Once you have installed NetBox – you can check my post here – How to Install Netbox you are faced with an empty NetBox and you want to start adding devices but there is a bit of a hierarchy that you need to follow, in this post I will walk you through adding your first device to NetBox.
This post will cover how to do this using the GUI in the following post, I will show you how to do it using the NetBox API
The steps are basically
- Add a New Site
- Create a Device Role
- Create a Manufacturer
- Create a Device Type
- Create a Device
Adding your first device to Netbox
Once you have logged into your new NetBox installation, click on Devices under the Devices menu. You will see that it advises “Before you can add a device you must first create a site.
1. Add a new site
So let’s create a site, the Sites Menu is under Organisation at the top
Click on the Plus sign, whilst there a lot of fields you can fill in for a site, there are only 3 mandatory fields.
Name, Slug and Status
For this example I am going to create New York DC1, the slug is automatically formatted to new-york-dc-1 and Status is set to Active
Scroll to the bottom and click create.
Now we have a site, let’s create a Device!
But before we can create a Device we need to create a Device Role
What is a NetBox Device Role?
In NetBox, a Device Role is a label or classification that is used to define the purpose or function of a device within a network infrastructure. It helps categorize devices based on their primary role or use case, which is important for organizing and managing the network effectively.
For example, common device roles in NetBox might include:
- Router: A device used to route traffic between networks.
- Switch: A device that connects devices within the same network.
- Firewall: A device responsible for network security, controlling incoming and outgoing traffic.
- Server: A device that hosts applications, databases, or services.
- Access Point: A device that provides wireless network access.
- Load Balancer: A device that distributes incoming network traffic across multiple servers.
At each stage NetBox will guide you to create any missing elements if you get ahead of yourself by providing an Add button, but if you want to create a Device Role, it is located under Devices / Device Roles
Once in Device Roles click on Add – or you can just click the Add button in the Devices page.
Once you have created a single device role, new devices will not prompt you to add a role, but if you want to create more you will have to go back to the menu.
2. Create a device role
There are 3 mandatory fields for a Device Role, Name, Slug and Colour.
For this example, I am going to create Access Switch, the slug will automatically be access-switch and we can choose any colour.
Next un-check the VM role as this is not relevant for network devices.
Click Create
Now we have a Device Role, let’s create a Device!
Sadly, we have another step to go, we need to create a Device Type
What is a Device Type in NetBox?
In NetBox, a device type refers to the specific model or make of a device that is being tracked. It defines the hardware specifications and features of the device. Device types are used to group devices that share common characteristics or functionalities, making it easier to manage and categorize them within the network infrastructure.
A device type in NetBox typically includes details such as:
- Manufacturer: The company that makes the device.
- Model: The specific model of the device.
- Part Number: The unique identifier or part number for the device.
- Device Role: While the device role describes the function of the device (e.g., router, switch), the device type focuses on the physical hardware.
- Interface Specifications: The number and types of ports or interfaces the device has (e.g., Ethernet, SFP, fiber).
- Rack Units: If applicable, how many rack units (U) the device occupies in a server rack.
For example:
- A device type could be “Cisco Catalyst 2960X” (a specific model of switch).
- Another could be “Juniper SRX300” (a specific model of firewall).
Again, when trying to create a Device Netbox will tell you that you need to create a Device Type first.
You can either click on the Add button or access it directly under Device Types / Device Types
Before we can create a Device Type – we first need to create a Manufacturer!!
3. Create a Manufacturer
Again, you can click the Add button or access it directly under Device Types / Manufacturers
You only have 2 mandatory fields here – Name and Slug
So, let’s create Cisco and the slug of cisco will be automatically created
Click Create
4. Create a device type
Now we go back to Device Types and create our Access Switch Device Type with Manufacturer of Cisco
I have created my device type as Cisco Catalyst 9500 40X E, there are options to define Height in rack / full depth etc but we are not going to worry about that now.
Scroll to the bottom and click create
5. Create a device!
Now we have created all the pre-requisites we can now finally add our new device
You can see all the elements we have created in the previous sections are now available to select when creating your new device.
There are many options you can assign to a device, but these are the bare minimum requirements.
In the next post I will cover how to do this using code and directly configuring Netbox using the API
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