IPAM defined
IPAM (IP Address Management) is a tool or platform used to plan, track, and manage enterprise IP address space. It records each IP's assignment status, owning device, location, user, and expiration, and provides automation for subnetting, conflict detection, and utilization reports.
Core IPAM features
A mature IPAM system should provide:
- Subnetting and planning: automatically calculate usable IP ranges, with CIDR support
- Address assignment tracking: DHCP/DNS integration, manual registration for static IPs
- Conflict detection: prevent the same IP from being assigned twice
- Utilization reports: IP usage statistics by department, region, or purpose
- IPv6 support: address planning for the dual-stack transition
How IPAM relates to DDI
DDI (DNS-DHCP-IPAM) is an integrated solution that bundles the three services. Pure IPAM only addresses management; DDI goes further by linking DNS resolution, DHCP allocation, and the IPAM inventory, completing the chain from hostname to physical server. The CloudSino platform collects real MAC address tables from network devices via SNMP/Netconf and ties them to IPAM, so every IP record traces back to a real physical port.