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NetBox Discovery

NetBox Discovery is an advanced network discovery and observability solution designed to simplify documenting your network and help detect network drift. It extends NetBox by providing automated network and device discovery capabilities through the orb-agent, a lightweight and scalable discovery component.

Enterprise Benefits​

NetBox Discovery enables enterprise teams to:

  • Accelerate Network Documentation: Automatically discover and populate your NetBox instance with accurate network topology and device information
  • Ensure Compliance: Continuously audit your network against documented standards and detect unauthorized changes
  • Reduce Manual Effort: Eliminate time-consuming manual data entry and reduce human error in network documentation
  • Enable Automation: Maintain an accurate source of truth that powers network automation workflows
  • Detect Drift: Identify when your network configuration deviates from intended designs

Getting Started​

Ready to start discovering your network? Follow our comprehensive getting started guide:

Get Started with NetBox Discovery - Complete setup and configuration guide

Quick Start Paths​

For NetBox Enterprise Users:

For New Deployments:

Enterprise Use Cases​

Network Asset Management​

Automatically discover and maintain an accurate inventory of network devices, interfaces, and IP addresses across your enterprise infrastructure.

Ideal for: Large enterprises, multi-site deployments, compliance requirements

Network Auditing & Compliance​

Continuously scan your network to ensure configurations match documented standards and detect unauthorized changes.

Ideal for: Regulated industries, security-focused organizations, change management processes

Infrastructure Documentation​

Keep your network documentation current by automatically updating NetBox with discovered changes to your network topology.

Ideal for: Growing organizations, complex networks, automation initiatives

Key Features​

  • Automated Network Discovery: Schedule scans and identify devices and assets across your network using multiple discovery backends
  • Flexible Configuration: Define custom discovery policies tailored to specific network environments through YAML configuration
  • Enterprise Security: Integrate with external secret stores like HashiCorp Vault for secure credential handling
  • Multiple Discovery Methods: Support for network discovery, device discovery, and worker backend capabilities
  • Seamless Integration: Fully integrated with NetBox through Diode for data ingestion and reconciliation
  • Production Ready: Docker-based deployment designed for enterprise scaling and management

Architecture Overview​

NetBox Discovery leverages the orb-agent, a containerized Go application that uses network protocols (ICMP, TCP, UDP, SSH) to discover devices and other network assets. The agent is configured through YAML files that define:

  • Configuration Sources: Local files or Git repositories for policy management
  • Secrets Management: Integration with external secret stores for credential security
  • Discovery Policies: Customizable rules for network scanning and device identification
  • Backend Selection: Choice of discovery methods based on network requirements

Discovered data is sent to Diode for ingestion into NetBox, where it can be matched and reconciled to identify drift and deviations. The NetBox database is updated where relevant, ensuring data accuracy and reducing manual entry.

Support and Resources​

By leveraging NetBox Discovery, organizations can enhance their network visibility, streamline IT operations, and maintain an accurate source of truth for their network infrastructure.

Related Topics
Discovery