NetBox Lab

In this lab we are going to document the Campus Network we configured in our workshop.

We will practice the following steps to explore NetBox application.

▪ Create the first site

▪ Create the first region
▪ Connect the region with the site
▪ Create the tenant to define the department
▪ Connect the tenant with the site
▪ Add Locations
▪ Add new Rack
▪ Define device role
▪ Define device type
▪ Add devices
▪ Add Vlans
▪ Setting up IPs
Create a Site

For this lab we will create a Site call “My_Campus”

▪ Go to the homepage and click Sites under the Organization tab. New page will come up,
click on the +Add button and fill in the form.

Create a region

Next, we have to create the region to complete the first part of the Organization tab. To do that,
again go to the homepage and click Regions under the Organization tab.

New page will come up, click on the +Add button and fill in the form.

For this lab we will create a Region call “Campus_HQ”

Connect the region with the site:

Now we need connect Regions to Sites. Go to Sites from the Organization tab, Select the My_Campus
and click on Edit Selected. A new window come up. Next, right side of the window there are few
options, select Campus-HQ from the drop-down menu at Region field, and click on Apply.

Now it should look like this.

Create a tenant:

Let’s create a tenant to define the department.

Go to the home page and navigate Tenants option from the Organization block. Click it, new
window will popup, click on the +Add button to add a new one. Fill up the gap and click on Create
button.
Now it should look like this.
Connect the tenant with the site:

Go to Sites from the Organization tab, Sites, Select the My_Campus and click on Edit Selected.

Next, right side of the window there are few options, select IT Department from the drop-down
menu at Tenant field, and click on Apply.

Create a Location:

Let’s create a Location.

Go to the home page and navigate Locations option from the Organization block. Click it, new window
will popup, click on the +Add button to add a new one. Fill up the gap and click on Create button.
Select CAMPUS_ITDEP from the drop-down menu at Tenancy field and click on Apply.
Add new RACKS:

To add a new rack, go to the home page, and navigate Racks option. Click it, new window will popup,
click on the +Add button to add a new one. Fill up the gap, use My_Campus site, use Campus-HQ for
region, CAMPUS _ITDEP for tenant, HQ-MDF for Location from the drop-down option respectively;
use default rack dimensions and name of the rack as CAMPUS_ServerRack_01 and click on Create
button.
Add Another Rack for Network Devices.

You can add more racks as above as per your requirement.

Define device role:

Before adding new device, we must create few necessary definitions for devices.

To create device role, navigate Device Roles option from the drop-down menu Devices. Click it, new
window will popup, click on the +Add button to add a new one. Add Core_Router, Core_Switch,
Access_Switch,Server, Workstaion ..etc with assigning the colour code.

Note: make sure you uncheck the option VM Role

it should look like this.

Add Manufacturers

Need to create the Manufacturers first, before creating device types.

From the Devices drop down menu, select Manufacturers and then click +Add from the new
window. Create Cisco and Dell, by fill in the gap, and it will look like below.
After adding it should look like this.

Define device type:

Next, from the Devices drop down menu, select Device Types and then click +Add from the new
window. Fill the gap with sample specification of Dell.

Assuming the server is Dell PowerEdge 420, which is 2U rack.

Note: As this is 2U rack server, it will cover from Front to Rear, and that is why option Full Depth
should be checked. But for the Cisco switch, Full Depth option should be unchecked.
Add a Server
Add Network interface to Server.

Add cisco 3725 Switch;

Now you can add components to the Switch using +Add Components button. We will add console
port Ethernet interfaces.
Add Network interfaces.
Now add Switch ports.

After adding Swich ports.

Define Access Switch

Add console port and interfaces using the same steps used in 3725.
Define patch panels

After creating
Now add Front ports and Rear ports using +Add component button. Select Rear ports first. Then
add as follows.

Then press Create.

Then add Front Ports using +Add component button.

select all Rear ports and click Create.

Now it will show both front ports and Rear ports

You can add CAT 6 path panels in the same way.

Define User Workstation

Add a Network interface to Workstation

After adding device types, it should look like this.

Add devices:

Finally, we are adding devices now.

Select Devices option from the drop-down menu Devices. New window will popup, click on the +Add
button to add a new one. Add switch and server and select all the option from the drop-down menu,
accordingly, keep in mind to check, Hardware, Location Tenancy.

For this Network we need to add following devices.

• Three Servers (including Firewall)

• 2 fibre patch panels
• 2 Cat 6 path panels
• Four 3725 Routers
• Seven 2960 Access Switches
• Ten workstations
Now we will add those devices, Starting from Servers.
Now it should look like this.

For this workshop network we need to add 2 more servers for Pfsense and LibreNMS . Repeat the
same steps to add servers or click on Clone button and fill the gaps accordingly.

Note: you need to add 3 network interfaces to Pfsense.

All the Servers should be added to CAMPUS_ServerRack_01.

Now server Rack should be like this.

Now add Routers and other devices to CAMPUSNW-Rack01

Use the above steps or use Clone button to create other Routers

First, we add new Location for Faculty 1 and Add devices for that location. We can repeat the same
steps for other locations as well.
now we add a 9U Rack for above location.

It should look like this.

Now we add Faculty_01 Router to this Rack.

Go to devices and select previously created Faculty_01 Router and assign it to this Rack.
We need another Fibre patch Panel and CAT 6 Patch Panel to this Rack.

You can click on the Rack position and add Devices. Go to Racks and select Faculty_01 Rack.

Click on the position 9 and add Fibre Patch panel.

Add CAT 6 patch panel to position 8 by clicking on it.
Now we can start with cabling the devices.

First go to the Devices menu and it will show you all the devices you added previously.

For Example we will connect Campus core routers’ Fa1/0 to Faculty_01s ‘ Fa1/15

Select Campus core router and go to intarfaces tab.Now select the interface you want to connect
and click on green colour connection drop-down icon and select Front Port from drop-down.

It will open the following window with source device (A Side) and destination device (B Side) and
cable type for the connection. Fill the gaps according to your configurations.

Here we are connecting devices via fibre patch panels which are in CAMPUSNW-Rack01

and FACULTY_01_NWRack01.
Cable path as follows.

Campus core Routers’ Fa1/0

CAMPUSNW-Rack01 Fibre Patch Panel Front port 10

CAMPUSNW-Rack01 Fibre Patch Panel Rear port 10

FACULTY_01_NWRack01 Fibre Patch panel Rear port 10

FACULTY_01_NWRack01 Fibre Patch panel Front port 10

FACULTY_01 Routers’ Fa1/15

Press Connect.

Then Campus Network Rack to Faculty_01 Rack patch panel.

Select CAMPUS_FB_BACKBONE_PATCH_01 and Rear port 10

Connect it to Faculty_01 racks’ fibre patch panel Rear port 10.

Now click on Connect Button.

Then Campus Faculty_01 Rack patch panel Front port 10 to FACULTY_01 Routers’ Fa1/15 Interface.

Select interface form drop down.

Press connect.

To view the cable trace, click on the Blue colour Trace button.
Vlans
Go to VLANS under IPAM and add VLANS.

From Assignment select Site as follows and fill the gaps.

After adding:

You can clone above or can add vlans by following above steps.
IP Address Management
Now we will work on IPAM, and then go back to DCIM to see the full picture.

• Create Aggregates
• Create Prefixes
• Create IP address

Create Aggregates:

First, select RIRs (Regional Internet Registry) from the IPAM tab, and create new one with
CAMPUS_HQ.

It will take you to a new window, where you have to create Aggregate IPs. Here we assume the IP
Prefix is 10.0.0.0/8.

Now + Add Aggregates

Create Prefixes

Select Prefixes from the IPAM tab to add new prefixes. we will use 10.1.0.0/16 as our prefix for the
campus.
Now add child prefixes for VLANs.

Add child prefixes for all the VLANS with /24 mask.

After adding go to prefixes and it should look like this;

Now we will assign ip addresses to the devices.

Go to devices and select Pfsense firewall and go to interfaces. Select GE0.

Click on blue colour “+ button”

And select IP Address

Now go to IP addresses.

You can Access each Device as above and can set the IP Addresses for their interfaces.