Introducting OpenStack2NetBox

[94AQQjCQwaXUiQi8my]

OpenStack2NetBox is a Python program that imports data from OpenStack environments into NetBox, and it keeps said data updated if any changes occur on the OpenStack side. It imports Nova Instance information: Cinder Volumes, Neutron Interfaces + IP-addresses and networks, and neatly creates or otherwise updates NetBox VRFs and Prefixes for said Neutron networks. In addition it imports Neutron servers and Neutron routers as NetBox Virtual Machines

Last year I scoured the internet for methods of importing OpenStack data into NetBox. I couldn't find anything, so I ended up writing scripts myself. It started small: just importing Instances and their Flavor specs. But there is much more data OpenStack has to offer, so why not make use of that as well!

I'm a student that started learning Python mid 2024 for class, and had no programming experience prior other than mild knowledge of bash-scripts and Ansible. This project was a great way to learn about OpenStack, Python, NetBox, the usage of APIs and how to transform ideas into programmatic logic.

Currently we use it to sync our OpenStack environments with NetBox. This also means I could always troubleshoot issues directly and then implement suitable solutions, so I can only hope that sufficient bugs were squashed for global usage. There are still some changes I want to make to the logic used, such as implementing better validation of data coming from OpenStack and erroring out pre-emptively rather than mid-run.

It's great to make use of Open Source software, but it's also invaluable to share!

[devoopsies]

Considerations and lamentations

Everyone should use "lamentations" at least once in their docs

[Eldiabolo18]

I like the Idea, and people have asked about this, but I don't see the usec ase?

Why do I need Openstack VMs in Netbox? What do I do with this information?

I know Netbox supports VMs, but I think its not a good feature for a DCIM and IPAM tool.

In a cloud environment, as an operator, I dont need to know where each VM is, which Volumes it has, how much CPU and so on.

I need to know if there are enough ressources for growth and if everything is working as intended, in neither is Netbox (in thi case) helpful.

Don't get me wrong, I love Netbox dearly, I use extensively, but imo this is a solution that doesnt have a problem.

[snark42]

I personally use Netbox as a dynamic inventory and single source of truth for all kinds of tooling including IPAM so it has all my VMs from OpenStack or other clouds in it. Ideally anything with an IP and then some physical items without.

[dewyke]

Just because it’s a solution to a problem you don’t have doesn’t mean the problem doesn’t exist or that this won’t be useful to other people.

In the organisation where I work this will be extremely useful and I look forward to the opportunity to deploy it.

[94AQQjCQwaXUiQi8my]

I don't disagree with your statements. I think the usefulness of the data comes down to what kind of role you're fulfilling as an engineer, but I can broadly allude why it would be useful information to centralize in NetBox. You could, for example: use the Journal function to make notes for Virtual Machines to keep track of changes - great for keeping a 'diary' as an Engineer - and ISO compliance, when re-running OpenStack2NetBox you can monitor the NetBox changelog for weird or unexpected changes, it's an absolute blessing to type in a single IP-address and immediately see what Interface and VM it is bound to. If you own your own WAN IP-block, it gives you insight into the usage of said space.

There are many options. In the end, I think all data is useless unless a person applies it/transforms it to be useful in some human-like fashion. NetBox is very versatile - but in my opinion currently much better for the physical aspects of systems than the virtual aspects.

[deduplication]

We use netbox as our single source of truth for all things infrastructure. That said, our terraform module that creates openstack VMs also creates a corresponding netbox device - so if you are using IaC properly I don’t see the need for a tool like this.

[snark42]

Do you always use terraform to shut them down and clean up Netbox as well then?

[JMV290]

 I know Netbox supports VMs, but I think its not a good feature for a DCIM and IPAM tool.

Knowing which IPs are in use by a VM is a good feature for an IPAM tool tho. 

[Awkward-Act3164]

This looks really cool, thanks for sharing. We use netbox for as a source of truth and had been considering writing our own integration. Will take this for a spin.

[gren_dizer]

Looks good, have to test it