IP Address Management

Andi Lamprecht ·2026-05-11· 6 min read· Accepted

IP Address Management

Status: Accepted

Deciders: ryan.cullison@droneup.com, sybil.melton@droneup.com, eric.brookman@droneup.com, blake.jones@droneup.com

Date: Date: May 4, 2023

Technical Story

Document decision for IP Address Management (IPAM) solution

Context and Problem Statement

• Currently a Google Sheet is the source of truth. There are concerns that there are networks that are not documented and overlap could cause problems in the future.
• IPAM can be a blueprint of the IP infrastructure and a Single Source of Truth for not only the IP Plan but, just as important, all the related metadata that can enrich IP addresses and Network subnets such as the localization: where an equipment, a server, a printer or a camera are located (e.g. name of the site, the room or latitude and longitude).
• IPAM solutions do not provide: Network monitoring, DNS server, RADIUS server, Configuration management, Facilities management
• DDI solutions provide DNS, DHCP, and IPAM

Decision Drivers

• Properly document IP infrastructure in central location

• Prevent IP network overlap

• Facilitate orchestration & automation

  • Perform secure provisioning with API of next available prefix/IP

• Simplify management tasks

• RBAC

• Provide auditable data history and summarized reports

Considered Options

Decision Outcome

Netbox Community

• Good, because Ansible, Terraform, Python SDK available
• Good, because Okta Single sign-on available
• Good, because track the complete desired state of the device inventory in the network and provide a unified view as a single source of truth to easily verify the current state of the inventory at any time - and review any deviations found within the same portal.
• Good, because a single converged database for viewing IP networks and addresses, VRFs, VLANs, equipment racks, different types of devices and where they’re installed, network/console/power connections, virtual machines, and more.
• Good, because has a data model which caters specifically to the needs of network engineers and operators
• Good, because customizable and extensible through community plugins
• Good, because REST and GraphQL API available
• Good, because includes Prometheus metrics
• Good, because no purchase required
• Bad, because infrastructure will need to be built and maintained by ITOps
• Bad, because cloud provider IPAM sync will need to be custom built

Pros and Cons of the Options

Netbox Cloud

NS1’s cloud-managed version of Netbox, the popular open source tool.

• Subscription paid annually.

  • Intro has 48 hour email support; dedicated single instance; $5500/yr
  • Standard: Intro + 24 hour email support, Dual Instances for HA and increased performance, performance autoscaling; $20,000/yr. Enterprise features available as add-on
  • Enterprise: Standard + test environments, cross region failover, custom domains and more; contact for pricing

• Good, because SaaS offering, vendor managed upgrades

• Good, because Okta single sign-on included in all tiers

• Good, because easy extensibility and API Driven Automation

• Good, because Ansible, Terraform, Python SDK available

• Good, because track the complete desired state of the device inventory in the network and provide a unified view as a single source of truth to easily verify the current state of the inventory at any time - and review any deviations found within the same portal.

• Good, because a single converged database for viewing IP networks and addresses, VRFs, VLANs, equipment racks, different types of devices and where they’re installed, network/console/power connections, virtual machines, and more.

• Good, because data model which caters specifically to the needs of network engineers and operators

• Good, because customizable and extensible through plugins

• Good, because REST and GraphQL API available

• Bad, because additional subscription cost and vendor

• Bad, because cloud provider IPAM sync will need to be custom built

Nautobot Cloud

Nautobot is a Source of Truth platform with an extensible plugin system that enables it to serve as a network automation platform. Built on top of a fork of NetBox v2.10.4, it has the same type of features. Commercial and Open source available. Nautobot Cloud is launching in early 2023.

• Good, because proprietary apps available

  • ChatOps integration (Slack) including Ansible, Grafana, etc
  • Capacity metrics
  • Data Validation
  • Device Lifecycle Management
  • Sandbox environments available
  • Batfish - Automated ACL & Security Policy Verification

• Good, because has same benefits as Netbox

• Bad, because must contact vendor for Cloud version availability

• Bad, infrastructure will need to be built and maintained if non-cloud version used

• Bad, because additional licensing cost and vendor

EfficientIP Solidserver

The SOLIDserver™ DDI suite is designed to deliver highly scalable, secure and robust virtual and hardware appliances for critical DNS-DHCP-IPAM services. EfficientIP DDI appliances intelligently simplify and automate IPv4 and IPv6 address management and VLANs/VXLANs with multi-vendor DNS and DHCP services (Microsoft®, ISC BIND DNS and DHCP, AWS Route 53, Azure DNS, and Google Cloud Platform). Through a policy-driven approach, EfficientIP simplifies delegation to non-expert administrators with resource templates, workflows and an easy-to-use interface. The “one-click” upgrade technology and global patching management allows for lower administration costs with a modern DDI infrastructure.

• Good, because builtin IPAM Sync with Google Cloud
• Good, because IPAM system can be collected and manipulated through API for real-time integration with any third-party IT system to simplify deployment, improve compliancy control and audit trails, and deliver advanced automation across platforms.
• Good, because automation with Terraform, Ansible, Python, Ruby available
• Good, because dynamic and centralized repository of all your network related resources, the “IP Golden Records” (DDI, VLAN/VXLAN/VRF, app, devices).
• Bad, because no SaaS offering, appliance based solution (hardware or VM)
• Bad, because additional licensing cost and vendor

Infoblox BloxOne DDI

BloxOne DDI provides a cloud-managed interface for automated DNS, DHCP and IP address management, and policy control across multiple locations. BloxOne DDI is available as a virtual machine (VM) on VMware and as a container on Docker. A hardware appliance is optionally available for purchase from Infoblox.

• Good, because builtin GCP Discovery
• Good, because ZTP automates and vastly simplifies the deployment of BloxOne DDI at scale. BloxOne DDI appliances “phone home” to authenticate, download and deploy configurations globally across all remote sites.
• Good, because a full complement of APIs is also available for secure, programmatic access to supported features throughout the solution.
• Bad, because no SaaS offering, appliance based solution (hardware, VM, Docker) that is cloud managed
• Bad, because BloxOne DDI for internal services is licensed by the number of active IP addresses and the number of instances deployed. Unknown how this could tie into IPAM if DHCP/DNS are not used.
• Bad, because additional licensing cost and vendor

Links/Supporting Information

• Netbox Community

  • Netbox online demo

• Netbox Cloud

• Nautobot

  • Nautobot Apps
  • Sandbox Environments
  • Batfish

• EfficientIP Solidserver

  • IPAM Sync GCP
  • Offerings

• Infoblox BloxOne DDI

  • GCP Discovery
  • Solution Note