More ways to manage IP addresses

Industry analysis by Beth Schultz, plus the latest news headlines.

IP address management continues to challenge enterprise IT managers who often find themselves stuck between having to save cash and needing a better way to track core network services.

Companies such as Alcatel-Lucent, BT Diamond IP, BlueCat Networks and Infoblox deliver products for IP address management as well as DNS and DHCP services. And some companies depend on open source products such as IPplan instead of depending on spreadsheets or other tools.

Now SolarWinds hopes to provide another option for IT managers looking to optimize their IP address management (IPAM) processes. The company this week announced a new add-on module for its Orion management suite as well as a free tool customers can download to get started tracking IP addresses. For existing Orion customers, SolarWinds Orion IP Address Manager adds capabilities to better track and manage IP addresses to the application’s Web console. The software helps IT consolidate IP addresses into a single repository, keep better records by performing periodic scans for changes, and create and share reports on IP address space percent utilization.

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IP address management continues to challenge enterprise IT managers who often find themselves stuck between having to save cash and needing a better way to track core network services.

Companies such as Alcatel-Lucent, BT Diamond IP, BlueCat Networks and Infoblox deliver products for IP address management as well as DNS and DHCP services. And some companies depend on open source products such as IPplan instead of depending on spreadsheets or other tools.

Now SolarWinds hopes to provide another option for IT managers looking to optimize their IP address management (IPAM) processes. The company this week announced a new add-on module for its Orion management suite as well as a free tool customers can download to get started tracking IP addresses. For existing Orion customers, SolarWinds Orion IP Address Manager adds capabilities to better track and manage IP addresses to the application’s Web console. The software helps IT consolidate IP addresses into a single repository, keep better records by performing periodic scans for changes, and create and share reports on IP address space percent utilization.

Available now, Orion IPAM is priced at $1,995 for 1024 managed IPs, for existing customers. Customers new to Orion could buy the management software platform for about $2,500 for a small implementation.

The vendor also developed a free tool to help those IT managers thinking about IP address management get started. SolarWinds IP Address Tracker is a free download that helps track an unlimited number of IP addresses and determine which are in use and which are available. The application can also identify when the address was last used and help IT managers consolidate IP addresses in a single repository. IP Address Tracker downloads to a Windows desktop and scans for IP addresses and address changes. The vendor says the software will help eliminate manual errors while also ensuring IP addresses are listed in the right place.

“IP Address Tracker can help IT managers get away from managing tabs in spreadsheets and closer to eliminating manual processes and automating IP address management,” says Kenny Van Zant, senior vice president and chief product strategist at SolarWinds.

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Read more about infrastructure management in Network World's Infrastructure Management section.

Schultz is a longtime IT journalist. You can email her or find her here.