Netbox Update Device Interfaces Task

task api name: update_device_interfaces

The Netbox Update Device Interfaces Task is a feature of the NorFab Netbox Service that allows you to synchronize and update the interface data of your network devices in Netbox. This task ensures that the interface configurations in Netbox are accurate and up-to-date, reflecting the current state of your network infrastructure.

Keeping interface data accurate and up-to-date is crucial for effective network management. The Netbox Update Device Interfaces Task automates the process of updating interface information, such as interface names, statuses, mac addresses, and other relevant details.

Branching Support

Update device interfaces task is branch aware and can push updates to the branch. Netbox Branching Plugin need to be installed on Netbox instance.

How it works - Netbox worker on a call to update interfaces task fetches live data from network devices using nominated datasource, by default it is Nornir service parse task using NAPALM get_interfaces getter. Once data retrieved from network, Netbox worker updates records in Netbox database for device interfaces.

1. Client submits and on-demand request to NorFab Netbox worker to update device interfaces

2. Netbox worker sends job request to nominated datasource service to fetch live data from network devices

3. Datasource service fetches data from the network

4. Datasource returns devices interfaces data back to Netbox Service worker

5. Netbox worker processes device interfaces data and updates records in Netbox for requested devices

Limitations

Datasource nornir uses NAPALM get_interfaces getter and as such only supports these device platforms:

• Arista EOS
• Cisco IOS
• Cisco IOSXR
• Cisco NXOS
• Juniper JUNOS

Update Device Interfaces Sample Usage

NORFAB Netbox Update Device Interfaces Command Shell Reference

NorFab shell supports these command options for Netbox update_device_interfaces task:

nf# man tree netbox.update.device.interfaces
root
└── netbox:    Netbox service
    └── update:    Update Netbox data
        └── device:    Update device data
            └── interfaces:    Update device interfaces
                ├── timeout:    Job timeout
                ├── workers:    Filter worker to target, default 'any'
                ├── verbose-result:    Control output details, default 'False'
                ├── progress:    Display progress events, default 'True'
                ├── instance:    Netbox instance name to target
                ├── dry-run:    Return information that would be pushed to Netbox but do not push it
                ├── devices:    List of Netbox devices to update
                ├── datasource:    Service to use to retrieve device data, default 'nornir'
                │   └── nornir:    Use Nornir service to retrieve data from devices
                │       ├── FO:    Filter hosts using Filter Object
                │       ├── FB:    Filter hosts by name using Glob Patterns
                │       ├── FH:    Filter hosts by hostname
                │       ├── FC:    Filter hosts containment of pattern in name
                │       ├── FR:    Filter hosts by name using Regular Expressions
                │       ├── FG:    Filter hosts by group
                │       ├── FP:    Filter hosts by hostname using IP Prefix
                │       ├── FL:    Filter hosts by names list
                │       ├── FM:    Filter hosts by platform
                │       ├── FN:    Negate the match
                │       ├── add-details:    Add task details to results, default 'False'
                │       ├── num-workers:    RetryRunner number of threads for tasks execution
                │       ├── num-connectors:    RetryRunner number of threads for device connections
                │       ├── connect-retry:    RetryRunner number of connection attempts
                │       ├── task-retry:    RetryRunner number of attempts to run task
                │       ├── reconnect-on-fail:    RetryRunner perform reconnect to host on task failure
                │       ├── connect-check:    RetryRunner test TCP connection before opening actual connection
                │       ├── connect-timeout:    RetryRunner timeout in seconds to wait for test TCP connection to establish
                │       ├── creds-retry:    RetryRunner list of connection credentials and parameters to retry
                │       ├── tf:    File group name to save task results to on worker file system
                │       ├── tf-skip-failed:    Save results to file for failed tasks
                │       ├── diff:    File group name to run the diff for
                │       ├── diff-last:    File version number to diff, default is 1 (last)
                │       └── progress:    Display progress events, default 'True'
                ├── batch-size:    Number of devices to process at a time, default '10'
                └── branch:    Branching plugin branch name to use
nf#

Python API Reference

Update or create device interfaces in Netbox. Interface parameters updated:

• interface name
• interface description
• mtu
• mac address
• admin status
• speed

Parameters:

Name	Type	Description	Default
job	Job	NorFab Job object containing relevant metadata.	required
instance	str	The Netbox instance name to use.	None
dry_run	bool	If True, no changes will be made to Netbox.	False
datasource	str	The data source to use. Supported datasources: nornir - uses Nornir Service parse task to retrieve devices' data using NAPALM get_interfaces getter	'nornir'
timeout	int	The timeout for the job.	60
devices	list	List of devices to update.	None
create	bool	If True, new interfaces will be created if they do not exist.	True
batch_size	int	The number of devices to process in each batch.	10
branch	str	Branch name to use, need to have branching plugin installed, automatically creates branch if it does not exist in Netbox.	None
**kwargs		Additional keyword arguments to pass to the datasource job.	{}

Returns:

Name	Type	Description
dict	Result	A dictionary containing the results of the update operation.

Raises:

Type	Description
Exception	If a device does not exist in Netbox.
UnsupportedServiceError	If the specified datasource is not supported.

Source code in norfab\workers\netbox_worker.py

@Task(fastapi={"methods": ["PATCH"]})
def update_device_interfaces(
    self,
    job: Job,
    instance: Union[None, str] = None,
    dry_run: bool = False,
    datasource: str = "nornir",
    timeout: int = 60,
    devices: Union[None, list] = None,
    create: bool = True,
    batch_size: int = 10,
    branch: str = None,
    **kwargs,
) -> Result:
    """
    Update or create device interfaces in Netbox. Interface parameters updated:

    - interface name
    - interface description
    - mtu
    - mac address
    - admin status
    - speed

    Args:
        job: NorFab Job object containing relevant metadata.
        instance (str, optional): The Netbox instance name to use.
        dry_run (bool, optional): If True, no changes will be made to Netbox.
        datasource (str, optional): The data source to use. Supported datasources:

            - **nornir** - uses Nornir Service parse task to retrieve devices' data
                using NAPALM get_interfaces getter

        timeout (int, optional): The timeout for the job.
        devices (list, optional): List of devices to update.
        create (bool, optional): If True, new interfaces will be created if they do not exist.
        batch_size (int, optional): The number of devices to process in each batch.
        branch (str, optional): Branch name to use, need to have branching plugin installed,
            automatically creates branch if it does not exist in Netbox.
        **kwargs: Additional keyword arguments to pass to the datasource job.

    Returns:
        dict: A dictionary containing the results of the update operation.

    Raises:
        Exception: If a device does not exist in Netbox.
        UnsupportedServiceError: If the specified datasource is not supported.
    """
    result = {}
    devices = devices or []
    instance = instance or self.default_instance
    ret = Result(
        task=f"{self.name}:update_device_interfaces",
        result=result,
        resources=[instance],
    )
    nb = self._get_pynetbox(instance, branch=branch)

    if datasource == "nornir":
        # source hosts list from Nornir
        if kwargs:
            devices.extend(self.get_nornir_hosts(kwargs, timeout))
        # iterate over devices in batches
        for i in range(0, len(devices), batch_size):
            kwargs["FL"] = devices[i : i + batch_size]
            kwargs["getters"] = "get_interfaces"
            data = self.client.run_job(
                "nornir",
                "parse",
                kwargs=kwargs,
                workers="all",
                timeout=timeout,
            )
            for worker, results in data.items():
                if results["failed"]:
                    log.error(
                        f"{worker} get_interfaces failed, errors: {'; '.join(results['errors'])}"
                    )
                    continue
                for host, host_data in results["result"].items():
                    updated, created = {}, {}
                    result[host] = {
                        (
                            "update_device_interfaces_dry_run"
                            if dry_run
                            else "update_device_interfaces"
                        ): updated,
                        (
                            "created_device_interfaces_dry_run"
                            if dry_run
                            else "created_device_interfaces"
                        ): created,
                    }
                    if branch is not None:
                        result[host]["branch"] = branch
                    interfaces = host_data["napalm_get"]["get_interfaces"]
                    nb_device = nb.dcim.devices.get(name=host)
                    if not nb_device:
                        raise Exception(f"'{host}' does not exist in Netbox")
                    nb_interfaces = nb.dcim.interfaces.filter(
                        device_id=nb_device.id
                    )
                    # update existing interfaces
                    for nb_interface in nb_interfaces:
                        if nb_interface.name not in interfaces:
                            continue
                        interface = interfaces.pop(nb_interface.name)
                        if dry_run is not True:
                            nb_interface.description = interface["description"]
                            if interface["mtu"] > 0:
                                nb_interface.mtu = interface["mtu"]
                            if interface["speed"] > 0:
                                nb_interface.speed = interface["speed"] * 1000
                            if interface["mac_address"].strip().lower() not in [
                                "none",
                                "",
                            ]:
                                mac_address = interface["mac_address"]
                                if self.nb_version[instance] >= (4, 2, 0):
                                    try:
                                        nb_mac_addr = nb.dcim.mac_addresses.get(
                                            mac_address=mac_address,
                                            interface_id=nb_interface.id,
                                        )
                                    except Exception as e:
                                        msg = f"{worker} failed to get {mac_address} mac-address from netbox: {e}"
                                        job.event(msg, severity="WARNING")
                                        ret.messages.append(msg)
                                        log.error(msg)
                                    else:
                                        if not nb_mac_addr:
                                            nb_mac_addr = nb.dcim.mac_addresses.create(
                                                mac_address=mac_address,
                                                assigned_object_type="dcim.interface",
                                                assigned_object_id=nb_interface.id,
                                            )
                                        elif not nb_mac_addr.assigned_object_id:
                                            nb_mac_addr.assigned_object_type = (
                                                "dcim.interface"
                                            )
                                            nb_mac_addr.assigned_object_id = (
                                                nb_interface.id
                                            )
                                        if not nb_interface.primary_mac_address:
                                            nb_interface.primary_mac_address = (
                                                nb_mac_addr.id
                                            )
                                            job.event(
                                                f"{host} {mac_address} MAC associating with interface {nb_interface.name}",
                                                resource=instance,
                                            )
                                    nb_interface.mac_address = mac_address
                            nb_interface.enabled = interface["is_enabled"]
                            nb_interface.save()
                        updated[nb_interface.name] = interface
                        job.event(
                            f"{host} updated interface {nb_interface.name}",
                            resource=instance,
                        )
                    # create new interfaces
                    if create is not True:
                        continue
                    for interface_name, interface in interfaces.items():
                        interface["type"] = "other"
                        if dry_run is not True:
                            nb_interface = nb.dcim.interfaces.create(
                                name=interface_name,
                                device={"name": nb_device.name},
                                type=interface["type"],
                            )
                            nb_interface.description = interface["description"]
                            if interface["mtu"] > 0:
                                nb_interface.mtu = interface["mtu"]
                            if interface["speed"] > 0:
                                nb_interface.speed = interface["speed"] * 1000
                            # create MAC address
                            if interface["mac_address"].strip().lower() not in [
                                "none",
                                "",
                            ]:
                                mac_address = interface["mac_address"]
                                if self.nb_version[instance] >= (4, 2, 0):
                                    try:
                                        nb_mac_addr = nb.dcim.mac_addresses.create(
                                            mac_address=mac_address,
                                            assigned_object_type="dcim.interface",
                                            assigned_object_id=nb_interface.id,
                                        )
                                    except Exception as e:
                                        msg = f"{host} {mac_address} MAC failed to create, interface {nb_interface.name}: {e}"
                                        job.event(msg, severity="WARNING")
                                        ret.messages.append(msg)
                                        log.error(msg)
                                    else:
                                        nb_interface.primary_mac_address = (
                                            nb_mac_addr.id
                                        )
                                else:
                                    nb_interface.mac_address = mac_address
                                job.event(
                                    f"{host} {mac_address} MAC created, associating with interface {nb_interface.name}",
                                    resource=instance,
                                )
                            nb_interface.enabled = interface["is_enabled"]
                            nb_interface.save()
                        created[interface_name] = interface
                        job.event(
                            f"{host} created interface {interface_name}",
                            resource=instance,
                        )
    else:
        raise UnsupportedServiceError(
            f"'{datasource}' datasource service not supported"
        )

    return ret