Cisco and EfficientIP Integrations: Streamlining NetOps and SecOps

As enterprise networks evolve toward hybrid multicloud, AI workloads, software-defined fabrics, and zero-trust security models, operational complexity continues to rise. Many organizations struggle to maintain accurate, actionable network data that can support automation at scale. This blog explains how Cisco and EfficientIP integrations address these challenges by helping network teams build and maintain a reliable Network Source of Truth (NSoT), synchronizing network and security platforms, and enabling consistent automation across campus, data center, SD-WAN, and security domains.

The Modern IT Challenge – Complexity, Visibility, and Silos

Enterprise networks now span multiple operational domains: campus fabrics, data centers, hybrid multicloud deployments, and increasingly AI-driven application infrastructures. These environments introduce continuous changes and evolutions, requiring synchronization between networking and security teams.

This reality exposes three recurring operational challenges.

Lack of unified visibility remains a fundamental issue. Traditional monitoring and configuration tools are often scoped to a single domain, such as on-premises infrastructure or cloud networking, making it difficult to obtain a unified view across on-premises infrastructures, public clouds, and edge environments.

Data silos further complicate operations. SD-WAN platforms, SDN controllers, legacy networks, and security systems frequently maintain independent data sets. Without a shared reference, teams cannot reliably correlate IP addresses, devices, identities, and policies, leaving organizations exposed to operational, security, and compliance risks.

Operational inefficiencies are the natural consequence. When networking platforms and IP Address Management (IPAM) systems are not synchronized, teams rely on manual updates and ad-hoc scripts. This increases the risk of configuration drift, IP conflicts, and security gaps.  

To overcome these challenges, organizations need a Network Source of Truth (NSoT), a centralized, authoritative repository that models and maintains the intended state of the network. However, an NSoT is only effective if it remains continuously synchronized with the live network.

Why Cisco and EfficientIP Integrations Are Needed

Cisco provides one of the most comprehensive networking and security ecosystems available today. Platforms such as Meraki, Catalyst Center, ACI, and ISE cover network connectivity, management, and policy enforcement across nearly every part of the enterprise network.

However, these platforms depend on accurate and consistent IP-level data to operate correctly.

EfficientIP’s SOLIDserver™ DDI platform (DNS, DHCP, and IPAM) provides this foundation. It centrally manages IP address plans, DNS zones, DHCP scopes, and associated metadata, acting as the IP Golden Record. In addition, it aggregates related network data such as VLANs, VRFs, applications, devices, and other connected objects. This DDI-enabled foundation serves as a Network Source of Truth (NSoT). Combined with its extensive APIs, it forms a Network Automation Hub, delivering a control plane for automation rather than merely operating as a passive database. 

Through Cisco and EfficientIP Integrations, this enriched DDI data becomes the shared reference point between network and security systems. Aligning IP-related data across tools bridges the gap between NetOps and SecOps, ensuring that asset discovery, provisioning, configuration, and policy enforcement all rely on the same authoritative dataset.

Cisco and EfficientIP Integrations for Networking – Building and Maintaining a Network Source of Truth

Establishing a trustworthy NSoT requires automated discovery and synchronization across all network fabrics. EfficientIP provides dedicated integrations for Cisco’s primary networking domains.

1. Cisco Meraki (Hybrid Cloud / SD-WAN)

Cisco Meraki environments are highly dynamic, particularly in distributed and cloud-managed deployments. EfficientIP integrates with Meraki using the Cloud Observer plugin, which automatically discovers and tracks Meraki resources such as wireless access points, switches, IoT devices, and SD-WAN appliances.

Discovered data is aggregated into a single view and reconciled with IPAM records. When discrepancies are detected, such as missing or inconsistent IP assignments, they are flagged for remediation. This continuous reconciliation keeps the NSoT accurate and supports downstream automation tasks, including security policy alignment and lifecycle management.

2. Cisco Catalyst Center (Campus / Branch)

In campus and branch environments, Cisco Catalyst Center plays a central role in fabric provisioning. The integration with EfficientIP uses a uni-directional API model in which Catalyst Center requests IP subnets directly from IPAM during network creation.

This approach eliminates manual subnet planning and prevents IP conflicts. DNS and DHCP services are automatically created as part of the provisioning workflow, enabling true zero-touch deployment. Network teams no longer need to manage IP plans manually during fabric expansion, while maintaining full consistency with enterprise addressing policies.

3. Cisco ACI (Data Center SDN)

In the data center, EfficientIP can integrate with Cisco ACI by communicating directly with the APIC API. This allows SOLIDserver to collect information such as tenants, applications, and End Point Groups (EPGs), the physical interface on the leaf switch to which each server is connected; and the MAC and IP addresses of deployed resources, correlating all of this with IPAM data.

The integration maps discovered objects if present in IPAM records, providing full visibility into the overlay network. This consolidated view ensures that the IP Golden Record accurately reflects the complete connectivity chain, from application and tenant down to the physical switch port, supporting troubleshooting, compliance, and automation use cases.

NetSecOps Integration: Bridging Security and Network Operations

EfficientIP SOLIDserver™ DDI integrates with Cisco ISE to automate the synchronization of MAC addresses, ensuring that security policies remain consistent and up-to-date. When IP addresses are created or deleted in IPAM, the corresponding MAC addresses are automatically updated in ISE, while Identity Groups are replicated to an IPAM custom database to maintain alignment across systems. The integration also supports accurate user and device tracking throughout the network.

By automating these processes, organizations increase operational efficiency, strengthen their security posture through consistent policy enforcement, and support enterprise-wide compliance with error-free, standardized security management. This seamless connection between SOLIDserver and ISE helps make the Network Source of Truth actionable for both operations and security teams.

Security Integration: Extending the Defense Perimeter 

To complement the network and NetSecOps integrations, EfficientIP DNS Guardian and Cisco Umbrella DNS (or Cisco Secure Access – DNS Defense) provide visibility and protection both inside and outside the network perimeter.

DNS Guardian delivers on-premise, behavioral threat detection by analyzing DNS transaction patterns. It identifies advanced threats such as tunneling, slow data exfiltration, and zero-day exploits that may bypass traditional perimeter defenses.

Cisco Umbrella DNS adds cloud-based threat intelligence, blocking access to known malicious domains before connections are established. Together, these solutions protect users wherever they are, extending the organization’s defense perimeter beyond the traditional network.

Enterprise networks can no longer operate as disconnected, static infrastructures. They must function as adaptive, automated systems built on reliable data. By leveraging Cisco and EfficientIP integrations, organizations transform DDI from a passive record-keeping function into an NSoT, unlocking active automation and acting as a security control plane. 

These integrations ensure that the Network Source of Truth remains accurate and actionable across networking and security domains. From Meraki discovery and Catalyst Center provisioning to ACI visibility and ISE policy enforcement, Cisco and EfficientIP provide a practical framework for streamlining operations while reducing risk.