Starlink Static IP Address

Starlink Static IP Address

As of the writing of this article Startlink provided static IP address space is still not an option.  Understandably so, really.  Starlink service has a lot of variables it has to overcome to accomplish what it does to deliver internet services globally.  Add in the complexity of a roaming Starlink system and the engineering challenges become even more complex.  We will discuss how Core Transit can deliver a static IP address over Startlink and even enable BGP advertisments over Starlink if your use case requires it.  First, let’s look at some of the challenges and how the Startlink network works.

Starlink CGNAT

Many Starlink IP addresses will be part the 100.64.0.0/10 prefix range as part of a best practice CG NAT deployment.  This means that all source addresses are rewritten by NAT when a Starlink client connects out to the wider internet.  For inbound connections the CGNAT solutions don’t have a way to reverse this address rewrite process meaning the connection cannot be completed.  This is because dozens or hundreds of clients share a single IP address behind the CGNAT gateway.

Starlink Public DHCP Addresses

The Starlink enterprise guide does indicate public IP addresses are optionally available. These IP addresses they can change particularly in the case of roaming or other network changes.  Since they are issued via DHCP there is also no guarantee your equipment would get the same address even if stationary.

“A public IP is reachable from any device on the internet and is assigned to Starlink network clients using DHCP. Moving the Starlink to another location may cause the public IP to change. The public IP option can be enabled from the account dashboard.” (Starlink Admin Guide)

This allows inbound connections, however if the IP address changes you would need a mechanism to get an update about it to continue making inbound connections to the device over the internet.

Static IP Addresses from Core Transit

Using tunneling protocols Core Transit is able to deliver static IP addresses to routing device behind Starlink services.  Because the tunnel will always connect back to our network the IP information will remain the same even if the connection goes down, or is moved geographically.  This allows Core Transit to assign Static IP addresses in some of the most demanding use cases such as remote oil and gas, transportation and maritime shipping.  Note that because the routing device is connecting from behind a CGNAT gateway as discussed above a client / server type of tunneling session is required.  IPIP and GRE will not work, for instance while L2TP and Wiregaurd will.

IP Allocations and BGP Peering

With a tunnel in place the data connectivity should flow freely.  This includes general traffic but also control traffic.  If desired, the Core Transit network can support BGP route advertisements as well.  This opens up additional possibilities and increases flexibility for some of our users.  If you don’t need BGP but have other IP flexibility needs Core Transit can likely accommodate those as well.  This includes IP leased space or the static advertisement of your own owned IP space throughout network.

Starlink Peering

In addition to providing static IP addresses for Starlink users, Core Transit also peers with Starlink via common internet exchange points.  Tunneling adds overhead that can negatively impact performance.  The direct peering helps ensure the latency incurred from a Core Transit tunnel service is a low as possible.

Get Your Static IP for Starlink!

If your applications requires a static IP you can sign up via the Core Transit client portal.  There is also a growing knowledge base of “how to” articles related to this and other use case.  For larger scale deployments or if you still have questions please contact Core Transit today!