IP Address Tracking Tool is a network utility that allows you to scan, track and get details such as MAC and Interface IDs of IP addresses. IP tracking solutions gather these details by examining the network address space using different network scanning protocols. Some advanced IP address tracker software like OpUtils provides great insight into tracking IPs. This includes network properties of IP, connected switch ports, system location, etc.
Why You Need an IP Address Tracking Tool
Traditionally, network administrators have relied on native commands and spreadsheets to keep track of IP addresses. The native command does allow network administrators to scan IPs and find their associated MAC addresses on the network, however, this technique is best suited for small scale networks such as IP address tracking in a home network.
For large networks, having to manually track IP addresses is a complex task. As networks expand across multiple subnets, manual IP address tracking becomes impractical due to the limited capabilities of native commands. IP address tracker software provides comprehensive visibility into network IP address space with enhanced scanning and real-time IP address tracking capabilities. Integration with IP scanners gives administrators real-time visibility into the status of IP addresses. This is not possible with common tools and native OS commands.
Challenges of Not Using an IP Address Tracking Tool
- Scalability : Native commands are not capable of efficient IP address tracking at scale.
- Cross-subnet scanning : Native commands do not enable cross-subnet scanning.
- Tracking IPv6 : With the advent of IPv6 addresses, the length of IP addresses has increased significantly, making it tedious to manually update IP addresses for scanning using native commands.
- Dynamic IP addresses : Manual tracking will not work for dynamically assigned IP addresses, as the associated MAC address may change at any time.
How to Find All IP Addresses on Your Network
Finding all IP addresses in your network becomes hassle-free with IP address tracker tool. Administrators can find all monitored IP addresses in the network, you can try the following functions of OpUtils IP address tracking tool.
- IP Address Manager : The IP address tracking solution will automatically scan and display all IPs within the monitoring range, you can use the "Search" option to find a specific IP in the network.
- MAC IP List Tool : The MAC IP List tool under the OpUtils tool set provides a list of all IPs and their related MAC addresses in the network, you can browse the list and find the IP address you want to find.
OpUtils' IP Address Tracking Tool uses different network protocols and scanning methods to ensure that it displays an accurate, real-time status of the IP addresses it discovers.
How to track an IP address
Tracking the IP address space of a network requires an IP address management solution like OpUtils, this IP address tracking tool relies on different strategies such as network scanning and discovery to identify various data related to tracked IP addresses. To start tracking IP addresses, administrators need to first discover the network's IP address space and add it to an IP address tracker tool. This can be done in OpUtils IP Address Tracker with:
- Use the "Import from CSV" option to import the IPs you want to track.
- Discover IPv4 subnets to track by specifying subnet details.
- Discover IP addresses by specifying subnet or site details for global prefixes or IPv6 addresses.
Once found, OpUtils automatically tracks your IP and displays its status in the console.
IP Address Tracking Tool Features
- Track IP addresses across multiple supernets and subnets
- View comprehensive IP utilization details
- Instant alert and resolve IP conflicts
Track IP addresses across multiple supernets and subnets
OpUtils' IP Address Tracker is able to track all your IP addresses in real time, this comprehensive IP address tracker helps administrators easily add, manage and track IPv4 and IPv6 subnets, thus removing obstacles in subnet management.
This task can be simplified by adding and monitoring supernets and their associated subnets from a centralized console. To further simplify the task of IP tracking, the hierarchical tree view in IP Address Manager allows administrators to group and track different subnets and supernets as needed. In addition, the donut view enables you to Aspects such as DNS state and NIC type track IP.
View comprehensive IP utilization details
- An important requirement of tracking IP addresses is understanding how and by whom the IP is being used, which helps in various network tasks such as capacity planning and enhancing network security.
- Provides you with in-depth IP address tracking by scanning your IP address space using different network protocols including ICMP and SNMP. This enables you to track key IP details such as IP utilization status, associated MAC address, device type, forward and reverse lookup status, and connected switch port details.
- OpUtils also displays an IP snapshot with details about IP location, interface ID, system description and more. In addition to this real-time data, you can track historical IP usage and analyze utilization trends using the IP History feature and various available IP Address Manager reports.
Instant alert and resolve IP conflicts
While relying on spreadsheets and CLI commands for IP address tracking, serious issues like IP conflicts cannot be detected unless reported by end users. IP conflicts can easily turn into costly network downtime if action is not taken in a timely manner. This requires the deployment of reliable IP address tracker tools in the network to handle IP conflicts in advance. OpUtils' IP Address Tracker's real-time IP monitoring feature helps you spot such issues early by enabling proactive IP address conflict detection. By keeping track of your IP address space, it makes it easy to detect duplicate IP addresses on your network and alert users.
Using IP conflict alert messages and conflict details displayed by built-in IP tools, you can easily resolve IP conflicts before they cause serious network problems. Also, with IP Address Tracker, you can drill down to details such as connected devices, their switch ports, other devices connected to the ports, and more. Hence, IP tracking software along with IP tools provided by OpUtils helps you to easily perform daily IP related tasks from a centralized console.