NetBox Enterprise Helm Values Configuration Guide

This guide covers the configuration and customization of NetBox Enterprise Helm deployments using overlay values files.

Overview

The NetBox Enterprise Helm chart supports a two-tier configuration approach:

1. Base values file: Generated from the Enterprise Portal containing license information and default settings
2. Overlay values file: Custom configurations that override or extend the base configuration

This approach ensures license information remains intact while allowing environment-specific customizations.

Prerequisites

• NetBox Enterprise license with access to the Enterprise Portal
• Kubernetes cluster version 1.26 or higher
• Helm 3.17.3 or higher
• kubectl configured with cluster access

Configuration Workflow

Step 1: Generate Base Values File

Access the Enterprise Portal and generate your base values file:

# Set authentication credentials
export NETBOX_USERNAME="your-email@company.com"
export SERVICE_ACCOUNT_TOKEN="your-service-account-token"

# Authenticate to the registry
helm registry login registry.replicated.com \
  --username "$NETBOX_USERNAME" \
  --password "$SERVICE_ACCOUNT_TOKEN"

# Generate base values file with license information
helm show values oci://registry.replicated.com/netbox-enterprise/beta/netbox-enterprise \
  --version 1.11.4 > netbox-enterprise-values.yaml

Step 2: Create Overlay Configuration

Create a values-extra.yaml file for your custom configurations:

# values-extra.yaml
netbox:
  ingress:
    hosts:
      - host: netbox.example.com
  superuserEmail: "admin@example.com"
  extraEnvironment:
    TZ: "UTC"

Step 3: Deploy with Multiple Values Files

Deploy the chart using both the base and overlay values files:

helm install netbox-enterprise \
  oci://registry.replicated.com/netbox-enterprise/beta/netbox-enterprise \
  --namespace netbox-enterprise \
  --create-namespace \
  --values netbox-enterprise-values.yaml \
  --values values-extra.yaml \
  --version 1.11.4 \
  --wait

Common Configuration Patterns

Network Configuration

Configure ingress and external access:

netbox:
  ingress:
    enabled: true
    hosts:
      - host: netbox.example.com
        paths:
          - path: /
            pathType: Prefix
    tls:
      - secretName: netbox-tls
        hosts:
          - netbox.example.com
    annotations:
      cert-manager.io/cluster-issuer: "letsencrypt-prod"
      nginx.ingress.kubernetes.io/proxy-body-size: "100m"

Resource Allocation

Configure resource requests and limits for production deployments:

netbox:
  resources:
    requests:
      cpu: "1000m"
      memory: "4Gi"
    limits:
      cpu: "4000m"
      memory: "8Gi"
  
  replicaCount: 3
  
  worker:
    replicaCount: 3
    resources:
      requests:
        cpu: "500m"
        memory: "1Gi"
      limits:
        cpu: "2000m"
        memory: "4Gi"

External Database Configuration

Configure external PostgreSQL and Redis instances:

netbox:
  extraEnvironment:
    DATABASE_URL: "postgresql://netbox:password@postgres.example.com:5432/netbox"
    REDIS_URL: "redis://:password@redis.example.com:6379/0"
    CACHE_URL: "redis://:password@redis.example.com:6379/1"
    
  postgresql:
    enabled: false
    
  redis:
    enabled: false

Private Registry Configuration

Configure private container registries for air-gapped environments:

global:
  imageRegistry: "registry.example.com/netbox"
  imagePullSecrets:
    - name: "registry-credentials"

netbox:
  image:
    repository: "registry.example.com/netbox/netbox-enterprise"
    tag: "v1.11.4"

Advanced Configuration

Storage Configuration

Configure persistent storage for file uploads and media:

netbox:
  persistence:
    enabled: true
    storageClass: "fast-ssd"
    size: "100Gi"
    accessMode: "ReadWriteOnce"

Security Configuration

Configure security contexts and pod security policies:

netbox:
  securityContext:
    runAsNonRoot: true
    runAsUser: 1000
    fsGroup: 1000
    
  podSecurityContext:
    seccompProfile:
      type: RuntimeDefault

Monitoring and Observability

Configure metrics and monitoring endpoints:

netbox:
  metrics:
    enabled: true
    serviceMonitor:
      enabled: true
      namespace: "monitoring"
      
  extraEnvironment:
    METRICS_ENABLED: "true"
    LOGGING_LEVEL: "INFO"

Validation and Testing

Pre-deployment Validation

Validate configuration before deployment:

# Validate YAML syntax
helm template netbox-enterprise \
  oci://registry.replicated.com/netbox-enterprise/beta/netbox-enterprise \
  --values netbox-enterprise-values.yaml \
  --values values-extra.yaml \
  --version 1.11.4 \
  --dry-run

# Check resource requirements
kubectl describe nodes | grep -E "(Name|Allocatable)"

Post-deployment Verification

Verify successful deployment:

# Check pod status
kubectl get pods -n netbox-enterprise

# Verify resource allocation
kubectl top pods -n netbox-enterprise

# Check service endpoints
kubectl get svc -n netbox-enterprise

# Verify ingress configuration
kubectl get ingress -n netbox-enterprise

Troubleshooting

Common Configuration Issues

Database Connection Failures

# Test database connectivity
kubectl run -it --rm debug --image=postgres:14 --restart=Never -- \
  psql postgresql://user:pass@host:5432/dbname

Resource Constraints

# Check resource usage
kubectl describe pod -n netbox-enterprise <pod-name>
kubectl top nodes

Ingress Configuration Problems

# Verify ingress controller
kubectl get pods -A | grep ingress
kubectl get ingressclass

Debug Commands

# View application logs
kubectl logs -n netbox-enterprise deployment/netbox-enterprise

# Check configuration
kubectl describe configmap -n netbox-enterprise

# Inspect secrets
kubectl get secrets -n netbox-enterprise

File Management

Directory Structure

deployment/
├── netbox-enterprise-values.yaml    # Base values from Enterprise Portal
├── values-extra.yaml                # Environment-specific overrides
├── values-production.yaml           # Production-specific settings
└── values-development.yaml          # Development-specific settings

Version Control Considerations

• Include: values-extra.yaml and environment-specific configurations
• Exclude: netbox-enterprise-values.yaml (contains license secrets)
• Protect: Use Kubernetes secrets for sensitive configuration data

Reference

Chart Information

• Chart Repository: oci://registry.replicated.com/netbox-enterprise/beta/netbox-enterprise
• Current Version: 1.11.4
• Registry: registry.netboxlabs.com

Documentation Links

• NetBox Enterprise Documentation
• Helm Documentation
• Kubernetes Documentation

Support

For technical support, contact NetBox Labs support with your deployment configuration (excluding sensitive information such as license keys and passwords).