Adding business context to DDI with tagging in BlueCat Integrity X

Modern networks don’t just run on IP addresses, DNS records, and DHCP leases. At scale, they also need context. Network teams must understand not only what exists in the infrastructure, but why it exists, who owns it, and how it supports the business. That’s where tagging in BlueCat Integrity X comes in.

Tags are lightweight metadata that can be applied to nearly any object in Integrity X, including networks, IP blocks, DNS zones, views, and resource records. They allow teams to classify and group resources in ways that reflect real business structures rather than rigid technical hierarchies. By adding this layer of meaning directly to core DDI data—DNS, DHCP, and IP address management (IPAM)—Integrity X makes network infrastructure easier to understand, manage, and automate.

With business context embedded at the core, administrators can make better decisions, build smarter automation, and clearly connect network operations to business priorities. Best of all, tagging enables practical operational improvements, from faster troubleshooting to stronger compliance and governance.

It’s easy to create and apply tags in Integrity X. Can’t wait to get started. Watch the Integrity X tagging demo video now!

Why tagging matters in Integrity X

Tagging works alongside other metadata capabilities in Integrity X, including User-Defined Fields (UDFs) and User-Defined Links (UDLs). Each serves a distinct purpose. UDFs capture structured, custom attributes. UDLs define relationships between objects. By contrast, tags provide fast, flexible categorization.

Together, these capabilities form a rich metadata layer across DNS, DHCP, and IPAM. This layer doesn’t just make the network easier to operate. It also aligns technical data with how the business actually thinks about applications, services, ownership, and geography.

With tagging in place, network teams can:

• Search and filter more easily. The Integrity X UI and RESTful v2 API make it simple to locate resources by tag, even in very large environments.
• Automate with greater precision. Because tags are exposed through the same OpenAPI-standard API that powers the UI, automation workflows can detect and act on tagged groups of assets.
• Align IT with the business. Tags make it possible to map infrastructure directly to business units, applications, regions, or compliance requirements.
• Maintain long-term consistency. Once established, tags support consistent reporting, audits, and governance across teams and over time.

Common use cases for tagging in Integrity X

Tagging becomes more valuable as environments grow in size and complexity. By applying simple, consistent labels, teams can organize infrastructure around ownership, compliance, geography, lifecycle status, and operational intent. Tags also create a shared language that helps bridge silos and communicate clearly with non-technical stakeholders.

These use cases highlight how tagging can make day-to-day DDI management more efficient and business-aware:

1. Application ownership

Tags such as Finance-App or E-Commerce can be applied to networks, addresses, and DNS zones. This makes it easier to troubleshoot issues by application, generate usage reports, or delegate access. Ownership tags also clarify which applications depend on which parts of the DDI environment, speeding both problem resolution and capacity planning.

2. Compliance and security

Compliance-focused tags like PCI or Restricted help ensure sensitive systems are segmented, auditable, and visible only to the right users. Automation can enforce controls based on these tags, such as generating reports for all PCI-tagged assets or flagging newly created resources that are missing required compliance labels.

3. Geographic organization

For global enterprises, tagging resources by region, such as EMEA, APAC, or North America, makes it easy to filter and manage infrastructure by location. This is especially useful for distributed IT teams that need immediate clarity about which networks or zones fall within their scope of responsibility.

4. Operational workflows

Tags can also signal intent. Labels like Decommission-Q4 or Migration-Cloud mark resources for specific actions. When paired with Integrity X automation, these tags can trigger cleanup processes, audits, or migration workflows, helping teams coordinate complex projects across time zones and departments.

5. Shared network services

Tags can identify shared or overlapping networks used by multiple business units. Instead of relying on tribal knowledge, administrators can quickly filter by shared-service tags to understand dependencies and reduce the risk of conflicts in IPAM and DHCP operations.

6. Capacity planning and reporting

Lifecycle tags such as Pilot, Production, or Retired provide clearer insight into utilization trends. This context supports more accurate forecasting and reporting, helping IT leaders plan and justify future investment.

A technical summary of tagging under the hood in Integrity X

Tagging in Integrity X isn’t just a lightweight label. It’s backed by robust technical capabilities that make it scalable and automation-ready:

• Tag groups and hierarchies: Tags are organized into tag groups that can contain multiple nested levels (over one hundred supported), letting you model real-world business structures such as Business Unit → Department → Application.
• Supported objects: Tags can be applied to almost any Address Manager object, including IP blocks, networks, zones, resource records, servers, and more.
• Shared networks: A shared network tag group can be associated with a configuration, enabling management of overlapping or cross-unit networks within a single metadata framework.
• Flexible UI controls: Tags can be applied from the object menu, row actions in data tables, or in bulk across multiple objects. Removing tags is just as simple via the object details pane.
• Dashboards and widgets: The Tag Groups widget in My IPAM dashboards provides a quick way to visualize and navigate tagged resources.
• API-driven tagging: Integrity X v25.1 introduces tags as filterable fields in the RESTful v2 API. For example:

    GET /api/v2/networks?filter=_embedded.tags.name:eq(“Finance-App”)

              This means automation can directly query and act on tagged resources.

• Best practices: Use consistent, descriptive names for tag groups and tags, align tags with business logic, and combine them with UDFs and UDLs for a complete metadata strategy.

A deeper dive into Integrity X tagging

Tagging in Integrity X begins with tag groups, which define the type of business context being applied to the DDI environment. Tag groups can represent concepts such as business unit, application ownership, geography, or compliance, and they support deep hierarchies with multiple nested levels. This allows administrators to model real-world structures like business units, departments, and applications directly within IP address management.

Within each tag group, administrators create individual tags that act as reusable labels. These tags are centrally defined and can be applied consistently across the environment, ensuring that business context is standardized rather than ad hoc. Because tag groups and tags are shared across configurations, they provide a common language for organizing infrastructure at scale.

Once tags are defined, administrators apply them directly to IP address space and other DDI objects. Tags can be attached to IP blocks, networks, zones, resource records, servers, and shared networks. For environments with overlapping or cross-unit IP space, a shared network tag group can be associated with a configuration, enabling management of these networks under a single, consistent metadata framework.

Applying tags is intentionally flexible. Administrators can add or remove tags from object menus, row-level actions in data tables, or through bulk operations across multiple objects. This makes it easy to assign context to large address ranges, update classifications as infrastructure evolves, or quickly correct inconsistencies without manual effort.

After tags are applied, they become active throughout the platform. Administrators can filter and navigate IP space by tag, visualize tagged resources through the tag groups widget in My IPAM dashboards, and quickly understand how networks relate to applications, regions, or operational intent. This turns IP address space into something that can be reasoned about in business terms, not just CIDR blocks.

Tags are also fully exposed through Integrity X’s RESTful v2 API, where they function as filterable fields. Automation and external systems can query resources by tag and take action based on that context, ensuring that workflows, reporting, and governance all rely on the exact source of truth. By following best practices—using consistent naming, aligning tags with business logic, and combining tags with user-defined fields and links—teams can build a scalable metadata strategy that supports both day-to-day operations and long-term growth.

Weaving it all together

Tagging is a foundational part of the unified metadata strategy in Integrity X. When combined with user-defined fields and user-defined links, tags allow teams to enrich DDI objects with meaningful business context. IP addresses, networks, and DNS zones are no longer treated as isolated technical records. They become contextualized assets that reflect ownership, purpose, and operational intent.

This shift has a practical impact. With context embedded directly in the DDI system of record, teams can automate more reliably, enforce compliance more consistently, and resolve issues faster. Business-aligned metadata ensures that automation, reporting, and governance all operate from the same source of truth, reducing risk as environments scale.

Paired with Integrity X’s modern UI and always-on metrics, tagging supports a more resilient and proactive approach to DDI management. It helps organizations move beyond siloed operations toward a platform that adapts to continuous change. That’s how tagging transforms DDI into a business-aware foundation—one designed to support today’s operational demands while scaling confidently for what comes next.Experience the benefits of our latest product updates today, and discover how BlueCat can help your business achieve its IT goals. For more information or to get started, reach out to your BlueCat representative today!