As I mentioned recently, I was a Solarwinds Thwack Ambassador for July 2013. This involved writing four posts on the Thwack community forums on the subject of IP Address Management (IPAM).
I had some fun, so here are links to the four posts I wrote. Perhaps you have your own comments to add to them?
Thwack Posts
“I Don’t See The Point of IPAM” – a somewhat tongue in cheek argument that my spreadsheets are good enough, thanks, and I don’t know why I’d want to spend money on a glorified replacement for Excel.
“There’s More Than One Way To Use IPAM (TMTOWTUI)” – a look at the different ways Thwack users had reported using IPAM, and how I feel IPAM is best used.
“IPAM Is Worthless Without Process” – there’s no point having an IPAM system if you don’t make sure it’s a key part of all your processes. Inaccurate IPAM = useless IPAM.
“Scaling IPAM” – if you start off doing things wrong, it’s only going to get worse as your company grows. What should you be establishing as standards early on in order to make your life easier later?
Thwack has a pretty active set of users, and Solarwinds certainly assist with that by incentivizing users to participate through competitions, participation points (“reputation”), badges, and so on. It can be pretty addictive, it has to be said! I got some great feedback on my posts from IPAM users, and it was fascinating hearing how users of Solarwinds IPAM use that product, and how their perspective on IPAM differed from mine. It was, I hope, a learning experience on both sides, and thoroughly enjoyable.
Disclaimers
Solarwinds was a paid presenter at Networking Field Day 5, and while I received no compensation for my attendance at this event, my travel, accommodation and meals were paid for by NFD5. I was explicitly not required or obligated to blog, tweet, or otherwise write about or endorse the sponsors, but if I choose to do so I am free to give my honest opinions about the vendors and their products, whether positive or negative. I participated in the Solarwinds Ambassador program on a paid basis under contract for four Thwack forum posts in the month of July 2013.
Please see my Disclosures page for more information.
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