cn-tool

Infoblox lookups, network checks and configuration investigation from an interactive menu or a scriptable command line. cn-tool helps network engineers and system administrators inspect IP space, check reachability, compare configuration snapshots and collect device inventory without assembling separate scripts for each task.

It runs on Linux, macOS and Windows 10/11 (x64), with Python 3.10 or newer. Infoblox is required for IPAM lookups; ping and local configuration tools can run independently.

Why use cn-tool with Infoblox?

Grid Manager is useful for administering Infoblox. cn-tool brings common network-investigation tasks together around your existing Infoblox data:

• Work through a list: paste addresses or subnets to see a summary and inspect the results, including data from the network views available to your account.
• Continue the investigation: combine IPAM lookups with ping, monitoring and searches of your local device configurations in one tool.
• Use results elsewhere: produce structured command-line output for scripts or collect reportable results in an Excel workbook.
• Choose your interface: use the local browser interface, interactive menu or command line for the workflows each supports.

Infoblox remains the source of IPAM data and enforces the account's permissions. See Infoblox access and setup for the account and network requirements.

Features

• Inspect IPAM and DNS: look up IPv4/IPv6 addresses, subnets, FQDNs and sites, including network views, PTR checks, DHCP data and extensible attributes.
• Check and monitor reachability: bulk ICMP and optional TCP probes, repeated monitoring, persistent history and summaries of when hosts were seen online.
• Investigate configurations: search local repositories, identify snapshot changes with cn diff, and browse configurations and comparisons in a terminal interface.
• Collect and enrich results: query Cisco IOS/IOS-XE and NX-OS inventory, add Active Directory subnet information or search local SD-WAN YAML repositories.
• Reuse the output: table, JSON, Markdown and CSV output for commands; Excel workbooks and optional email delivery for reports.

Installation

pipx installs cn-tool in its own environment and places its commands on your PATH:

pipx install cn-tool
cn --version

Upgrade with pipx upgrade cn-tool. In a virtual environment you manage, python -m pip install cn-tool is also supported. cn-tool is an alternative name for cn if another installed program already uses that name.

See installation and upgrades for virtual environments, release archives and source installs, or the Windows guide for PowerShell.

Quick start

Try a local reachability check without Infoblox or credentials. ICMP needs the system ping command:

cn ping 127.0.0.1

For Infoblox, you need an account whose admin group permits API access and has read access to the relevant data. See Infoblox access and setup, then create your user configuration:

cn init

This writes ~/.cn (%USERPROFILE%\.cn on Windows) and never overwrites a file. Open it in a text editor, uncomment [api]'s endpoint, set your grid's WAPI URL and save as UTF-8. Then run:

cn doctor
cn

cn doctor checks configuration and, when configured, the Infoblox connection. cn opens the interactive menu. A terminal can prompt for credentials; separate Infoblox accounts and GPG sources are also supported. Edit the configuration in a text editor to keep its comments.

Command line

Run one command for scripts or individual tasks:

cn ip 10.20.0.5 --format json
cn subnet 10.20.0.0/24 --view prod --format md
cn ping router.example.net --tcp 22,443
cn monitor 10.20.0.0/28 --every 1m --for 2h
cn diff router01 --since 24h

Results go to stdout; progress and errors go to stderr. Commands do not prompt without a terminal. Use cn --help or cn <command> --help for options, and the CLI reference for input files, output schemas and exit statuses. Command-line reports require --report or -r FILE.

Browser interface

The optional local browser interface is installed separately:

pipx install "cn-tool[webui]"
cn-web

For an existing pipx installation, use pipx upgrade "cn-tool[webui]". With a regular Python installation, python -m cn_tool.webui starts the same interface. It binds to 127.0.0.1 and uses your existing .cn configuration.

Version scope: release 0.9.0 provides Subnets, IP, Ping, Monitor, Configuration Search and Site Demobilization. Release 0.8.4 provides Subnets. The two configuration scans run on Linux and Windows; on macOS, Site Demobilization network preview and the other tools remain available. Windows-native verification for the 0.9.0 additions remains deferred. See the WebUI guide for details. Closing a tab keeps the application running; Quit application ends it and runs configured exit actions, including email when enabled.

Documentation

These links describe current source and identify planned features where applicable. For an installed release, check cn --version and use the matching tag; the 0.8.4 README documents that release. The documentation index explains version scope.

Operational notes

Infoblox queries read grid data. Network checks make probes; reports, cache and ping history write local files. Reports can contain sensitive network information and accumulate earlier results; review them before downloading or emailing them. Store credentials through the documented sources and keep TLS verification enabled with an appropriate CA bundle. See each guide for platform limits and error behavior.

Project

Source · Issues · Releases · Apache-2.0 license