Network Management

Hello,

I haven't been able to find much info about Airwave and IPAM. I am a new network admin and joined a network as the sole administrator. The only problem is, there was no documentation left for me. 

Our current DHCP server is an A10 Networks ID 1100, we are looking at eventually running DHCP from our Domain controllers.

The problem is not only DHCP either, I find out every few days there are different servers that run on static IP ranges that I've not seen anywhere else. 

So honestly, I'm just looking for a way to track/log used IPs so that I can tell if my pools are sized appropriately, and so that I can ensure that our static ranges are not getting muddled and that we don't accidentally reuse an IP. 

My Network is mostly aruba, 7210 Controller, Mobility Switches, Clearpass, and Airwave. We have less than 1000 users, but each user has multiple devices (This is a Higher Ed Network). Honestly, I would love it if Airwave had an IP management interface, but I haven't found anything mentioned yet. So if Airwave is not the solution, what would be recommended? 

This is a whole 'nother deal, but I would not recommend running DHCP on your DC's.  Separate out your duties, and make DHCP it's own server.  This can be argued either way, but it's definitely my preference.

As far as IPAM goes, you've gota  couple of options: Men & Mice, InfoBlox, BlueCat Networks.  I only have experience with M&M and like it.  It integrates well with MS DHCP/DNS, but it will not work with DHCP ranges on your controllers.  You'll have to manually create those ranges and track them.  I'm not sure if you'll find any solutions that integrate with the the controllers.

What's your reasoning for seperating DHCP and DCs? Is it a redundancy thing? Is it more about Resources? The only reason I was planning on putting it on the DC is because that's the only setup I've ever actually seen in a production enviornment. I'm not a fan (nor is our Director of IT) of our Current A10 Networks solution. Which means that was one of the first projects put on my list when I started. I haven't necessarily begun doing any research on it though, since I'm still drinking from the Fire Hose to get up to speed with the Aruba Equipment. 

Conviently, we do not intend to manage any DHCP on our controller, we feel it's resources are better used elsewhere. I had heard of InfoBlox before, but I will definitely look at all of your suggestions.  Thanks for your response. 

The biggest benefit is that when you need to upgrade, update, reboot, etc, you're only affecting one service, not multiple services.  Also, in larger enterprises, you typically have an AD guy managing the DCs and a DHCP/network guy.  Both guys typically prefer to have their services isolated so they aren't on eachothers servers.  Doesn't sound like that's a problem for you being a one man show.

Infoblox can be expensive.  Running DHCP/DNS in Windows is cheap and effective since you're just paying licensing costs.  Adding M&M to manage and monitor your Windows DHCP/DNS servers from a single pane of glass is probably the cheaper ways to go.

Good luck!

That actually makes a lot of sense and I hadn't thought of it that way. It's really the too many cooks in the kitchen mentality. 

I will have to look into M&M and see what the cost is going to be for me to implement and move our current dhcp to a microsoft server.  Thanks for your input it's really pointed me in a direction. (Hopefully the right one)