IP Blocks Overview

IP Blocks are a standalone, service-independent resource for Internet IP addressing, managed as persistent resources with their own lifecycle. IP Blocks can move between deployments or services, and can be reused or deleted when no longer needed. IP Blocks are available across all metros and provide a consistent IP management experience. Terminating a service does not automatically terminate the associated IP Block.

You can purchase Equinix-owned IP Blocks or bring your own IP address space for use on Equinix. If you require additional public IP addresses, you can request additional IP Blocks.

Equinix-owned IP Blocks

Equinix-owned IP Blocks are provider-assigned IP addresses allocated to you and billed by Equinix. They are designated for a specific metro and can be used only by services within that metro.

Equinix-owned IP Block sizes:

• IPv4 - /30 to /24
• IPv6 - /64, /48

Equinix-owned IP Blocks are billable according to current pricing.

Customer-owned IP Blocks

Customer-owned IP blocks are provider-independent IP addresses you register with Equinix. Your IP Blocks can be shared by services across different metros.

Customer-owned IP Block sizes:

• IPv4 - /24 and larger
• IPv6 - /48 and larger

Customer-owned IP Blocks are not billed.

To advertise your address space from one or multiple locations, you must have the appropriate route authorizations and Internet Registry records in place and ensure the advertisements are valid in the global routing system. Equinix does not restrict multi‑metro advertisements.

Internet Routing Registry (IRR) Requirements

When using customer-owned IP addresses, a Route Object (RO) must be created in the Internet Routing Registry (IRR) associated with the Regional Internet Registry (RIR), or another IRR such as the Routing Assets Database (RADb). Equinix recommends using a Regional Internet Registry’s IRR.

• Exact‑match route objects must be created for every prefix that will be announced. For example, announcing 198.51.100.0/24 requires a route object for 198.51.100.0/24 exactly.

• Route objects should be created in the IRR associated with the Regional Internet Registry (RIR), such as:

  • ARIN IRR – American Registry for Internet Numbers
  • RIPE Database – RIPE NCC
  • APNIC IRR – Asia-Pacific Network Information Centre (APNIC)
  • LACNIC IRR – Latin America and Caribbean Network Information Centre (LACNIC)
  • AFRINIC IRR – African Network Information Center (AFRINIC)

• You may also announce IP address space obtained from third parties, provided the announcing organization is the legitimate holder or an authorized user of the ASN and/or IP address space. Being a “legitimate holder” and “authorized user” requires a Route Object matching the IP prefix and relevant ASN. Letter of Agency (LOAs) are not an acceptable or valid method to prove legitimacy or authorization.

Using RPKI and Route Origin Authorization

Resource Public Key Infrastructure (RPKI) enables IP prefixes and Origin ASNs to be cryptographically validated by networks worldwide.

Equinix recommends, but does not require, an Route Origin Authorization (ROA) for a prefix advertised to Internet Access at this time. If an ROA does exist the tuple of Prefix/ASN/maxLength must match the Origin ASN and prefix being advertised to Internet Access. An invalid ROA will result in the prefix being dropped. If Equinix is the Origin AS for your prefix and you want to use an ROA, you need to create an ROA that authorizes Equinix to announce the prefix with an origin AS of 15830.

For example:

• Origin ASN: 15830 (Equinix)
• Prefix: The exact prefix to be announced (for example, 198.51.100.0/24)
• Prefix lengths that exactly match the intended announcement (for example, a /24 announcement requires maxLength = 24)

ROAs must be created through the Regional Internet Registry (RIR) where the prefix is registered. Equinix cannot create or manage RPKI ROAs for customer subnets.

Using IP Blocks with Internet Access

Internet Access services that use Static and BGP routing use IP Blocks for your LAN subnets. When you order the service, you select an available IP Block to use. You can also add IP Blocks to an existing service.

• You can advertise both Equinix-owned and Customer-owned IP Blocks simultaneously via BGP when using Internet Access with Fabric or Internet Access with Network Edge.
• Equinix-owned IP Blocks can be shared by BGP Internet Access services within the same metro as the IP Block.
• Internet Access services that use Direct and Static routing cannot share IP Blocks.

When you deprovision your Internet Access service, the IP Block remains in your IP Blocks Inventory for use with another or future service. You can also delete the IP Block separately.

For more information on IP Block usage in Internet Access, see IP Address Allocation.

Service-Level Information

Service-level agreement information, including performance characteristics, is documented in the Equinix Internet Access data sheet and the Equinix Internet Access product policy.