Tracking IP addresses

[child of wonder]

Where I currently work there is no concrete system in place for tracking what devices have what IPs in our data center subnet of 192.168.101.0/24. Often we're forced to simply ping an address we think is free when a new device needs an IP.

Obviously this is unacceptable and I'm making it my mission today to correct this.

Anyone know of any small webpage tools that would allow us to keep a small DB of the information? I've used a spreadsheet since I started here to keep track but it's cumbersome.

What do the rest of you use?

 

[kevnich2]

Windows Server 2003 DHCP, it'll keep track for you what's been used and what's still available?

Side Note: You shouldn't need to statically assign IP's unless it's a server or some other device like an access point, switch, etc. PC's, laptops, etc should be just assigned IP's from the DHCP server from the available pool.

 

[drebo]

Like he said, it's their data center subnet. Leads me to believe it's all servers.

Run Look@Lan on that subnet. It'll give you a nice report of every responding IP address on the subnet, including their host name. Stick that in an Excel spreadsheet or Access database, and you should be fine.

 

[Nothinman]

You could still use DHCP for the servers if you wanted, just setup reservations for each one. That probably won't work for the networking equipment though so you'd still need some form of database to track those IPs.

 

[child of wonder]

What's on this subnet is also part of the problem. It has workstations, laptops, printers, servers, network equipment, you name it. This place is a mess in several areas and I'm trying my best to clean it up but only one guy can do so much.

Finding what devices have what IPs is the easy part. What I'm looking for is a nice little webpage that uses a MySQL backend to simply store what device has what IP. We can go to the page and see a simple table that shows this information. We could then click on "Edit" for an IP and list a different device there.

We had something like this at my last job but it was a custom made page and my web design and coding skills are next to nil.

 

[Crusty]

Why bother with something that complex for something an excel spreadsheet or access database can do perfectly?

 

[child of wonder]

Originally posted by: Crusty
Why bother with something that complex for something an excel spreadsheet or access database can do perfectly?

The more bright and shiny I can make it the more likely people will actually use it and keep the data updated.

 

[child of wonder]

Right now I'm looking at IpPlan and TCPDB. Both are the type of app I'm looking for.

TCPDB looks nicer and is more user friendly but also comes with a $200 price tag.

 

[seepy83]

My personal suggestion would be to use DNS for this. Keep your DNS host records up to date, and you're pretty much all set. Not only that, but you will get a response with the name of the host if you don't know what device is responding to your pings and you do an nslookup.

 

[kevnich2]

I still don't see why you don't just use the DHCP proggy that's already in 2003 to see the IP lease info. No need to update anything, just look at what's already been issued. The computer names are listed there as well to tell you which device has that IP address.

 

[xSauronx]

Originally posted by: child of wonder

Originally posted by: Crusty
Why bother with something that complex for something an excel spreadsheet or access database can do perfectly?

The more bright and shiny I can make it the more likely people will actually use it and keep the data updated.

how many people really need to use this and keep it updated?

you should have a list of static used IPs for static devices like routers, printers, servers, etc that shouldnt need to be tinkered with often, or by many peopl

and a DHCP pool for workstations or other random clients (like, say, wifi devices) that you shouldnt need to deal with at all

hell, you only have 254 addresses to assign, using something more complicated (and expensive) than a spreadsheet is, imo, overdoing it.

and keep in mind a network scanner can scan the /24 in no time and report what is being used, so you can easily deduce what is free.

but heres a link from slashdot to threads on managing lots of IP addresses. i bookmarked this some time ago because they seemed to have some good information and suggestions. i havent re-read it, but see if you can find some helpful ideas.

/. : Managing Lots of IP Addresses. March, 2007

 

[Cooky]

We use IPPlan. (one of the two that you found)

It's a really nice tool for an SMB environment.
It provides exactly what you're looking for.
If you only have one location it's perfect for you. (you'll need to know Linux to run it)

There's some short comings though, so we're looking for a commercial IPAM solution to replace it.

*Edit*
The spreadsheet solution that some have suggested only works for one person IT departments.
It does NOT work in any other environments. (been there, done that)

 

[spidey07]

Some of the biggest networks built use spreadsheets, outside of service providers.

 

[Cooky]

:Q

spidey, please don't tell me you're one of them...

We looked at QIP, but it's simply too darn expensive.
Has anyone used Infoblox?

 

[kevnich2]

I really don't see the need to use anything else other than a spreadsheet either. This isn't something that you really should have to keep looking at & changing that often. Again, PC's, laptops, etc shouldn't be statically assigned, they should just get their IP from the DHCP pool of available addresses. That's what it was designed for.

 

[spidey07]

Originally posted by: Cooky
:Q

spidey, please don't tell me you're one of them...

We looked at QIP, but it's simply too darn expensive.
Has anyone used Infoblox?

When the network worldwide has a very strict hiearchy and addressing scheme to it not much else is needed.

 

[yoda291]

the most organized server networks I've seen don't really use anything special. Usually an xls or a sqlite database + dns zone files.

it seems to me that if you need something to track your IPs for you, then you've failed at keeping your servers organized and need to drop the hammer on ops.

 

[mxnerd]

Try SteelInventory, very good. Not just IP info. And it's free!

http://www.steelsonic.com/steelinventory.htm

Or Angry IP Scanner

http://www.snapfiles.com/revie...P_Scanner/angryip.html

Scanning results can be saved to CSV, TXT, XML or IP-Port list files

 

[child of wonder]

Let me give you all a little background info. I started at my current job 11 months ago as a Systems Engineer for a bank. Not a huge bank, but decent sized -- $2.5 billion in assets.

This place was a MESS. ZERO server documentation, very little network documentation, carpeted server room with active sprinklers and no temperature or humidity control, VPN access granted with a keyfile only (no username or password required), using eDirectory for workstation authentication and THAT'S ALL meaning users had to remember about 5 other usernames and passwords.

The lack of network documentation is what this thread stems from. We're migrating to a virtual environment and whenever I p2v a server I keep the old one up with a new IP for a hot failover. Plus I've been setting up a central syslog server, Cacti for server and network monitoring, a new trouble ticket system, etc. which all run on Linux VMs. As you can see, knowing exactly what devices have what IP is ever changing and critical.

Our management subnet has devices all over the place with no rhyme or reason. They are literally strewn all over a class C.

This week I finally had enough of the lack of network documentation and decided to add that to my "hit list" (it's not my duty as a server guy but I want it done) and get something in place that is easy to use, pretty (to encourage the other IT staff to use it), and powerful enough to record not only our subnet but our satellite data center, our WAN subnets, MPLS subnets, etc. Again -- this shit was NOT being documented officially, someone would just add it to their own spreadsheet for personal reference if they remembered to do so.

So I set up TCPDB on a Debian VM and so far it's perfect. Took no time to set up and works great.

 

[hanoverphist]

Originally posted by: kevnich2
I really don't see the need to use anything else other than a spreadsheet either. This isn't something that you really should have to keep looking at & changing that often. Again, PC's, laptops, etc shouldn't be statically assigned, they should just get their IP from the DHCP pool of available addresses. That's what it was designed for.

one of my customers set my PLCs on one subnet and my programming laptops on another. it really got to be a problem when the master puter was on a 3rd subnet, without access to the client box or the PLC. we had to go thru a specific person in their IT dept to get reservations for these all set up, and he had a master spreadsheet. they have well over 200 servers, ethernet phone systems across 10 buildings and uncountable numbers of users. it is all done and updated manually in one master spreadsheet. as long as you are diligent on your updates this should be sufficient for you as well.

 

[drebo]

Originally posted by: child of wonder
Let me give you all a little background info. I started at my current job 11 months ago as a Systems Engineer for a bank. Not a huge bank, but decent sized -- $2.5 billion in assets.

Does this bank happen to be in Central California? Sounds an aweful lot like something one of my customers would have going on... The mess part, anyway.

 

[child of wonder]

Originally posted by: drebo

Originally posted by: child of wonder
Let me give you all a little background info. I started at my current job 11 months ago as a Systems Engineer for a bank. Not a huge bank, but decent sized -- $2.5 billion in assets.

Does this bank happen to be in Central California? Sounds an aweful lot like something one of my customers would have going on... The mess part, anyway.

No, it's not.

 

[drebo]

Ok, just curious