Bulk Migrating SFP Interfaces to using Module Bays

[jonzey0]

Has anyone found an ideal method to migrate an existing set of devices from the traditional method of populating interfaces, to using Module Bays? For context, I've got an environment with around 5000+ devices, many of which are using SFPs today.

According to the "Best Practices" the suggested method is to add all the module bays manually... but in my environment I've got around 30k+ interfaces, half of which are SFP based interfaces of various types.

If you've already created the necessary devices in NetBox, you'll need to add their module bays manually. You can add multiple module bays at once by selecting the desired devices from the device list and selecting Add Components > Module Bays at the bottom of the page.

https://netboxlabs.com/docs/netbox/best-practices/modeling-pluggable-transceivers/

Has anyone figured out a better method than going through every device manually? This seems overly cumbersome.

[jcollie]

Learn Python and use pynetbox to script the changes. There are libraries for other languages if Python is not your thing.

[bitcollector1]

Learn Python and use pynetbox to script the changes. There are libraries for other languages if Python is not your thing.

Start small by gathering just the bare minimum with regards to the SFP details and expand your script once you have sorted out your model.

The more details you try to gather, the more issues you are going to run into. Things like Serial Numbers, vendor, and part numbers are pretty much consistent among most of the optic vendors. Once you start getting into all the other interesting details your automation is going to run into issues since no two vendors format their data the same way when it comes to these other interesting details you might also want to capture.

It took me a couple of weeks to get a working script but I'm still fine tuning things because of these issues and the script logic grows considerably the more details you try to capture.

Good luck!

[jnovinger]

If you have the time and energy (and permission), I think this (or even a simplified version) would be a great addition to the netbox-community/customizations repo.