Device Discovery
The device discovery backend leverages NAPALM to connect to network devices and collect network information.
Diode Entities
The device discovery backend uses Diode Python SDK to ingest the following entities:
Interfaces are attached to the device and ip addresses will be attached to the interfaces. Prefixes are added to the same interface site that it belongs to.
Configuration
The device_discovery backend does not require any special configuration, though overriding host and port values can be specified. The backend will use the diode settings specified in the common subsection to forward discovery results.
orb:
backends:
common:
diode:
target: grpc://192.168.0.100:8080/diode
client_id: ${DIODE_CLIENT_ID}
client_secret: ${DIODE_CLIENT_SECRET}
agent_name: agent01
device_discovery:
host: 192.168.5.11 # default 0.0.0.0
port: 8857 # default 8072
Policy
Device discovery policies are broken down into two subsections: config and scope.
Config
Config defines data for the whole scope and is optional overall.
| Parameter | Type | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| schedule | cron format | no | If defined, it will execute scope following cron schedule time. If not defined, it will execute scope only once |
| defaults | map | no | key value pair that defines default values |
Defaults
Current supported defaults:
| Key | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| site | str | NetBox Site Name (defaults to 'undefined' if not specified) |
| role | str | Device role (e.g., switch) (defaults to 'undefined' if not specified) |
| if_type | str | Interface Type (defaults to 'other' if not specified) |
| location | str | Device location |
| tenant | str | Device tenant |
| description | str | General description |
| comments | str | General comments |
| tags | list | List of tags |
Nested Defaults
| Key | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| device | map | Device-specific defaults |
| ├─ model | str | Device type model (overrides the model automatically retrieved from NAPALM) |
| ├─ manufacturer | str | Device manufacturer (overrides the defined/discovered NAPALM driver name) |
| ├─ description | str | Device description |
| ├─ comments | str | Device comments |
| ├─ tags | list | Device tags |
| interface | map | Interface-specific defaults |
| ├─ description | str | Interface description |
| ├─ tags | list | Interface tags |
| ipaddress | map | IP address-specific defaults |
| ├─ role | str | IP address role |
| ├─ tenant | str | IP address tenant |
| ├─ vrf | str | IP address vrf |
| ├─ description | str | IP address description |
| ├─ comments | str | IP address comments |
| ├─ tags | list | IP address tags |
| prefix | map | Prefix-specific defaults |
| ├─ role | str | Prefix role |
| ├─ tenant | str | Prefix tenant |
| ├─ vrf | str | Prefix vrf |
| ├─ description | str | Prefix description |
| ├─ comments | str | Prefix comments |
| ├─ tags | list | Prefix tags |
| vlan | map | VLAN-specific defaults |
| ├─ group | str | VLAN group |
| ├─ tenant | str | VLAN tenant |
| ├─ role | str | VLAN role |
| ├─ description | str | VLAN description |
| ├─ comments | str | VLAN comments |
| ├─ tags | list | VLAN tags |
Scope
The scope defines a list of devices that can be accessed and pulled data.
| Parameter | Type | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| hostname | string | yes | Device hostname |
| username | string | yes | Device username |
| password | string | yes | Device username's password |
| driver | string | no | If defined, try to connect to device using the specified NAPALM driver. If not, it will try all the current installed drivers |
| optional_args | map | no | NAPALM optional arguments defined here |
| override_defaults | map | no | Allows overriding of any defaults for a specific device in the scope |
Sample
A sample policy including all parameters supported by the device discovery backend.
orb:
...
policies:
device_discovery:
discovery_1:
config:
schedule: "* * * * *"
defaults:
site: New York NY
role: switch
location: Row A
tenant: NetBox Labs
description: for all
comments: comment all
tags: [tag1, tag2]
device:
model: C9200-48P
manufacturer: Cisco
description: device description
comments: this device
tags: [tag3, tag4]
interface:
description: interface description
tags: [tag5]
ipaddress:
description: my ip
comments: my comment
tags: [tag6]
prefix:
description:
comments:
tags: [tag7]
vlan:
role: role
scope:
- driver: ios
hostname: 192.168.0.5
username: admin
password: ${PASS}
optional_args:
canonical_int: True
ssh_config_file: /opt/orb/ssh-napalm.conf
- hostname: myhost.com
username: remote
password: 12345
override_defaults:
role: router
location: Row B
Advanced Sample
You can reuse credentials across multiple devices in the scope section by using YAML anchors (&) and aliases (<<). This reduces redundancy and simplifies configuration management.
orb:
...
policies:
device_discovery:
discovery_1:
credentials: &ios_credentials
username: admin
password: ${PASS}
driver: ios
config:
defaults:
site: my site
tenant: my tenant
scope:
- hostname: 192.168.10.3
<<: *ios_credentials
- hostname: 192.168.10.5
<<: *ios_credentials
In this example:
- The
credentialssection defines reusable credentials using the anchor&ios_credentials. - The
<<: *ios_credentialsalias is used to include the credentials in multiple devices within thescopesection.