Skip to main content

Automate with Resource Manager

IPAM and Resource Manager are complementary layers. IPAM defines the data model — your prefix and address objects live in the graph, organized into namespaces and hierarchies. Resource Manager is the allocation engine — it draws from those prefix objects as pool sources to assign addresses and subnets automatically, without manual tracking.

The two layers​

LayerWhat it doesWhere it lives
IPAMModels your IP space as objects (prefixes, addresses, namespaces)Your schema + object data
Resource ManagerAllocates from those objects on demandCoreIPAddressPool, CoreIPPrefixPool

An IPAM schema gives you visibility and structure. Adding Resource Manager on top gives you automation: new devices get IPs, new customer services get subnets, and no two allocations ever conflict — even across branches.

When to add Resource Manager​

Consider Resource Manager when you need:

  • Automated provisioning — allocate IPs or subnets during device or service creation, without manual assignment
  • Generators — produce configurations that reference dynamically allocated addresses
  • CI/CD pipelines — reserve resources as part of infrastructure deployment workflows
  • Idempotent allocation — run the same provisioning script multiple times and always get the same resource back

If you are only storing and querying IP data, IPAM alone is sufficient. Resource Manager becomes valuable when allocation needs to happen programmatically.

How they connect​

A CoreIPAddressPool or CoreIPPrefixPool takes your IPAM prefix objects as its resources. When an allocation is requested, the pool picks the next available address or subnet from those prefixes.

mutation {
  CoreIPAddressPoolCreate(data: {
    name: {value: "Management IP Pool"},
    default_address_type: {value: "IpamIPAddress"},
    default_prefix_length: {value: 24},
    resources: [{id: "<IpamIPPrefix-id>"}],
    ip_namespace: {id: "default"}
  }) {
    ok
    object {
      id
    }
  }
}

The resources field references the IpamIPPrefix object you created in your IPAM. This is the only connection point between the two features — the pool reads from your IPAM data.

Next steps​