phpipam

phpIPAM

phpIPAM is an open-source IP address management (IPAM) tool. It tracks subnet allocations, individual IP assignments, VLANs, VRFs, and devices — giving you a searchable source of truth for your network addressing instead of a spreadsheet.

Run it when your homelab has grown to the point where you're guessing whether an IP is in use, or when you want to plan subnets before assigning them. It's lighter-weight than NetBox and purpose-built for IP management specifically.

Architecture

Browser → Traefik (TLS + lan-only) → phpipam-web :80
                                           ↓
                                      phpipam-db (MariaDB)
                                           ↑
                                      phpipam-cron (network scanning)

Three containers:

• phpipam-web — Apache/PHP frontend
• phpipam-db — MariaDB 11 database
• phpipam-cron — runs scheduled network discovery scans (ping sweeps, SNMP)

The web and cron containers require NET_ADMIN and NET_RAW capabilities for ping and SNMP to work. The cron container stays on the internal phpipam network; only the web container joins traefik.

Prerequisites

• Traefik running with the traefik external network created
• Host directories created:

sudo mkdir -p /mnt/SSD/Containers/phpipam/{db,logo,ca}

Deployment

1. Configure environment

cp .env.example .env

Edit .env:

Variable	Description
TZ	Timezone (default: America/New_York)
PHPIPAM_DOMAIN	FQDN Traefik routes to phpIPAM (e.g. ipam.virtuallyboring.com)
PHPIPAM_PORT	Host port for direct access (default: 8030)
PHPIPAM_DB_PASSWORD	MariaDB password for the phpipam user
PHPIPAM_DB_ROOT_PASSWORD	MariaDB root password

2. Start

docker compose up -d
docker compose logs -f phpipam-web

MariaDB will initialize on first start — wait for the healthcheck to pass before the web container comes up.

3. Access

• Via Traefik: https://<PHPIPAM_DOMAIN> (LAN only)
• Direct: http://<host-ip>:8030

Initial Configuration

1. Run the installer

On first visit, phpIPAM detects no database schema and redirects to the installer at /install/. Choose Automatic database installation.

It will prompt for database credentials — these are the root credentials phpIPAM needs to create the schema, not the application user:

Field	Value
Username	root
Password	PHPIPAM_DB_ROOT_PASSWORD from your .env
Database location	phpipam-db (Docker DNS hostname of the MariaDB container)

After this one-time step, phpIPAM switches to the phpipam user for all normal operation.

2. Log in

Default credentials after install:

Field	Value
Username	admin
Password	ipamadmin

Change the admin password immediately via Administration → Users → admin → Change password.

3. Configure your site settings

Go to Administration → phpIPAM settings:

• Set Site URL to your PHPIPAM_DOMAIN — required for correct redirect and link generation behind a reverse proxy
• Enable modules you want in the sidebar (Subnets, Hosts, VLANs, VRFs, etc.)
• Set your preferred IP addressing format (IPv4 / dual-stack)

4. Add your subnets

Go to Subnets → select or create a Section (e.g. "HomeLab") → Add subnet:

• Enter the network in CIDR notation (e.g. 10.0.0.0/20)
• Enable Check hosts if you want the cron job to ping-sweep and auto-mark IPs as used/free
• Optionally enable DNS resolution to auto-resolve hostnames

5. Configure network discovery (optional)

The phpipam-cron container runs scans on the interval set by SCAN_INTERVAL (default: 1h). For subnets to be scanned, discovery must be enabled on each subnet individually under Subnet → Edit → Discovery.

For SNMP discovery, add your devices under Devices and configure community strings in Administration → SNMP communities.

Updating

docker compose pull
docker compose up -d