Link DNS RRs to IPAM data

[peteeckel]

This is probably more a long-term project than something that can be implemented in a singe PR.

In the IPAM module there are lots of IP address data, together with an optional DNS name. This is exactly the information that is maintained in the DNS module as well with a different focus. It would be very useful to provide some kind of link between the two in some way that probably needs to be discussed further.

Some ideas:

• Make it possible to select the DNS hostname in IPAM from the data in the DNS zones
• Provide links to IP Addresses (IPAM) to DNS names (DNS) and vice versa, potentially with some kind of referential integrity (when the IPAM address is removed, offer to remove the DNS name as well)
• Create the DNS record for an IP Address when the "DNS name" field is filled in

I did not dig into the Netbox code base too deeply yet, so I'm not sure whether a plugin can change the behaviour of a core module (which would be necessary for some of the functionality sketched above), or if a cross-referece to data from a core module is possible at all from a plugin, but it would be really nice to have.

Another issue is that IP addresses are not necessarily in a 1-1 relation to DNS records if different VRFs or different DNS views (BIND jargon) are in use, so that one IPAM IP address might be present in different zones/views. This is something that probably needs some discussion.

[pixelrebel]

This netbox webhook project uses the IPAM database to push updates to the DNS servers. Syncing this DNS plugin to IPAM with the dnsupdate webhook would be the holy grail for one-step DNS/IPAM management.

[peteeckel]

This netbox webhook project uses the IPAM database to push updates to the DNS servers. Syncing this DNS plugin to IPAM with the dnsupdate webhook would be the holy grail for one-step DNS/IPAM management.

This is another interesting approach, but less to this issue than to the one addressed in #8.

I'll have to have a look when I find the time, but currently I see some issues that need to be resolved (see also discussion #182):

• Priming the DNS server from the current state of the data in NetBox DNS does not seem to be addressed
• Since NetBox DNS creates many record updates (some records are created and updated automatically) there needs to be a way to execute updates in batch, so the DNS servers don't get flooded with update requests
• If views need to be supported that needs to be addressed on the DNS server side as it's not possible to send dynamic DNS updates with view information
• The webhook server needs to be extended to support all DNS records, not only A/AAAA

... and probably some more "interesting" issues.

Perhaps it will be the shorter route to look at octodns and the provider created by @jcollie, but the webhook architecture can also be a good start for other specific solutions.

[peteeckel]

After a long hiatus, here's a quick update.

As of today (NetBox 3.3.x) there are not too many documented and supported ways to interact with core NetBox models from a plugin.

This will change to some extent in NetBox 3.4. With the upcoming version among other enhancements there will be an option to create plugin specific panels in core views, which I'm currently playing around with. Functionality is currently limited to an informational aspect such as showing the related DNS records for an IP address, but I can imagine going on from there to more involved scenarios, as far as the plugin interface allows.

My current idea is to implement the integration feature as an optional feature in NetBox DNS, which needs to be enabled in the plugin configuration to work so it doesn't interfere with the NetBox core interface in case anything does not work as planned.