Amazon VPC IP Address Manager

What Amazon VPC IP Address Manager is

Amazon VPC IP Address Manager (IPAM) helps AWS users plan, allocate, organize, and monitor IP address space for their workloads. It can assign CIDR blocks to VPCs according to business rules, group address space into routing and security domains, and track resource use against those rules. Its record of IP assignments across an organization can support auditing and help investigate network connectivity issues.

IPAM supports sharing Bring Your Own IP addresses across AWS accounts and Regions. It can also provision Amazon-provided contiguous IPv6 CIDR blocks to pools for VPC creation. Integrations include AWS Organizations and Infoblox infrastructure, and AWS Resource Access Manager can share pools. For governance, IPAM uses AWS Identity and Access Management service-linked roles and managed policies to monitor CIDRs and store metrics in Amazon CloudWatch. Allocation tags can be referenced in IAM and Service Control Policies to govern access to address allocations.

IPAM is cloud deployed and available through the web and API. Its Free Tier covers one AWS account and Region. The Advanced Tier is for resources spanning two or more accounts or Regions, with billing based on active IP addresses. An address is billable when associated with an Elastic Network Interface attached to a resource; addresses on unattached interfaces are not billed.

Who it suits

IPAM suits AWS users who need to allocate and track address space for VPCs, including teams managing IPv6 blocks or auditing address assignments. The Free Tier is described for a single account and Region, while the Advanced Tier is intended for IP management across multiple accounts or Regions.

Limits

The Free Tier covers one AWS account and Region and includes BYOIP IPv4 and IPv6, Amazon-provided contiguous IPv6 addresses, and Public IP Insights. The Advanced Tier is billed at $0.00027 per active IP address per hour; an address is billable when associated with an Elastic Network Interface attached to a resource. Only one IPAM can be created per AWS Region.

Getting started

1. Open the Amazon VPC IP Address Manager website.
2. Choose the IPAM Free Tier for a single AWS account and Region, or the Advanced Tier for resources across two or more accounts or Regions.
3. Use the web interface or API to manage IP address space.
4. Set business rules for automatic CIDR allocation and organize address space into routing and security domains.
5. Connect AWS Organizations or Infoblox infrastructure where needed, and share pools with AWS Resource Access Manager.

Verdict

Choose Amazon VPC IP Address Manager if you need AWS focused CIDR allocation, address monitoring, or assignment history. Its Free Tier is scoped to one account and Region; teams managing across two or more accounts or Regions use the Advanced Tier, which bills by active IP address.