAdmin role on the organization.

Set the policy constraint at the organization level

Note: The length of each string used for each VM URI cannot exceed 200 characters.

Console

1. Go to the Organizational Policies page.

   Go to Organizational Policies

2. If necessary, select the required organization from the project drop-down menu.
3. Click Define allowed external IPs for VM instances.
4. Click Edit to edit the external IP policy. If you can't access the Edit tool, you don't have the correct permissions.

5. Select Customize to set the org policy for specific VMs.

   

6. Select the required Policy enforcement and Policy type.

7. For Policy values, select Custom.

8. Enter a URI for a VM and press enter. The URI must be in the following format:

   projects/PROJECT_ID/zones/ZONE/instances/VM_NAME
   

9. Click New policy value and enter URIs for VMs as needed.

10. Click Save to apply the constraint.

gcloud

To set a constraint for external IP access, you first need your organization ID. You can find the organization ID by running the organizations list command and looking for the numeric ID in the response:

gcloud organizations list

The gcloud CLI returns a list of organizations in the following format:

DISPLAY_NAME               ID
example-organization1      29252605212
example-organization2      1234567890

Use the gcloud resource-manager org-policies set-policy command to set the policy. You need to provide your policy as a JSON file. Create a JSON file in the following format:

{
"constraint": "constraints/compute.vmExternalIpAccess",
"listPolicy": {
  "allowedValues": [
     "projects/PROJECT_ID/zones/ZONE/instances/VM_NAME",
     "projects/PROJECT_ID/zones/ZONE/instances/VM_NAME",
     "projects/PROJECT_ID/zones/ZONE/instances/VM_NAME"
  ]
 }
}

Replace the following:

• PROJECT_ID: the project ID for this request, such as example-project. Note that this is different than setting up organization policies, which require the organization numeric ID.
• ZONE: the zone of the VM
• VM_NAME: the name of the VM

Alternatively, you can specify a deniedValues list to indicate VMs that you explicitly want to prohibit from having an external IP address. Any VM not on the list would implicitly be allowed to have an external IP address. You can only specify either allowedValues or deniedValues but not both.

Then, pass in the file with your request:

gcloud resource-manager org-policies set-policy MY_POLICY.JSON --organization=ORGANIZATION_ID

Replace ORGANIZATION_ID with the numeric ID of the organization.

If you don't want any VMs to have external IP access, you can set a policy with allValues set to DENY:

{
  "constraint": "constraints/compute.vmExternalIpAccess",
  "listPolicy": {
    "allValues": "DENY"
  }
}

REST

Use the setOrgPolicy() API to define your constraint. The VMs in the allowedValue list you specify are allowed to have external IP addresses. Alternatively, you can specify a deniedValues list to express VMs that you explicitly want to prohibit from having an external IP address. Any VM not on the list would implicitly be allowed to have an external IP address. You can only specify either allowedValues or deniedValues but not both.

For example, the following is a request to apply the compute.vmExternalIpAccess constraint to an organization where VMs from certain projects within the organization are allowed to have external IP addresses:

POST https://cloudresourcemanager.googleapis.com/v1/organizations/ORGANIZATION_ID:setOrgPolicy

where ORGANIZATION_ID is the numeric ID of the organization.

Now, in your request body, provide the policy for this constraint:

{
  "policy": {
    "constraint": "constraints/compute.vmExternalIpAccess",
    "listPolicy": {
      "allowedValues": [
        "projects/PROJECT_ID/zones/ZONE/instances/VM_NAME",
        "projects/PROJECT_ID/zones/ZONE/instances/VM_NAME",
        "projects/PROJECT_ID/zones/ZONE/instances/VM_NAME"
        ]
      }
    }
 }

If you don't want any VMs to have external IP access, you can set a policy with allValues set to DENY:

{
  "policy": {
    "constraint": "constraints/compute.vmExternalIpAccess",
    "listPolicy": {
      "allValues": "DENY"
      }
    }
 }

Set the policy at the project level

Setting a policy at the project level overrides the policy at the organization level. For example, if the organization level has example-vm-1 on the allowedValues list but the policy at the project level has the same VM on the deniedValues list, the VM wouldn't be allowed to have an external IP address.

Console

Follow the same process documented under Set a policy constraint at the organization level but choose your project from the project selector instead of the organization.

gcloud

Use the gcloud resource-manager org-policies set-policy command to set the policy. You need to provide your policy as a JSON file. Create a JSON file in the following format:

{
 "constraint": "constraints/compute.vmExternalIpAccess",
 "listPolicy": {
  "allowedValues": [
   "projects/PROJECT_ID/zones/ZONE/instances/VM_NAME"
  ]
 }
}

Replace the following:

• PROJECT_ID: the project ID for this request, such as example-project. Note that this is different than setting up organization policies, which require the organization numeric ID.
• ZONE: the zone of the VM.
• VM_NAME: the name of the VM.

Alternatively, you can specify a deniedValues list of VMs that you explicitly want to prohibit from having an external IP address. Any VM not on the list would implicitly be allowed to have an external IP address. You can only specify either allowedValues or deniedValues but not both.

Then, pass in the file with your request:

gcloud resource-manager org-policies set-policy MY_POLICY.JSON --project=example-project

REST

Use the setOrgPolicy API to define your constraint. The VMs in the allowedValue list you specify are allowed to have external IP addresses. Alternatively, you can specify a deniedValues list to express VMs that you explicitly want to prohibit from having an external IP address. Any VM not on the list is implicitly allowed to have an external IP address. You can only specify either allowedValues or deniedValues but not both.

For example, the following is a request to set the compute.vmExternalIpAccess constraint on a project to allow specific VMs to have external IP addresses:

POST https://cloudresourcemanager.googleapis.com/v1/projects/PROJECT_ID:setOrgPolicy

Replace PROJECT_ID with the project ID for this request.

The request body contains the policy for this constraint:

{
  "policy": {
    "constraint": "constraints/compute.vmExternalIpAccess",
    "listPolicy": {
      "allowedValues": [
        "projects/PROJECT_ID/zones/ZONE/instances/VM_NAME"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Best practices for restricting external IP addresses

• Avoid using the deniedValues list with this constraint. If you define values in the deniedValues list, it means that only the VMs in the deniedValues list are restricted from using external IP addresses. This could be a security concern if you want control over exactly which VMs can have external IP addresses. If you want to remove certain VMs from the allowedValues list, update the existing policy to remove the VMs from the allowedList rather than putting the VMs into the deniedValues list at a lower hierarchy.

• If you want to set a policy over a large part of the resource hierarchy but exempt certain projects, restore the default policy by using the setOrgPolicy method by specifying the restoreDefault object to allow all VMs in the projects to be associated with external IP addresses. The current policies for projects are not affected by the default setting.

• Use the org policy together with IAM roles to better control your environment. This policy applies to only VMs but if you want to better control and restrict external IP addresses on network devices, you can grant the compute.networkAdmin role to the appropriate parties.

• Any services and products that are running on Compute Engine within the organization or project with the policy enabled are subject to this org policy. Specifically, services such as Google Kubernetes Engine, Dataflow, Dataproc, and Cloud SQL are affected by this policy. If this is an issue, Google recommends that you set up other services and products in a different project that does not have the organization policy applied, and use Shared VPC, if needed.

Manage static external IP addresses

The following sections describe how to manage static external IP addresses for your VMs.

Determine if an internal IP address is ephemeral or static

Static and ephemeral internal IP addresses behave and appear the same in most contexts. However, with static internal IP addresses, you can use the same IP address for the same resource even if you delete and re-create the resource. In general, an ephemeral IP address is released if you stop or delete the resource.

To determine if an address is static or ephemeral, do the following:

1. In the Google Cloud console, go to the IP addresses page.

   Go to IP addresses

2. Find the address in the list and check the Type column for the type of IP address.

Unassign a static external IP address

Unassigning an IP address removes it from the resource but keeps the IP address reserved. After the IP address is unassigned, you can reassign the IP address to another resource.

You can also unassign the IPv4 or IPv6 address by deleting the VM.

Console

1. In the Google Cloud console, go to the IP addresses page.

   Go to IP addresses

2. Click External IP addresses.

3. Select the static IP address that you want to unassign.

4. Click Change to open the Attach IP address dialog.

5. From the Attach to drop-down list, select None.

6. Click OK.

gcloud

1. Check if a static IP address is in use by using the gcloud compute addresses list command:

   gcloud compute addresses list
   

   The output is similar to the following:

   NAME                      REGION    ADDRESS                  STATUS
   example-address-ipv4      REGION    198.51.100.1             RESERVED
   example-address-new-ipv4  REGION    203.0.113.1              IN_USE
   example-address-ipv6      REGION    2001:db8:1:1:1:1:1:1     RESERVED
   example-address-new-ipv6  REGION    2001:db8:4:4:4:4:4:4     IN_USE
   

   • If the IP address is not in use, the status is RESERVED.
   • If the IP address is in use, the status is IN_USE.

2. Retrieve the name of the VM that is using the IP address:

   gcloud compute addresses describe ADDRESS_NAME \
     --region=REGION
   

   Replace the following:

   • ADDRESS_NAME: the name of the IPv6 address resource.
   • REGION: the region of the IPv6 address resource.

   The output is similar to the following:

   address: IP_ADDRESS
   addressType: EXTERNAL
   ...
   region: https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/PROJECT/regions/REGION
   selfLink: https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/PROJECT/regions/REGION/addresses/ADDRESS_NAME
   status: IN_USE
   subnetwork: https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/PROJECT/regions/REGION/subnetworks/SUBNET
   users:
   - https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/PROJECT/zones/ZONE/instances/VM_NAME
   

   The users field displays the name of the VM that is using the IP address.

3. Unassign the IP address from the VM.

   • To unassign an IPv4 address, delete the VM's access config file:

     1. Get the name of the access config to delete. To get the name, use the gcloud compute instances describe command. Replace VM_NAME with the name of the VM.

        gcloud compute instances describe VM_NAME
        

        The access config appears in the following format:

        networkInterfaces:
          - accessConfigs:
            - kind: compute#accessConfig
              name: external-nat
              natIP: 203.0.113.1
              type: ONE_TO_ONE_NAT
        

        Note: The name of your access config might be different than external-nat; make sure to check for your own access config name. In some cases, an earlier version of the access config name, External NAT, might be used.

     2. Delete the access config by using the gcloud compute instances delete-access-config command:

        gcloud compute instances delete-access-config VM_NAME \
          --access-config-name="ACCESS_CONFIG_NAME"
        

        Replace the following:

        • VM_NAME: the name of the VM.
        • ACCESS_CONFIG_NAME: the name of the access config to delete. Be sure to include the full name between quotes.

   • To unassign an IPv6 address range, use the instance network-interfaces update command:

     gcloud compute instances network-interfaces update VM_NAME \
       --network-interface=nic0 \
       --stack-type=IPV4_ONLY \
       --zone=ZONE
     

     Replace the following:

     • VM_NAME: the name of the VM that is using the IP address.
     • ZONE: the zone of the VM.

4. Check that your static external IP address is now available and marked as RESERVED instead of IN_USE.

   gcloud compute addresses list \
     --filter="ADDRESS_NAME AND region=REGION"
   

   Replace the following:

   • ADDRESS_NAME: the name of the IP address resource.
   • REGION: the region of the IP address resource.

Now that your static external IP address is available, you can choose to assign it to another VM.

REST

To unassign a static external IPv4 or IPv6 address, perform the following steps:

• For IPv4 addresses, delete the access configuration attached to the VM that's using the address.

  1. To check the access configuration details of a VM, make a GET request to the instances.get method.

     GET https://compute.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/PROJECT_ID/zones/ZONE/instances/VM_NAME
     

  2. Delete the existing access configuration by making a POST request to the instances.deleteAccessConfig method.

     POST https://compute.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/PROJECT_ID/zones/ZONE/instances/VM_NAME/deleteAccessConfig
     

     Replace the following:

     • PROJECT_ID: the project ID for this request
     • ZONE: the zone where the VM is located
     • VM_NAME: the name of the VM

• For IPv6 addresses, update the stack type of the network interface for the VM where the IPv6 address is attached.

  1. Make a PATCH request to the instances.updateNetworkInterface method.

  2. In the request body, update the value of the stackType field to IPV4_ONLY.

     For example:

     PATCH https://compute.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/PROJECT_ID/zones/ZONE/instances/VM_NAME/updateNetworkInterface
     
     {
       "networkInterfaces": [{
         ...
         "stackType" : "IPV4_ONLY"
         ...
         }]
     }
     

Release a static external IP address

If you no longer need a static external IPv4 or IPv6 address, you can release the IP address by deleting the IP address resource. Deleting a VM does not automatically release a static external IP address. You must manually release static external IP addresses when you no longer require them.

To release a static external IP address, see Release a static external IP address in the VPC documentation.

What's next

• Learn more about IP addresses.
• Learn more about networks and firewalls.
• Learn how to address VMs using internal DNS.
• Review VPC pricing.