Installing the App in Nautobot

Here you will find detailed instructions on how to install and configure the App within your Nautobot environment.

Prerequisites

• The app is compatible with Nautobot 2.4.2 and higher.
• Databases supported: PostgreSQL, MySQL

Note

Please check the dedicated page for a full compatibility matrix and the deprecation policy.

Access Requirements

The operational compliance app includes a dependency on the Nautobot Plugin Nornir App because it needs to connect to devices to gather the data for the checks. It is listed within the dependencies of the operational compliance app, but you will still need to set up that plugin in your Nautobot environment for the devices that you want to check.

This means you will need to set up a device within Nautobot that includes a working IP address, platform, and credentials. If you don't have a device set up already, here is a sample script that will create a device for you. The following script uses the Nautobot API to create the device, and then creates a management interface and assigns an IP address to it. It is using a Cisco IOS Catalyst 8000 device from the Cisco DevNet Sandbox, but you can use it to create a device for any platform supported by Nornir.

from nautobot.dcim.models import Device, DeviceType, Manufacturer, Platform, Role, Location, LocationType, Status, Interface, IPAddress, Namespace, Prefix
from django.contrib.contenttypes.models import ContentType
from nautobot.core.models import ColorChoices
import netaddr


def create_catalyst_8000_device():
    """Create a Cisco IOS Catalyst 8000 device for testing."""

    # Create or get manufacturer
    cisco, _ = Manufacturer.objects.get_or_create(name="Cisco")

    # Create or get device type for Catalyst 8000
    catalyst_8000, _ = DeviceType.objects.get_or_create(
        model="Catalyst 8000",
        defaults={
            "manufacturer": cisco,
            "part_number": "Catalyst 8000"
        }
    )

    # Create or get platform
    ios_platform, _ = Platform.objects.get_or_create(
        name="cisco_ios",
        network_driver="cisco_ios",
        defaults={"manufacturer": cisco}
    )

    # Create or get role
    device_ct = ContentType.objects.get_for_model(Device)
    router_role, _ = Role.objects.get_or_create(
        name="Router",
        defaults={"color": ColorChoices.COLOR_BLUE}
    )
    router_role.content_types.set([device_ct])
    router_role.validated_save()

    # Create or get location type and location
    site_type, _ = LocationType.objects.get_or_create(name="Site")
    site_type.content_types.set([device_ct])
    site_type.save()

    status_active, _ = Status.objects.get_or_create(name="Active")
    status_active.content_types.set([
        ContentType.objects.get_for_model(Device),
        ContentType.objects.get_for_model(Location)
    ])

    location, _ = Location.objects.get_or_create(
        name="Test Lab",
        location_type=site_type,
        defaults={"status": status_active}
    )

    # Create the device
    device, created = Device.objects.get_or_create(
        name="catalyst-8000",
        defaults={
            "device_type": catalyst_8000,
            "platform": ios_platform,
            "role": router_role,
            "location": location,
            "status": status_active,
        }
    )

    if created:
        print(f"Created device: {device.name}")
    else:
        print(f"Device already exists: {device.name}")

    # Create management interface and assign IP
    mgmt_interface, _ = Interface.objects.get_or_create(
        device=device,
        name="GigabitEthernet0/0/0",
        defaults={"status": status_active}
    )

    # Create IP address
    global_namespace, _ = Namespace.objects.get_or_create(name="Global")
    Prefix.objects.get_or_create(
        prefix="10.10.20.0/24",
        namespace=global_namespace,
        defaults={"status": status_active}
    )

    ip_addr, _ = IPAddress.objects.get_or_create(
        address=netaddr.IPNetwork("10.10.20.48/32"),
        namespace=global_namespace,
        defaults={"status": status_active}
    )

    # Assign IP to interface
    mgmt_interface.ip_addresses.set([ip_addr])
    mgmt_interface.save()

    # Set as primary IP
    device.primary_ip4 = ip_addr
    device.save()

    print(f"Device {device.name} configured with IP {ip_addr}")

    return device

Install Guide

The plugin is available as a Python package (either via private repository access or as a wheel file) and can be installed with pip:

pip install nautobot-operational-compliance

To ensure Nautobot Operational Compliance is automatically re-installed during future upgrades, create a file named local_requirements.txt (if not already existing) in the Nautobot root directory (alongside requirements.txt) and list the nautobot-operational-compliance package:

echo nautobot-operational-compliance >> local_requirements.txt

Configuration Example

Once installed, the plugin needs to be enabled in your Nautobot configuration. The following block of code below shows the additional configuration required to be added to your nautobot_config.py file. It includes the Nautobot Plugin Nornir configuration, and the Operational Compliance app configuration.

• Append "nautobot_operational_compliance" to the PLUGINS list.
• Append the "nautobot_operational_compliance" dictionary to the PLUGINS_CONFIG dictionary and override any defaults.

Here's a complete configuration example that includes both the Operational Compliance app and the required Nautobot Plugin Nornir. It is a basic example, and you may need to adjust the connection options based on your specific network devices and authentication methods. For more detailed configuration options, refer to the Nautobot Plugin Nornir documentation.

# In your nautobot_config.py
PLUGINS = [
    "nautobot_plugin_nornir",  # Required dependency
    "nautobot_operational_compliance",
]

PLUGINS_CONFIG = {
    "nautobot_plugin_nornir": {
        "use_config_context": {"secrets": False, "connection_options": True},
        "connection_options": {
            "napalm": {
                "extras": {
                    "optional_args": {"global_delay_factor": 1},
                },
            },
            "netmiko": {
                "extras": {
                    "global_delay_factor": 1,
                },
            },
        },
        "nornir_settings": {
            "credentials": "nautobot_plugin_nornir.plugins.credentials.settings_vars.CredentialsSettingsVars",
            "runner": {
                "plugin": "threaded",
                "options": {
                    "num_workers": 20,
                },
            },
        },
    },
    "nautobot_operational_compliance": {
        "MOCK_DEVICE_CONNECTIONS": False,  # Set to True for demos/testing
    }
}

Note

The Nautobot Plugin Nornir configuration above is a basic example. You may need to adjust the connection options based on your specific network devices and authentication methods. For more detailed configuration options, refer to the Nautobot Plugin Nornir documentation.

Once the Nautobot configuration is updated, run the Post Upgrade command (nautobot-server post_upgrade) to run migrations and clear any cache:

nautobot-server post_upgrade

Then restart (if necessary) the Nautobot services which may include:

• Nautobot
• Nautobot Workers
• Nautobot Scheduler

sudo systemctl restart nautobot nautobot-worker nautobot-scheduler

App Configuration

The plugin behavior can be controlled with the following list of settings:

Key	Example	Default	Description
MOCK_DEVICE_CONNECTIONS	True	False	When set to True, uses mock device connections instead of real network connections. Useful for demos, testing, or local development environments.