netbox/docs/extras.md

Extras

This section entails features of NetBox which are not crucial to its primary functions, but that provide additional value.

[TOC]

Export Templates

NetBox allows users to define custom templates that can be used when exporting objects. To create an export template, navigate to Extras > Export Templates under the admin interface.

Each export template is associated with a certain type of object. For instance, if you create an export template for VLANs, your custom template will appear under the "Export" button on the VLANs list.

Export templates are written in Django's template language, which is very similar to Jinja2. The list of objects returned from the database is stored in the queryset variable. Typically, you'll want to iterate through this list using a for loop.

A MIME type and file extension can optionally be defined for each export template. The default MIME type is text/plain.

Example

Here's an example device export template that will generate a simple Nagios configuration from a list of devices.

{% for d in queryset %}{% if d.status and d.primary_ip %}define host{
        use                     generic-switch
        host_name               {{ d.name }}
        address                 {{ d.primary_ip.address.ip }}
}
{% endif %}{% endfor %}

The generated output will look something like this:

define host{
        use                     generic-switch
        host_name               switch1
        address                 192.0.2.1
}
define host{
        use                     generic-switch
        host_name               switch2
        address                 192.0.2.2
}
define host{
        use                     generic-switch
        host_name               switch3
        address                 192.0.2.3
}

Graphs

NetBox does not generate graphs itself. This feature allows you to embed contextual graphs from an external resources inside certain NetBox views. Each embedded graph must be defined with the following parameters:

• Type: Interface, provider, or site. This determines where the graph will be displayed.
• Weight: Determines the order in which graphs are displayed (lower weights are displayed first). Graphs with equal weights will be ordered alphabetically by name.
• Name: The title to display above the graph.
• Source URL: The source of the image to be embedded. The associated object will be available as a template variable named obj.
• Link URL (optional): A URL to which the graph will be linked. The associated object will be available as a template variable named obj.

Topology Maps

NetBox can generate simple topology maps from the physical network connections recorded in its database. First, you'll need to create a topology map definition under the admin UI at Extras > Topology Maps.

Each topology map is associated with a site. A site can have multiple topology maps, which might each illustrate a different aspect of its infrastructure (for example, production versus backend connectivity).

To define the scope of a topology map, decide which devices you want to include. The map will only include interface connections with both points terminated on an included device. Specify the devices to include in the device patterns field by entering a list of regular expressions matching device names. For example, if you wanted to include "mgmt-switch1" through "mgmt-switch99", you might use the regex mgmt-switch\d+.

Each line of the device patterns field represents a hierarchical layer within the topology map. For example, you might map a traditional network with core, distribution, and access tiers like this:

core-switch-[abcd]
dist-switch\d
access-switch\d+,oob-switch\d+

Note that you can combine multiple regexes onto one line using commas. (Commas can only be used for separating regexes; they will not be processed as part of a regex.) The order in which regexes are listed on a line is significant: devices matching the first regex will be rendered first, and subsequent groups will be rendered to the right of those.