IPAM stands for internet protocol address management.
What does that mean? In simple terms it means allocation, monitoring, supervising and managing IP or internet protocol addresses used in various network environments. In short it is an application to monitor and manage various configuration parameters. IP address management assures hierarchical allocation of addressees; at proper and relative levels and at the same time duplication or overlapping is completely avoided.
It is become even more important today because of IPv6 network system which utilizes larger address pools; on various public and private networks, from subnet levels to individual IP address allocation.
DNS and DHCP are the two most commonly used IPAM tools. They form partners in the task of IP management. They are the two vital components of this setup; DNS knows when the changes or new allocation is taken by the client via DHCP. It will update itself automatically.
As mentioned earlier IP address management tool have suddenly become the focus of network administrators and developers because of 128 bit hexadecimal numbers which cannot be interpreted easily by humans as was the case with IPv4.
In today’s real world network scenario, addresses are assigned from subnets or by DHCP servers, which are then configured with matching IP address pools and other client parameters. Therefore DHCP management involves the right pool sizing and value assignments; to enable it to assign the correct IP address and other parameters to innumerable devices such as computers, IP phones, and other wireless gadgets.
On the other hand DNS makes it easy for humans; it offers name allocation which is human readable; avoiding complex numeric addresses. Apart from performing lookup, who-is and other network queries, DNS also manipulates web addressees into IP addresses.
IPAM is typically a management of all these tools as one cohesive unit.
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