[Feature]: possiblity to add netbox.netbox.netbox_vm_interface using virtual_machine_id

[f22l2]

NetBox version

v3.4.4

Feature type

Change to existing Module

Proposed functionality

possiblity to add netbox.netbox.netbox_vm_interface using virtual_machine id (expected int) as an option besides currently used virtual_machine (expected string) parameter

  - name: Create interface within NetBox with only required information
    netbox.netbox.netbox_vm_interface:
        netbox_url: "{{ netbox_url }}"
        netbox_token: "{{ netbox_token }}"
        data:
          custom_fields:
            NetworkName: "{{ item.network }}"
          virtual_machine: "{{ vm_id }}" #expected int
          name: "Network adapter {{ network_adapter_index + 1 }}"
          enabled: "{{ item.connected }}"
          mac_address: "{{ item.macAddress }}"
        state: present
        validate_certs: false
    delegate_to:  localhost
    loop: "{{ hostvars[outer_item.name].guest.net }}"
    loop_control:
      index_var: network_adapter_index

Use case

In case if in Netbox 2 or more virtual machines exist with the same name in 2 or more tenants, there is no technical possibility to use netbox.netbox.netbox_vm_interface module to add interface to one of these machines, as more than 1 result will be presented.
Adding option to add via virtual_machine_id (unique value) will fix this problem.

Technically using API request we are able to filter specic interface using:

GET /api/virtualization/interfaces/?virtual_machine_id=

External dependencies

n/a

[sc68cal]

Should we change virtual_machine to instead reference the slug of a virtual machine, since that is unique and (mostly) the same value?

[f22l2]

@sc68cal Not sure if we are on the same page, but when I am checking API I can see that only unique property is id:

GET /api/virtualization/virtual-machines/

HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, POST, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json

Vary: Accept
{
 "count": 1818,
    "next": omitted,
    "previous": null,
    "results": [
        {
            "id": 1133, #unique
            "url": "omitted/api/virtualization/virtual-machines/1133/",
            "display": "VM01", # not unique
            "name": "VM01", # not unique
            "status": {
                "value": "offline",
                "label": "Offline"`
[...]

I made small correction of my initial request. If we would be able to use id not a string (name / displayname / slug) then it problem won't exist. From ansible point of view imho 2 possible scenerios:

  - name: Create interface within NetBox with only required information
    netbox.netbox.netbox_vm_interface:
        netbox_url: "{{ netbox_url }}"
        netbox_token: "{{ netbox_token }}"
        data:
          custom_fields:
            NetworkName: "{{ item.network }}"
          virtual_machine: "{{ vm_id }}" # expected int which is always unique 
          name: "Network adapter {{ network_adapter_index + 1 }}"
          enabled: "{{ item.connected }}"
          mac_address: "{{ item.macAddress }}"
        state: present
        validate_certs: false
    delegate_to:  localhost
    loop: "{{ hostvars[outer_item.name].guest.net }}"
    loop_control:
      index_var: network_adapter_index

or

  - name: Create interface within NetBox with only required information
    netbox.netbox.netbox_vm_interface:
        netbox_url: "{{ netbox_url }}"
        netbox_token: "{{ netbox_token }}"
        data:
          custom_fields:
            NetworkName: "{{ item.network }}"
          virtual_machine: 
            id: "{{ vm_id }}" # expected int which is always unique 
            name:  "{{ vm_name }}" #expected string (not unique across tenants)
          name: "Network adapter {{ network_adapter_index + 1 }}"
          enabled: "{{ item.connected }}"
          mac_address: "{{ item.macAddress }}"
        state: present
        validate_certs: false
    delegate_to:  localhost
    loop: "{{ hostvars[outer_item.name].guest.net }}"
    loop_control:
      index_var: network_adapter_index

hope that it's more clear now :)

[sc68cal]

Yes that sounds reasonable to me. I think the second example where virtual_machine is an object where you can use either the name or ID is probably the way we should do it.

[f22l2]

technically possible to get in the next release or this is too optimistic? :)

[sc68cal]

Are you working on it?

[rodvand]

This works for me:

---

- hosts: localhost
  connection: local
  gather_facts: false
  module_defaults:
    group/netbox.netbox.netbox:
      netbox_url: URL
      netbox_token: TOKEN
  vars:
    state: present
  tasks:
    - name: Create an interface and add to vm
      netbox.netbox.netbox_vm_interface:
        data:
          name: eth99
          virtual_machine:
            id: 42

Returns:

TASK [Create an interface and add to vm] ******************************************************************************************************
changed: [localhost] => changed=true
  interface:
    bridge: null
    count_fhrp_groups: 0
    count_ipaddresses: 0
    created: '2023-03-30T23:03:55.669644+02:00'
    custom_fields: {}
    description: ''
    display: eth99
    enabled: true
    id: 99
    l2vpn_termination: null
    last_updated: '2023-03-30T23:03:55.669665+02:00'
    mac_address: null
    mode: null
    mtu: null
    name: eth99
    parent: null
    tagged_vlans: []
    tags: []
    untagged_vlan: null
    url: URL
    virtual_machine: 42
    vrf: null
  msg: interface eth99 created

[f22l2]

I believe that I've somehow missed that, but really works as we wanted in our technical assumptions.