Prefixes¶

A prefix is a block of address space written in CIDR form — for example 10.0.10.0/24. This page covers creating, editing, and deleting prefixes, and the time-saving inheritance that fills in context for you.

Add a prefix¶

There are three ways into the prefix form, and each carries different context with it:

You start from…	The new prefix inherits…
The Add prefix button on the prefix list	Nothing — it starts as a top-level block.
The Add child prefix button on a prefix's detail page	The site, VLAN, and VRF of the parent prefix.
A free slot in the Children tab, or a free chip in the Space map	The site, VLAN, and VRF of the smallest existing prefix that contains the new block.

When inheritance applies, the form shows a small green chip confirming what's being carried over, so you can see at a glance where the values came from:

✓ Inheriting site + VLAN from parent 10.0.10.0/24

Fill in the remaining fields — status, role, description, gateway, tags — and save.

Let the children inherit

Building out a network under a parent? Use Add child prefix instead of the global Add prefix button. You'll skip re-picking the site, VLAN, and VRF every time, and you won't accidentally split a block across the wrong VRF.

A site's address scope¶

A site can own one or more prefix ranges — together they're the site's address scope. Site-scoped editors (see Permissions → Site roles) can only carve child prefixes inside those ranges, so the scope doubles as a guardrail.

Open a site and use its Prefixes tab (the address scope is also summarised on the site's Edit form). Two ways to populate it:

Add prefix range — create a brand-new prefix already assigned to this site.
Assign prefix — pull an existing prefix into the site. Search, pick one, and it's moved into the site's scope. You can assign several in a row.

To remove a range from a site, edit that prefix and clear its site.

Edit a prefix¶

Open the prefix and click Edit. The form opens populated with the prefix's current values, including its tags. Change what you need and save.

Delete a prefix¶

Open the prefix and click Delete. You'll be asked to confirm.

Deleting takes the IPs with it

Deleting a prefix also removes the IP addresses recorded inside it. Move or confirm you no longer need those addresses first.

What gets validated¶

Danbyte checks a few things when you save, so your data stays clean:

Rule	What it means
Valid CIDR	The block must be a real network (for example `10.0.0.0/24`). It's stored in its canonical form.
Valid gateway	If you set a gateway, it must be a valid IP address.
No duplicates in a VRF	The same block can't exist twice in the same VRF. The same block can exist in two different VRFs — that's expected and supported.

Gateway autospawn¶

If you leave the gateway field blank and the prefix's site has a gateway policy set, Danbyte creates the gateway address for you automatically when you save. See Gateway autospawn for how to set that up.