What is a Virtual IP (VIP)?

When you create a virtual IP (VIP) address with Liquid Web you will receive both a Public VIP and Private VIP. The public VIP can be configured on a Storm server just as a non-virtual, or standard, IP would be configured. Connecting to a public service, such as HTTP or FTP, on the Public VIP occurs just as it would on a standard IP.

The Private VIP can be configured on a Storm server’s private interface just as a standard private IP would be configured. Connecting to a private service, such as MySQL or Puppet, on the Private VIP also occurs just as it would on a standard private IP.

So why use a VIP? When utilizing multiple servers, having a VIP is beneficial due to its ability to “float” between servers. This allows the VIP to remain highly reachable in circumstances in which a non-virtual (or standard) IP may be otherwise unreachable. It is possible to move both the Public VIP and Private VIP between Storm servers!

Both Public and Private VIPs can be configured on any server on your Storm account so long is that server is in the Zone where the VIPs were created. Typically software, such as the ones listed below, is used to manage on which server a VIP resides.

Here are some of the things that you can do with Virtual IP addresses:

• High Availability Databases (MySQL, Percona, MariaDB)
• Non-DNS-based Service Migrations
• High Availability Web Applications (in tandem with or in place of load balancer)

This is just some of the software that you can use with Virtual IP addresses:

• Pacemaker
• Heartbeat