Overview
You can use this document to learn more about the global anycast IP address feature.
You can only add the Global Anycast IP address feature when you first create a workload; you cannot update an existing workload to add this feature.
- To learn how to create a workload and add Global Anycast IP address, see Create and Manage Virtual Machines, Containers, and Workloads.
You will be charged for anycast IP addresses that are allocated to workloads. If you delete a workload, then the IP address will be released. Currently, you cannot reserve IP addresses, which means if you delete and re-create a workload, you will most likely be allocated a different IP address.
Introduction to anycast
At a high level, global anycast IP addresses allow traffic to be routed to the nearest StackPath edge location, which can reduce latency and response times for application users.
Traffic directed to the anycast IP will enter the StackPath network at the closet edge location, and then the traffic will be routed to the nearest location with an active workload instance.
For example:
- If a workload is deployed with instances in Dallas and London and a visitor makes a request to the anycast IP from London, then their traffic will enter the StackPath network in London and hit the instances running in London.
- If a workload is deployed with instances in Dallas and a visitor makes a request to the anycast IP from London, then their traffic will enter the Stackpath network in London and will then be routed over to the StackPath private backbone to hit the instances running in Dallas.
While anycast IP addresses offer load balancing capabilities, StackPath cannot guarantee that traffic across active instances in the same location will be fully load balanced.
When you enable anycast IP addresses, instances will be allocated an anycast IP that can be used to route traffic to the entire workload. The IP address will be static for the lifetime of the workload.