A root pool represents a top-level address range (for example, your RFC-1918 allocation). A child pool subdivides a root into smaller blocks. The hierarchy is single-level: a child's parent is always a root pool.
Create a root pool
- In the left sidebar, click Pools.
- Click New pool (top right).
- In the Create pool dialog, fill in:
- Name (required) — e.g.
Prod EMEA. - Address space (CIDR) (optional) — e.g.
10.0.0.0/8. You can create a pool with no range and add it later. - Description (optional).
- Name (required) — e.g.
- Click Create. The pool appears as a top-level row with a utilisation bar.
Create a child pool
- On the Pools page, click the name of the root pool you want to subdivide.
- On that pool's detail page, click New child pool (this button only appears on root pools).
- In the New child pool dialog, fill in:
- Name (required).
- Address space (CIDR) (required) — must fit strictly inside the parent and not overlap a sibling, e.g.
10.10.0.0/16inside parent10.0.0.0/8. - Description (optional).
- Click Create. The child appears nested under its parent.
On a root pool's detail page, click Suggest CIDR, enter the prefix size you need, and VNet IQ recommends the safest contiguous free block. Click Create child pool next to a suggestion to pre-fill the dialog with a known-free range.
The rules pools enforce
- Single-level hierarchy — you can't create a grandchild; a child's parent must be a root pool.
- Strict containment — a child CIDR must be a strict subset of the parent (it can't equal or escape the parent's range).
- No sibling overlap — pools at the same level can't overlap.
When you create a pool, any static CIDRs that fall inside its range link to it automatically (a child "wins" over its parent — the deepest pool that contains the range gets it). A green banner reports how many were linked. This is why creating pools after declaring your on-prem ranges "just works".
What success looks like
Each pool shows a colour-coded utilisation bar and, on its detail page, total / allocated / free addresses plus tiles for child pools, static CIDRs, and observed resources. A freshly created pool that already envelops an existing VNet can read high utilisation immediately — that's expected, not a quota problem.
Next: declare your on-prem ranges with static CIDRs, or hold space ahead of time with future reservations.