diff --git a/api/src/com/cloud/api/commands/CreateLoadBalancerRuleCmd.java b/api/src/com/cloud/api/commands/CreateLoadBalancerRuleCmd.java
index b7b9f6a665e..f43f3a6bb15 100644
--- a/api/src/com/cloud/api/commands/CreateLoadBalancerRuleCmd.java
+++ b/api/src/com/cloud/api/commands/CreateLoadBalancerRuleCmd.java
@@ -66,7 +66,7 @@ public class CreateLoadBalancerRuleCmd extends BaseAsyncCreateCmd  /*implements
     private Integer privatePort;
 
     @IdentityMapper(entityTableName="user_ip_address")
-    @Parameter(name=ApiConstants.PUBLIC_IP_ID, type=CommandType.LONG, required=false, description="public ip address id from where the network traffic will be load balanced from")
+    @Parameter(name=ApiConstants.PUBLIC_IP_ID, type=CommandType.LONG, required=true, description="public ip address id from where the network traffic will be load balanced from")
     private Long publicIpId;
     
     @IdentityMapper(entityTableName="data_center")