Network Architectures

Guides for modelling and governing IP address space across OT networks, hybrid estates, cloud, data centres, enterprise, campus, and edge environments with LightMesh IPAM.

Network architecture determines how IP address space is planned, segmented, and governed. Different environments, including industrial control, hybrid cloud, data centres, enterprise LANs, campus, and edge, impose different constraints on addressing, ownership, and auditability.

LightMesh helps teams describe and govern address space across these environments. It is a read-only source of network truth: LightMesh does not push configuration into routers, switches, or firewalls, and does not claim to control traffic. Instead, it provides attribution, planning, and audit evidence so teams can make better decisions about their networks.

LightMesh’s core modelling primitives are Sites (physical locations or cloud accounts), Zones (logical network segments such as VLANs, VRFs, or firewall zones), Subnets (CIDR ranges, unique within a Zone), and IP addresses. Network Containers are a view feature that groups similar subnets across Sites and Zones for visibility; they are not a modelling primitive.

Each guide below covers the architecture, common operational challenges, and practical LightMesh modelling recommendations for a specific network environment.

Topics

  • 1. Operational Technology (OT): SCADA, PLCs, industrial control systems, and the Purdue Model. Attribution and segmentation evidence for OT environments without active scanning.

  • 2. Hybrid Networks: On-premises and cloud address planning. Unified view across AWS, Azure, and on-prem with planned-vs-live reconciliation.

  • 3. Cloud Networks: Multi-cloud IPAM, landing zones, VPC peering overlap prevention, public IPv4 cost control, and IPv6 transition across AWS, Azure, and GCP.

  • 4. Data Centre Networks: Spine-leaf fabrics, rack-level addressing, VXLAN overlay planning, migration, and capacity reporting.

  • 5. Enterprise LAN/WAN: Corporate networks, SD-WAN overlay and underlay IPAM, branch connectivity, and VLAN and VRF tracking.

  • 6. Campus Networks: Distributed buildings, IoT and building automation, guest Wi-Fi, and campus-wide segmentation.

  • 7. Edge / Distributed Networks: Edge sites, IoT gateways, cellular and SD-WAN backhaul, and edge-to-cloud planning.

Getting started

If you are new to LightMesh, start with Getting Started to understand the fundamentals before exploring architecture-specific guides.