---
title: "Use a reserved IP as a Floating IP"
description: "Turn a reserved IP into a Floating IP that can move between up to four nodes, for failover."
content_type: "how-to"
product: "reserved-ip"
platform: "MyAccount"
url: "/myaccount/reserved-ip/how-to/use-a-reserved-ip-as-a-floating-ip/"
topic: ["floating"]
relationships: {"requires":["/myaccount/reserved-ip/how-to/reserve-an-ip/"]}
---

# Use a reserved IP as a Floating IP

A Floating IP is one public address shared by up to four nodes, so a service keeps the same
address when the node behind it fails. Here you turn a reserved IP into a Floating IP and
choose its nodes.

## Before you begin

- A reserved IP with the status **Available**.
- One to four nodes on the same network. Two is the usual start: a primary and a backup.

The switch is one way: from then on the address works as a Floating IP until you delete it.

## Convert the IP

1. Open **Network > Reserve IP**.
2. Open the address's **Actions** menu and choose **Use as Floating IP**.
3. Select your nodes, then click **Convert**.

The type changes to **Floating IP** and the status to **Attached**, with the nodes listed under
**Assigned To**.

The address starts answering once one of the nodes claims it, and failover software such as
Keepalived does that for you.
[Set up failover with a Floating IP](/myaccount/reserved-ip/how-to/set-up-failover-with-a-floating-ip/)
walks through it.

## Add or remove nodes

To add a node, open the address's **Actions** menu, choose **Attach IP**, and pick the node. A
Floating IP holds up to four.

To remove nodes, choose **Detach IP**, remove the nodes you want to take off, and click
**Detach IP**. If the node runs Keepalived, stop it there first (`systemctl stop keepalived`),
so it stops claiming an address it no longer has.

With every node removed, the address goes back to **Available** and stays a Floating IP, ready
for new nodes. You can also attach and detach it from a node's own page; see
[Attach a Floating IP to a node](/myaccount/node/how-to/attach-a-floating-ip/).