Define napalm port and transport for each platform

[ChrisdAutume]

Issue type

[X ] Feature request
[ ] Bug report
[ ] Documentation

Environment

• Python version: 3.5.4
• NetBox version: 2.3.2

Description

Working with a variety of network platform os, we usually don't use the default port and transport. For now, it can only be changed using global parameter NAPALM_ARGS witch apply to all devices. This can be very problematic for exemple when working with NX-OS api (http/https/ssh) and Junos (netconf).

I suggest to add an optional specification of these two parameter in the platform create/edit page, the parameter will be merged with NAPALM_ARGS before napalm use.

[bdlamprecht]

I agree that this option ideally would not be something that is globally defined, however, there are other optional_args that can be sent to NAPALM which (I believe) don't fit within your current change to the model for platform.

For example, all of the optional_args that NAPALM offers are shown here. A few off the top of my head that would be important (besides port and transport) are secret and config_lock.

Unfortunately, I don't know of a solution that would enable all of this added functionality while at the same time keeping things straightforward and uncomplicated to use when all you need are the defaults.

Just to be clear, I'm not dismissing the need, I'm merely adding a few thoughts on the issue at hand so as to "get it right" without going through several changes.

[ChrisdAutume]

Well, I agree that it can be good to handle all parameter. I didn't find a good idea to do it yesterday.

Maybe the use of a napalm_optional_args in the platform model with serialisation/json and dynamic form can be a better proposition. With this setup, we can use planty of parameter or none if we only need the default, but it's less sexy.

[jeremystretch]

Let's avoid hard-coding any fields for specific NAPALM arguments, as there are quite a few today and there will likely be more in the future. A more robust approach might be to introduce a single napalm_args JSON field to store arbitrary per-platform arguments.

[amuckart]

I second the need for a per-platform access configuration. In a perfect world it would be nice to be able to define 'templates' of custom arguments to NAPALM (as free text to avoid having to track changes in NAPALM) and then assign those to devices or device templates in Netbox.

[jeremystretch]

This has been implemented in 35d58d2