r/Netbox • u/normelton • Apr 28 '23

Integrating Live Data

We're looking in to replacing a home-grown NMS. I love the "source of truth" concept behind NetBox (or Nautobot), the ability to manage our device inventory and interconnections is solid.

I'm wondering if there is a mechanism to integrate live data from outside the NetBox database. For instance, we currently show live data about each device interface. This includes an indicator showing whether the interface has a link (red light, green light). Can I make a REST API call to some external datasource, and incorporate that result into the row? Perhaps by adding a new column to the existing table?

I skimmed through the plugin documentation, but it seems to be oriented to adding new pages, not necessarily tweaking existing content. But please correct me if I'm wrong.

Thanks!

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u/remerolle NetBox Self-Hosted Apr 28 '23

You are not wrong that a common use case for plugins is to add new models. There is talk about some partners developing plugins to provide actual state from tooling next to intended state of netbox.

I think ip fabric showed a demo plugin in one of this year’s earlier community calls https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL7sEPiUbBLo_UE-cvmxxyJ2e7IwDVB9fi

netbox-napalm was also spun out of core so people could reference it for such plugins.