Dedicated IP

How to purchase a dedicated IP

From the Direct Mail console homepage, go to the purchase page.

Select the region where you want to use the dedicated IP, choose the quantity, and then submit the order.

Note: To avoid service interruptions, we recommend selecting Auto-renewal when making your purchase.

After completing the purchase, configure your dedicated IP in the Direct Mail console. The resource typically becomes available within 1 to 5 minutes.

How to use a dedicated IP

IP warm-up

Email delivery is complex. Email service providers (ESPs) typically set daily sending limits based on the reputation of the sending domain and IP address. Therefore, you should avoid sending large volumes of email from a new domain or IP that has not yet established a sending reputation.

To ensure a high delivery rate, you need to gradually increase your sending volume each day until you reach your target volume. This process is known as IP warm-up.

Alibaba Cloud Direct Mail provides two warm-up modes:

1. Manual warm-up

When you purchase a new dedicated IP, the default warm-up mode is "Manual warm-up". You must control and gradually increase your daily sending volume until you reach your target volume.

2. Automatic warm-up

When a dedicated IP has not yet met the warm-up criteria, the system automatically allocates a portion of your email traffic to the dedicated IP to warm it up. This currently covers major ESPs such as Gmail, Yahoo, Outlook, and iCloud. The process is fully automated.

If your actual sending volume exceeds the daily warm-up threshold, the excess traffic is automatically routed through the shared IP pool. You can view the real-time warm-up progress of your IP in the console.

The following table compares the two warm-up modes:

Create an IP pool

If you have purchased multiple dedicated IP addresses, you can group them into an IP pool. You can then specify this IP pool when sending emails to control which IPs are used.

In the upper-right corner of the console, click New IP Pool.

Enter the IP Pool Name and the Associated IPs to create the pool. Note: IP pool names must be unique, and each dedicated IP can only be added to one IP pool. You cannot create more IP pools than the number of dedicated IPs you have purchased.

A common use for an IP pool is to create one pool specifically for sending marketing email and another for sending transactional email.

This practice separates the IP reputation of your different mail streams so they do not affect each other. With this configuration, even if a marketing campaign results in a high number of complaints, the delivery rate of your transactional email will not be impacted.

Using a dedicated IP

There are two methods:

Method 1

In the console, bind a sending address to a configuration set. After binding, all sending methods automatically use the dedicated IP, so you do not need to specify the IP pool ID when sending. For more information, see Sending configuration (configuration set).

Method 2

Specify the IP pool parameter when sending emails through the console, API, or SMTP.

Use a dedicated IP in the console

When you create a new email sending task, select an IP Pool. The system then uses IPs from this pool to send the emails.

Use a dedicated IP with API or SMTP

Obtain the IP pool ID (not the instance ID or the IP address):

Analytics

1. View Data (IP Pool): Displays data for the specified IP pool. An IP pool can include multiple dedicated IPs.

2. View Data (Dedicated IP): Displays data for the specified dedicated IP.

3. View (Warm-up): Displays data for service providers that support automatic warm-up, such as Outlook, iCloud, Gmail, and Yahoo.

FAQ

Other questions: Dedicated IP-related questions