Hi! We're using a Python script to import devices from a Cisco DNA inventory, but I can't seem to find a way to set a device group for the devices through the API. I'm using PATCH with the "/api/1/netbox/{netbox_id}/" endpoint, but as far as I can understand from the source code, it only supports certain special attributes like "organizationid", "roomid" etc. and not arbitrary device attributes.
Is this implemented? If not, would it be easy for me to implement a new API endpoint attribute for this or would this tie into a lot of other things?
-- Med vennlig hilsen Håvard Ose Nordstrand Overingeniør – Faggruppe Nett NTNU IT, Drift
[cid:8e2b2110-e280-4f3f-8c21-434fb33f3b8b]
On Mon, 7 Aug 2023 09:18:51 +0000 (1 day, 3 hours, 16 minutes ago) Håvard Ose Nordstrand havard.o.nordstrand@ntnu.no wrote:
Hi! We're using a Python script to import devices from a Cisco DNA inventory, but I can't seem to find a way to set a device group for the devices through the API. I'm using PATCH with the "/api/1/netbox/{netbox_id}/" endpoint, but as far as I can understand from the source code, it only supports certain special attributes like "organizationid", "roomid" etc. and not arbitrary device attributes.
The endpoint should support modification of all Netbox attributes that aren't reserved for internal use by NAV.
Is this implemented?
No, as device groups aren't an attribute of the Netbox model. Device groups (or rather, `NetboxGroup`, as the model is named internally) have a many-to-many relationship with the `Netbox` model, but the `netbox` API endpoint provides the meta-attribute `groups` that is an auto-generated/computed read-only attribute.
If not, would it be easy for me to implement a new API endpoint attribute for this or would this tie into a lot of other things?
The API currently lacks an endpoint for manipulating even groups themselves. `netboxgroup` would be the natural name for an endpoint dealing with the groups themselves. Implementing this should be rather straightforward and standalone.
The question is what would be the best way to manipulate actual memberships through the API. IMHO, there are at least two ways to go about it:
1. Add a new endpoint to manipulate the `NetboxCategory` model (the M2M intermediary table that maps memberships in groups) directly.
or
2. Alter the `netbox` endpoint to handle patch operations on the computed `groups` attribute. Conversely, the `netboxgroup` endpoint should be implemented and have a similarly writable `netboxes` field in its API to list the members of each group.
None of this should have any impact on the API version as long as existing formats and operations are changed in a non-compatible way.
Ok, that makes sense, thanks for the info. Seems like a bit more work than I expected, so I'll retract my offer to contribute to this (for now, at least). This isn't a need-to-have for us but would definitely make it more seamless to integrate NAV with network platforms managing their own inventories.
-- Med vennlig hilsen Håvard Ose Nordstrand Overingeniør – Faggruppe Nett NTNU IT, Drift
________________________________ Fra: Morten Brekkevold morten.brekkevold@sikt.no Sendt: tirsdag 8. august 2023 14:35 Til: Håvard Ose Nordstrand havard.o.nordstrand@ntnu.no Kopi: nav-users@lister.sikt.no nav-users@lister.sikt.no Emne: Re: [Nav-users] Setting device group for a device through API
On Mon, 7 Aug 2023 09:18:51 +0000 (1 day, 3 hours, 16 minutes ago) Håvard Ose Nordstrand havard.o.nordstrand@ntnu.no wrote:
Hi! We're using a Python script to import devices from a Cisco DNA inventory, but I can't seem to find a way to set a device group for the devices through the API. I'm using PATCH with the "/api/1/netbox/{netbox_id}/" endpoint, but as far as I can understand from the source code, it only supports certain special attributes like "organizationid", "roomid" etc. and not arbitrary device attributes.
The endpoint should support modification of all Netbox attributes that aren't reserved for internal use by NAV.
Is this implemented?
No, as device groups aren't an attribute of the Netbox model. Device groups (or rather, `NetboxGroup`, as the model is named internally) have a many-to-many relationship with the `Netbox` model, but the `netbox` API endpoint provides the meta-attribute `groups` that is an auto-generated/computed read-only attribute.
If not, would it be easy for me to implement a new API endpoint attribute for this or would this tie into a lot of other things?
The API currently lacks an endpoint for manipulating even groups themselves. `netboxgroup` would be the natural name for an endpoint dealing with the groups themselves. Implementing this should be rather straightforward and standalone.
The question is what would be the best way to manipulate actual memberships through the API. IMHO, there are at least two ways to go about it:
1. Add a new endpoint to manipulate the `NetboxCategory` model (the M2M intermediary table that maps memberships in groups) directly.
or
2. Alter the `netbox` endpoint to handle patch operations on the computed `groups` attribute. Conversely, the `netboxgroup` endpoint should be implemented and have a similarly writable `netboxes` field in its API to list the members of each group.
None of this should have any impact on the API version as long as existing formats and operations are changed in a non-compatible way.
-- Best regards Morten Brekkevold Senior engineer, The Data and Infrastructure Division
Phone: (+47) 735 57 802
Sikt – Norwegian Agency for Shared Services in Education and Research www.sikt.nohttp://www.sikt.no
On Wed, 9 Aug 2023 09:45:48 +0000 (5 weeks, 2 days, 2 hours ago) Håvard Ose Nordstrand havard.o.nordstrand@ntnu.no wrote:
Ok, that makes sense, thanks for the info. Seems like a bit more work than I expected, so I'll retract my offer to contribute to this (for now, at least). This isn't a need-to-have for us but would definitely make it more seamless to integrate NAV with network platforms managing their own inventories.
You should, nevertheless, submit this as a feature request at https://github.com/Uninett/nav/issues/new/choose . Nils-Arild did bring this up at the last reference group meeting, but we only had our memory of your e-mail to talk about.
As mentioned, I think this is a small task, but no-one will ever get around to it unless the details are in our issue tracker :)
-
Håvard Ose Nordstrand -
Morten Brekkevold