Johannesburg, 26 Oct 2010
IP address management (IPAM) is becoming a key issue for organisations, as most of their current networks run on Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4), and less than 5% of this pool of addresses worldwide remains unutilised, according to the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority. This pool is likely to be fully committed by Q2 2011.
As a direct result of this, new networks will need to use the new IPv6 for future addresses and many companies will be using a combination of both IPv4 and IPv6 addresses. Unfortunately, as IPv6 addresses are a formula instead of a simple IP-number, an automated IPAM solution will become a necessity, as without an IPAM tool, companies will find it very difficult to manage these new networks.
“The IPv6 issue is not the only reason for employing an automated IPAM solution,” commented David Naude, Product Manager at SecureData for BlueCat Networks' products. “Enterprises are buying and spinning off divisions and companies, and when merging IP networks, a tool is very much needed that can easily work with overlapping IP ranges, renaming networks, and so forth.
“In addition, organisations with multiple sites may require a mechanism of managing decentralised DNS/DHCP services from a centralised management console, and companies using a legacy IPAM solution, such as NORTEL NET-ID, which was declared end-of-life in 2009, have already identified the requirement for IPAM within their own networks,” continued Naude.
Some of the key benefits of IP address management are:
* Creating a mechanism of dealing with large or complicated networks through management of IP Address spaces and creating a view of IP consumption and assignment across the network.
* Centralised management of multiple geographically separated DNS/DHCP services.
* Reclaiming unused IP addresses.
* IPV6 management and dual stack support.
* IP reconciliation for managing overlapping IP addresses, which can be especially useful in merging two separate networks.
* Workflow and permission based provisioning to hand off the mundane task of IP assignment from the network engineers to helpdesk staff.
* Scheduled deployments to ensure that changes are automated to work within change control periods.
* Compliancy for historical auditing and tracking of IP assignment and usage.
* Managing the complexities of DNSSec key generation and exchanges.
* Creating redundancy in the DNS and DHCP infrastructure.
“IP address management is becoming more and more crucial in network environments today as network engineers and network managers cannot rely anymore on using the traditional Excel spreadsheets or legacy tools to manage these so called 'core services',” concluded Naude. “BlueCat Networks is a specialised network management vendor delivering IP address management DNS and DHCP solutions, and has become a market leader in this space.”
SecureData Africa, part of JSE-listed SecureData Holdings, is the leading sub-Saharan distributor for BlueCat Networks.
For further information, please contact David Naude at tel. +27 11 790 2500; fax +27 11 790 2599; e-mail davidn@securedata.co.za.
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