Create a network and connect it to a router

VMs live in private networks; routers connect those networks to the internet. Understanding the two takes five minutes and explains most of what the Networking pages in the panel do.

A default router and a default network are created automatically on your first login, so the first VM needs none of this. This tutorial is for building your own topology: separate environments, isolated segments, additional routers.

Step 1: create a router

A router is your internet gateway: it holds public IPv4 and IPv6 addresses and NATs traffic for the networks behind it.

  1. Go to Routers and click Create Router
  2. Name it (optional) and confirm

Public addresses are assigned automatically. One router can serve many networks, and the first router is free.

Step 2: create a network

A network is a private L2 segment with its own IP range. VMs in it talk to each other directly.

  1. Go to Networks and click Create Network
  2. Pick a CIDR from the private ranges
RangeExampleNotes
10.0.0.0/810.0.0.0/24The common default
172.16.0.0/12172.31.0.0/24Avoids clashes with home routers
192.168.0.0/16192.168.1.0/24Familiar, but clashes with most home LANs over VPN

A /24 gives 254 usable addresses, enough for most setups. Pick a wider prefix only if you know you will need it: the CIDR is fixed after creation.

Step 3: attach the network to the router

  1. On Networks, open your network's ⋯ menu
  2. Select Attach to Router, pick the router, confirm

From this moment VMs in the network can reach the internet through the router's addresses. Detaching cuts that path again: VMs keep talking to each other, but nothing routes outside.

What VMs get

  • Every VM created in the network receives a private IP from your CIDR
  • Outbound internet works through the router (NAT), with 5 TB of external traffic included per VM per month
  • A dedicated public IPv4+IPv6 per VM is optional: attach one only where something must be reachable from outside
  • Networks attached to the same router can reach each other; internal VM-to-VM traffic includes 50 TB per month
A good default topology: one router, one network per environment (prod, staging), public IPs only on the machines that face the internet. Everything else stays private behind the router.

What's next?