How to run Netbox IPAM in Docker containers

Running Netbox in Docker containers is very easy as it avoids the tedious installation of dependencies like Python, Django, etc.

Before you get started, make sure your system is up to date and has the necessary packages installed.

# Debian/Ubuntu
sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade
sudo apt install curl vim git

# RHEL/CentOS/RockyLinux 8
sudo yum -y update
sudo yum -y install curl vim git

# Fedora
sudo dnf update
sudo dnf -y install curl vim git

1. Install Docker and Docker-Compose on Linux

# Debian/Ubuntu
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install apt-transport-https ca-certificates curl gnupg lsb-release

curl -fsSL https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu/gpg | sudo gpg --dearmor -o /usr/share/keyrings/docker-archive-keyring.gpg

echo "deb [arch=amd64 signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/docker-archive-keyring.gpg] https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu $(lsb_release -cs) stable" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/docker.list > /dev/null

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install docker-ce docker-ce-cli containerd.io

# RHEL/CentOS/RockyLinux 8
sudo yum -y install yum-utils
sudo yum-config-manager --add-repo https://download.docker.com/linux/fedora/docker-ce.repo
sudo yum install docker-ce docker-ce-cli containerd.io

# Fedora
sudo dnf -y install dnf-plugins-core
sudo dnf config-manager --add-repo https://download.docker.com/linux/fedora/docker-ce.repo
sudo dnf install docker-ce docker-ce-cli containerd.io

Then add your system user to the docker group to run docker commands without using the sudo command.

sudo usermod -aG docker $USER
newgrp docker

Adding Docker-Compose

sudo curl -L "https://github.com/docker/compose/releases/download/1.29.0/docker-compose-$(uname -s)-$(uname -m)" -o /usr/local/bin/docker-compose
sudo chmod +x /usr/local/bin/docker-compose

Now start and enable docker.

sudo systemctl start docker && sudo systemctl enable docker

2. Configuring the Netbox IPAM Server

Now clone the git file of the Netbox repository as shown below.

git clone -b release https://github.com/netbox-community/netbox-docker.git

Change to the Netbox directory.

cd netbox-docker

Edit the docker-compose.yml file as follows.

version: '3.4'
services:
  netbox: &netbox
    image: netboxcommunity/netbox:${VERSION-v3.2-2.1.0}
    depends_on:
    - postgres
    - redis
    - redis-cache
    - netbox-worker
    env_file: env/netbox.env
    user: 'unit:root'
    volumes:
    - ./startup_scripts:/opt/netbox/startup_scripts:z,ro
    - ./initializers:/opt/netbox/initializers:z,ro
    - ./configuration:/etc/netbox/config:z,ro
    - ./reports:/etc/netbox/reports:z,ro
    - ./scripts:/etc/netbox/scripts:z,ro
    - netbox-media-files:/opt/netbox/netbox/media:z
  netbox-worker:
    <<: *netbox
    depends_on:
    - redis
    - postgres
    command:
    - /opt/netbox/venv/bin/python
    - /opt/netbox/netbox/manage.py
    - rqworker
  netbox-housekeeping:
    <<: *netbox
    depends_on:
    - redis
    - postgres
    command:
    - /opt/netbox/housekeeping.sh

  # postgres
  postgres:
    image: postgres:14-alpine
    env_file: env/postgres.env
    volumes:
    - netbox-postgres-data:/var/lib/postgresql/data

  # redis
  redis:
    image: redis:7-alpine
    command:
    - sh
    - -c # this is to evaluate the $REDIS_PASSWORD from the env
    - redis-server --appendonly yes --requirepass $$REDIS_PASSWORD ## $$ because of docker-compose
    env_file: env/redis.env
    volumes:
    - netbox-redis-data:/data
  redis-cache:
    image: redis:7-alpine
    command:
    - sh
    - -c # this is to evaluate the $REDIS_PASSWORD from the env
    - redis-server --requirepass $$REDIS_PASSWORD ## $$ because of docker-compose
    env_file: env/redis-cache.env

  nginx:
#    command: nginx -c /etc/netbox-nginx/nginx.conf
    image: nginx:1.23.1-alpine
    depends_on:
    - netbox
    ports:
    - 80:80 # This will make NGINX listen on port 80 on the
    volumes:
    - /home/$USER/netbox-docker/nginx.conf:/etc/nginx/conf.d/nginx.conf

volumes:
  netbox-media-files:
    driver: local
  netbox-postgres-data:
    driver: local
  netbox-redis-data:
    driver: local
  nginx:
    driver: local

We are now ready to start our docker container. But first, extract the necessary images for Netbox, PostgreSQL, Redis, etc.

docker-compose pull

Create configuration file nginx.conf for nginx. Don’t forget change line server_name and proxy_pass

server {
  listen 80;
  listen [::]:80;
  server_name **YourIPaddress**;

  location / {
    proxy_pass http://**YourIPaddress**:8000;
    proxy_redirect     off;
    proxy_set_header   Host $host;
    proxy_set_header   X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
    proxy_set_header   X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
    proxy_set_header   X-Forwarded-Host $server_name;
  }
}

Start the Netbox IPAM container.

docker-compose up

3. Accessing the web interface of the Netbox IPAM tool

Everything is ready, now we can go ahead and access the Netbox IPAM web interface using the URL http://Hostname or http://IP_Address.