Device OOB IP may become orphaned

[Christophoclese]

NetBox Edition

NetBox Community

NetBox Version

v4.4.8-Docker-3.4.2

Python Version

3.12

Steps to Reproduce

1. Create a new device (Device 1)
2. Add an interface (to Device 1)
3. Assign an IP address to the new interface on Device 1, making sure to check the Make this the out-of-band IP for the device option
4. Create a new device (Device 2)
5. Add an interface (to Device 2)
6. Edit the IP created in Step 3
   a. Change the Interface assignment to Device 2's new interface
   b. Uncheck the Make this the out-of-band IP for the device option
   c. Save

Expected Behavior

• IP address is assigned to Interface on Device 2
• OOB IP removed from Device 1 as the IP address is no longer associated with that device

Observed Behavior

• Device 1 details page shows OOB IP
• IP address details shows assignment to Device 2
• Unable to merge branches which modify any attribute of Device 1

[Christophoclese]

FWIW, I also tried to reproduce this issue for Primary IP. When loading the IP Address edit page, if the Make this the primary IP for the device/VM was previously checked, the Interface selection box is disabled. This makes it so you cannot reassign the IP from the IP Address edit page.

[pheus]

Thanks for opening the issue and for digging into the primary IP behavior. I agree an IP address designated as an OOB IP should behave the same way.

I’m planning to address this by disabling the interface reassignment field while the IP is set as either the primary or OOB IP (to prevent creating an orphaned device reference).
I’m happy to open a PR for the fix. Could you please assign the issue to me? Thanks!

[Christophoclese]

Sounds like a reasonable approach to me! That should definitely prevent anyone from using the UI to put their database into a bad state. I don't know if there's anything deeper that needs to be looked at-- didn't try to do anything with API calls.

One thing we may need to consider is handling the scenario where someone has already introduced this data anomaly into their database?