How to Create AWS IP Address Manager (IPAM) to Monitor VPC IP-Addresses | Overview & Hands-On.

An overview & Hands-On of How to Create AWS IP Address Manager (IPAM) to Monitor  VPC IP-Addresses

Focus:

• Tailored for Devops, DevSecops & Cloud Engineers.

Breakdown:

• Intro,
•  Key Features of AWS IPAM,
• Benefits of AWS IPAM,
• Prerequisites,
• Method 1: Using the AWS Management Console,
• Method 2: Using the AWS CLI,
• Project: Hands-On.

Intro:

• Creating an IP Address Manager (IPAM) in AWS involves a few initial setup steps, followed by configuration via the AWS Management Console or AWS CLI. 
• IPAM helps automate IP address monitoring (management) across accounts and regions (entire environment).

 Key Features of AWS IPAM:

1. Centralized IP Management:
• Manage IP address spaces (VPCs, subnets) from a central point across multiple AWS accounts and regions.
2. Automated IP Allocation:
• Automatically allocate IP CIDRs to VPCs and subnets based on policies and rules you define.
3. Monitoring & Auditing:
• View IP address usage history.
• Track which addresses are in use, by whom, and when they were allocated.
4. Hierarchical Organization:
• Use scopes and pools to logically group and segment IP addresses based on regions, environments (dev/test/prod), business units, etc.
5. Integration with AWS Organizations:
• Manage IP spaces across multiple AWS accounts using a single AWS IPAM instance.
6. Compliance & Governance:
• Supports IP usage policies and helps maintain compliance with IP address planning requirements.

Benefits of AWS IPAM:

Benefit	Description
Visibility	Gain insight into how IPs are used across twtech AWS landscape (environment).
Simplified Management	Reduces manual effort and complexity in managing IPs.
Reduced IP Conflicts	Prevents overlapping CIDR allocations through automated management.
Scalability	Easily scales to manage large, complex network environments.
Audit & Compliance	Helps ensure IP address usage is documented and compliant.
Automation Friendly	Integrates with automation pipelines and tools (e.g., Terraform, CloudFormation).

Prerequisites

• An AWS account with appropriate IAM permissions to manage VPC and IPAM resources.
• For multi-account management, set up AWS Organizations and designate a member account as the IPAM delegated administrator.
• AWS IPAM (IP Address Manager) is a feature within Amazon VPC that helps twtech plan, track, and monitor IP address usage across twtech AWS environments, including both IPv4 and IPv6. 
• AWS IPAM (IP Address Manager) provides a centralized visibility and lifecycle management for IP addresses, which is especially valuable in large or multi-account, multi-region AWS environments.

Method 1: Using the AWS Management Console

1. Open the IPAM console in the AWS Management Console.
2. Select an AWS Region for the IPAM home region (ideally your main region of operations).
3. Choose Create IPAM. 
4. Provide a name and description for twtech IPAM.
5. Select "Allow Amazon VPC IP Address Manager to replicate data from source account(s) into the IPAM delegate account". This is required for IPAM to function.
6. Choose an IPAM tier (Free or Advanced) based on twtech feature and cost requirements.
7. Under Operating regions, select all the AWS Regions where this IPAM will manage resources.
8. (Optional) Configure additional options like enabling private IPv6 GUA CIDRs or metering mode.
9. Choose Create IPAM.

Method 2: Using the AWS CLI

• Install and configure the AWS CLI with appropriate credentials or Role.
• Create the IPAM instance using the create-ipam command, specifying a description and operating regions:

# bash

aws ec2 create-ipam --description "twtech-IPAM" --operating-regions RegionName=us-east-2 RegionName=us-west-1

• Note the IPAM ID from the command output. twtech will need it for subsequent steps.
• Wait for the IPAM to be created (state should be create-complete). twtech can check the state with describe-ipams. 

Next Steps: After Creating an IPAM

• Creating IPAM pools: Define hierarchical IP address pools (top-level, regional, etc.) within the automatically created public and private scopes.
• Provisioning CIDRs: Add IP address ranges to twtech pools.
• Sharing pools: Use AWS Resource Access Manager (AWS RAM) to share pools with other accounts in your organization, if necessary.
• Allocating IP addresses: Create VPCs and subnets that automatically draw CIDRs from your configured IPAM pools.

 Project: Hands-On

• How  twtech Creates AWS IP Address Manager (IPAM) to Monitor VPC IP-Addresses in its AWS landscape (environment)

 Step-1:

Search for  AWS  service: IPAM

 Step-2:

• Click on: Create IPAM

• Create an IPAM

• Assign a name tag for IPAM: twtech-IPAM

• Select the region to monitor the ip address: twtech selects all us- regions.

Step-3:

• Access the Details of twtech-IPAM created,