netbox-community-netbox/docs/release-notes/version-2.7.md

v2.7.0 (2020-01-16)

Note: This release completely removes the topology map feature (#2745).

Note: NetBox v2.7 is the last major release that will support Python 3.5. Beginning with NetBox v2.8, Python 3.6 or higher will be required.

New Features

Enhanced Device Type Import (#451)

NetBox now supports the import of device types and related component templates using definitions written in YAML or JSON. For example, the following will create a new device type with four network interfaces, two power ports, and a console port:

manufacturer: Acme
model: Packet Shooter 9000
slug: packet-shooter-9000
u_height: 1
interfaces:
  - name: ge-0/0/0
    type: 1000base-t
  - name: ge-0/0/1
    type: 1000base-t
  - name: ge-0/0/2
    type: 1000base-t
  - name: ge-0/0/3
    type: 1000base-t
power-ports:
  - name: PSU0
  - name: PSU1
console-ports:
  - name: Console

This new functionality replaces the old CSV-based import form, which did not allow for bulk import of component templates.

Bulk Import of Device Components (#822)

Device components such as console ports, power ports, and interfaces can now be imported in bulk to multiple devices in CSV format. Here's an example showing the bulk import of interfaces to several devices:

device,name,type
Switch1,Vlan100,Virtual
Switch1,Vlan200,Virtual
Switch2,Vlan100,Virtual
Switch2,Vlan200,Virtual

The import form for each type of device component is available under the "Devices" item in the navigation menu.

External File Storage (#1814)

In prior releases, the only option for storing uploaded files (e.g. image attachments) was to save them to the local filesystem on the NetBox server. This release introduces support for several remote storage backends provided by the django-storages library. These include:

• Amazon S3
• ApacheLibcloud
• Azure Storage
• netbox-community Spaces
• Dropbox
• FTP
• Google Cloud Storage
• SFTP

To enable remote file storage, first install the django-storages package:

pip install django-storages

Then, set the appropriate storage backend and its configuration in configuration.py. Here's an example using Amazon S3:

STORAGE_BACKEND = 'storages.backends.s3boto3.S3Boto3Storage'
STORAGE_CONFIG = {
    'AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID': '<Key>',
    'AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY': '<Secret>',
    'AWS_STORAGE_BUCKET_NAME': 'netbox',
    'AWS_S3_REGION_NAME': 'eu-west-1',
}

Thanks to @steffann for contributing this work!

Rack Elevations Rendered via SVG (#2248)

NetBox v2.7 introduces a new method of rendering rack elevations as an SVG image via a REST API endpoint. This replaces the prior method of rendering elevations using pure HTML and CSS, which was cumbersome and had several shortcomings. Rendering rack elevations as SVG images via the REST API allows users to retrieve and make use of the drawings in their own tooling. This also opens the door to other feature requests related to rack elevations in the NetBox backlog.

This feature implements a new REST API endpoint:

/api/dcim/racks/<id>/elevation/

By default, this endpoint returns a paginated JSON response representing each rack unit in the given elevation. This is the same response returned by the existing rack units detail endpoint at /api/dcim/racks/<id>/units/, which will be removed in v2.8 (see #3753).

To render the elevation as an SVG image, include the render=svg query parameter in the request. You may also control the width and height of the elevation drawing (in pixels) by passing the unit_width and unit_height parameters. (The default values for these parameters are 230 and 20, respectively.) Additionally, the face parameter may be used to request either the front or rear of the elevation. Below is in example request:

/api/dcim/racks/<id>/elevation/?render=svg&face=rear&unit_width=300&unit_height=35

Thanks to @hellerve for doing the heavy lifting on this!

Changes

Topology Maps Removed (#2745)

The topology maps feature has been removed to help focus NetBox development efforts. Please replicate any required data to another source before upgrading NetBox to v2.7, as any existing topology maps will be deleted.

Supervisor Replaced with systemd (#2902)

The NetBox installation documentation has been updated to provide instructions for managing the WSGI and RQ services using systemd instead of supervisor. This removes the need to install supervisor and simplifies administration of the processes.

Redis Configuration (#3282)

NetBox v2.6 introduced request caching and added the CACHE_DATABASE option to the existing REDIS database configuration parameter. This did not, however, allow for using two different Redis connections for the separate caching and webhook queuing functions. This release modifies the REDIS parameter to accept two discrete subsections named webhooks and caching. This requires modification of the REDIS parameter in configuration.py as follows:

Old Redis configuration:

REDIS = {
    'HOST': 'localhost',
    'PORT': 6379,
    'PASSWORD': '',
    'DATABASE': 0,
    'CACHE_DATABASE': 1,
    'DEFAULT_TIMEOUT': 300,
    'SSL': False,
}

New Redis configuration:

REDIS = {
    'webhooks': {
        'HOST': 'redis.example.com',
        'PORT': 1234,
        'PASSWORD': 'foobar',
        'DATABASE': 0,
        'DEFAULT_TIMEOUT': 300,
        'SSL': False,
    },
    'caching': {
        'HOST': 'localhost',
        'PORT': 6379,
        'PASSWORD': '',
        'DATABASE': 1,
        'DEFAULT_TIMEOUT': 300,
        'SSL': False,
    }
}

Note that the CACHE_DATABASE parameter has been removed and the connection settings have been duplicated for both webhooks and caching. This allows the user to make use of separate Redis instances if desired. It is fine to use the same Redis service for both functions, although the database identifiers should be different.

WEBHOOKS_ENABLED Configuration Setting Removed (#3408)

As django-rq is now a required library, NetBox assumes that the RQ worker process is running. The installation and upgrade documentation has been updated to reflect this, and the WEBHOOKS_ENABLED configuration parameter is no longer used. Please ensure that both the NetBox WSGI service and the RQ worker process are running on all production installations.

API Choice Fields Now Use String Values (#3569)

NetBox's REST API presents fields which reference a particular choice as a dictionary with two keys: value and label. In previous versions, value was an integer which represented a particular choice in the database. This has been changed to a more human-friendly "slug" string, which is essentially a simplified version of the choice's label.

For example, The site model's status field was previously represented as:

"status": {
    "value": 1,
    "label": "Active"
},

In NetBox v2.7, it now looks like this:

"status": {
    "value": "active",
    "label": "Active",
    "id": 1
},

This change allows for much more intuitive representation and manipulation of values, and removes the need for API consumers to maintain local mappings of static integer values.

Note that that all v2.7 releases will continue to accept the legacy integer values in write requests (POST, PUT, and PATCH) to maintain backward compatibility. Additionally, the legacy numeric identifier is conveyed in the id field for convenient reference as consumers adopt to the new string values. This behavior will be discontinued in NetBox v2.8.

Enhancements

• #33 - Add ability to clone objects (pre-populate form fields)
• #648 - Pre-populate form fields when selecting "create and add another"
• #792 - Add power port and power outlet types
• #1865 - Add console port and console server port types
• #2669 - Relax uniqueness constraint on device and VM names
• #2902 - Replace supervisord with systemd
• #3455 - Add tenant assignment to virtual machine clusters
• #3520 - Add Jinja2 template support for graphs
• #3525 - Enable IP address filtering using multiple address parameters
• #3564 - Add list views for all device components
• #3538 - Introduce a REST API endpoint for executing custom scripts
• #3655 - Add description field to organizational models
• #3664 - Enable applying configuration contexts by tags
• #3706 - Increase available_power maximum value on PowerFeed
• #3731 - Change Graph.type to a ContentType foreign key field
• #3801 - Use YAML for export of device types

Bug Fixes

• #3830 - Ensure deterministic ordering for all models
• #3900 - Fix exception when deleting device types
• #3914 - Fix interface filter field when unauthenticated
• #3919 - Fix utilization graph extending out of bounds when utilization > 100%
• #3927 - Fix exception when deleting devices with secrets assigned
• #3930 - Fix API rendering of the family field for aggregates

Bug Fixes (From Beta)

• #3868 - Fix creation of interfaces for virtual machines
• #3878 - Fix database migration for cable status field

API Changes

• Choice fields now use human-friendly strings for their values instead of integers (see #3569).
• Introduced the /api/extras/scripts/ endpoint for retrieving and executing custom scripts
• circuits.CircuitType: Added field description
• dcim.ConsolePort: Added field type
• dcim.ConsolePortTemplate: Added field type
• dcim.ConsoleServerPort: Added field type
• dcim.ConsoleServerPortTemplate: Added field type
• dcim.DeviceRole: Added field description
• dcim.PowerPort: Added field type
• dcim.PowerPortTemplate: Added field type
• dcim.PowerOutlet: Added field type
• dcim.PowerOutletTemplate: Added field type
• dcim.RackRole: Added field description
• extras.Graph: Added field template_language (to indicate django or jinja2)
• extras.Graph: The type field has been changed to a content type foreign key. Models are specified as <app>.<model>; e.g. dcim.site.
• ipam.Role: Added field description
• secrets.SecretRole: Added field description
• virtualization.Cluster: Added field tenant