v2.11.0 - 2021-04-16

[jeremystretch]

Note: NetBox v2.11 is the last major release that will support Python 3.6. Beginning with NetBox v2.12, Python 3.7 or later will be required.

Breaking Changes

• All objects now use numeric IDs in their UI view URLs instead of slugs. You may need to update external references to NetBox objects. (Note that this does not affect the REST API.)
• The UI now uses numeric IDs when filtering object lists. You may need to update external links to filtered object lists. (Note that the slug- and name-based filters will continue to work, however the filter selection fields within the UI will not be automatically populated.)
• The RackGroup model has been renamed to Location (see #4971). Its REST API endpoint has changed from /api/dcim/rack-groups/ to /api/dcim/locations/.
• The foreign key field group on dcim.Rack has been renamed to location.
• The foreign key field site on ipam.VLANGroup has been replaced with the scope generic foreign key (see #5284).
• Custom script ObjectVars no longer support the queryset parameter: Use model instead (see #5995).

New Features

Journaling Support (#151)

NetBox now supports journaling for all primary objects. The journal is a collection of human-generated notes and comments about an object maintained for historical context. It supplements NetBox's change log to provide additional information about why changes have been made or to convey events which occur outside NetBox. Unlike the change log, in which records typically expire after some time, journal entries persist for the life of the associated object.

Parent Interface Assignments (#1519)

Virtual device and VM interfaces can now be assigned to a "parent" interface by setting the parent field on the interface object. This is helpful for associating subinterfaces with their physical counterpart. For example, you might assign virtual interfaces Gi0/0.100 and Gi0/0.200 as children of the physical interface Gi0/0.

Pre- and Post-Change Snapshots in Webhooks (#3451)

In conjunction with the newly improved change logging functionality (#5913), outgoing webhooks now include both pre- and post-change representations of the modified object. These are available in the rendering context as a dictionary named snapshots with keys prechange and postchange. For example, here are the abridged snapshots resulting from renaming a site and changing its status:

"snapshots": {
    "prechange": {
        "name": "Site 1",
        "slug": "site-1",
        "status": "active",
        ...
    },
    "postchange": {
        "name": "Site 2",
        "slug": "site-2",
        "status": "planned",
        ...
    }
}

Note: The pre-change snapshot for a newly created will always be null, as will the post-change snapshot for a deleted object.

Mark as Connected Without a Cable (#3648)

Cable termination objects (circuit terminations, power feeds, and most device components) can now be marked as "connected" without actually attaching a cable. This helps simplify the process of modeling an infrastructure boundary where we don't necessarily know or care what is connected to an attachment point, but still need to reflect the termination as being occupied.

In addition to the new mark_connected boolean field, the REST API representation of these objects now also includes a read-only boolean field named _occupied. This conveniently returns true if either a cable is attached or mark_connected is true.

Allow Assigning Devices to Locations (#4971)

Devices can now be assigned to locations (formerly known as rack groups) within a site without needing to be assigned to a particular rack. This is handy for assigning devices to rooms or floors within a building where racks are not used. The location foreign key field has been added to the Device model to support this.

Dynamic Object Exports (#4999)

When exporting a list of objects in NetBox, users now have the option of selecting the "current view". This will render CSV output matching the current configuration of the table being viewed. For example, if you modify the sites list to display only the site name, tenant, and status, the rendered CSV will include only these columns, and they will appear in the order chosen.

The legacy static export behavior has been retained to ensure backward compatibility for dependent integrations. However, users are strongly encouraged to adapt custom export templates where needed as this functionality will be removed in v2.12.

Variable Scope Support for VLAN Groups (#5284)

In previous releases, VLAN groups could be assigned only to a site. To afford more flexibility in conveying the true scope of an L2 domain, a VLAN group can now be assigned to a region, site group (new in v2.11), site, location, or rack. VLANs assigned to a group will be available only to devices and virtual machines which exist within its scope.

For example, a VLAN within a group assigned to a location will be available only to devices assigned to that location (or one of its child locations), or to a rack within that location.

New Site Group Model (#5892)

This release introduces the new SiteGroup model, which can be used to organize sites similar to the existing Region model. Whereas regions are intended for geographically arranging sites into countries, states, and so on, the new site group model can be used to organize sites by functional role or other arbitrary classification. Using regions and site groups in conjunction provides two dimensions along which sites can be organized, offering greater flexibility to the user.

Improved Change Logging (#5913)

The ObjectChange model (which is used to record the creation, modification, and deletion of NetBox objects) now explicitly records the pre-change and post-change state of each object, rather than only the post-change state. This was done to present a more clear depiction of each change being made, and to prevent the erroneous association of a previous unlogged change with its successor.

Provider Network Modeling (#5986)

A new provider network model has been introduced to represent the boundary of a network that exists outside the scope of NetBox. Each instance of this model must be assigned to a provider, and circuits can now terminate to either provider networks or to sites. The use of this model will likely be extended by future releases to support overlay and virtual circuit modeling.

Enhancements

• #4833 - Allow assigning config contexts by device type
• #5344 - Add support for custom fields in tables
• #5370 - Extend custom field support to organizational models
• #5375 - Add speed attribute to console port models
• #5401 - Extend custom field support to device component models
• #5425 - Create separate tabs for VMs and devices under the cluster view
• #5451 - Add support for multiple-selection custom fields
• #5608 - Add REST API endpoint for custom links
• #5610 - Add REST API endpoint for webhooks
• #5757 - Add unique identifier to every object view
• #5830 - Add as_attachment to ExportTemplate to control download behavior
• #5848 - Filter custom fields by content type in format <app_label>.<model>
• #5891 - Add display field to all REST API serializers
• #5894 - Use primary keys when filtering object lists by related objects in the UI
• #5895 - Rename RackGroup to Location
• #5901 - Add created and last_updated fields to device component models
• #5971 - Add dedicated views for organizational models
• #5972 - Enable bulk editing for organizational models
• #5975 - Allow partial (decimal) vCPU allocations for virtual machines
• #6001 - Paginate component tables under device views
• #6038 - Include tagged objects list on tag view
• #6088 - Improved table configuration form
• #6097 - Redirect old slug-based object views
• #6125 - Add locations count to home page
• #6146 - Add bulk disconnect support for power feeds
• #6149 - Support image attachments for locations

Bug Fixes (from v2.11-beta1)

• #5583 - Eliminate redundant change records when adding/removing tags
• #6100 - Fix VM interfaces table "add interfaces" link
• #6104 - Fix location column on racks table
• #6105 - Hide checkboxes for VMs under cluster VMs view
• #6106 - Allow assigning a virtual interface as the parent of an existing interface
• #6107 - Fix rack selection field on device form
• #6110 - Fix handling of TemplateColumn values for table export
• #6123 - Prevent device from being assigned to mismatched site and location
• #6124 - Location parent filter should return all child locations (not just those directly assigned)
• #6130 - Improve display of assigned models in custom fields list
• #6155 - Fix admin links for plugins, background tasks
• #6171 - Fix display of horizontally-scrolling object lists
• #6173 - Fix assigned device/VM count when bulk editing/deleting device roles
• #6176 - Correct position of MAC address field when creating VM interfaces
• #6177 - Prevent VM interface from being assigned as its own parent

Other Changes

• #1638 - Migrate all primary keys to 64-bit integers
• #5873 - Use numeric IDs in all object URLs
• #5938 - Deprecated support for Python 3.6
• #5990 - Deprecated display_field parameter for custom script ObjectVar and MultiObjectVar fields
• #5995 - Dropped backward compatibility for queryset parameter on ObjectVar and MultiObjectVar (use model instead)
• #6014 - Moved the virtual machine interfaces list to a separate view
• #6071 - Cable traces now traverse circuits

REST API Changes

• All primary keys are now 64-bit integers
• All model serializers now include a display field to be used for the presentation of an object to a human user
• All device components
  • Added support for custom fields
  • Added created and last_updated fields to track object creation and modification
• All device component templates
  • Added created and last_updated fields to track object creation and modification
• All organizational models
  • Added support for custom fields
• All cable termination models (cabled device components, power feeds, and circuit terminations)
  • Added mark_connected boolean field to force connection status
  • Added _occupied read-only boolean field as common attribute for determining whether an object is occupied
• Renamed RackGroup to Location
  • The /dcim/rack-groups/ endpoint is now /dcim/locations/
• circuits.CircuitTermination
  • Added the provider_network field
  • Removed the connected_endpoint, connected_endpoint_type, and connected_endpoint_reachable fields
• circuits.ProviderNetwork
  • Added the /api/circuits/provider-networks/ endpoint
• dcim.Device
  • Added the location field
• dcim.Interface
  • Added the parent field
• dcim.PowerPanel
  • Renamed rack_group field to location
• dcim.Rack
  • Renamed group field to location
• dcim.Site
  • Added the group foreign key field to SiteGroup
• dcim.SiteGroup
  • Added the /api/dcim/site-groups/ endpoint
• extras.ConfigContext
  • Added the site_groups many-to-many field to track the assignment of ConfigContexts to SiteGroups
• extras.CustomField
  • Added new custom field type: multi-select
• extras.CustomLink
  • Added the /api/extras/custom-links/ endpoint
• extras.ExportTemplate
  • Added the as_attachment boolean field
• extras.ObjectChange
  • Added the prechange_data field
  • Renamed object_data to postchange_data
• extras.Webhook
  • Added the /api/extras/webhooks/ endpoint
• ipam.VLANGroup
  • Added the scope_type, scope_id, and scope fields (scope is a generic foreign key)
  • Dropped the site foreign key field
• virtualization.VirtualMachine
  • vcpus has been changed from an integer to a decimal value
• virtualization.VMInterface
  • Added the parent field

---

This discussion was created from the release v2.11.0 - 2021-04-16.

[jeremystretch]

This is probably our most substantial release to date! It knocks out a bunch of features that have been on the drawing board for years, and I'm really excited about the opportunities we have moving forward.

I want to extend a huge thank you to everyone who helped test the beta. We received a ton of feedback, driven largely by our public demo instance. We'll have to make that a regular thing for future releases. @DanSheps and I are also working on porting the demo data into the regular demo instance long-term.

As always, be sure to open an issue for any problems you encounter with the new release. I'll do my best to stay on top of everything. Thanks everyone!