IP Planning Software

Successfully plan your IP address space

Monitor IP capacity and receive alerts on IP depletion

Monitor IP capacity and receive alerts on IP depletion

SolarWinds® IP Address Manager (IPAM) offers a customizable dashboard with resources to track IP addresses according to utilization. You can easily identify your Top 10 DHCP Subnets and Scopes and receive automated alerts if subnet/scope utilization reaches a customizable threshold. 

Both at-a-glance and drill-down dashboard analytics can help you minimize bandwidth load and reduce routing traffic inefficiencies. SolarWinds IP address planning tool also monitors and alerts for IP address conflicts, so you can quickly limit network disruptions.

Customize and streamline your IP capacity reporting

Customize and streamline your IP capacity reporting

Deploy IPAM’s customizable subnet IP capacity template for fast, flexible, and centralized reporting. These IP capacity reports can be scheduled to run on regular intervals, so you can automatically track subnet use. 

With accurate IP plan software, you can more easily identify your limited subnets and design larger subnets before capacity issues get worse. These customizable reports can also help you project when a subnet or scope might become depleted, so you can improve IP capacity planning across your network. 

Find available DHCP scopes with an IP address planning tool

Find available DHCP scopes with an IP address planning tool

DHCP server integration in SolarWinds IPAM lets you add Microsoft DHCP, Cisco, and ISC DHCP servers. Enjoy a customizable DHCP setup—for instance, you can define a scanning frequency to automatically add new scopes and subnets to your SolarWinds IPAM database. IPAM also allows you to split scopes to help optimize load balancing. This tool makes it possible to easily create, edit, and remove DHCP scopes and modify DNS zones and records.

Transition seamlessly to IPv6 IP planning while keeping up with IPv4

Transition seamlessly to IPv6 IP planning while keeping up with IPv4

Making the move from IPv4 to IPv6? SolarWinds IP address planning tool allows you to easily add IPv6 sites and subnets. With standard Network Discovery Protocol, IPAM uses your SNMP credentials to access routers that contain IPv6 configuration information. IPv6 addresses can then be organized into groups for efficient network organization. 

Once the IPv6 address space becomes active, you can set up scheduled, automatic scanning. IPAM is designed to allow you to be able to manage your IPv6 address space as easily as IPv4.

Get More on IP Planning
Do you find yourself asking…
  • What is IP planning?
  • How can I plan network and subnet capacity?
  • What is IPv6 migration?
  • How can I create an IP addressing plan?
  • Why is IP subnet planning important?
  • How does IPAM help with IP planning?
  • What other features and tools does IPAM have?
  • What is IP planning?

    Managing your IP addresses isn’t always an easy task. For large networks with a long list of operating addresses, keeping a manual spreadsheet of addresses can be time-consuming—especially when your network is constantly expanding to accommodate new users and devices. 

    The main goal of IP planning is to help make your IP configurations as efficient as possible, all from a centralized control center. IP management involves assigning new units to empty addresses, ensuring your assignments stay under your IP capacity, and solving any inefficiencies with your address configuration. 

    In addition to IP address assignment, IP planning involves subnet creation and management to help maximize the efficiency of your network operations. IP addresses with the same IP address routing prefix can take less time and distance to communicate with each other. A collection of IP addresses beginning with the same prefix is called a subnet, and this is something any IP planning should take into consideration if you’re aiming to optimize traffic flow efficiency. 

    Successful IP planning should also establish a strategy to monitor your DHCP servers, your DNS servers, and dynamic IP addresses that change based on capacity.

  • How can I plan network and subnet capacity?

    The first step in creating a subnet is to assign a unique subnet prefix to the IP addresses in your subnet with the help of a DHCP server, which controls IP address assignments.

    Once you’ve established a subnet, or potentially a supernet encompassing multiple subnets, the IP addresses within your defined parameters will be available. The only exceptions to this are your network address and your broadcast address, which remain static and predefined. Once you’ve established a subnet, capacity planning should be straightforward since you won’t have to worry about dynamic IP addresses encountering unavailable addresses within your new subnet. 

    For more sophisticated subnets, you can also specify ranges of IP addresses. If you’re dealing with a large subnet with many addresses, establishing IP ranges can help you organize your addresses into more specific, subsidiary units without requiring an entirely new subnet. 

  • What is IPv6 migration?

    Soon after the inception of the internet, a standard 16-bit IP address naming protocol was established which has continued to the present day. This 16-digit naming system is IPv4, which allows for 2^32 unique addresses. With over four billion possibilities, IPv4 was able to accommodate enough IP addresses to last until recent years, when IPv6, a 32-bit IP address system, gained prominence as the new IP naming standard. 

    For those who might be concerned about their existing IPv4 resources, IPv6 migration does not eliminate existing IPv4 addresses. IPv6 migration refers to the integration of IPv6 addresses into your network when new addresses need to be named.

    To establish an effective IPv6 naming system, an IP address planning tool can help centralize IP planning, detect any conflict between IP addresses, and manage DNS and DHCP servers to oversee your dynamic naming process. 

  • How can I create an IP addressing plan?

    The first step in a comprehensive IP plan is to identify your network devices. Common scanning processes include ICMP scanning, SNMP scanning, and neighborhood scanning. IP plan software can help automate the scanning process and collect relevant details from your network devices. 

    In your IP management plan, make sure to mark addresses no longer in use. Then, you’ll be ready to make your DHCP reservations and assign DNS names to them. 

    A successful IP address plan will also include the establishment of subnets to improve traffic flow and help organize your most interactive groups of devices. Once you’ve defined your subnets, you can add more addresses in specific ranges for further segmentation.

    IP address planning tools can help automate many aspects of the IP addressing process, such as discovering network devices and identifying available IP address, to help users more easily execute IP management plans. IP address planning tools can also allow you to import spreadsheets to help speed up the IP address and subnet creation process. 

  • Why is IP subnet planning important?

    Organizing your network into subnets is crucial for minimizing traffic travel time and maximizing network efficiency. The packet travel time from one IP address to another is largely dependent on the sequencing of bits at the beginning of the IP address—the more similar the initial digits on your address are, the closer the distance between addresses. Subnet planning can help increase the efficiency of your traffic flow and improve your bandwidth load.

    Since IP subnet planning involves assigning and managing IP addresses beginning with the same introductory bits, you need to understand which devices on your network are interacting with each other and how often to be able to assign members of a subnet. The goal of subnet planning is to reduce the distance which network traffic must travel between highly interactive devices.

    Using IP plan software like SolarWinds IP Address Manager, which is designed to let you easily create subnets as well as groups to categorize your subnets, can help make the process of creating and managing subnets easier.

  • How does IPAM help with IP planning?

    SolarWinds IP Address Manager is built to offer address IP address management from a central platform. To save users time and resources, IPAM can automate many steps of the IP planning process, including setup, monitoring, and alerting.

    To help set up your IP address system, IPAM is designed to consolidate DHCP/DNS management into an intuitive interface. This helps your DHCP server assign new addresses, which will then be named by your DNS server. IPAM’s DHCP scope monitor can also help with DHCP assignments by extracting scopes and emphasizing the scopes in need of more IP assignments. You can keep track of DNS server assignments more easily on your IPAM dashboard. 

    In addition to assigning and monitoring a dynamic IP address system, IPAM includes innovative alerting and reporting tools. Whether it’s an IP address conflict, an address capacity shortage, or an inefficient subnet, the IPAM dashboard is designed to provide real-time alerts and reports.

  • What other features and tools does IPAM have?

    In addition to comprehensive DHCP, DNS, and subnet management, monitoring, and alerts, SolarWinds IP address planning tool offers an array of other useful features. These include: 

    • Integration with VMware. SolarWinds IPAM is equipped to integrate with VMware products like VMware vRealize Orchestrator (vRO) and vRealize Automation.
    • Import wizard. IPAM’s import wizard leads you through the process of importing your IP and subnet information from a spreadsheet. This helpful import wizard will also help you transfer any assignments you’ve already set up based on your unique IP planning preferences. 
    • Grouping and status icons. The included intuitive, visual icons can help you manage groups of subnets and other related categories. These icons are color-coded, easily sortable, and can help make your IP planning easier. 
    • API solutions. IPAM uses SWIS API solutions to help streamline your IP planning experience and keep the IPAM application interface as useful and efficient as possible. 

What is IP planning?

Managing your IP addresses isn’t always an easy task. For large networks with a long list of operating addresses, keeping a manual spreadsheet of addresses can be time-consuming—especially when your network is constantly expanding to accommodate new users and devices. 

The main goal of IP planning is to help make your IP configurations as efficient as possible, all from a centralized control center. IP management involves assigning new units to empty addresses, ensuring your assignments stay under your IP capacity, and solving any inefficiencies with your address configuration. 

In addition to IP address assignment, IP planning involves subnet creation and management to help maximize the efficiency of your network operations. IP addresses with the same IP address routing prefix can take less time and distance to communicate with each other. A collection of IP addresses beginning with the same prefix is called a subnet, and this is something any IP planning should take into consideration if you’re aiming to optimize traffic flow efficiency. 

Successful IP planning should also establish a strategy to monitor your DHCP servers, your DNS servers, and dynamic IP addresses that change based on capacity.

Close
How can I plan network and subnet capacity?

The first step in creating a subnet is to assign a unique subnet prefix to the IP addresses in your subnet with the help of a DHCP server, which controls IP address assignments.

Once you’ve established a subnet, or potentially a supernet encompassing multiple subnets, the IP addresses within your defined parameters will be available. The only exceptions to this are your network address and your broadcast address, which remain static and predefined. Once you’ve established a subnet, capacity planning should be straightforward since you won’t have to worry about dynamic IP addresses encountering unavailable addresses within your new subnet. 

For more sophisticated subnets, you can also specify ranges of IP addresses. If you’re dealing with a large subnet with many addresses, establishing IP ranges can help you organize your addresses into more specific, subsidiary units without requiring an entirely new subnet. 

Close
What is IPv6 migration?

Soon after the inception of the internet, a standard 16-bit IP address naming protocol was established which has continued to the present day. This 16-digit naming system is IPv4, which allows for 2^32 unique addresses. With over four billion possibilities, IPv4 was able to accommodate enough IP addresses to last until recent years, when IPv6, a 32-bit IP address system, gained prominence as the new IP naming standard. 

For those who might be concerned about their existing IPv4 resources, IPv6 migration does not eliminate existing IPv4 addresses. IPv6 migration refers to the integration of IPv6 addresses into your network when new addresses need to be named.

To establish an effective IPv6 naming system, an IP address planning tool can help centralize IP planning, detect any conflict between IP addresses, and manage DNS and DHCP servers to oversee your dynamic naming process. 

Close
How can I create an IP addressing plan?

The first step in a comprehensive IP plan is to identify your network devices. Common scanning processes include ICMP scanning, SNMP scanning, and neighborhood scanning. IP plan software can help automate the scanning process and collect relevant details from your network devices. 

In your IP management plan, make sure to mark addresses no longer in use. Then, you’ll be ready to make your DHCP reservations and assign DNS names to them. 

A successful IP address plan will also include the establishment of subnets to improve traffic flow and help organize your most interactive groups of devices. Once you’ve defined your subnets, you can add more addresses in specific ranges for further segmentation.

IP address planning tools can help automate many aspects of the IP addressing process, such as discovering network devices and identifying available IP address, to help users more easily execute IP management plans. IP address planning tools can also allow you to import spreadsheets to help speed up the IP address and subnet creation process. 

Close
Why is IP subnet planning important?

Organizing your network into subnets is crucial for minimizing traffic travel time and maximizing network efficiency. The packet travel time from one IP address to another is largely dependent on the sequencing of bits at the beginning of the IP address—the more similar the initial digits on your address are, the closer the distance between addresses. Subnet planning can help increase the efficiency of your traffic flow and improve your bandwidth load.

Since IP subnet planning involves assigning and managing IP addresses beginning with the same introductory bits, you need to understand which devices on your network are interacting with each other and how often to be able to assign members of a subnet. The goal of subnet planning is to reduce the distance which network traffic must travel between highly interactive devices.

Using IP plan software like SolarWinds IP Address Manager, which is designed to let you easily create subnets as well as groups to categorize your subnets, can help make the process of creating and managing subnets easier.

Close
How does IPAM help with IP planning?

SolarWinds IP Address Manager is built to offer address IP address management from a central platform. To save users time and resources, IPAM can automate many steps of the IP planning process, including setup, monitoring, and alerting.

To help set up your IP address system, IPAM is designed to consolidate DHCP/DNS management into an intuitive interface. This helps your DHCP server assign new addresses, which will then be named by your DNS server. IPAM’s DHCP scope monitor can also help with DHCP assignments by extracting scopes and emphasizing the scopes in need of more IP assignments. You can keep track of DNS server assignments more easily on your IPAM dashboard. 

In addition to assigning and monitoring a dynamic IP address system, IPAM includes innovative alerting and reporting tools. Whether it’s an IP address conflict, an address capacity shortage, or an inefficient subnet, the IPAM dashboard is designed to provide real-time alerts and reports.

Close
What other features and tools does IPAM have?

In addition to comprehensive DHCP, DNS, and subnet management, monitoring, and alerts, SolarWinds IP address planning tool offers an array of other useful features. These include: 

  • Integration with VMware. SolarWinds IPAM is equipped to integrate with VMware products like VMware vRealize Orchestrator (vRO) and vRealize Automation.
  • Import wizard. IPAM’s import wizard leads you through the process of importing your IP and subnet information from a spreadsheet. This helpful import wizard will also help you transfer any assignments you’ve already set up based on your unique IP planning preferences. 
  • Grouping and status icons. The included intuitive, visual icons can help you manage groups of subnets and other related categories. These icons are color-coded, easily sortable, and can help make your IP planning easier. 
  • API solutions. IPAM uses SWIS API solutions to help streamline your IP planning experience and keep the IPAM application interface as useful and efficient as possible. 

Close
“Giving us a clear and accurate record of the state of our IP addressing. IP Address Manager will notify us when a subnet is close to capacity allowing us to provision a larger subnet in a planned fashion before it becomes a service affecting issue.”
Network Administrator
State & Local Government

Streamline IP planning by automating the IP configuration process

IP Address Manager

  • Do away with IP tracking spreadsheets and actively identify and manage IPv4 and IPv6 addresses.

  • Use an affordable and fully integrated DHCP, DNS, and IP address management software to administer your environment.

  • Stay on top of IP address conflicts, subnets/scope depletion, or mismatched DNS entries.

Let’s talk it over.
Contact our team. Anytime.
{#Contact Phone#}
{{STATIC CONTENT}}
{{CAPTION_TITLE}}

{{CAPTION_CONTENT}}

{{TITLE}}