IPAM and IPAT are two packages which will assist with managing your IP addresses.
To let you into a secret, both utilities are fun to use, even if
you don't have a pressing need to manage your IP address space.
Review of IPAM and IPAT
Firstly, remember that the
Orion IPAM has ALL the elements, whereas
IPAT, the free 'IP
Address Tracker', only contains the basic features. One
factor that may sway you to install IPAM is that you already have other
utilities in the ORION suite.
Assuming you are using IPAM, and not the IP Address Tracker, seek out the 'Manage Subnets and IP Addresses' tab. It's incredible
the
way you can organise the subnets, you can even create supernets by
dragging and dropping the elements.
IP4 and IP6, reports by default, create own, changing state Add top 10
lists.
Subnet Calculator
Many have spent longer than we care to admit in customizing an Excel Spreadsheet to
manage our IP addresses allocations. Thus it's worth getting a copy of
IPAM just to save time tracking which server has been been
allocated to which IP address, or which building uses a particular subnet.
Best of all, the subnet allocation wizard works out the address ranges
for you.
It's a force of nature that whenever you want to achieve something
complicated there will be set-backs on the journey of discovery.
One of my secrets of learning is to build on success, and it is for this
reason that I recommend you test the IP Address Tracker before moving on
to its 'Big Brother'
Orion IPAM.
The killer feature of Orion IPAM is integration with the rest of the
Orion suite, in particular linking with the Performance Monitor.
Also, scanning subnets automatically is a real time-saver on big
networks.
My first installation failed. The Orion IPAM needs IIS, thus I had
to get that web service working before I could install the more
sophisticated Orion IPAM. After some fiddling I got the Orion IPAM
running smoothly and I was impressed with this utility. However,
being an SNMP expert, my old friend 'Mad' Mick wanted
more. To be objective, if you are a relative newbie, such as me,
then you will be impressed, whereas if you are a hard-hearted veteran
such as Mike, then you may be critical because it does not read your mind.
What Mick complained of was that IPAM allowed him to create duplicate IP
ranges (Silly Mick, Guy says). It also would not perform all the
import and exports that Mick wanted.
Guy Recommends: Orion's NPM - Network Performance Monitor
Orion's performance monitor is designed for detecting network outages. NPM makes it easy to see what's working, and what needs your attention.
This utility guides you through creating network maps. It also helps troubleshooting by indicating whether the root cause is faulty equipment, or resource overload.
