---
title: "Introducing Private Networks"
description: "Exoscale is introducing private networks so you can connect your instances with each other for all your private network needs."
date: 2017-06-26
author: "Sanja Bonic"
tags: ["network"]
url: https://www.exoscale.com/blog/introducing-private-networks/
---
# Introducing Private Networks

Private networks are now available within the Exoscale cloud infrastructure. Each instance can provision an additional unmanaged network interface that is bound to a private network segment shared only with your other instances in the same zone.

![introducing private networks](https://www.exoscale.com/blog/introducing-private-networks/privnet.png)

Previously, you were supplied with a single public IP address. With the new private networks feature, you can now go to your instance settings and add a secondary interface. It is up to you to choose a network and IP addresses to use between instances. More details on how to set up private networks for your instances can be found in [our documentation](https://community.exoscale.com/documentation/compute/private-networks/). If you want to learn more about IP addressing, you can start with this [explanation](https://www.techtarget.com/searchnetworking/tip/IP-addressing-and-subnetting-Calculate-a-subnet-mask-using-the-hosts-formula).

Our private network release also means we have expanded our API. For more information on the respective API calls, follow the links on the [private networks documentation page](https://community.exoscale.com/documentation/compute/private-networks/#using-the-api). Compared to the private network functionality of several other cloud providers, Exoscale's private networks are exclusive to your own instances. We use [VXLAN](https://vincent.bernat.ch/en/blog/2017-vxlan-linux) to transport the actual [VLAN](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_LAN) traffic, thereby achieving [Layer 2 isolation](https://isc.sans.edu/forums/diary/Layer+2+Security+Private+VLANs+the+Story+Continues/8785/).

### Use Cases

Private networks are most useful when applications expect to be routed through a secondary interface or when using IP addresses that span over a non-contiguous network is cumbersome. Here are some examples of use cases where private networks are useful:

* enabling applications which need IP multicast functionality
* architecture requiring a dedicated private network interface for communication with other instances
* VPN services and IPsec gateways

Our article on [Building an IPsec Gateway With OpenBSD](https://www.exoscale.com/blog/ipsec-gateway-openbsd/) explains how to encrypt traffic from a workstation to a private network.