DNS, DHCP, and IP Address Management (DDI) Solution

DDI is the combination of three network services: DNS, DHCP, and IP address management. Though these three services have their separate purposes, integrating them adds to their power. DDI gives administrators better oversight over their network and the web of IP addresses and devices connecting to it daily.

Domain Name System (DNS): DNS is a naming system built to translate domain names (hostnames) into IP addresses, allowing users to enter the domain name rather than the machine-readable IP address into a browser.

Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP): DHCP is a protocol assigning an IP address to a device on a network. This enables multiple devices on a network to communicate with one another and ensure data gets sent to the correct location.

Internet Protocol (IP) Address Management: IP address management is a method for planning, tracking, and organizing IP address information within a network. Its tasks include managing DNS and DHCP servers and blocking IP address conflicts.

The growing complexity and volume of networks today have rendered the manual assigning and managing of IP addresses obsolete and ineffective. Rather than network admins dedicating time to maintaining worksheets, DDI solutions can streamline the monitoring, regulation, and troubleshooting of IP resources and conflicts.

DDI solutions centralize the management of the three network services under one tool, enabling IT admins and their organizations to more effectively manage IP resources and reduce cost.

Managing a network for a modern organization looks much different than it used to. With developments such as cloud migrations and remote access, enterprises need a scalable, more productive way to provision and manage massive pools of IP addresses. Comprehensive DDI solutions are the answer to navigating the challenges of a complex network infrastructure.

DDI solutions can benefit your network by doing the following:

Consolidating tools and services: One of the main benefits of using DDI in networking is it allows you to control IP address management, DHCP, and DNS resources using a single user-oriented platform. This approach makes IP address data easier to access, analyze, configure, and provision.

Reducing errors: Manually tracking IP information using outdated spreadsheets or software not intended for the purpose can quickly lead to costly mistakes. With features such as automated IP address scanning and instant alerting, you can avoid IP address conflicts and promptly resolve.

Improving operating costs: A high-quality DDI solution should offer additional automation and functionality to enhance network management. Effective solutions can optimize workflows, speed up troubleshooting, reduce maintenance time, and more, giving more time back to admins and reducing operating costs.

Enhancing scalability: As an enterprise grows, it needs to have a system in place to keep up with the demand of an ever-expanding network. The right DDI tool will not only improve your organization's real-time network management but scale with you as your needs change.

SolarWinds IP Address Manager is designed to empower IT administrators to view Infoblox DHCP and DNS servers via a single unified console.

Built to display all subnets, Infoblox DNS views, resource records, and DHCP scopes together, SolarWinds IPAM can help users keep their finger on the pulse of their Infoblox network. You can also leverage the platform to help identify IP address conflicts and DNS mismatches all in one dashboard.

IP Address Manager offers customized, out-of-the-box Infoblox reporting to further enhance Infoblox management. These features can help IT teams track subnet utilization and facilitate capacity planning.

SolarWinds IP Address Manager is a fully integrated DDI management solution built to help you manage DDI in networking using a single console. By leveraging the benefits of one platform to tackle your network management needs, you can have a high level of visibility over your network and streamline your operations.

With the SolarWinds Platform web console, you can create, edit, and remove DHCP subnets and monitor ISC shared subnet usage. Additionally, you can do the following:

• Monitor IP address availability and current server status
• Manage Cisco, Infoblox, ISC, and Microsoft DHCP servers
• Access historical IP data
• Configure individual or ranges of IPv6 addresses
• Automate IP address provisioning and DNS record updates

IPAM is designed to be your all-in-one network organization and monitoring tool for DDI management. It allows you to do the following:

• Customize report templates to help you streamline capacity planning
• Automate IP tracking and discovery among a host of other automation capabilities, enabling you to refine workflows
• Receive instant IP address alerts to warn you of conflicts when they occur, giving you more time to troubleshoot errors

Managing DHCP, DNS, and IP address management separately can lead to gaps in your security resulting in time-consuming troubleshooting and costly fixes. But with an intelligent DDI solution, you can eliminate the need to use multiple or outdated tools capable of leaving you vulnerable to error.

IPAM can help protect your infrastructure security by giving you high visibility over your network. Our simple yet intuitive dashboard makes monitoring, identifying, and troubleshooting issues easier. And with built-in conflict detection and alerting, you can have peace of mind knowing even if you're unable to keep a watch over your network 24/7, IPAM will be working.

With IPAM, you can enhance your network security by doing the following:

• Removing the need for bulky spreadsheets or other difficult-to-maintain and error-prone manual management methods
• Automating critical tasks such as provisioning and conflict detection
• Allowing you to view DNS mismatches or IP address conflicts using a single dashboard for faster comparison and troubleshooting
• Assigning permissions to specific users to improve administrative control