How to Manage IP Addresses (IPAM)

What is IPAM?

IP Address Management (IPAM) gives you a single source of truth for the IP space across your networks. Instead of tracking addresses in a spreadsheet, Plenix records every subnet and address record, and computes capacity and utilisation for you.

Where to find it

Go to Monitoring → IPAM.

Adding a subnet

1. Click + Add Subnet
2. Enter the network in CIDR notation (e.g. 10.0.10.0/24)
3. Give it a name and, optionally, a VLAN or location
4. Save

Plenix immediately calculates the subnet's capacity (usable host count) and utilisation (how many addresses are in use).

Generating the host range

• Open a subnet to see its full host range — every usable address it contains
• Each address shows whether it's allocated or free

Allocating an address

Assign a specific address

1. Open the subnet
2. Click an available address
3. Record what it's assigned to (device, hostname, purpose) and save

Get the next free address

1. Click Allocate Next Free
2. Plenix picks the lowest unused address in the subnet and lets you assign it

This avoids clashes — you never have to eyeball the list to find a gap.

Releasing an address

When a device is decommissioned:

1. Open the address record
2. Click Release
3. The address returns to the free pool and utilisation updates

Tips

• Keep one subnet per VLAN / network segment for clean utilisation figures
• Use Allocate Next Free for servers and static devices to prevent conflicts
• Review utilisation regularly — a subnet nearing capacity is a signal to plan a new range

Where to go next

• Understand the whole module → How Device Monitoring Works
• Next in this module → How a Device Problem Becomes a Fix
• How the Cross-Platform Agent Works (Windows, macOS & Linux)
• Add a Device
• See where this fits in the bigger picture → How a Device Problem Becomes a Fix