netbox

Netbox with Tailscale Sidecar Configuration

This Docker Compose configuration sets up Netbox with Tailscale as a sidecar container to securely access your Network layout over a private Tailscale network. By using Tailscale in a sidecar configuration, you can enhance the security and privacy, ensuring that they are only accessible within your Tailscale network.

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Netbox

Netbox exists to empower network engineers. Since its release in 2016, it has become the go-to solution for modeling and documenting network infrastructure for thousands of organizations worldwide. As a successor to legacy IPAM and DCIM applications, NetBox provides a cohesive, extensive, and accessible data model for all things networked.

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Configuration Overview

In this setup, the tailscale-netbox service runs Tailscale, which manages secure networking for the Netbox application. The netbox application uses the Tailscale network stack via Docker's network_mode: service: configuration. This setup ensures that your Netbox application is only accessible through the Tailscale network (or local as well, if preferred).

Files to Check

Ensure the following files are correctly configured:

• .env — contains environment variables and authentication keys.
• ./config/serve.json — defines how Tailscale serves the n8n web interface securely on port 443.

Running the Stack

docker compose up -d

Creating the Super User

For the 1st time login, the super user needs to be created. Run the following command:

docker compose exec netbox /opt/netbox/netbox/manage.py createsuperuser

Adding Netbox Plugins

Netbox has many plugins available to make your life easier. These need to be installed inside the container as follows:

#Connect to the container
docker compose exec -it netbox /bin/bash
#The container has no PIP but does have curl and python preinstalled
curl https://bootstrap.pypa.io/get-pip.py -o get-pip.py
python get-pip.py
#..and install the text editor required for the next steps.
pip install pyvim

After this, you can follow the instructions from the page like (aio):

source /opt/netbox/venv/bin/activate
pip install netbox-acls netbox-topology-views netbox-config-diff netbox-interface-synchronization netbox-routing netbox-security netbox-validity netbox-plugin-dns netbox-contract netbox-secrets
## edit the file // different file 
pyvim /etc/netbox/config/plugins.py 
# submit the following
PLUGINS=["netbox_acls","netbox_topology_views","netbox_config_diff","netbox_interface_synchronization","netbox_routing","netbox_security","validity","netbox_dns","netbox_contract","netbox_secrets"]
PLUGINS_CONFIG = {
    "netbox_config_diff": {
        "USERNAME": "foo", # define here your RADIUS/TACACS username 
        "PASSWORD": "bar", # define here your RADIUS/TACACS password 
        "AUTH_SECONDARY": "foobar",  # define here password for accessing Privileged EXEC mode, this variable is optional
        "PATH_TO_SSH_CONFIG_FILE": "/home/.ssh/config",  # define here PATH to SSH config file, it will be used for device connections, this variable is optional
    },
}
## similar to vim save the file and exit using :wq
python3 /opt/netbox/netbox/manage.py migrate
python3 /opt/netbox/netbox/manage.py collectstatic
## If error, the configuration.py file has not been edited correctly.
## Exit the container
exit
## Restart the container
docker restart netbox  

All the plugins from this list should be active.

Troubleshooting

To view logs:

docker compose logs -f netbox
docker compose logs -f tailscale