Upgrade NetBox from 2.11.10 to 4.6.x - check my workflow?

[MattDRogers]

I'm inheriting an organization's current NetBox environment and it's still running 2.11.10. My goal is to get this to the latest 4.6.x version. After reading through some similar discussions, and taking into account my own previous experience with a different organization, I have come up with the following method:

Starting at 2.11.10 on Ubuntu 18.x.x VM:

• dump/export the database
• build a new Ubuntu 20.x.x VM
• install NetBox 3.7.x on new Ubuntu 20 VM
• import database (2.11.10)
• run update script
• test to see if NetBox is working as expected
• if no, debug
• if yes, export/dump the database (now 3.7.x)
• build a new Ubuntu 24.04 VM
• install NetBox 4.6.x on new Ubuntu 24.04 VM
• import database (3.7.x)
• run update script
• test to see if NetBox is working as expected
• profit

My goal is to be as non-destructive as possible and to try to match the old, intermediate and current versions to a native Ubuntu environment/build that ships with a compatible base python version. There will be other issues to consider once we get their NetBox up to date, such as external systems grabbing NetBox data using the API. I think they'll just have to use newer more secure tokens?

There were some other pitfalls I remember encountering while doing upgrades over the years like the "Contacts" for Sites causing issues or the psyco-pg thing. I think by deleting any "Contacts" before proceeding I'll not get hung up on that one. And I think I'm skipping over the psyco-pg issue here too. If anybody spots any glaring red flags in my methodology, can you please point them out? Thanks.

[markkuleinio]

If you run into problems when installing older NetBox versions, you can check https://github.com/markkuleinio/netbox-freezes to see the then-up-to-date list of package dependencies.

Also see #20582: I had a database migration problem when upgrading from 3.7.3 to 4.4.3. The solution was to first upgrade to 4.3.7, then 4.4.3 migrations worked normally.

[MattDRogers]

I believe I ran into this one as well. Thanks for the reminder. I'll add a step to go through version 4.3.7 before proceeding. And I will definitely make use of the resource you listed.

[markkuleinio]

There will be other issues to consider once we get their NetBox up to date, such as external systems grabbing NetBox data using the API. I think they'll just have to use newer more secure tokens?

Oh there are a lot of API changes when going from 2.x to 4.x, you need to read all the release notes carefully and then adapt the external applications as needed.

V2 tokens are not required yet so you may want to postpone the token syntax changes at this point if you need to limit the amount of changes you have to do at the same time.

[MattDRogers]

Good to know. This is going to be a sticking point, I'm sure. I'll make sure I grab someone who understands this way better than me to run this by. Thanks again, Mark.

[netravnen]

install NetBox 3.7.x on new Ubuntu 20 VM

I expect you to break your back doing this. --> The backup will contain different DB columns and layout compared to the 3.x branch out the gate. If you initialise the DB using the 3.x DB schema.

Starting at 2.11.10 on Ubuntu 18.x.x VM:

I can recommend to do a VM clone of the Netbox VM and try the in-place upgrade of both Netbox, Python, and the Ubuntu OS.

Canonical do have the EOL versions available (DEB pkg's) on a different URI than in-support versions. --> Edit the /etc/apt/sources.list URI's and run the do-release-upgrade to upgrade to the next LTS release (18 -> 20 -> 22 -> 24 -> 26)

• In-support/current: https://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/
• EOL: https://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/

PLUGINS

You did not mention anything about this bulletin. Heavily read the combability notes of any enabled 3rd party plugins. And lock the versions to be installed in the local_requirements file. Otherwise, it is gonna be a "world of pain".