IP Databasing

[Philip Butler]

How could I create a database that allowed me to keep track of an IP Network. I want to create a database of IP addresses that demonstrate which is in use and which is available for use and I would like for IP's in use to not be listed in the available fields automaticallly.

Thanks

[Vaughan]

Where I am (a large university) IP numbers are *allocated* to computers and devices. Since only one device can use an IP number at any one time there is a need to keep track of which IP numbers have been allocated. This is quite easy to do in FMP or any other database -- even a piece of paper will work well for that matter. It's just a list.

Working out which IP number is *in use* is a different thing altogether. Technically it would be easy -- ping the device -- but of little application to what you want to do. You don't want to know if the IP numbers are in use, you want to know if they have already been allocated to somebody.

If I turn my computer off when I go home, the IP number is no longer in use. Should it then be used by somebody else on the network? No, because when I come back and switch my computer on again there will be a conflict and both of us will be unhappy.

So here your term "available for use" is waving a red flag to me. An IP number that is availble for use is one that has not been allocated to somebody else. It has nothing to do where it is curently "in use" at the moment.