Question about why reboot is needed

Because of the ebtable rules on the host that protect your IP(s) from being bound by another Linode, and vice versa. Currently, this is only done by the setup script when your Linode boots. It's on the to-do list to be able to rebuild the host-side network rules via another job, so that purchasing an IP won't require a reboot.

-Chris

ah okay. coolness.

thanks for the reply :)

Just as a suggestion, you should put that in the network information page that after you purchase a new IP, you have to reboot your linode.