IP address management (IPAM) is a methodology implemented in
computer software
Software is a set of computer programs and associated documentation and data. This is in contrast to hardware, from which the system is built and which actually performs the work.
At the lowest programming level, executable code consists ...
for planning and managing the assignment and use of
IP address
An Internet Protocol address (IP address) is a numerical label such as that is connected to a computer network that uses the Internet Protocol for communication.. Updated by . An IP address serves two main functions: network interface ident ...
es and closely related resources of a
computer network
A computer network is a set of computers sharing resources located on or provided by network nodes. The computers use common communication protocols over digital interconnections to communicate with each other. These interconnections ar ...
. It does not typically provide
Domain Name System
The Domain Name System (DNS) is a hierarchical and distributed naming system for computers, services, and other resources in the Internet or other Internet Protocol (IP) networks. It associates various information with domain names assigned ...
(DNS) and
Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol
The Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) is a network management protocol used on Internet Protocol (IP) networks for automatically assigning IP addresses and other communication parameters to devices connected to the network using a cli ...
(DHCP) services, but manages information for these components.
Additional functionality, such as controlling reservations in DHCP and other data aggregation and reporting capabilities, is also common. Data tracked by an IPAM system may include information such as IP addresses in use, and the associated devices and users. Centralized collection of this information may support troubleshooting and abuse investigations.
[ ]
IPAM tools are increasingly important as new
IPv6
Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) is the most recent version of the Internet Protocol (IP), the communications protocol that provides an identification and location system for computers on networks and routes traffic across the Internet. I ...
networks are deployed with large address pools of 128-bit
hexadecimal
In mathematics and computing, the hexadecimal (also base-16 or simply hex) numeral system is a positional numeral system that represents numbers using a radix (base) of 16. Unlike the decimal system representing numbers using 10 symbols, h ...
numbers and new subnetting techniques.
References
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External links
IP Address Management as a Service on the Cloud
Domain Name System