NetBox Branching

This NetBox plugin introduces branching functionality. A branch is a discrete, static snapshot of the NetBox database which can be modified independently and later merged back into the main database. This enables users to make "offline" changes to objects within NetBox and avoid interfering with its integrity as the network source of truth. It also provides the opportunity to review changes in bulk prior to their application.

See the compatibility matrix for supported NetBox versions.

Tip

To use NetBox Branching with NetBox Docker, click here

Installation

Brief installation instructions are provided below. For a complete installation guide, please refer to the included documentation.

1. Grant PostgreSQL permission for the NetBox database user to create schemas:

GRANT CREATE ON DATABASE $database TO $user;

2. Activate the NetBox virtual environment:

$ source /opt/netbox/venv/bin/activate

3. Install the plugin from PyPI:

$ pip install netboxlabs-netbox-branching

4. Add netbox_branching to PLUGINS in configuration.py.

PLUGINS = [
    # ...
    'netbox_branching',
]

5. Configure the database and router in configuration.py:

from netbox_branching.utilities import DynamicSchemaDict

DATABASES = DynamicSchemaDict({
    'default': {
        'ENGINE': 'django.db.backends.postgresql',
        'NAME': 'netbox',               # Database name
        'USER': 'netbox',               # PostgreSQL username
        'PASSWORD': 'password',         # PostgreSQL password
        'HOST': 'localhost',            # Database server
        'PORT': '',                     # Database port (leave blank for default)
        'CONN_MAX_AGE': 300,            # Max database connection age
    }
})

DATABASE_ROUTERS = [
    'netbox_branching.database.BranchAwareRouter',
]

6. Run NetBox migrations:

$ ./manage.py migrate

Running Tests

Plugin tests must be run from the NetBox application directory. Pass the PYTHONPATH environment variable to specify the testing/ directory which holds the testing configuration.

cd $NETBOX_ROOT/netbox
PYTHONPATH=$PLUGIN_ROOT/testing \
NETBOX_CONFIGURATION=configuration \
python manage.py test netbox_branching.tests