netbox-network-importer 1.1.7

Poll data from devices and store them into Netbox

Netbox Network Importer

Tool to analyze and synchronize an existing network with a Netbox (SOT).

The main use cases for the network importer:

• Import an existing network into a Netbox
• Check the differences between the running network and the Netbox

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Install

1. Clone repository
   • git clone [e-mail]:701/done/netbox_network_importer.git
2. Go into the repository
   • cd netbox_network_importer
3. Create virtualenv
   • python3 -m venv venv
4. Activate it
   • source venv/bin/activate
5. Install the tool
   • pip install .

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Pre-requisite

To operate, the Netbox Network Importer is dependent on the following items:

• Access to Netbox API
• Access to Network Devices via SSH
• Created Custom Field on Netbox

   {
    "display": "Ignore Importer",
    "content_types": [
        "dcim.interface",
    ],
    "type": {
        "value": "boolean",
        "label": "Boolean (true/false)"
    },
    "object_type": null,
    "data_type": "boolean",
    "name": "ignore_importer",
    "label": "Ignore Importer",
    "description": "Will be ignored when processed by Network Importer",
    "required": true,
    "filter_logic": {
        "value": "exact",
        "label": "Exact"
    },
    "default": false,
    "weight": 100,
   }

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Inventory

A device inventory must be available in NetBox.

To be able to connect to the device the following information needs to be defined :

• Primary ip address
• Platform (must be a one of the following ['iosxr', 'ios', 'iosxe'])

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Configuration file

The information to connect to NetBox must be provided via the configuration file. The configuration file below presents all available options that can be provided to control the behavior of the Netbox Network Importer.

Netbox Network Importer tries to find the configuration file at:

• /home/<user>/.config/netbox_network_importer/config.yml
• /etc/netbox_network_importer/config.yml
• Or you can set path to configuration file like:
  • netbox_network_importer --configs path_to_dir_with_config/ synchronize

Complete Configuration Example

---
netbox:
  NETBOX_API_TOKEN: "your_api_token_here"
  NETBOX_INSTANCE_URL: "https://your-netbox-instance.com/"
  NETBOX_GRAPHQL_URL: "https://your-netbox-instance.com/graphql/"
tacacs:
  TACACS_USERNAME: "your_username"
  TACACS_PASSWORD: "your_password"
config:
  # Logging Configuration
  LOG_DIR: "logs"                            # Directory for log files
  LOG_LEVEL: "INFO"                          # Log level: DEBUG, INFO, WARNING, ERROR, CRITICAL
  
  # Output Configuration  
  OUTPUT_DIR: "outputs"                      # Directory for result files (JSON/HTML)
  
  # Network Behavior
  SUPPRESS_CONNECTION_ERRORS: true           # Suppress verbose NAPALM/NETCONF/SSH logs
  NORNIR_WORKERS: 20                        # Number of parallel workers (default: 20)
  
  # Result Filtering
  FILTER_EMPTY_UPDATE_RESULTS: true         # Filter UPDATE actions with empty diff
  FILTER_EMPTY_TASK_RESULTS: true          # Filter tasks with no results
  
  # Output Formatting
  USE_NORNIR_RICH_PRINT: true              # Use rich formatting (true) vs plain text (false)

Configuration Options Explained

Logging Options

• LOG_LEVEL: Controls verbosity (DEBUG for detailed info, CRITICAL for errors only)
• LOG_DIR: Where log files are stored (creates automatically)
• SUPPRESS_CONNECTION_ERRORS: When true, hides verbose network library logs

Performance Options

• NORNIR_WORKERS: Number of devices processed in parallel (adjust based on your system)

Output Control

• FILTER_EMPTY_UPDATE_RESULTS: Hides UPDATE operations with no actual changes
• FILTER_EMPTY_TASK_RESULTS: Hides tasks that produced no results
• USE_NORNIR_RICH_PRINT: Choose between colored rich output or plain text

Log Files Generated

• logs/output.log: Main application log (rotated at 5MB, kept 10 days)
• logs/errors.log: Error-only log (rotated at 5MB, kept 30 days)
• logs/debug.log: Detailed debug log (only when LOG_LEVEL=DEBUG, kept 3 days)

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Execute

The Netbox Network Importer runs only in apply mode and provides detailed logging and result filtering.

• In apply mode, the NETBOX will be updated with:
  • Device serial numbers
  • Network interfaces
  • IP addresses
  • VLANs
  • Link Aggregation Groups (LAGs)
  • Interface bandwidths

Apply Mode

The Netbox Network Importer will attempt to create/update or delete all elements in the Netbox that do not match what has been observed in the network.

Device Filtering Rules

It will ignore devices on certain circumstances:

• Device status must be Active, otherwise the device is skipped
• Device primary_ip must be properly set, otherwise the device is skipped
• Device platform must include one of the following values [ios, iosxr, iosxe], otherwise the device is skipped

Interface Filtering Rules

• If interface has attribute Ignore Importer set to True, then the processing on the Interface will be skipped and ignored

Result Filtering (Configurable)

• Empty Updates: When FILTER_EMPTY_UPDATE_RESULTS: true, UPDATE actions with no actual changes are hidden from output
• Empty Tasks: When FILTER_EMPTY_TASK_RESULTS: true, tasks that produce no results are hidden from output
• Output Format: When USE_NORNIR_RICH_PRINT: true, uses colored rich formatting; when false, uses plain text

Execution Examples:

• netbox_network_importer synchronize # runs the importer on all active devices
• netbox_network_importer synchronize -d Rxx # runs importer on device Rxx from Netbox
• netbox_network_importer synchronize -p iosxe # runs importer on all devices with platform iosxe
• netbox_network_importer synchronize -d Rxx -d Ryy # runs importer on devices Rxx and Ryy

Logging and Output:

• Real-time progress is shown in the console
• Detailed logs are written to logs/output.log
• Errors are separately logged to logs/errors.log
• Results are saved as JSON and HTML in the outputs/ directory

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Help

~/netbox_network_importer$ netbox_network_importer --help
Usage: netbox_network_importer [OPTIONS] COMMAND [ARGS]...

Options:
  -c, --configs PATH  path to folder with configurations
  --help              Show this message and exit.

Commands:
  pyats             Connect to device using pyats and pynetbox and print parsed command
  synchronize       Run set of Nornir task to update data in Netbox from network devices
  synchronize-device  Synchronize specific device data in Netbox from network

~/netbox_network_importer$ netbox_network_importer synchronize --help
Usage: netbox_network_importer synchronize [OPTIONS]

  Run set of Nornir task to update data in Netbox from network devices

  Args:     
    devices (str): device name filter, can be used multiple times
    platforms (str): platform name filter, can be used multiple times
  Returns:     
    dict: Dictionary of hosts, it's actions and results

Options:
  -d, --devices TEXT    Run on specified devices
  -p, --platforms TEXT  Run on specified platforms
  --help                Show this message and exit.

Troubleshooting

Configuration Issues

• Check that config.yml exists in one of the expected locations
• Verify NETBOX_API_TOKEN has proper permissions
• Ensure NETBOX_INSTANCE_URL is accessible

Logging Issues

• Check that LOG_DIR path is writable
• Use LOG_LEVEL: "DEBUG" for detailed troubleshooting
• Set SUPPRESS_CONNECTION_ERRORS: false to see network connection details

Performance Issues

• Adjust NORNIR_WORKERS (reduce for slower systems, increase for faster ones)
• Use result filtering to reduce output volume
• Monitor log files for bottlenecks

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