📦 NetBox

Description

NetBox is a network source of truth and IP address management (IPAM/DCIM) platform.
It is used to model and document networks, including IP address space, VLANs, devices, racks, and connections.

NetBox provides a clean web UI and API to manage infrastructure data and is often used as the central inventory system for network and infrastructure automation.

Website

https://netbox.dev

Kubernetes Notes

Requires persistent storage for:
- database (PostgreSQL)
- media files (uploads, reports, scripts)
Requires:
- PostgreSQL database
- Redis (cache + background jobs)
Multiple components:
- web (Django app)
- worker (background jobs / rq)
Needs proper initialization (migrations + superuser)
Can be exposed via Ingress with TLS
Environment variables are critical for configuration
Use readiness/liveness probes carefully (startup can take time)
Not horizontally scalable without careful tuning.

🔌 Custom Container with Plugins

The official NetBox image does not include additional plugins by default.
To support required functionality, we build a custom container image with the desired plugins pre-installed.

Why

Ensure reproducible deployments
Avoid installing plugins at runtime
Keep NetBox instances immutable and version-controlled
Simplify upgrades and rollbacks

How it works

We extend the official NetBox image and install plugins during build time.

Example:

FROM ghcr.io/netbox-community/netbox:latest

USER root

# Install plugins
RUN pip install \
    netbox-topology-views \
    netbox-plugin-dns

USER netbox