netbox-plugin-config-officer-2 0.1.19

NetBox plugin for collecting running configs, tracking diffs and checking compliance with templates

Config Officer - NetBox plugin

NetBox plugin that deals with Cisco device configuration (collects running config from Cisco devices, indicates config changes, and checks templates compliance).

A plugin for NetBox to work with running-configuration of Cisco devices.

Compatible with NetBox 2.9 and higher versions only.

• Collect actual information from Cisco devices (running_config, version, IP addresses, etc.) and shows it on a dedicated NetBox page.
• Save Cisco running configuration in a local directory and display all changes with git-like diffs.
• Set up configuration templates for distinct device roles, types.
• Audit whether devices are configured according to appropriate template.
• Export template compliance detailed information to Excel.

Preview.

Collect devices data:

Templates compliance

---

Table of Contents

• Development Setup
• Installation and Configuration
• Usage

---

Development Setup

This section describes how to set up a local development environment so you can work on the plugin, run tests, and have pre-commit checks run automatically on every commit.

Step 1 - Clone the repository

git clone https://github.com/Juzekkk/netbox-plugin-config-officer-2
cd netbox-plugin-config-officer-2

Step 2 - Install dependencies

Poetry creates an isolated virtual environment and installs both runtime and development dependencies declared in pyproject.toml.

poetry install

Activate the environment for the current shell session (optional - all subsequent commands work with poetry run <cmd> too):

poetry shell

Step 3 - Install pre-commit hooks

This registers the hooks defined in .pre-commit-config.yaml into your local .git directory. They will run automatically before every git commit.

# Register the pre-commit hook (runs before staging is finalised)
pre-commit install

# Register the commit-msg hook (validates the commit message format)
pre-commit install --hook-type commit-msg

Step 4 - Verify the setup

Run all hooks against every file in the repository to confirm everything is working before you make your first commit:

pre-commit run --all-files

All checks should pass on a clean checkout. If anything fails, fix it before proceeding.

Step 5 - Run the test suite

pytest

Unit tests live in tests/ and do not require a running NetBox instance - a lightweight stub in tests/conftest.py satisfies the netbox.plugins import at collection time.

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Commit message format

This project follows the Conventional Commits specification, enforced by the commitizen hook on every commit.

The required format is:

<type>(<scope>): <subject>

Valid types: feat, fix, docs, style, refactor, perf, test, build, ci, chore, revert

Commits that do not follow this format will be rejected by the commit-msg hook.

---

Selective test execution

The pytest-changed pre-commit hook automatically determines which test files are relevant to the files you are committing and runs only those.

The mapping logic is:

• A changed test file (e.g. tests/test_cisco_diff.py) -> runs that file directly.
• A changed production module (e.g. config_officer/cisco_diff.py) -> looks for tests/**/test_cisco_diff.py.
• Django migration files and non-Python files are skipped entirely.

To run the full test suite manually at any time:

pytest

To run tests for a specific module only:

pytest tests/test_cisco_diff.py -v

---

Project structure

.
├── config_officer/               # Plugin source code
│   └── ...
├── tests/
│   ├── conftest.py               # Injects a netbox.plugins stub so tests run without NetBox
│   └── ...
├── scripts/
│   ├── run_tests_for_changed.py  # Pre-commit helper: maps changed files to test files
│   └── ...
├── .pre-commit-config.yaml
└── pyproject.toml                # Dependencies, Ruff, pytest, and Commitizen configuration

---

Installation and Configuration

Watch the YouTube video about installation and usage of the plugin.

This instruction only describes how to install this plugin into a Docker Compose instance of NetBox.

General installation steps and considerations follow the official guidelines. The plugin is available as a Python package from PyPi or from GitHub.

0. Pull NetBox docker-compose version from GitHub

mkdir ~/netbox && cd "$_"
git clone https://github.com/netbox-community/netbox-docker

1. Create new docker container based on latest netbox image

cd ~/netbox
git clone https://github.com/artyomovs/netbox-plugin-config-officer
cd netbox-plugin-config-officer
sudo docker build -t netbox-myplugins .

What's in the Dockerfile:

FROM netboxcommunity/netbox:latest
RUN apk add iputils bind-tools openssh-client git
COPY ./requirements.txt /
COPY . /netbox-plugin-config-officer/
RUN /opt/netbox/venv/bin/pip install install -r /requirements.txt
RUN /opt/netbox/venv/bin/pip install  --no-warn-script-location /netbox-plugin-config-officer/

2. Create local git repository and perform first commit

mkdir ~/netbox/netbox-docker/device_configs && cd "$_"
git init
echo hello > hello.txt
git add .
git commit -m "Initial"
chmod 777 -R ../device_configs

3. Change netbox service in docker-compose.yml (do not delete, just add new lines and change image name)

version: '3.4'
services:
  netbox: &netbox
    # Change image name to netbox-myplugins (old name is netboxcommunity/netbox:${VERSION-latest})
    image: netbox-myplugins
    ...
    # Add environment variables for git:
    environment:
      - GIT_PYTHON_GIT_EXECUTABLE=/usr/bin/git
      - GIT_COMMITTER_NAME=netbox
      - GIT_COMMITTER_EMAIL=[e-mail]
    # user: '101' <--- Comment this out. SSH does not work with this line set.
    volumes:
    # Add this volume:
      - ./device_configs:/device_configs:z
    ports:
      - 8080:8080

4. Update the PLUGINS parameter in the global NetBox configuration.py config file in netbox-docker/configuration directory

PLUGINS = [
    "config_officer"
]

Update the PLUGINS_CONFIG parameter in configuration.py to configure the plugin:

PLUGINS_CONFIG = {
    "config_officer": {
        # Credentials to Cisco devices:
        "DEVICE_USERNAME": "cisco",
        "DEVICE_PASSWORD": "cisco",
        # "DEVICE_SSH_PORT": 1234  # default: 22

        # Mount this directory to NetBox in docker-compose.yml
        "NETBOX_DEVICES_CONFIGS_DIR": "/device_configs",

        # Add these custom fields to NetBox in advance:
        "CF_NAME_SW_VERSION": "version",
        "CF_NAME_SSH": "ssh",
        "CF_NAME_LAST_COLLECT_DATE": "last_collect_date",
        "CF_NAME_LAST_COLLECT_TIME": "last_collect_time",
        "CF_NAME_COLLECTION_STATUS": "collection_status"
    }
}

5. Start Docker Compose

cd ~/netbox/netbox-docker/
sudo docker-compose up -d

6. When NetBox is started - open the web interface http://NETBOX_IP:8080, open the Admin panel, and create the following elements

Custom Links

Name	Content type	URL
collect_device_data	dcim > device	http://NETBOX_IP:8080/plugins/config_officer/collect_device_config/{{ obj }}
show_running_config	dcim > device	http://NETBOX_IP:8080/plugins/config_officer/running_config/{{ obj.name }}

Custom Fields (optional)

Name	Label	Object(s)
collection_status	Last collection status	dcim > device
last_collect_date	Date of last collection	dcim > device
last_collect_time	Time of last collection	dcim > device
ssh	SSH enabled	dcim > device
version	Software version	dcim > device

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Usage

Follow the YouTube link to see the full installation and usage instructions.

Collection

Add all needed Custom Links and Custom Fields (optionally) and have fun.

Templates compliance

After the plugin is installed, an additional "Plugin" menu will appear in the top navigation panel. For the templates compliance feature, follow this three-step scenario:

1. Add a template - e.g. for a particular configuration section.
2. Add a service - inside the service, add service rules that match the template to particular device roles and device types.
3. Attach the service to devices.

All matched templates will be merged into one combined template, which is then compared against the actual running config.

Schedule config collection

To schedule a global collection from all devices (e.g. every night at 3 a.m.) use the API. Add this line to cron:

curl --location --request POST 'http://NETBOX_IP:8080/api/plugins/config_officer/collection/' \
  --header 'Authorization: Token YOUR_TOKEN' \
  --form 'task="global_collection"'