Nautobot Integration

Nautobot serves as the network Source of Truth for NVIDIA Config Manager, providing device inventory, IP address management, and configuration context. Config Manager includes a custom Nautobot image with pre-installed Nautobot apps and NATS event streaming to be deployed where Nautobot does not already exist in the environment.

Overview

The Config Manager Nautobot deployment includes:

• Core Nautobot with PostgreSQL and Redis
• NVIDIA Config Manager Nautobot app and required supporting Nautobot apps
• NATS event broker integration for real-time event streaming
• Bootstrap jobs for initial data loading

Enabled Nautobot Apps

The Config Manager Nautobot image enables the following Nautobot apps in nautobot_config.py:

The image also includes the nautobot-broker-nats package for Nautobot event broker integration. That package is not listed in PLUGINS; it is registered by the Nautobot configuration when NATS is configured.

NATS Event Streaming

The nautobot-broker-nats package provides the NATS event broker used by Nautobot. The Nautobot configuration registers the broker when NATS_HOST is present:

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if "NATS_HOST" in os.environ:
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    connect = {}
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    if "NATS_CRED" in os.environ:
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        connect["user_credentials"] = os.environ["NATS_CRED"]
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    elif "NATS_USER" in os.environ and "NATS_PASSWORD" in os.environ:
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        connect["user"] = os.environ["NATS_USER"]
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        connect["password"] = os.environ["NATS_PASSWORD"]
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    register_event_broker(
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        NATSEventBroker(
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            servers=os.environ["NATS_HOST"],
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            stream="nautobot",
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            **connect,
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        )
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    )

Config Manager Jobs

Bootstrap Data Job

Loads foundational data into Nautobot:

$
# Run via Nautobot UI: Jobs > Load Bootstrap Data
$
# Or via API:
$
curl -X POST https://nautobot.config-manager.example.com/api/extras/jobs/run/ \
>
    -H "Authorization: Token $TOKEN" \
>
    -d '{"module": "nv_config_manager_jobs.bootstrap.load_bootstrap_data.LoadBootstrapData", "data": {}}'

Bootstrap data includes:

• Manufacturers (NVIDIA, Arista, Cisco, and so on)
• Device Types (switches, routers, servers)
• Roles (spine, leaf, tor, core)
• Platforms (Cumulus, SONiC, EOS)
• Custom Fields

Loading Order and Dependencies

You do not need to worry about the order within your YAML files, as the job handles dependencies automatically. However, understanding the order helps you troubleshoot if something goes wrong.

The LoadBootstrapData job processes schemas in the following order to ensure dependencies are satisfied:

Notes:

• Manufacturers must be loaded first as they are required by Device Types and optionally by Platforms
• Location Types should define parent types before child types in the YAML file
• Locations are sorted by hierarchy (Provider, Region, Site, Module) before processing
• Statuses should include “Active” as it is the default for locations
• Roles and Platforms must exist before Config Contexts that reference them
• Missing dependencies result in warnings, and the item is skipped (except for required fields which cause errors)

GraphQL API

Config Manager services use GraphQL for efficient data queries. The GraphQL API is available at /api/graphql/, and the interactive GraphQL explorer is available at https://nautobot.<hostname>/graphql/.

$
# Programmatic access
$
curl -X POST https://nautobot.config-manager.example.com/api/graphql/ \
>
    -H "Authorization: Token $TOKEN" \
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    -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
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    -d '{"query": "{ devices { name } }"}'

NATS-Ready Init Container

The NATS-ready init container ensures the configured JetStream streams exist before Nautobot starts. Stream names and subjects come from the Helm values:

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externalServices:
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  nats:
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    streams:
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      configManager:
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        name: nv-config-manager
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        subjects:
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          - nv-config-manager.nautobotchange
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          - nv-config-manager.devicechange
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          - nv-config-manager.workflow.result
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      nautobot:
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        name: nautobot
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        subjects:
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          - nautobot

Custom Jobs Directory

Stage custom Nautobot jobs through the installer by adding job paths to content.jobs in nv-config-manager-install.yaml.

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content:
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  jobs:
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    - path: ../my-nautobot-jobs
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    - path: ../another-jobs-repo

Jobs are bundled into a PVC and mounted at /opt/nautobot/jobs/.

For repeatable topology loading, prefer a Nautobot Design Builder job with ordered design files and explicit context data. The bundled mock topology job can be reused with your own context data; see Design Builder Data Loading.

Accessing Nautobot

Web UI

$
# Get admin password
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kubectl get secret nautobot-admin -n nv-config-manager -o jsonpath='{.data.password}' | base64 -d
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$
# Access UI
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https://nautobot.config-manager.example.com
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# Login: admin / <password from above>

REST API

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# Get API token
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kubectl get secret nautobot-admin -n nv-config-manager -o jsonpath='{.data.api_token}' | base64 -d
$
$
# List devices
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curl -H "Authorization: Token $TOKEN" \
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    https://nautobot.config-manager.example.com/api/dcim/devices/
$
$
# Create device
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curl -X POST -H "Authorization: Token $TOKEN" \
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    -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
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    https://nautobot.config-manager.example.com/api/dcim/devices/ \
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    -d '{"name": "switch-01", "role": "...", "device_type": "..."}'

Django Shell

$
kubectl exec -it -n nv-config-manager deployment/nautobot -- nautobot-server nbshell
$
$
>>> from nautobot.dcim.models import Device
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>>> Device.objects.count()
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150
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>>> device = Device.objects.first()
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>>> device.interfaces.all()

Metrics

Nautobot metrics are controlled by the chart’s nautobot.metrics settings and Nautobot’s built-in Prometheus metrics support. No capacity-metrics plugin is installed in the Config Manager Nautobot image. Refer to the Nautobot documentation for available metrics.

Git Integration

Nautobot can sync with Git repositories for:

• Configuration contexts
• Export templates
• Custom jobs

Related Services

The following Config Manager services interact with Nautobot:

• Config Store Service — Gets device metadata
• Network Template Rendering System — Consumes Nautobot events
• DHCP Service — Queries device data
• Network ZTP Service — Gets device metadata
• Temporal Infrastructure Automation — Workflows interact with Nautobot

Next Steps

Continue to the Bootstrap Data Overview and Bootstrap Data Reference pages to learn about the data model used to populate Nautobot with baseline Config Manager data.