# Networks

> A network in Cloud Management Platform (CMP) mirrors one in your virtualization platform or cloud account, and holds the settings a server needs to use it

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Site [llms.txt](/llms.txt)

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Choosing a network for a server's NIC decides which of your platform's networks the server joins.

## Where a server's address comes from

When a server is ordered, CMP uses the first of these sources that applies:

1. **An external IPAM**, if the network is mapped to one. The IPAM allocates the address. See [IP address management (IPAM)](/docs/cmp/configure/infrastructure/networks/ipam/).
1. **An IP range** held on the network as a pool, if it has one. The next free address in the range is used. See [IP ranges](/docs/cmp/configure/infrastructure/networks/ipam/ip-ranges/).
1. **The network's addressing schema**: DHCP, a static address supplied at order time, or the user's choice between them. See [Choose how addresses are assigned](/docs/cmp/configure/infrastructure/networks/import-existing/#choose-how-addresses-are-assigned).

So an IPAM mapping or an IP range overrides the addressing schema.

## Related

- [Resource handlers](/docs/cmp/configure/infrastructure/resource-handlers/): The connections that networks are imported from.
- [Environments](/docs/cmp/configure/infrastructure/environments/): Environments determine which networks are available when ordering into them.

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Section pages:

- [Import and manage existing networks](/docs/cmp/configure/infrastructure/networks/import-existing/): Bring known networks into Cloud Management Platform (CMP), then determine how servers on each get addresses
- [IP address management (IPAM)](/docs/cmp/configure/infrastructure/networks/ipam/): Delegate hostname validation and IP address allocation to an external IP Address Manager
- [Network virtualization](/docs/cmp/configure/infrastructure/networks/network-virtualization/): Connect Cloud Management Platform (CMP) to VMware NSX-T so blueprints can build software-defined networks alongside the servers that use them