Air-gapped computer / isolated system / disconnected network setup

[rwiesler]

Hello to all,

Since "It is not a bug, but a feature" I would like to propose the following feature change within the functionality of NetBox.

NetBox version

v4.X.X

Feature type

Change to existing functionality

Proposed functionality

The NetBox instance should be runable in a performant way within a air-gapped setup. Therefore it is required to mitigate the network connectivity for the update notification in home.html in combination with netbox/view/misc.py and the NetBox News widget.

For clearance: Line 17 has to be deleted in home.html.

Fixing the census endpoint hostname (#16367) is another source for potential delay CENSUS_REPORTING_ENABLED in netbox/settings.py

Ideally the NetBox update notification is moved within a widget function and can than be disabled using the /opt/netbox/netbox/netbox/configuration.py file and adding only the default functions of /opt/netbox/netbox/netbox/constants.py at the end of /opt/netbox/netbox/configuration.py without the 'widget': 'extras.RSSFeedWidget' and then existing 'widget': 'extras.UpdateNotificationWidget'.

Furthermore the documentation will be extended with a document /opt/netbox/docs/installation/7-airgaped.md in which the default parameters for a air-gapped setup are described and the release checklist will contain a bulletpoint 'Tested within air-gapped system setup'.

/opt/netbox/netbox/netbox/configuration.py at end of file after TIME_ZONE = 'UTC' (from line 235 on in default configuration_example.py):

### Air-gapped system setup ###
CENSUS_REPORTING_ENABLED = False

DASHBOARD = [
    {
        'widget': 'extras.BookmarksWidget',
        'width': 4,
        'height': 5,
        'title': 'Bookmarks',
        'color': 'orange',
    },
    {
        'widget': 'extras.ObjectCountsWidget',
        'width': 4,
        'height': 2,
        'title': 'Organization',
        'config': {
            'models': [
                'dcim.site',
                'tenancy.tenant',
                'tenancy.contact',
            ]
        }
    },
    {
        'widget': 'extras.NoteWidget',
        'width': 4,
        'height': 2,
        'title': 'Welcome!',
        'color': 'green',
        'config': {
            'content': (
                'This is your personal dashboard. Feel free to customize it by rearranging, resizing, or removing '
                'widgets. You can also add new widgets using the "add widget" button below. Any changes affect only '
                '_your_ dashboard, so feel free to experiment!'
            )
        }
    },
    {
        'widget': 'extras.ObjectCountsWidget',
        'width': 4,
        'height': 3,
        'title': 'IPAM',
        'config': {
            'models': [
                'ipam.vrf',
                'ipam.aggregate',
                'ipam.prefix',
                'ipam.iprange',
                'ipam.ipaddress',
                'ipam.vlan',
            ]
        }
    },
    {
        'widget': 'extras.ObjectCountsWidget',
        'width': 4,
        'height': 3,
        'title': 'Circuits',
        'config': {
            'models': [
                'circuits.provider',
                'circuits.circuit',
                'circuits.providernetwork',
                'circuits.provideraccount',
            ]
        }
    },
    {
        'widget': 'extras.ObjectCountsWidget',
        'width': 4,
        'height': 3,
        'title': 'DCIM',
        'config': {
            'models': [
                'dcim.site',
                'dcim.rack',
                'dcim.devicetype',
                'dcim.device',
                'dcim.cable',
            ],
        }
    },
    {
        'widget': 'extras.ObjectCountsWidget',
        'width': 4,
        'height': 2,
        'title': 'Virtualization',
        'config': {
            'models': [
                'virtualization.cluster',
                'virtualization.virtualmachine',
            ]
        }
    },
    {
        'widget': 'extras.ObjectListWidget',
        'width': 12,
        'height': 5,
        'title': 'Change Log',
        'color': 'blue',
        'config': {
            'model': 'extras.objectchange',
            'page_size': 25,
        }
    },
]

Use case

With Release 3.4.7(?) / 3.5.0 ( #12128, #9416, #12384 , #12376 ) the behaviour changed and introduced up to 7 seconds delay (a slow down recognizeable with the web devoloper tools of your prefered web browser and shown in the network monitor tab) during initial site loading, login and logout of NetBox when run within an isolated network.

After introducing this change the average site loading will be less than < 3 seconds (cold cache) and more snappy (hot cache) within the range < 20 to 300 ms as expierienced with the Public NetBox demo website.

Database changes

None

External dependencies

None

Thank you very much for continued maintenance of the project and feel free to adapt this discussion to the appropriate issue template.

This post has been edited to also add (#6966 and #16367).

[rwiesler]

See also Introduce a configuration parameter for signifying an offline or air-gapped deployment #17051

[rwiesler]

Starting with Release v4.1.0 onwards the configuration file would look like this:

/opt/netbox/netbox/netbox/configuration.py at end of file after TIME_ZONE = 'UTC' (from line 235 on in default configuration_example.py):

### Air-gapped system setup ###
ISOLATED_DEPLOYMENT = True

DASHBOARD = [
    {
        'widget': 'extras.BookmarksWidget',
        'width': 4,
        'height': 5,
        'title': 'Bookmarks',
        'color': 'orange',
    },
    {
        'widget': 'extras.ObjectCountsWidget',
        'width': 4,
        'height': 2,
        'title': 'Organization',
        'config': {
            'models': [
                'dcim.site',
                'tenancy.tenant',
                'tenancy.contact',
            ]
        }
    },
    {
        'widget': 'extras.NoteWidget',
        'width': 4,
        'height': 2,
        'title': 'Welcome!',
        'color': 'green',
        'config': {
            'content': (
                'This is your personal dashboard. Feel free to customize it by rearranging, resizing, or removing '
                'widgets. You can also add new widgets using the "add widget" button below. Any changes affect only '
                '_your_ dashboard, so feel free to experiment!'
            )
        }
    },
    {
        'widget': 'extras.ObjectCountsWidget',
        'width': 4,
        'height': 3,
        'title': 'IPAM',
        'config': {
            'models': [
                'ipam.vrf',
                'ipam.aggregate',
                'ipam.prefix',
                'ipam.iprange',
                'ipam.ipaddress',
                'ipam.vlan',
            ]
        }
    },
    {
        'widget': 'extras.ObjectCountsWidget',
        'width': 4,
        'height': 3,
        'title': 'Circuits',
        'config': {
            'models': [
                'circuits.provider',
                'circuits.circuit',
                'circuits.providernetwork',
                'circuits.provideraccount',
            ]
        }
    },
    {
        'widget': 'extras.ObjectCountsWidget',
        'width': 4,
        'height': 3,
        'title': 'DCIM',
        'config': {
            'models': [
                'dcim.site',
                'dcim.rack',
                'dcim.devicetype',
                'dcim.device',
                'dcim.cable',
            ],
        }
    },
    {
        'widget': 'extras.ObjectCountsWidget',
        'width': 4,
        'height': 2,
        'title': 'Virtualization',
        'config': {
            'models': [
                'virtualization.cluster',
                'virtualization.virtualmachine',
            ]
        }
    },
    {
        'widget': 'extras.ObjectListWidget',
        'width': 12,
        'height': 5,
        'title': 'Change Log',
        'color': 'blue',
        'config': {
            'model': 'extras.objectchange',
            'page_size': 25,
        }
    },
]