netbox v3.4.6 releases: IP address management and data center infrastructure management tool
NetBox is an open-source web application designed to help manage and document computer networks. Initially conceived by the network engineering team at DigitalOcean, NetBox was developed specifically to address the needs of network and infrastructure engineers. It encompasses the following aspects of network management:
- IP address management (IPAM) – IP networks and addresses, VRFs, and VLANs
- Equipment racks – Organized by group and site
- Devices – Types of devices and where they are installed
- Connections – Network, console, and power connections among devices
- Virtualization – Virtual machines and clusters
- Data circuits – Long-haul communications circuits and providers
- Secrets – Encrypted storage of sensitive credentials
While NetBox strives to cover many areas of network management, the scope of its feature set is necessarily limited. This ensures that development focuses on core functionality and that scope creep is reasonably contained. To that end, it might help to provide some examples of functionality that NetBox does not provide:
- Network monitoring
- DNS server
- RADIUS server
- Configuration management
- Facilities management
That said, NetBox can be used to great effect in populating external tools with the data they need to perform these functions.
NetBox was designed with the following tenets foremost in mind.
Replicate the Real World
Careful consideration has been given to the data model to ensure that it can accurately reflect a real-world network. For instance, IP addresses are assigned not to devices, but to specific interfaces attached to a device, and an interface may have multiple IP addresses assigned to it.
Serve as a “Source of Truth”
NetBox intends to represent the desired state of a network versus its operational state. As such, automated import of live network state is strongly discouraged. All data created in NetBox should first be vetted by a human to ensure its integrity. NetBox can then be used to populate monitoring and provisioning systems with a high degree of confidence.
Keep it Simple
When given a choice between a relatively simple 80% solution and a much more complex complete solution, the former will typically be favored. This ensures a lean codebase with a low learning curve.
Application Stack
NetBox is built on the Django Python framework and utilizes a PostgreSQL database. It runs as a WSGI service behind your choice of HTTP server.
Function | Component |
---|---|
HTTP service | nginx or Apache |
WSGI service | gunicorn or uWSGI |
Application | Django/Python |
Database | PostgreSQL 9.4+ |
Task queuing | Redis/django-rq |
Live device access | NAPALM |
Changelog v3.4.6
Enhancements
- #10058 – Enable searching for devices/VMs by primary IP address
- #11011 – Add ability to toggle visibility of virtual interfaces under device view
- #11294 – Enable live preview of Markdown content
- #11807 – Restore default page size when navigating between views
- #11817 – Add
connected_endpoints
field to GraphQL API for cabled objects - #11851 – Include IP version in GraphQL API representations of aggregates, prefixes, and IP addresses
- #11862 – Add Cisco StackWise 1T interface type
- #11871 – Add IEEE 802.3az PoE type for interfaces
- #11929 – Strip whitespace from CSV headers prior to validation
Bug Fixes
- #11470 – Avoid raising exception when filtering IPs by an invalid address
- #11565 – Apply custom field defaults to IP address created during FHRP group creation
- #11631 – Fix filtering changelog & journal entries by multiple content type IDs
- #11758 – Support non-URL-safe characters in plugin menu titles
- #11796 – When importing devices, restrict rack by location only if the location field is specified
- #11819 – Fix filtering of cable terminations by object type
- #11850 – Fix loading of CSV files containing a byte order mark
- #11903 – Fix escaping of return URL values for action buttons in tables
- #11927 – Correct loading of plugin resources with custom paths