2.18.1. Hosting IP addresses

Main IP addresses

Used to point domain to our hosting.

Main IPv4 and IPv6 addresses of the hosting account are displayed in the "Hosting" section in the "Location" block:

For hosting accounts in Ukraine, these addresses point to a proxy server that receives requests and forwards them to the direct IP address of the hosting account where the site is hosted. The use of a proxy server ensures the operability of the site during transfer between hosting accounts, during change the IP address of the hosting account, helps in DDoS protection during attacks on hosting, etc.

For hosting accounts not in Ukraine, these addresses are identical to direct.

Direct IP addresses

Direct IPv4 and IPv6 addresses are the physical server addresses of the hosting account. This is where requests that were forwarded by the proxy server end up (see above). Also, these addresses are pointed to by hosts that are used for FTP or SSH connections, and these are the default addresses for outgoing connections to third-party servers when a dedicated IP is not ordered.

How to find out

Windows command line: 

nslookup example.ftp.tools

macOS and Linux terminal: 

host example.ftp.tools

Instead of example.ftp.tools, use your FTP or SSH host address.

When may change

IP address change notifications are sent to account email and to the connected messengers. Notifications for the "Transfer of services" group must be enabled in notification settings to be sent.

We try to change the IP addresses of users' sites as rarely as possible, but nevertheless there are situations when they have to be changed:

  • Change plan from shared to business hosting or vice versa.
  • Change country of the hosting account.
  • Transferring the hosting account between servers for technical reasons, for example:
    • To perform a scheduled server upgrade or perform routine maintenance on the server that requires extended downtime.
    • In case of unstable server operation, when it may affect the quality of services provided (hosting accounts on foreign servers may be temporarily transferred to Ukraine).
    • To ensure sufficient free resources (so that clients who exceed the limits do not negatively affect the server and hosting accounts of other clients on the same server).

In order to have a greater (but not 100%) guarantee that the IP address of the site will not change, you can order dedicated IP.

What to do in case of change

flowchart LR notification@{ shape: stadium, label: "🔔 Notification
of IP address change" } our_ns@{ shape: diamond, label: "Domain
has our NS?" } subgraph "In the current NS owner's control panel" our_ip@{ shape: diamond, label: "IP addresses
in domain settings
=
main IP addresses
of the hosting account?" } change_ip@{ shape: trap-t, label: "📝 Specify
new IP addresses
in domain settings" } end no_action@{ shape: stadium, label: "✔️ No action required" } notification-->our_ns our_ns-->|Yes|no_action our_ns-->|No|our_ip our_ip-->|Yes|no_action our_ip-->|No|change_ip

  1. Check current NS for the domains of all hosted sites.
  2. No action is required for domains on our NS — their settings will change automatically and they will be pointed to the correct IP address (this happens transparently and unnoticeably for both clients and site visitors).
  3. For domains on third-party NS:
    1. Go to the current NS owner's control panel.
    2. Look at the address records in the domain settings and compare them to the main IP addresses of the hosting account from our control panel:
      • If the IP addresses are the same — no action is required.
      • If the IP addresses do not match — in the current NS owner's control panel, replace the old IP addresses with the new main IP addresses of the hosting account from our control panel.
  4. If the site scripts during their operation have to access some resource, access to which is restricted by IP, then on this resource you need to add to the allowed new direct IP-address of the hosting account.

Detailed scheme

sequenceDiagram autonumber actor C as Visitor box rgb(118, 174, 214, .1) Hosting participant P as Proxy server participant D as Hosting account
server end participant O as Third-party server alt Hosting account in Ukraine C->>P: Request P->>+D: Request else Hosting account not in Ukraine C->>+D: Request end Note over D: Start of
request
processing opt Outgoing connections
(if used) D-->>+O: Request O-->>-D: Response end Note over D: End of
request
processing alt Hosting account not in Ukraine D->>-C: Response else Hosting account in Ukraine D->>-P: Response P->>C: Response end

  1. Request from a visitor:
    1. For hosting accounts in Ukraine — received by a proxy server (main IP address) and forwarded to the physical server of the hosting account (direct IP address).
    2. For hosting accounts not in Ukraine — goes directly to the physical server of the hosting account (main IP address = direct IP address).
  2. The server processes the request. If calls to third-party servers are made during processing, they will be from direct IP address (or from dedicated IP, if ordered).
  3. Response to visitor:
    1. For hosting accounts in Ukraine — from the physical server of the hosting account (direct IP address) comes to the proxy server (main IP address) and from it is forwarded to the visitor.
    2. For hosting accounts not in Ukraine — from the physical server of the hosting account (direct IP address) is immediately forwarded to the visitor.
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