NetBox Automation with Ansible & Python Masterclass

This repository contains the official code, scripts, and automation playbooks for the NetBox Automation with Ansible & Python Masterclass course.

🚀 Enroll in the Course on Udemy

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🎓 What You Will Learn

• Master NetBox as a Single Source of Truth (SSoT) for multi-vendor network automation (Cisco, Fortinet, Juniper, Palo Alto, Arista).
• Full-stack NetBox Installation: Deploy using Docker on Windows (WSL), MacOS, and AWS EC2.
• Lifecycle Management: Automate NetBox using Ansible modules and Python libraries (pynetbox & Requests).
• Organizational Hierarchies: Build and manage Regions, Sites, Locations, and Tenants at scale.
• Device Modeling: Orchestrate End-to-End Rack and Device modeling, including modular chassis management.
• IPAM & VLANs: Implement advanced strategies, including auto-assignment of Management IPs and SVI creation.
• Infrastructure Components: Manage Circuits, Providers, VPNs, and Wireless LANs.
• REST API Mastery: Use Postman and Swagger for advanced Filtering and Pagination.
• Next-Gen Features: Utilize NetBox Branching (Git-style) and Co-pilot for safe data staging.
• Data Integration: Sync NetBox with external sources like GitHub and AWS S3.
• Dynamic Inventory: Leverage the Ansible Inventory Plugin to use NetBox for real-time network deployments.
• Custom Scripts: Develop internal NetBox scripts for bulk tasks and compliance checks.
• Configuration Management: Render device configurations using Config Contexts and Jinja2 Templates.
• Virtualization & Cabling: Model Virtual Machines, Server Clusters, and Physical Cabling.
• Plugins & Extensions: Install and configure popular plugins like BGP and Topology View.
• Network Discovery: Explore next-gen discovery with NetBox Diode and Orb Agent.
• Administrative Automation: Automate Custom Fields, Journal Entries, and Webhook Event Rules.

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📜 Comprehensive Syllabus & Topics Covered

1. Introduction & Environment Setup

• NetBox Design Philosophy & Architecture Explained
• Installation: Windows (Docker/WSL2), MacOS (Docker Desktop), and AWS EC2
• VS Code Setup for Network Automation
• Accessing NetBox Public Demo & Labs Cloud Instance

2. Building Your First Inventory

• Adding Sites, Manufacturers, Device Roles, and Types
• Understanding NetBox Data Relationships
• Strategic Planning: Importing Data via CSV (Tenants, Regions, Sites)

3. NetBox Features: Co-pilot & Branching

• Enabling Co-pilot in Community Edition
• Git-style Branching for staging infrastructure changes

4. REST API & Programmatic Access

• NetBox Token V1 vs V2 Security
• API Operations: GET, POST, PUT, PATCH using Postman
• Handling Pagination and Bulk Operations

5. Ansible & Python Automation

• Ansible Inventory setup & URI Module examples
• Python Integration: Using Requests and the official PyNetBox library
• Idempotency: Implementing custom checks to prevent data noise
• Full Organizational Data reset scripts

6. Rack & Device Orchestration

• Rack Modeling: Manufacturers, Roles, and types at scale
• Device Inventory: Manual vs. Programmatic onboarding
• Modular Systems: Chassis and Module Slot assignment (Cisco/Multi-vendor)

7. Config Contexts & Templates

• Creating Config Context Profiles and JSON Schemas
• Rendering device configurations via Jinja2 Templates

8. Dynamic Inventory & Network Deployment

• NetBox as a Dynamic Source for Ansible
• Discovering devices and assigning Primary IPs via automation
• Deploying rendered configs to live POC Lab devices

9. Circuits, Power, & Physical Connectivity

• Cabling: Connecting interfaces, Power Panels, and PDUs
• Circuits: Modeling Providers and Terminations via Python/Ansible

10. IPAM, VPN, & Wireless

• Automating VLAN SVI creation and IP Prefix assignments
• VPN Modeling: IPSec Profiles and DMVPN Tunnel Terminations
• Wireless Groups and WLAN management

11. Virtualization & Server Modeling

• Modeling Virtual Machines (VMs) and Server Clusters
• Connecting Server cables to Network Switches

12. Advanced Customization & Plugins

• Automation of Custom Fields, Export Templates, and Webhooks
• Setting up Data Sources (AWS S3, Git, Local)
• Plugins: BGP, Topology View, and NetBox Diode/Orb Agent discovery

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🚀 More Courses by NetworkEvolution

Looking to expand your automation toolkit? Check out my other highly-rated courses:

• Python for Network Engineers – Master Python from scratch with a focus on real-world NetDevOps use cases.
• Ansible Course for Network Engineers – Master infrastructure-as-code for Cisco, NetBox, and Palo Alto environments.

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⚡️ Getting Started

This project uses uv for Python dependency management. Follow these two steps to build your automation environment.

Prerequisites

Ensure you have uv installed on your machine.

# macOS / Linux
curl -LsSf [https://astral.sh/uv/install.sh](https://astral.sh/uv/install.sh) | sh

# Windows
powershell -c "irm [https://astral.sh/uv/install.ps1](https://astral.sh/uv/install.ps1) | iex"

Setup Instructions

Step 1: Install Python Libraries

First, install the Python tools (Ansible engine, pynetbox, and helper libraries) into a virtual environment.

uv sync

What this does: It reads pyproject.toml and creates an isolated Python environment so this project doesn't conflict with other work on your machine.

Step 2: Install Ansible Collections

Next, install the specific Ansible modules needed to talk to Netbox (defined in requirements.yml).

uv run ansible-galaxy collection install -r requirements.yml

What this does: It downloads the netbox.netbox collection from Ansible Galaxy.

Note: We use uv run to ensure we use the local version of Ansible installed in Step 1, not your system version.

Step 3: Verify Setup

Check that the environment is correctly using the local Ansible version.

uv run ansible --version

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