What is Nautobot?

Nautobot is a free and open-source web-based app that provide you an automated solution to manage and get informed about your networks, devices and their activities.

Use-cases

1. Flexible Source of Truth for Networking 

Nautobot core data models are used to define the intended state of network infrastructure enabling it as a Source of Truth. While a baseline set of models are provided (such as IP networks and addresses, devices and racks, circuits and cable, etc.)

Nautobot's primary goal is to offer maximum data model flexibility. This is enabled through features such as user-defined relationships, custom fields on any model, and data validation that permits users to codify everything from naming standards to having automated tests run before data can be populated into Nautobot.

2. Extensible Data Platform for Automation

Nautobot has a rich feature set to seamlessly integrate with network automation solutions. Nautobot offers GraphQL and native Git integration along with REST APIs and webhooks. Git integration dynamically loads YAML data files as Nautobot config contexts.

Nautobot also has an evolving plugin system that enables users to create custom models, APIs, and UI elements. The plugin system is also used to unify and aggregate disparate data sources creating a Single Source of Truth to streamline data management for network automation.

3. Platform for Network Automation Apps

The Nautobot plugin system enables users to create Network Automation Apps. Apps can be as lightweight or robust as needed based on user needs.

Using Nautobot for creating custom applications saves up to 70% development time by re-using features such as authentication, permissions, webhooks, GraphQL, change logging, etc. all while having access to the data already stored in Nautobot. Some production ready applications include:

Features

  • Easy to configure, install and use
  • Real-time device monitoring and instant management
  • Manage devices, routing, IPAM, virtualizations, secrets, device powers and more.
  • Manage IPs
  • Extensible through plugins
  • Webhook support
  • supports multiple users
  • Global search function that searches everything
  • Configuration manager
  • Manage security policies and more
  • Manage and automate cron jobs
  • Manage your network device cycles
  • Developer and DevOps friendly documentation
  • Easy to install using Docker
  • Comes with Python SDK
  • Rich Nautobot Ansible collection

Application Stack

The app is written using Django the popular Python web framework that supports multiple database backends and comes with a powerful extension though for developers to build their own apps on top of it.

License

The app is released as an open-source project under the Apache-2.0 License.

Resources & Downloads

GitHub - nautobot/nautobot: Network Source of Truth & Network Automation Platform
Network Source of Truth & Network Automation Platform - nautobot/nautobot