forward-netbox 0.8.6.2

NetBox plugin to sync Forward Networks data into NetBox via built-in NQE queries

Forward NetBox Plugin

forward_netbox is a NetBox plugin that syncs Forward Networks inventory into NetBox through direct Forward API connectivity and NQE while preserving the branch-backed sync, diff, and merge workflow. Large trusted baselines can optionally use the fast bootstrap backend before returning to the normal Branching workflow.

Release Compatibility

Plugin Release	NetBox Version	Status
v0.8.6.2	4.5.9 validated; 4.5.x only	Current release; hardens issue and job-log rendering so unexpected nested payload objects stay JSON-safe in the UI and API
v0.8.6.1	4.5.9 validated; 4.5.x only	Superseded by v0.8.6.2; clarifies the native NQE map bulk edit workflow so repository-path mode and runtime query-ID resolution are explicit in the UI
v0.8.6	4.5.9 validated; 4.5.x only	Superseded by v0.8.6.1; refreshes org-repository query publishing with flattened built-ins, filters invalid IPv4 prefix artifacts, adds parent-prefix diagnostics, and hardens virtual chassis/device and routing issue handling
v0.8.5	4.5.9 validated; 4.5.x only	Superseded by v0.8.6; makes the beta routing and module maps broadly available by default while keeping virtual chassis conservative, hardens repository query lookup responses, and clears stale row progress when a sync fails or advances phases
v0.8.4	4.5.9 validated; 4.5.x only	Superseded by v0.8.5; stops importing Forward HA peers as NetBox virtual chassis by default, hardens repository query lookup responses, and clears stale row progress when a sync fails or advances phases
v0.8.3	4.5.9 validated; 4.5.x only	Superseded by v0.8.4; isolates per-model query failures, blocks positionless virtual-chassis assignments before NetBox save, and lets later shards such as routing continue while withholding dirty diff baselines
v0.8.2	4.5.9 validated; 4.5.x only	Superseded by v0.8.3; adds portable repository query-path execution with native NetBox selectors, publish-and-bind bulk edit, bidirectional restore, and fixes IP address rows whose Forward interface cannot be resolved
v0.8.1.1	4.5.9 validated; 4.5.x only	Superseded by v0.8.2; fixes virtual chassis NQE output so NetBox receives a member position with virtual chassis assignments
v0.8.1	4.5.9 validated; 4.5.x only	Superseded by v0.8.1.1; fixes fast-bootstrap native change tracking/statistics and adds timeout guidance plus transient Forward API HTTP retries
v0.8.0	4.5.9 validated; 4.5.x only	Superseded by v0.8.1; adds an opt-in fast bootstrap backend for trusted large baselines while keeping Branching as default, and skips NetBox-invalid LAG cable endpoints
v0.7.1	4.5.9 validated; 4.5.x only	Superseded by v0.8.0; keeps the NetBox-native multi-branch workflow, adds shard heartbeat visibility, and hardens large-shard retries and cable ingestion handling
v0.7.0	4.5.9 validated; 4.5.x only	Superseded by v0.7.1; extracts the 0.7 sync boundaries and adds shard heartbeat visibility
v0.6.5	4.5.9 validated; 4.5.x only	Superseded by v0.7.0; adds audited validation force-allow overrides and routing evidence enrichment; optional routing/peering import remains beta; native dcim.module import is beta
v0.6.4	4.5.9 validated; 4.5.x only	Superseded by v0.6.5; optional routing/peering import is beta; native dcim.module import is beta
v0.6.3	4.5.9 validated; 4.5.x only	Superseded by v0.6.4; native dcim.module import is beta
v0.6.2	4.5.9 validated; 4.5.x only	Superseded by v0.6.3; native dcim.module import is beta
v0.6.1	4.5.9 validated; 4.5.x only	Superseded by v0.6.2; native dcim.module import is beta
v0.6.0	4.5.9 validated; 4.5.x only	Superseded by v0.6.1; native dcim.module import is beta
v0.5.9.1	4.5.9 validated; 4.5.x only	Superseded by v0.6.0
v0.5.9	4.5.9 validated; 4.5.x only	Superseded by v0.5.9.1
v0.5.8	4.5.9 validated; 4.5.x only	Superseded by v0.5.9
v0.5.7	4.5.9 validated; 4.5.x only	Superseded by v0.5.8
v0.5.2.1	4.5.9 validated; 4.5.x only	Superseded by v0.5.3
v0.4.0	4.5.9 validated; 4.5.x only	Superseded by v0.5.2.1
v0.3.1	4.5.8 validated; 4.5.x only	Superseded by v0.4.0
v0.3.0.1	4.5.8 validated; 4.5.x only	Superseded by v0.3.1
v0.3.0	4.5.8 validated; 4.5.x only	Superseded by v0.3.0.1

Version History

Release	Summary
v0.8.6.2	Hardens issue and job-log rendering for JSON safety when unexpected nested payload objects leak into failure data.
v0.8.6.1	Clarifies NQE map bulk edit labels and help text so operators use repository query paths and understand query IDs are resolved automatically during sync and diff execution.
v0.8.6	Publishes flattened built-in NQE to Forward org repositories, filters IPv4 host/any/loopback prefix artifacts, reports IP rows missing imported parent prefixes on full baselines, and prevents stale virtual-chassis/device/routing row failures from blocking unrelated models.
v0.8.5	Makes the beta routing and module maps broadly available by default, preserves the conservative bundled virtual chassis map, handles Forward repository query lookups that return a queries list, and makes failed sync activity show the terminal failure instead of stale row heartbeat text.
v0.8.3	Isolates stale or invalid per-model query output, rejects virtual-chassis rows missing vc_position, records row issues without aborting later multi-branch shards, and prevents dirty runs from becoming diff baselines.
v0.8.2	Adds portable repository query_path execution with Forward-backed selectors, true native bulk edit for publishing bundled NQE into the Forward Org Repository, binding selected maps to repository paths, restoring bundled raw NQE, and clearer skipping for IP address rows whose interface cannot be resolved.
v0.8.1.1	Emits vc_position in the built-in virtual chassis NQE map for vPC and MLAG memberships so NetBox does not reject virtual chassis device assignments without a member position.
v0.8.1	Runs fast bootstrap inside native NetBox change tracking, shows branchless ingestion changes from ObjectChange rows, updates fast-bootstrap counters from real object changes, warns about undersized worker timeouts, and retries transient Forward API HTTP timeouts/gateway responses.
v0.8.0	Adds an opt-in fast bootstrap direct-write backend for trusted large baselines, keeps NQE validation and row adapters shared with Branching, and skips LAG cable endpoints that NetBox cannot cable directly.
v0.7.1	Keeps the NetBox-native multi-branch workflow stable while hardening cable ingestion, retry handling, and shard re-planning for large runs.
v0.7.0	Splits the remaining sync orchestration, reporting, and validation helpers into dedicated boundaries, adds shard heartbeat visibility, and preserves the NetBox-native branch workflow.
v0.6.5	Adds audited validation force-allow overrides and routing evidence enrichment while reducing skipped routing rows through conservative NQE-side identity inference.
v0.6.4	Adds beta optional routing and peering imports for netbox-routing and netbox-peering-manager, including BGP peers, BGP address families, OSPF objects, peering sessions, routing diagnostics, and query-ID-aware built-in map handling.
v0.6.3	Models Forward aggregate interfaces as native NetBox LAGs, attaches member interfaces through Interface.lag, and keeps the MTU value sourced from Forward's normalized interface field.
v0.6.2	Canonicalizes duplicate global-table IP address rows by host IP before import and records row-scoped apply/delete failures as ingestion issues without aborting the rest of the shard.
v0.6.1	Filters interface IP rows that NetBox cannot assign, such as subnet network IDs and IPv4 broadcasts, while reporting aggregate diagnostics for filtered addresses.
v0.6.0	Adds beta native dcim.module import for chassis modules and similar bay-aware hardware, improves inventory item normalization, and avoids duplicate generic inventory rows when beta module sync is enabled.
v0.5.9.1	Keeps job logs visible during execution by persisting plugin log entries into the native NetBox job log tab while preserving the full plugin ingestion log view.
v0.5.9	Balances query preflight and workload fetch with bounded parallelism, reducing long planning pauses on large datasets.
v0.5.8	Defers event flushing until commit so large prefix ingestions do not trip transaction state changes mid-run.
v0.5.5	Applies a consistent model conflict policy for cable sync rows: skip occupied-interface conflicts, aggregate warning spam, and keep non-conflict updates/creates unchanged.
v0.5.4	Persists ingestion change counters so list/detail values stay consistent after branch merge cleanup, matching merge summaries.
v0.5.3	Surfaces preflight activity and elapsed phase timing on sync detail, emits early phase logs before ingestion rows, and sets source status to Syncing while runs are active.
v0.5.2.1	Fixes plugin admin version display and ships inferred cable query parser compatibility update (no let declarations) while preserving synthetic endpoint filtering.
v0.4.0	Corrects built-in IPv4/IPv6 prefix NQE filters to exclude host routes (/32 and /128) from prefix import and validates the behavior against a live smoke dataset.
v0.3.1	Adds optional data-file-aware device type alias maps, a Device Type Library alias data-file builder, and documentation for the snapshot requirement while keeping the default no-data-file maps available.
v0.3.0.1	Fixes the validation-run list UI by removing unsupported edit actions from read-only validation records, and adds Playwright coverage for the validation-run list route.
v0.3.0	Adds the NetBox 4.5.8-validated harness architecture with first-class validation runs, drift policies, query-fetch boundaries, model-result reporting, and Playwright-covered UI workflow validation.
v0.2.4	Hardens native multi-branch resilience with adaptive shard splitting and retry on branch-budget overflow, plus model-density tracking to keep large initial syncs within NetBox branching guidance.
v0.2.3	Adds native sync preflight validation before full multi-branch planning so invalid model/query rows fail earlier in the UI/API run path.
v0.2.2	NQE-only correction release: filters zero-length prefixes, broadens interface coverage for IP assignment targets, and enforces inventory part_id length limits.
v0.2.1	Makes NetBox-native multi-branch execution the only UI/API sync path and exposes the branch budget in the sync form.
v0.2.0	Adds NetBox-native multi-branch baseline syncs for large datasets, uses NetBox outbound proxy routing for Forward API calls, and keeps branch event queues bounded during large imports.
v0.1.6.0	Adds explicit diff baselines, Forward nqe-diffs execution for eligible query_id maps, and updated large-dataset guidance for baseline versus incremental syncs.
v0.1.5.1	Patch release that validates and hardens null-VRF coalesce behavior and inventory-item serial bounds against the live dataset.
v0.1.5	Fixes null VRF coalesce handling, imports loopback interfaces for IP attachment, and hardens inventory-item identity fallbacks.
v0.1.4.2	CI/package patch release that applies repository formatting/import-order fixes and publishes a clean artifact line.
v0.1.4.1	Patch release that bounds built-in dcim.virtualchassis names/domains to NetBox field limits.
v0.1.4	Hardened built-in NQE mappings and docs for large real-world datasets.
v0.1.3	Enforced deterministic model identity contracts during sync ingestion.
v0.1.2	Improved ingestion safety, diagnostics, and compatibility with custom NetBox data.
v0.1.1	Added pagination, shared built-in NQE helpers, and release/doc cleanup.
v0.1.0	Initial unsupported NetBox plugin release with built-in Forward sync workflow and seeded NQE maps.

Support Disclaimer

This repository is provided for use at your own risk. It is an unsupported release and is not an officially supported Forward Networks product. There is no warranty, support commitment, or compatibility guarantee beyond the version table above.

Features

• Branch-backed sync, diff, and merge flow through netbox_branching
• Forward Sources, NQE Maps, Syncs, and Ingestions
• Built-in shipped NQE maps seeded automatically after migration
• Support for repository query_path, direct Forward query_id, or raw NQE query text
• Explicit identity contracts per map (coalesce_fields) with strict sync-time ambiguity detection
• Repository-authored built-in queries can share local helper modules and still execute as flattened raw NQE when bundled
• Automatic paging across multi-page Forward NQE result sets during sync execution
• Optional disabled NQE maps for NetBox Device Type Library alias matching through a Forward JSON data file
• Optional disabled NQE map for data-file-driven device feature tag rules
• Feature-flagged beta BGP and OSPF maps for optional netbox-routing and netbox-peering-manager deployments
• Snapshot-aware execution with latestProcessed or an explicit Forward snapshot per sync
• Ingestion records that preserve the selected snapshot mode, resolved snapshot ID, and Forward snapshot metrics
• Built-in coverage for:
  • dcim.site
  • dcim.manufacturer
  • dcim.devicerole
  • dcim.platform
  • dcim.devicetype
  • dcim.device
  • dcim.virtualchassis
  • device feature tags
  • dcim.interface
  • dcim.cable from exact Forward inferred interface matches
  • dcim.macaddress
  • dcim.inventoryitem
  • optional beta dcim.module
  • optional beta BGP peers, BGP address families, OSPF objects, and peering sessions through external NetBox plugins
  • ipam.vlan
  • ipam.vrf
  • ipam.prefix for IPv4 and IPv6
  • ipam.ipaddress

Quickstart

1. Install the plugin into the same Python environment as NetBox:

Install the wheel or source archive from GitHub Releases:

pip install /path/to/forward_netbox-0.8.6.2-py3-none-any.whl

2. Enable both plugins in the NetBox configuration:

PLUGINS = [
    "netbox_branching",
    "forward_netbox",
]

3. Apply migrations:

python manage.py migrate

4. Open NetBox and create a Forward Source.
5. Select a Forward network for that source.
6. Create a Forward Sync, choose the snapshot selector, and enable the NetBox models you want to sync.
7. Run an adhoc ingestion, review the staged branch diff, review the recorded snapshot details and metrics, and merge when the changes look correct.

For large datasets, prefer committed Forward Org Repository queries referenced by query_id, leave Snapshot at latestProcessed, and establish one clean baseline first. Use the default Branching backend when the initial changes should be reviewed in native NetBox Branching shards. Use Fast bootstrap only for trusted initial baselines where direct NetBox writes are acceptable; it keeps the same NQE, preflight, model validation, ingestion issue reporting, and native NetBox change tracking contracts but does not create review branches. After a fast-bootstrap baseline completes, switch the sync back to Branching so later latestProcessed runs can use Forward nqe-diffs and remain reviewable.

The shipped query set includes both default maps and optional alias-aware maps. If your NetBox device types are pre-loaded from the NetBox Device Type Library, upload a Forward JSON data file named netbox_device_type_aliases.json with NQE name netbox_device_type_aliases, attach it to the Forward network, and run or reprocess a Forward snapshot before enabling the disabled alias-aware device maps or using committed query IDs for those variants. The NetBox plugin runs public /api/nqe against the selected snapshot, so latest uploaded data files do not affect plugin sync results until the selected snapshot exposes the data file value. The generated file carries both device type aliases and manufacturer override rows for the alias-aware maps. Without that data file in the selected snapshot, leave the default non-data-file maps enabled.

Test It Yourself

Use this quick validation flow after installation:

1. Create a Forward Source using https://fwd.app or your custom Forward URL.
2. Enter a Forward username and password, then confirm the Network field populates from the live Forward tenant.
3. Open NQE Maps and verify the built-in maps are present.
4. Create a Forward Sync tied to the source, leaving Snapshot at latestProcessed for the first run.
5. Run the sync from the sync detail page.
6. Review the generated Forward Ingestion, Issues, snapshot details, snapshot metrics, and change diff.
7. Merge the branch and confirm the synced objects appear in NetBox.

Local Validation

The repository now includes local validation tasks:

• invoke forward_netbox.lint
• invoke forward_netbox.check
• invoke forward_netbox.test
• invoke forward_netbox.docs
• invoke forward_netbox.package
• invoke forward_netbox.ci

For a live Forward smoke run outside CI, set these environment variables and run the smoke task locally:

export FORWARD_SMOKE_USERNAME='your-forward-username'
export FORWARD_SMOKE_PASSWORD='your-forward-password'
export FORWARD_SMOKE_NETWORK_ID='your-network-id'
invoke forward_netbox.smoke-sync

Optional smoke-sync variables:

• FORWARD_SMOKE_URL defaults to https://fwd.app
• FORWARD_SMOKE_SNAPSHOT_ID defaults to latestProcessed
• FORWARD_SMOKE_MODELS accepts a comma-separated subset such as dcim.site,dcim.device,dcim.interface
• invoke forward_netbox.smoke-sync --validate-only runs live snapshot/query validation without executing an ingestion
• invoke forward_netbox.smoke-sync --plan-only prints the native NetBox Branching shard plan without creating branches
• invoke forward_netbox.smoke-sync --max-changes-per-branch 10000 stages and merges large baselines in multiple native branches
• invoke forward_netbox.smoke-sync --no-auto-merge --max-changes-per-branch 10000 stages one shard and pauses for review
• invoke forward_netbox.smoke-sync --execution-backend fast_bootstrap runs the trusted direct-write baseline backend after validation

Normal UI/API sync jobs default to native multi-branch execution, with a default branch budget of 10000 changes. Auto merge controls whether Branching shards advance automatically or pause for review after each shard. For trusted large baselines, select the fast bootstrap execution backend and switch back to Branching for reviewable steady-state diffs. See the Initial Baseline Strategy for the decision table.

Documentation

• Documentation Home
• Installation
• Configuration
• Usage and Validation
• Troubleshooting
• Built-In NQE Reference
• Device Type Alias Data File
• Model Mapping Matrix
• Shipped NQE Query Files
• License