Microsoft Windows Server IPAM vs RackTables

Microsoft Windows Server IPAM is an integrated suite for planning, deploying, managing, and monitoring IP infrastructure from a central interface. It automatically discovers IP infrastructure and DNS servers, manages DHCP scopes and failover, and organizes IP address blocks and ranges. Its DNS functions collect zone and resource-record data and allow administrators to create, edit, or delete records through the console. IPAM logs DNS configuration changes made there and includes built-in role-based access-control roles and access scopes. Microsoft describes installing it on a dedicated member server with WID or SQL Server storage. GPO-based provisioning supports DHCP, DNS, and domain-controller discovery. DNS collection works only with domain-joined Microsoft DNS servers; third-party and non-domain-joined DNS servers are unsupported. Microsoft lists applicability to Windows Server 2016, 2019, 2022, and 2025, plus Azure Local 2311.2 and later. Windows Server 2025 Standard is $1,176, paid once; Datacenter is $6,771, paid once.

RackTables is a free, web-based datacenter asset management system for documenting equipment, network addresses, rack space, and network configuration. It tracks devices, racks, and enclosures, and lets users mount devices in racks. Racks can be organized into rows so teams can check available capacity and mark unusable rack units. For network records, RackTables manages IP addresses and networks, documents NAT rules, and stores load-balancing policies and configurations. Users can maintain device ports and the links between them. Flexible tags and filtering rules help organize and retrieve hardware, while files can be attached to system objects. Accounts and permissions control which actions users may perform. RackTables is an on-premises PHP application accessed through a browser with an internet connection. The project identifies version 0.22.0 as its latest stable release. It provides a mailing list and bug tracker; issue reports are public by default but can be made private.