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Netbox Upgrade Play-by-play

I just upgraded my Netbox server from v2.7.6 to v3.4.8. This is just a record of what I did in case anyone want to know how I did it.

Environment

  • The source v2.7.6 server is an Ubuntu 18.04 VM. Yes, both are very old.
  • The destination v3.4.8 server is an Ubuntu 20.04 VM.
  • We have no media, scripts, or reports in Netbox.
  • I’m running Virtualbox on my laptop to do the data migrations.
  • I did the Netbox installs with Netbox Build-o-matic.

Process Overview

Since we’re running such an old version of Netbox, we need to do an interim upgrade to v2.11.x before proceeding to v3.x.x. We decided on v2.11.12.

The main idea here is that you export you data, install on a VM, upgrade the app on that VM, then export it out after your upgrades are done. Of course, that is very simplified.

One key here is to take snapshots every time you do something. I started with an Ubuntu 20.04 install, ran an update, then took a snapshot. That’s where the real work starts, and a place to restore to when you really messed things up.

The Details

Set Up Your VM

I’m assuming you have Virtualbox installed and a new Ubuntu 20.04 VM created and updated.

Take a snapshot. Name it something like Updated OS so you know what it is.

Export Your Old Data

On your production server, export your data. You can use the Replicating Netbox page on the official docs to see the details. I had to do all the exporting as the postgres user to get access to the data.

sudo su - postgres
pg_dump netbox > nb.oldversion.sql

Copy this file off to your machines somewhere. I usually SCP it over.

Install Netbox v2.11.12

On your VM, install Netbox v2.11.12 using Netbox Build-o-matic.

git clone https://github.com/jordanrvillarreal/netbox-build-o-matic.git

This will create a directory called “netbox-build-o-matic”. Go in there and edit the file step2.sh. There’s a line near the top where it does a curl to get the latest version number, but you can just change that to whatever you want. I usually comment out that line and add a new one like this. The “v” is very important!

#netboxVERSION=`curl -s https://api.github.com/repos/netbox-community/netbox/releases/latest | grep "tag_name" | cut -d : -f 2,3 | tr -d \" | tr -d \,`
netboxVERSION="v2.11.12"

The instructions for Netbox Build-o-matic tell us to chmod the install.sh file and run it as root.

sudo su -
chmod u+x install.sh
./install.sh

This thing will take a few minutes to run, but, at the end, you’ll have v2.11.12 up and running. You can go to https://<YOURIP> to make sure everything installed properly.

SNAPSHOT!

Importing the Old Data

Copy your export up to your VM. Put it in /tmp to make sure you have access to it.

Next, we’ll drop the netbox database, recreate it, then import in the old data. You probably need to do this as the postgres user like we did before.

sudo su - postgres
psql -c 'drop database netbox'
psql -c 'create database netbox'
psql netbox < /tmp/nb.oldversion.sql

Now we run the Netbox upgrade scripts to get the new data set up properly.

sudo /opt/netbox/upgrade.sh

After the upgrade runs, you’ll have to restart the services. Since this is a VM, I usually just reboot the whole VM because I’m lazy.

When everything is back up, browse over to the Netbox GUI and log in with a Netbox admin user (often admin or the like). All your stuff should be there. You can also check the page footer to make sure you’re on v2.11.12.

Take a snapshot! Call is something like v2.11.12.

Exporting v2.11.12 Data

Use the same method as above to export the data. Make sure to call the file something like nb.v2.11.12.sql so you know which one is which. Copy that over to your machine.

sudo su - postgres
pg_dump netbox > nb.v2.11.2.sql

Create a New VM for v3.4.8

Look in your list of snapshots and clone a new server from your Updated OS snapshot. This creates a fresh VM for you to break since you have v2.11.12 running properly already.

Install Netbox v3.4.8

Use Netbox Build-o-matic again to install v3.4.8. This time, though, we’re not going to edit the version. Just run it and let it get the latest-and-greatest. Or you can set it to v3.4.8. I’m not your mother…do what you want.

So, clone the repo, become root, chmod the installer, run the installer.

git clone https://github.com/jordanrvillarreal/netbox-build-o-matic.git
cd netbox-build-o-matic
sudo su -
chmod u+x install.sh
./install.sh

Let it roll. Reboot the server at the end. Check the GUI to make sure everything is working.

SNAPSHOT!

Import v2.11.12 Data

Copy your v2.11.12 data up to the VM. Put it in /tmp like before and import it in.

sudo su - postgres
psql -c 'drop database netbox'
psql -c 'create database netbox'
psql netbox < /tmp/nb.v2.11.12.sql

Before we run the upgrade, we need to deal with the way Netbox changed contacts in v3.2. Before, contacts were associated with a site (????), but v3.2 changed that to be a contact object associated with a site. I chose the easy way out and just told the upgrade script to delete the contact info for now. You do that by setting an environment variable.

The ASN data looks to be in the same boat here (Thanks, Justin!). If you do the upgrade this way, you’ll have to recreate that as well.

sudo su -
export NETBOX_DELETE_LEGACY_DATA=1
/opt/netbox/upgrade.sh

As we did before, browse over to the GUI to make sure everything is in there and that you’re running the correct version.

SNAPSHOT!

Export v3.4.8 Data

Yep. Export the data again. This time, call it nb.v3.4.8.sql. Copy it off.

sudo su - postgres
pg_dump netbox > nb.v3.4.8.sql

Import v3.4.8 Data to Production

Now that we have our data on the right version, we can import it into our new production server. Same method here. Copy it up to /tmp. You’ve done it 3 times now, so update your LinkedIn profile to make sure everyone knows you are a Postgres admin now.

sudo su - postgres
psql -c 'drop database netbox'
psql -c 'create database netbox'
psql netbox < /tmp/nb.v3.4.8.sql

Run the upgrade script to make sure things are kosher.

sudo /opt/netbox/upgrade.sh

Profit

You’re done. Enjoy v3.4.8.

Cleanup

  • Securely delete your .sql files from your machine. You don’t want that data hanging out.
  • Turn off the VMs you created. Delete them at will later.
  • Decom the old server. Get that old thing off your network.

Polishing

You may need to do some polishing in Netbox.

  • Add your contact info back
  • Install your scripts and media if needed
  • Regenerate API tokens

#netbox #sourceoftruth #sot #upgrade

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