EDA NetBox Integration Lab

This lab demonstrates the integration between Nokia EDA and NetBox for IPAM (IP Address Management) synchronization. It shows how EDA can dynamically create allocation pools based on NetBox's IPAM Prefixes and post allocated objects back to NetBox.

Overview

The NetBox app in EDA enables:

• Dynamic creation of allocation pools based on NetBox Prefixes
• Synchronization of allocated resources back to NetBox
• Automated tracking of resource ownership

Prerequisites

• Working EDA installation
• kubectl access to the EDA cluster
• uv tool (will be installed by init script)
• helm v3.x installed - https://helm.sh/docs/intro/install/

Lab Components

Topology

• 2 Spine switches (spine1, spine2)
• 2 Leaf switches (leaf1, leaf2)
• 2 Linux servers (server1, server2)
• All devices are Nokia SR Linux based

NetBox Integration Features

• Webhook for real-time updates
• Event rules for IPAM synchronization
• Custom fields for EDA tracking
• Pre-configured tags and prefixes

Quick Start

1. Initialize the lab:

   ./init.sh

   This will:

   • Install NetBox using Helm ( takes ~10 minutes )
   • Create Kubernetes secrets
   • Configure webhook endpoint
   • Set up initial prefixes and tags

2. Configure NetBox (optional - for manual setup):

   uv run scripts/configure_netbox.py

3. Deploy Containerlab topology:

   containerlab deploy -t eda-nb.clab.yaml

4. Import topology to EDA:

   clab-connector integrate \
   --topology-data clab-eda-nb/topology-data.json \
   --eda-url "https://$(cat .eda_api_address)" \
   --skip-edge-intfs

5. Apply EDA resources:

   # Install NetBox app
   kubectl apply -f manifests/0001_netbox_app_install.yaml
   
   # Wait for the netbox app to be ready
   
   # Apply remaining resources
   kubectl apply -f manifests/

Accessing Services

NetBox UI

• URL: Check .netbox_url file or run kubectl get svc -n netbox
• Username: admin
• Password: netbox

EDA API

• Stored in .eda_api_address file

Resource Types

NetBox Instance

Defines connection to NetBox:

apiVersion: netbox.eda.nokia.com/v1alpha1
kind: Instance
metadata:
  name: netbox
  namespace: eda
spec:
  url: http://netbox-server.netbox.svc.cluster.local
  apiToken: netbox-api-token
  signatureKey: netbox-webhook-signature

Allocation Resources

Map NetBox prefixes to EDA allocation pools:

Type	EDA Pool	Use Case
ip-address	IPAllocationPool	System IPs
ip-in-subnet	IPInSubnetAllocationPool	Management IPs
subnet	SubnetAllocationPool	ISL links

Example Workflow

1. Create Prefix in NetBox:

   • Navigate to IPAM → Prefixes
   • Add prefix (e.g., 192.168.100.0/24)
   • Set Status to Active (for IP pools) or Container (for subnet pools)
   • Add appropriate tag (e.g., eda-systemip-v4)

2. EDA Creates Allocation Pool:

   • NetBox sends webhook to EDA
   • EDA creates matching allocation pool
   • Pool name matches Allocation resource name

3. Use in Fabric:

   apiVersion: fabrics.eda.nokia.com/v1alpha1
   kind: Fabric
   metadata:
     name: netbox-ebgp-fabric
   spec:
     systemPoolIPV4: nb-systemip-v4
     interSwitchLinks:
       poolIPV4: nb-isl-v4

4. View Allocations in NetBox:

   • Allocated IPs appear under original prefix
   • Custom fields show EDA owner and allocation

Pre-configured Resources

Tags

• eda-systemip-v4 - IPv4 System IPs
• eda-systemip-v6 - IPv6 System IPs
• eda-isl-v4 - IPv4 ISL subnets
• eda-isl-v6 - IPv6 ISL subnets
• eda-mgmt-v4 - Management IPs
• EDAManaged - Auto-assigned to EDA allocations

Prefixes

• 192.168.10.0/24 - System IPs (Active)
• 10.0.0.0/16 - ISL subnets (Container)
• 2001:db8::/32 - IPv6 System IPs (Active)
• 2005::/64 - IPv6 ISL subnets (Container)
• 172.16.0.0/16 - Management IPs (Active)

Troubleshooting

Check NetBox connectivity:

kubectl get instance netbox -n clab-eda-nb -o yaml

View allocation status:

kubectl get allocation -n clab-eda-nb

Check webhook logs:

kubectl logs -n eda-system -l app=netbox

Port forwarding (if LoadBalancer not available):

kubectl port-forward -n netbox service/netbox-server 8001:80 --address=0.0.0.0

Cleanup

To remove all lab resources:

./cleanup.sh
containerlab destroy -t eda-nb.clab.yaml

Additional Resources

• EDA NetBox App Detailed Guide - Comprehensive documentation on the NetBox app including configuration examples and troubleshooting
• NetBox Documentation
• Containerlab Documentation