SolarWinds IP Address Manager (IPAM)

On-premise DDI tool that consolidates DNS, DHCP, and IP address management into one SolarWinds dashboard — solid at its core, but buried under a licensing model that's become aggressively expensive.

What is SolarWinds IP Address Manager (IPAM)?

SolarWinds IPAM scores a 7.8/10 on TrustRadius across 209 reviews, with users praising the automated address scanning and centralized DDI dashboard while consistently flagging the dated UI and limited cloud capabilities. It's a capable on-premise tool that consolidates DNS, DHCP, and IP address management into a single console — particularly valuable if you're already running SolarWinds NPM or NCM. But the 2020 SUNBURST supply-chain attack that compromised 18,000 organizations through a backdoored Orion update remains a dark cloud over the vendor, and SolarWinds' 2025 move to mandatory 3-year subscription contracts (with 100–300% renewal increases for legacy perpetual holders) has made the financial commitment harder to justify. For teams deeply embedded in the SolarWinds ecosystem, IPAM is the obvious choice; for everyone else, the cost-benefit math looks increasingly unfavorable.

Key Features

• Automated IP Discovery — scans subnets via ICMP, SNMP, and neighbor discovery to maintain a real-time inventory of every address on your network
• Unified DDI Console — manages DNS, DHCP, and IPAM across Microsoft, Cisco, BIND, and ISC servers from one interface
• Conflict Detection and Alerts — fires instant notifications for IP conflicts, depleted DHCP scopes, and DNS record mismatches
• Subnet Scanning and Monitoring — scheduled scans track changes in MAC addresses, hostnames, and IP status with full historical audit
• Delegated Administration — assign IP ranges to specific teams or locations so local admins manage their own space without touching other subnets
• DHCP Scope Management — view and manage all DHCP scopes and failover relationships across multi-vendor environments from a single dashboard
• DNS Zone Management — configure DNS zones, zone transfers, and PTR records with built-in forward/reverse mismatch detection
• IPv4 and IPv6 Support — full dual-stack management with IPv6 environment compatibility added in 2025.4
• SolarWinds Platform Integration — plugs directly into NPM, NCM, NTA, and the broader Orion ecosystem for correlated network visibility

Who is it for?

• Enterprise network teams already running SolarWinds NPM or NCM who want integrated IPAM without adding another vendor
• Mid-market IT departments managing large on-premise IP spaces who need DHCP/DNS visibility alongside address tracking
• Organizations with strict on-premise requirements that can't or won't move to cloud-based IPAM solutions
• Compliance-heavy environments that need full audit trails of every IP address change and DHCP lease

Who is it NOT for?

• Cloud-native or hybrid teams that need IPAM across AWS, Azure, or multi-cloud environments — SolarWinds IPAM is on-premise only
• Small teams or startups looking for a lightweight, affordable IPAM tool — the TCO is enterprise-grade in every sense
• Organizations that are still uncomfortable with SolarWinds as a vendor post-SUNBURST
• Teams that want a modern, responsive UI — the interface feels like it's from 2018