Back in December, we introduced the public preview of the open-source NetBox Discovery agent, designed to streamline network and device discovery and make ingestion into NetBox quick and seamless. As a lightweight, extensible service, the NetBox Discovery agent simplifies data collection, ensuring your network inventory remains accurate and up to date.
Today, we’re excited to unveil a major enhancement—Extensible Integrations support for the NetBox Discovery agent. This new feature is designed to support customizable and modular integrations with other systems and enables users to extend the scope of data that can be collected while leveraging the native orchestration capabilities of the NetBox Discovery agent, allowing for a more comprehensive approach to network discovery that matches the complexity and diversity of modern infrastructures.
What’s New?
We’ve introduced a new Worker backend for the NetBox Discovery agent, allowing custom integration code (written as Python modules) to be loaded and executed as part of the agent. This enables users to:
- Define custom discovery logic tailored to their environments.
- Add support for additional discovery protocols.
- Expand available data sources for discovery by connecting to various external tools, platforms, and APIs (e.g., monitoring systems, CMDBs, automation tools, network controllers).
The implementation follows a model similar to NetBox Custom Scripts, providing a flexible and extensible framework for automating network discovery and data collection.
The Worker backend for NetBox Discovery agents opens up many new possibilities. We’re excited to see how the community uses Workers to deliver value by building integrations with external systems. We’re already using it to build and deliver integrations with popular tools, such as Juniper Mist, VMWare vCenter, Microsoft DHCP and Cisco Catalyst Center. The Worker framework allows integrations to be built in a repeatable way while addressing the unique and often complex logic required for automated data extraction and synchronization with NetBox.
Why This Matters
Network environments are inherently diverse, with multiple sources of data contributing to a complete network view. The ability to extend network discovery ensures comprehensive coverage, reducing gaps and inconsistencies. By integrating external systems and sources of network data with NetBox using the NetBox Discovery agent, users can:
- Minimize manual data entry and prevent configuration drift.
- Visualize and manage operational drift using the upcoming NetBox Assurance.
- Gain real-time visibility into virtualized and cloud-managed infrastructure.
- Customize and extend NetBox Discovery to align with operational needs.
Getting Started with Extensible Integrations Support for NetBox Discovery Agent
To learn more about the new Worker backend, check out the NetBox Discovery agent documentation for details on writing and deploying custom discovery code or have a look at the provided implementation example. The framework allows you to repackage your existing custom integration code or build your own new integrations to fit your specific organizational requirements.
What’s Next?
This is just the beginning! Our supported integrations with Juniper Mist and VMWare vCenter – currently in private preview – are built using the NetBox Discovery Worker framework, with many more integrations in the works. Stay tuned for future updates, and let us know which integrations you’d like to see next!
Try it out today and take control of your network discovery!
