Instance address
An address associated with a cloud compute instance or virtual network interface. It may be private, public, ephemeral, static, primary, secondary, or translated depending on the provider.
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Browse the glossaryIPAM glossary — page 2
63 definitions associated with IPAM.
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Page 2 of 3IP address discovery
The process of finding addresses and devices in use through methods such as ping, ARP, Neighbor Discovery, SNMP, switch tables, cloud APIs, DNS, and DHCP leases. Discovery results should be reconciled rather than treated as perfect truth.
Read definitionIP address lifecycle
The stages through which an address or prefix moves, such as planned, reserved, assigned, active, discovered, quarantined, released, reclaimed, and archived. Defined lifecycle states make automation and audits safer.
Read definitionIP address plan
A documented design for allocating prefixes and addresses by site, environment, function, growth, routing boundary, and ownership. Good plans preserve summarization and leave room for expansion.
Read definitionIPAM
IP Address Management, the discipline and tooling used to plan, allocate, assign, discover, reconcile, document, audit, and automate IP addresses and prefixes. Mature IPAM also links addresses to DNS, DHCP, devices, sites, owners, and workflows.
Read definitionIPAM reconciliation
Comparison of intended IPAM data with observed network, cloud, DNS, and DHCP state, followed by review or correction of differences. Reconciliation helps find stale, duplicate, unmanaged, and orphaned resources.
Read definitionIPAM utilization
The percentage or count of addresses and prefixes considered consumed within a container or subnet. Reports should distinguish assigned, leased, reserved, excluded, discovered, and unavailable states.
Read definitionLow-water mark
A threshold indicating that available address capacity has fallen below a desired reserve. It can trigger alerts, expansion, or automated allocation from a parent block.
Read definitionMetadata
Descriptive attributes associated with DDI objects, such as owner, site, application, environment, status, ticket, or cost center. Consistent metadata enables automation, search, reporting, and governance.
Read definitionNetwork
A prefix-defined IP block used as a routing, subnet, or administrative object. Product terminology may distinguish a usable network from a larger container or aggregate.
Read definitionNetwork bits
The leading address bits selected by a prefix length or subnet mask. They identify the network, while remaining bits identify addresses within it.
Read definitionNetwork container
An aggregate IPAM object that holds subnets or child containers and supports hierarchical allocation. In Infoblox, next-available-network functions can allocate children from a container.
Read definitionNetwork discovery
Automated collection of devices, interfaces, addresses, VLANs, routes, and related data from network infrastructure or cloud APIs. Discovery expands visibility but must be reconciled with intended ownership and status.
Read definitionNetwork view
An administrative routing-domain context that allows overlapping address space to be represented separately. In Infoblox, networks and related IPAM objects belong to a network view.
Read definitionNext available IP
A function that selects an address the IPAM system currently considers available within a specified network or set of networks. Safe use depends on accurate leases, reservations, discovery, exclusions, and transaction locking.
Read definitionNext available network
A function that selects an unused child prefix of a requested size from a parent container. It is commonly used by automation to allocate subnets while preserving centralized ownership.
Read definitionOrphaned record
A DNS or IPAM object whose intended owner, target, device, or application no longer exists or cannot be identified. Orphans create security risk and complicate address reclamation.
Read definitionOverlapping address space
Use of the same IP prefixes in separate routing or tenant domains. IPAM must track the associated VRF, network view, tenant, or context so identical addresses remain distinguishable.
Read definitionPool exhaustion
A state in which no eligible addresses or prefixes remain for new clients. Causes include genuine growth, excessive lease duration, starvation attacks, stale leases, exclusions, or a poorly sized subnet.
Read definitionPrefix
A contiguous IP address block identified by leading network bits and a prefix length. Prefixes support routing aggregation, subnetting, allocation, and policy.
Read definitionPrefix length
The number of leading bits that identify the network portion of an address, written after a slash. Larger prefix-length numbers represent smaller address blocks.
Read definitionPrefix utilization
A measure of how much child space within an aggregate prefix has been allocated or assigned. It differs from host-address utilization inside a single subnet.
Read definitionRace condition
A timing problem in which concurrent processes read the same available resource and both attempt to allocate or modify it. Transactional allocation or server-side next-available functions help avoid duplicate assignments.
Read definitionReconciliation
The process of comparing records from multiple systems and resolving differences to maintain a trustworthy source of truth. Inputs may include DDI databases, network discovery, cloud inventory, CMDB, and security telemetry.
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