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Alex Gittings, a solution architect at IP Fabric, presents a demonstration of a plugin that integrates IP Fabric with NetBox, a source of truth database for network automation. The plugin allows for the automatic synchronization of observed network state data into NetBox, which can be used to maintain an up-to-date source of truth for network automation purposes. This functionality is available for both the open-source and cloud-based versions of NetBox.
During the demo, Alex shows how a network discovered by IP Fabric can be imported into NetBox, including devices, interfaces, VLANs, VRFs, prefixes, and IP addresses. He explains that IP Fabric supports both cloud and on-premises versions of NetBox and demonstrates how to create an ingestion process to synchronize data from IP Fabric into NetBox. The plugin translates data from IP Fabric’s model to NetBox’s model using transform maps.
Alex also addresses questions regarding the plugin’s capabilities and limitations, such as its focus on the underlay network rather than the overlay, its ability to support various technologies, and how it can be used for compliance and change tracking. He explains that while IP Fabric captures snapshots of network state periodically, it does not support real-time monitoring, which means out-of-band changes may not be immediately reflected.
The demo concludes with a discussion on the potential for integration with other tools like Terraform and the challenges of maintaining a single source of truth for network state. Alex emphasizes the importance of aligning tooling with processes to ensure that the network source of truth remains accurate and effective for automation purposes.
Personnel: Alex Gittings
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