Controllers¶
Controllers in Nautobot enable users to model a set of industry-standard network or SDN controllers, along with their relationships to the devices they manage.
Use Cases¶
These models support the representation of various use cases, including, but not limited to:
- Cisco ACI
- Panorama
- Juniper MIST
- Arista CloudVision
- Meraki
- Wireless Controllers (e.g., Ruckus, Cisco)
- OpenStack
Using controllers enables answering inventory-related queries:
- Find the controller for the given device group.
- Find the controller for the given device.
- List device groups managed by the controller.
- List devices managed by the controller.
Controller Model¶
Represents an entity that manages or controls one or more devices, acting as a central point of control.
A Controller can be deployed to a single device or a group of devices represented by single DeviceRedundancyGroup.
Controller Device Group Model¶
Represents a mapping of controlled devices to a specific controller.
This model allows for the organization of controlled devices into hierarchical groups for structured representation.
Entity Relationship Diagram¶
---
title: Controllers Entity Relationship Diagram
---
erDiagram
Platform {
string name UK
Manufacturer manufacturer FK
string network_driver
string napalm_driver
json napalm_args
string description
}
SoftwareVersion {
Platform platform FK
string version
string alias
date release_date
date end_of_support_date
url documentation_url
boolean long_term_support
boolean pre_release
Status status FK
}
Device {
DeviceType device_type FK
ControllerDeviceGroup controller_device_group FK
DeviceRedundancyGroup device_redundancy_group FK
string name UK
Status status FK
Role role FK
Tenant tenant FK
Platform platform FK
SoftwareVersion software_version FK
string serial
string asset_tag UK
Location location FK
IPAddress primary_ip4 FK
IPAddress primary_ip6 FK
int device_redundancy_group_priority
SecretsGroup secrets_group FK
}
DeviceRedundancyGroup {
string name UK
Status status FK
string description
string failover_strategy
SecretsGroup secrets_group FK
}
Controller {
Device deployed_controller_device FK "Nullable"
DeviceRedundancyGroup deployed_controller_group FK "Nullable"
string name UK
Status status FK
Role role FK
Tenant tenant FK
string description
Platform platform FK
ExternalIntegration external_integration FK
Location location FK
}
ControllerDeviceGroup {
ControllerDeviceGroup parent FK "Nullable"
Controller controller FK
string name UK
int weight
}
ControllerDeviceGroup ||--o{ ControllerDeviceGroup : "contains children"
Controller }o--|| ControllerDeviceGroup : "controls Devices in"
Controller }o--|| DeviceRedundancyGroup : "can be deployed to"
Device }o--|| SoftwareVersion : "runs"
Controller }o--|| Platform : "runs"
Controller }o--|| Device : "can be deployed to"
Device }o--|| ControllerDeviceGroup : "can be member of"
Device }o--|| DeviceRedundancyGroup : "can be member of"
Platform ||--o{ SoftwareVersion : "has"Examples¶
Cisco ACI¶
name: Cisco ACI APIC - east
deployed_controller_device: DC-East-APIC-1
location: DC-East
platform: cisco_apic
Cisco Meraki¶
name: Cisco Meraki SAAS
deployed_controller_device: ~
location: Cloud Location
platform: cisco_meraki