Installing NetBox on Rocky Linux 9.3

Rocky Linux 9.3
NetBox v4.1.7

Installation

1. Make a system upgrade.

   sudo dnf check-update
   sudo dnf -y upgrade

2. Disable SElinux.

   sudo setenforce 0
   sudo sed -i 's/^SELINUX=.*/SELINUX=disabled/' /etc/selinux/config

3. Install python3.12 packages.

   sudo dnf -y install python3.12 python3.12-devel
   
   python3.12 -V

4. Install and configure PostgreSQL database.

   Install postgresql-server package.

   sudo dnf -y install postgresql-server
   sudo postgresql-setup --initdb

   Modify /var/lib/pgsql/data/pg_hba.conf to support MD5 authentication.

   sudo sed -i '/^host    all/s/ident/md5/' /var/lib/pgsql/data/pg_hba.conf

   Start the service and enable it to run at boot.

   sudo systemctl enable --now postgresql
   
   psql -V

   Loign to PostgreSQL.

   sudo --login -u postgres psql

   Create netbox database.

   CREATE DATABASE netbox;
   CREATE USER netbox WITH PASSWORD 'J5brHrAXFLQSif0K';
   ALTER DATABASE netbox OWNER TO netbox;
   \q

   Verify service status.

   ~]$ psql --username netbox --password --host localhost netbox
   Password: J5brHrAXFLQSif0K
   psql (13.18)
   Type "help" for help.
   
   netbox=> \conninfo
   You are connected to database "netbox" as user "netbox" on host "localhost" (address "::1") at port "5432".
   netbox=> \q

5. Install Redis.

   sudo dnf -y install redis
   sudo systemctl enable --now redis

   Verify service status.

   ~]$ redis-cli ping
   PONG

6. Install NetBox.

   Install system packages.

   sudo dnf -y install gcc libxml2-devel libxslt-devel libffi-devel libpq-devel openssl-devel redhat-rpm-config git

   Download NetBox.

   sudo mkdir -p /opt/netbox/
   sudo git clone -b master --depth 1 https://github.com/netbox-community/netbox.git /opt/netbox/

   Create the NetBox system user.

   sudo groupadd --system netbox
   sudo adduser --system -g netbox netbox
   sudo chown --recursive netbox /opt/netbox/netbox/media/
   sudo chown --recursive netbox /opt/netbox/netbox/reports/
   sudo chown --recursive netbox /opt/netbox/netbox/scripts/

   Modify configuration parameters.

   cd /opt/netbox/netbox/netbox/
   sudo cp configuration_example.py configuration.py
   
   # ALLOWED_HOSTS
   sudo sed -i "/^ALLOWED_HOSTS/s/\[.*]/\['*']/" configuration.py
   
   # DATABASE
   sudo sed -i "/PostgreSQL username/s/'USER': '.*'/'USER': 'netbox'/" configuration.py
   sudo sed -i "/PostgreSQL password/s/'PASSWORD': '.*'/'PASSWORD': 'J5brHrAXFLQSif0K'/" configuration.py
   
   # SECRET_KEY
   SECRET_KEY=`python3.12 ../generate_secret_key.py`
   sudo sed -i "s/^SECRET_KEY.*/SECRET_KEY = '$SECRET_KEY'/" configuration.py

   Verify configuration.

   netbox]$ grep -Ev '^#|^$|^ *#' configuration.py
   ALLOWED_HOSTS = ['*']
   DATABASE = {
       'ENGINE': 'django.db.backends.postgresql',  # Database engine
       'NAME': 'netbox',         # Database name
       'USER': 'netbox',
       'PASSWORD': 'J5brHrAXFLQSif0K',
       'HOST': 'localhost',      # Database server
       'PORT': '',               # Database port (leave blank for default)
       'CONN_MAX_AGE': 300,      # Max database connection age
   }
   REDIS = {
       'tasks': {
           'HOST': 'localhost',
           'PORT': 6379,
           'USERNAME': '',
           'PASSWORD': '',
           'DATABASE': 0,
           'SSL': False,
       },
       'caching': {
           'HOST': 'localhost',
           'PORT': 6379,
           'USERNAME': '',
           'PASSWORD': '',
           'DATABASE': 1,
           'SSL': False,
       }
   }
   SECRET_KEY = 'KSCyDtsb-X2pQNe3EJGrgH_%zThEv4(m7eHXEq*uhGQ#wtg6d*'

   Run the upgrade script.

   sudo PYTHON=/usr/bin/python3.12 /opt/netbox/upgrade.sh

   Create a super user.

   source /opt/netbox/venv/bin/activate
   cd /opt/netbox/netbox
   python3.12 manage.py createsuperuser

   Schedule the housekeeping task.

   sudo ln -s /opt/netbox/contrib/netbox-housekeeping.sh /etc/cron.daily/netbox-housekeeping

   (Option) Test the application.

   sudo firewall-cmd --zone=public --add-port=8000/tcp
   
   source /opt/netbox/venv/bin/activate
   cd /opt/netbox/netbox
   python3.12 manage.py runserver 0.0.0.0:8000 --insecure

7. Gunicorn and systemd setup.

   Copy default configuration file for gunicorn.

   sudo cp /opt/netbox/contrib/gunicorn.py /opt/netbox/gunicorn.py

   systemd setup.

   sudo cp -v /opt/netbox/contrib/*.service /etc/systemd/system/
   sudo systemctl daemon-reload
   sudo systemctl enable --now netbox netbox-rq
   systemctl status netbox netbox-rq

8. HTTP server setup.

   Obtain an SSL certificate.

   sudo mkdir -p /etc/ssl/private/
   
   sudo openssl req -x509 -nodes -days 365 -newkey rsa:2048 \
   -keyout /etc/ssl/private/netbox.key \
   -out /etc/ssl/certs/netbox.crt

   Install and configure nginx.

   sudo dnf -y install nginx
   sudo cp /etc/nginx/nginx.conf{,.bak}
   sudo sed -i '/^    server {/,/^    }/s/^/#/' /etc/nginx/nginx.conf
   sudo cp /opt/netbox/contrib/nginx.conf /etc/nginx/conf.d/netbox.conf
   sudo systemctl enable nginx --now
   systemctl status nginx
   
   sudo firewall-cmd --zone=public --add-service=https
   sudo firewall-cmd --zone=public --add-service=https --per

Plugins

netbox-attachments

source /opt/netbox/venv/bin/activate
sudo /opt/netbox/venv/bin/pip install netbox-attachments

sudo bash -c "cat >>/opt/netbox/netbox/netbox/configuration.py <<EOF

# Plugins
PLUGINS = ['netbox_attachments']
PLUGINS_CONFIG = {
    'netbox_attachments': {
        'apps': ['dcim', 'ipam', 'circuits', 'tenancy', 'virtualization', 'wireless', 'inventory_monitor'],
        'display_default': \"right_page\",
        'display_setting': {
            'ipam.vlan': \"left_page\",
            'dcim.device': \"full_width_page\",
            'dcim.devicerole': \"full_width_page\",
            'inventory_monitor.probe': \"additional_tab\"
        }
    }
}
EOF"

sudo mkdir -p /opt/netbox/netbox/media/netbox-attachments
sudo chown netbox /opt/netbox/netbox/media/netbox-attachments
cd /opt/netbox/netbox
python3.12 manage.py migrate netbox_attachments
sudo systemctl restart netbox netbox-rq

Troubleshooting

Has an fatal error: Python.h: No such file or directory while running the upgrade script.

4-cpython-312/psycopg_c/_psycopg.o
      psycopg_c/_psycopg.c:42:10: fatal error: Python.h: No such file or directory
         42 | #include "Python.h"
            |          ^~~~~~~~~~
      compilation terminated.
      error: command '/bin/gcc' failed with exit code 1
      [end of output]

  note: This error originates from a subprocess, and is likely not a problem with pip.
  ERROR: Failed building wheel for psycopg-c

Install python3.12-devel package.

sudo dnf install -y python3.12-devel

---

The netbox and netbox-rq service not found.

~]$ sudo systemctl restart netbox netbox-rq
[sudo] password for jove:
Failed to restart netbox.service: Unit netbox.service not found.
Failed to restart netbox-rq.service: Unit netbox-rq.service not found.

Those files need to be moved to your systemd's configuration directory from the contrib directory.

sudo cp -a /opt/netbox/*.service /etc/systemd/system/
sudo cp -a /opt/netbox/contrib/gunicorn.py /opt/netbox/

sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl restart netbox netbox-rq

---

The firewall-cmd command failed.

~]$ sudo firewall-cmd --zone=public --add-port=8000/tcp
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/bin/firewall-cmd", line 24, in <module>
    from gi.repository import GObject
ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'gi'

The Rocky Linux 9.3 default python version is 3.9, modify /usr/bin/firewall-cmd shell bang to python3.9.

~]$ cat /usr/bin/firewall-cmd | head -n 1
#!/usr/bin/python3.9 -s

~]$ sudo firewall-cmd --zone=public --add-port=8000/tcp
success

---

The following static media file failed to load: setmode.js.

Check the static files exists in /etc/netbox/netbox/static/, and collect static files again.

cd /opt/netbox/netbox/
source /opt/netbox/venv/bin/activate
sudo python3.12 manage.py collectstatic

Reference

・ Official Installation Guide