IPAM

Automation is a hot topic within IT organizations these days, as well it should be. Automation offers tangible benefits in terms of reducing costs, increasing agility, diminishing manual efforts and minimizing human errors while performing a process. I recommend considering IP address management (IPAM) tasks within your automation design as I proposed in a prior post , given IPAM's tentacles menacingly reaching into virtually every IP device initialization, movement or decommissioning process. But how does one go about designing automation? Consider that you can automate a process if it consists of a repeatable set of discrete tasks required to perform a function or unit of work. Some tasks may be performed in parallel with others and most tasks require input values provided by or derived from prior tasks to begin. Documenting the tasks required and the sequence or flow of tasks, i.e., as a workflow or flowchart, is a prescribed first step. Once you've laid out the basic flow, ...

Automation is among the key motivators for implementing an IP address management (IPAM) system. With the ubiquitous adoption of Internet-based technologies engendering IP networks over which nearly all of your applications communicate, it makes sense to simplify and minimize resource impacts for such networked applications and corresponding support. This IP convergence provides financial, efficiency, and productivity benefits in and of itself, but it also escalates reliance on and ensuing scrutiny of IP network performance, resiliency and integration into key business processes.  Underpinning this IP convergence is the IPAM foundation. Email, web, application servers need IP addresses and DNS names. User laptops, mobiles, and other devices need IP addresses. Cloud virtual machines or containers need IP addresses and DNS names. Literally every device you need to connect to your network needs an IP address; and if users need to reach it by name, it also needs a DNS name. With no IP a...