Netdisco is a web-based network management tool suitable for small to very large networks. IP and MAC address data is collected into a PostgreSQL database using SNMP, CLI, or device APIs. Some of the things you can do with Netdisco:
- Locate a machine on the network by MAC or IP and show the switch port it lives at
- Turn off a switch port, or change the VLAN or PoE status of a port
- Inventory your network hardware by model, vendor, software and operating system
- Pretty pictures of your network
See the demo at: https://netdisco2-demo.herokuapp.com/
Netdisco includes a lightweight web server for the interface, a backend daemon to gather data from your network, and a command line interface for troubleshooting. There is a simple configuration file in YAML format.
Docker Deployment
Only if you are on Linux:
sudo groupadd netdisco -g 901
sudo useradd -u 901 -p x -g netdisco netdisco
mkdir -p netdisco/{logs,config,nd-site-local}
sudo chown -R netdisco:netdisco netdisco
And then (for everyone):
curl -Ls -o docker-compose.yml https://tinyurl.com/nd2-dockercompose
docker-compose up
This will start the database, backend daemon, and web frontend listening on port 5000. If you have a device using the SNMP community public, enter it in the Netdisco homepage and click "Discover".
The default configuration is available in netdisco/config/deployment.yml. The backend and web daemons will automatically restart when you save changes to this file. Logs are available in netdisco/logs/netdisco-{backend,web}.log.
You can also download dc-netdisco-do.yml for command-line management of Netdisco:
docker-compose -f dc-netdisco-do.yml run netdisco-do <action>
# run it without <action> to get help
Local web or backend plugins can be installed into netdisco/nd-site-local/ as per our documentation. Finally, the PostgreSQL data files are stored in netdisco/pgdata/ and we do not advise touching them (unless you wish to reinitialize the system).
The web frontend is configured to allow unauthenticated access with full admin rights. We suggest you visit the Admin -> User Management menu item, and edit no_auth in deployment.yml, to remove this guest account and set up authenticated user access.
Other username, password, database connection, and file locations, can all be set using environment variables described in our wiki. Of course the database container is optional and you can connect to an existing or external PostgreSQL server instead.
Getting Support
We have several other pages with tips for understanding and troubleshooting Netdisco, tips and tricks for specific platforms, and all the configuration options.
You can also speak to someone in the #netdisco@freenode IRC channel, or on the community email list.
Upgrading
Downloading new images is good enough. When our database image starts it always updates the DB schema to the latest release. To upgrade your own PostgreSQL database, run:
docker-compose run --entrypoint=bin/netdisco-db-deploy netdisco-backend
Credits
Thanks to Ira W. Snyder and LBegnaud for inspiration. Thanks also to the PostgreSQL project for great examples of docker magic. We build with the support of the excellent Circle CI service.