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Create and manage a Virtual Private Cloud network

Last updated: May 26, 2026

A Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) is a private, isolated network in American Cloud where you control the CIDR block, divide it into tiers (subnets), reserve public IPs, and attach ACLs. This article walks through creating a VPC, adding tiers, and managing public IPs from the new portal.

Related topics live in their own articles:

Create a VPC

  1. In the left navigation, under Networking, select VPCs.
  2. In the top right of the VPCs page, click + Create VPC.
VPCs page with the Create VPC button highlighted
  1. On the Create VPC page, fill in the Configuration section:
    • Name — a unique name (for example, Test-VPC).
    • CIDR — the VPC's IP range (for example, 10.0.0.0/16).
    • Region — the region the VPC lives in.
    • Description — optional human-readable note.
  2. Review the cost estimate on the right and click Create VPC.
Create VPC page with Name, CIDR, Region, Description, and Cost Estimate panel

The new VPC appears in the VPCs list with status ENABLED.

VPCs list showing the new Test-VPC entry

Note: A VPC does not delete itself. To stop billing for a VPC, delete it from its detail page.

Add a tier

Tiers are subnets inside the VPC. Each tier has its own gateway, netmask, and ACL.

  1. From the VPCs list, click a VPC to open its detail page.
  2. In the Tiers section, click + Add Tier.
  3. In the Add Tier dialog, fill in:
    • Name — a tier name (for example, Web server).
    • Description — optional.
    • Gateway — the tier's default gateway IP (for example, 10.0.0.1).
    • Netmask — the tier's subnet mask (for example, 255.255.255.0).
    • ACL list — pick an existing ACL (default_allow, default_deny, or a custom list). See Access control lists (ACLs) for creating custom ACLs.
  4. Click Add Tier.
VPC detail page with the Add Tier dialog open

The new tier appears in the Tiers section once provisioning completes.

Manage a tier

Click a tier in the Tiers section to open its detail page. The page shows two panels and four actions in the top right.

Tier detail page with Restart, Change ACL, Rename, and Delete actions
  • Network — CIDR, gateway, and region.
  • Configuration — description, parent VPC, ACL, and creation time.
  • Restart — restart the tier's virtual router (briefly disrupts traffic on this tier).
  • Change ACL — swap the ACL applied to the tier.
  • Rename — change the tier's name.
  • Delete — remove the tier. Detach any VMs first.

To attach a VM to a tier, select the tier as the Network when creating a VM.

Public IPs

A VPC includes one source-NAT public IP by default. Reserve additional public IPs from the Public IPs section on the VPC detail page.

Public IPs section showing an allocated IP with state, source NAT, and static NAT columns

Each row shows:

  • IP address.
  • State — ALLOCATED once available.
  • Source NAT — Yes for the VPC's default source-NAT IP; outbound traffic from tier VMs leaves through this IP.
  • Static NAT — VM the IP is statically mapped to, if any.
  • Created date.

Click an IP to open its detail page, where you can configure:

  • Static NAT — 1:1 mapping between the public IP and a single VM.
  • Port forwarding rules — forward specific public ports to a VM's private ports.
  • Firewall rules — restrict inbound traffic on the public IP. See Firewall.
  • Load balancer rules — distribute traffic across multiple VMs. See Load balancer.

To reserve a new public IP, click + Reserve IP at the top of the Public IPs section.