Do you need an effective tool for managing IP addresses? If you use a network, then you surely have several devices and individual IP addresses that are interacting with it.
IP address management is critical for overseeing how the devices in your network are communicating. This is important because you need to understand who is connected to your network and what they’re doing.
With this information, you can detect an intruder that seeks to steal data or redirect traffic. The best way for identifying the IP addresses interacting with your network is through IP address management tactics.
There are several techniques for accomplishing this, but not all of them work equally. If you need an alternative to Infoblox or need a solution for the first time, we’ll explain a few tips for effective IP address management below.
Develop a Strategy
First, you’ll need to develop a strategy for how you’ll approach IP management.
Walking into any situation unprepared is an unwise decision and this applies perfectly to IP address management. Chances are, you don’t currently have a plan in place for how to handle IP management.
This is problematic because this leaves you unprotected against attacks on your network intended to redirect IP addresses. Any IP address that makes a query through your network creates an access point for an attacker.
With this in mind, you need a plan for keeping tabs on all IP addresses used on your network. This will ensure that only authorized users are accessing it and that they’re sent where they are meant to.
Centralize and Automate
Next, you should consider centralizing and automating IP management.
This makes IP management much easier because it eliminates a majority of the manual and tedious work involved in the process. Many tasks involved in IP management like validating IP addresses, assigning them, and monitoring them can all be automated.
When these tasks are automated, you’ll know that they’re always being done accurately. This also creates more time for dealing with tasks requiring critical thinking.
The other part of this is centralizing your IP management. If you have multiple services in various locations, then this will make the entire process much more complicated.
You’ll be required to understand how to navigate multiple platforms and you’ll need to remember to visit each. With information spread so widely, it will take much longer to address IP management.
Centralizing it makes it much quicker for you to understand what’s going on in your network at an exact moment. You can get an overview of all processes and look directly at the most relevant information.
By automating tedious processes and centralizing your management services, IP management becomes a much simpler task.
Regular Auditing
Another important technique is regular auditing.
Even if you develop and implement a perfect strategy, you can’t be sure that it’s working as intended. It might have worked well at first, but maybe it isn’t as effective as it once was.
Alternatively, upon implementation, you may discover that a different strategy is necessary. If you don’t take the time to check how effective your IP management processes are, then you won’t ever discover this.
Committing to regular auditing solves this problem as it gives you frequent opportunities to improve. Any period of ineffectiveness will be minimized as you’ll become aware of it the next time you audit.
With proper auditing, you can verify that all aspects of IP management are being performed correctly and keeping your network safe.
Use IPAM Tools
Lastly, you can use an IPAM tool to streamline the entire process.
An IP address management (IPAM) tool is useful because it can accomplish two of the tactics mentioned above. It centralizes and automates most of the process and many IPAM solutions offer auditing tools.
IPAM tools are incredibly powerful because they’re designed to make everything easier for you. Rather than needing to constantly monitor how your IP addresses are handled, an IPAM tool will do it for you.
Especially if you have a high volume of traffic going through your network, IP management may be impossible to handle manually. With an effective tool at your disposal, you’ll always have IP management covered without needing to focus on it.
Closing Thoughts
IP address management is necessary to handle processes related to IP addresses used in your network. This includes an array of tasks that must be completed to ensure network security and smooth performance.
A few tips for managing your network’s IP addresses include developing a strategy for how you’ll approach IP management, centralizing oversight and automating processes, regular auditing, and using IPAM tools.
When you’re adequately prepared to handle the IP address needs of your network, the risk of an attack decreases. Keep your networks and users safe by taking control of IP address management!
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