The Nautobot Server Command

Nautobot includes a command-line (CLI) management utility called nautobot-server, that is used as a single entrypoint for common administrative tasks.

Background

For those familiar with Django applications, this CLI utility works exactly as a project's manage.py script would, except that it comes bundled with the Nautobot code and therefore it gets automatically installed in the bin directory of your application environment.

Important

Since Nautobot is a Django application, there are a number of built-in management commands that will not be covered in this document. Please see the official Django documentation on management commands for more information.

Important

Django does not recognize nautobot-server. Anywhere python manage.py is mentioned, it is safe to replace with nautobot-server.

Getting Help

To see all available management commands:

$ nautobot-server help

All management commands have a -h/--help flag to list all available arguments for that command, for example:

$ nautobot-server migrate --help

Available Commands

celery

nautobot-server celery

Celery command entrypoint which serves as a thin wrapper to the celery command that includes the Nautobot Celery application context. This allows us to execute Celery commands without having to worry about the chicken-and-egg problem with bootstrapping the Django settings.

Most commonly you will be using this command to start the Celery worker process:

$ nautobot-server celery worker --loglevel INFO --pidfile $(pwd)/nautobot-celery.pid -n worker1

celery@worker1 v5.1.1 (sun-harmonics)

[config]
.> app:         nautobot:0x10c357eb0
.> transport:   redis://localhost:6379/0
.> results:     redis://localhost:6379/0
.> concurrency: 8 (prefork)
.> task events: OFF (enable -E to monitor tasks in this worker)

[queues]
.> celery           exchange=celery(direct) key=celery


[tasks]
  . nautobot.extras.datasources.git.pull_git_repository_and_refresh_data
  . nautobot.extras.jobs.run_job
  . nautobot.extras.tasks.delete_custom_field_data
  . nautobot.extras.tasks.process_webhook
  . nautobot.extras.tasks.provision_field
  . nautobot.extras.tasks.update_custom_field_choice_data
  . nautobot.utilities.tasks.get_releases

[2021-07-01 21:32:40,680: INFO/MainProcess] Connected to redis://localhost:6379/0
[2021-07-01 21:32:40,690: INFO/MainProcess] mingle: searching for neighbors
[2021-07-01 21:32:41,713: INFO/MainProcess] mingle: all alone
[2021-07-01 21:32:41,730: INFO/MainProcess] celery@worker1 ready.

Note

The internals of this command are built into Celery. Please see the official Celery workers guide for more information.

collectstatic

nautobot-server collectstatic

Collect static files into STATIC_ROOT.

$ nautobot-server collectstatic

965 static files copied to '/opt/nautobot/static'.

Note

This is a built-in Django command. Please see the official documentation on collectstatic for more information.

createsuperuser

nautobot-server createsuperuser

Creates a superuser account that has all permissions. 

$ nautobot-server createsuperuser
Username (leave blank to use 'jathan'): example
Email address: example@localhost
Password:
Password (again):
Superuser created successfully.

Note

This is a built-in Django command. Please see the official documentation on createsuperuser for more information.

dbshell

nautobot-server dbshell

A shell for your database. This can be very useful in troubleshooting raw database issues.

Danger

This is an advanced feature that gives you direct access to run raw SQL queries. Use this very cautiously as you can cause irreparable damage to your Nautobot installation.

$ nautobot-server dbshell
psql (12.6 (Ubuntu 12.6-0ubuntu0.20.04.1))
SSL connection (protocol: TLSv1.3, cipher: TLS_AES_256_GCM_SHA384, bits: 256, compression: off)
Type "help" for help.

nautobot=> \conninfo
You are connected to database "nautobot" as user "nautobot" on host "localhost" (address "::1") at port "5432".
SSL connection (protocol: TLSv1.3, cipher: TLS_AES_256_GCM_SHA384, bits: 256, compression: off)
nautobot=> \q

Note

This is a built-in Django command. Please see the official documentation on dbshell for more information.

fix_custom_fields

nautobot-server fix_custom_fields

Adds/Removes any custom fields which should or should not exist on an object. This command should not be run unless a custom fields jobs has failed:

$ nautobot-server fix_custom_fields
Processing ContentType dcim | device
Processing ContentType dcim | site
Processing ContentType dcim | rack
Processing ContentType dcim | cable
Processing ContentType dcim | power feed
Processing ContentType circuits | circuit
Processing ContentType ipam | prefix
... (truncated for brevity of documentation) ...

generate_secret_key

nautobot-server generate_secret_key

Generates a new SECRET_KEY that can be used in your nautobot_config.py:

$ nautobot-server generate_secret_key
e!j=vrlhz-!wl8p_3+q5s5cph29nzj$xm81eap-!&n!_9^du09

health_check

nautobot-server health_check

Run health checks and exit 0 if everything went well.

$ nautobot-server health_check
Cache backend: default   ... working
DatabaseBackend          ... working
DefaultFileStorageHealthCheck ... working

Please see the healthcheck documentation for more information.

init

nautobot-server init [config_path]

Generates a new configuration with all of the default settings provided for you, and will also generate a uniqueSECRET_KEY.

By default the file will be created at $HOME/.nautobot/nautobot_config.py:

$ nautobot-server init
Configuration file created at '/home/example/.nautobot/nautobot_config.py

For more information on configuring Nautobot for the first time or on more advanced configuration patterns, please see the guide on Nautobot Configuration.

invalidate

nautobot-server invalidate

Invalidates cache for entire app, model or particular instance. Most commonly you will see us recommend clearing the entire cache using invalidate all:

$ nautobot-server invalidate all

There are a number of other options not covered here.

Note

This is a built-in management command provided by the Cacheops plugin Nautobot for caching. Please see the official Cacheops documentation on invalidate for more information.

migrate

nautobot-server migrate [app_label] [migration_name]

Initialize a new database or run any pending database migrations to an existing database.

$ nautobot-server migrate
Wrapping model clean methods for custom validators failed because the ContentType table was not available or populated. This is normal during the execution of the migration command for the first time.
Operations to perform:
  Apply all migrations: admin, auth, circuits, contenttypes, dcim, extras, ipam, sessions, taggit, tenancy, users, virtualization
Running migrations:
  Applying contenttypes.0001_initial... OK
  Applying auth.0001_initial... OK
  Applying admin.0001_initial... OK
... (truncated for brevity of documentation) ...

Note

This is a built-in Django command. Please see the official documentation on migrate for more information.

nbshell

nautobot-server nbshell

An interactive Python shell with all of the database models and various other utilities already imported for you. This is immensely useful for direct access to manipulating database objects.

Danger

This is an advanced feature that gives you direct access to the Django database models. Use this very cautiously as you can cause irreparable damage to your Nautobot installation.

$ nautobot-server nbshell
### Nautobot interactive shell (localhost)
### Python 3.8.7 | Django 3.1.7 | Nautobot 1.0.0
### lsmodels() will show available models. Use help(<model>) for more info.
>>>

Please see the dedicated guide on the Nautobot Shell for more information.

post_upgrade

nautobot-server post_upgrade

Performs common server post-upgrade operations using a single entrypoint.

This will run the following management commands with default settings, in order:

  • migrate
  • trace_paths
  • collectstatic
  • remove_stale_contenttypes
  • clearsessions
  • invalidate all

Note

Commands listed here that are not covered in this document here are Django built-in commands.

--no-clearsessions
Do not automatically clean out expired sessions.

--no-collectstatic
Do not automatically collect static files into a single location.

--no-invalidate-all
Do not automatically invalidate cache for entire application.

--no-migrate
Do not automatically perform any database migrations.

--no-remove-stale-contenttypes
Do not automatically remove stale content types.

--no-trace-paths
Do not automatically generate missing cable paths.

$ nautobot-server post_upgrade
Performing database migrations...
Operations to perform:
  Apply all migrations: admin, auth, circuits, contenttypes, dcim, extras, ipam, sessions, taggit, tenancy, users, virtualization
Running migrations:
  No migrations to apply.

Generating cable paths...
Found no missing circuit termination paths; skipping
Found no missing console port paths; skipping
Found no missing console server port paths; skipping
Found no missing interface paths; skipping
Found no missing power feed paths; skipping
Found no missing power outlet paths; skipping
Found no missing power port paths; skipping
Finished.

Collecting static files...

0 static files copied to '/opt/nautobot/static', 965 unmodified.

Removing stale content types...

Removing expired sessions...

Invalidating cache...

renaturalize

nautobot-server renaturalize [app_label.ModelName [app_label.ModelName ...]]

Recalculate natural ordering values for the specified models.

This defaults to recalculating natural ordering on all models which have one or more fields of type NaturalOrderingField:

$ nautobot-server renaturalize
Renaturalizing 21 models.
dcim.ConsolePort.name (_name)... 196
dcim.ConsoleServerPort.name (_name)... 0
dcim.PowerPort.name (_name)... 392
dcim.PowerOutlet.name (_name)... 0
dcim.Interface.name (_name)... 7161
dcim.FrontPort.name (_name)... 0
dcim.RearPort.name (_name)... 0
dcim.DeviceBay.name (_name)... 0
dcim.InventoryItem.name (_name)... 1
dcim.Device.name (_name)... 208
dcim.ConsolePortTemplate.name (_name)... 2
dcim.ConsoleServerPortTemplate.name (_name)... 0
dcim.PowerPortTemplate.name (_name)... 4
dcim.PowerOutletTemplate.name (_name)... 0
dcim.InterfaceTemplate.name (_name)... 221
dcim.FrontPortTemplate.name (_name)... 0
dcim.RearPortTemplate.name (_name)... 0
dcim.DeviceBayTemplate.name (_name)... 0
dcim.Rack.name (_name)... 156
dcim.Site.name (_name)... 22
virtualization.VMInterface.name (_name)... 0
Done.

You may optionally specify or more specific models (each prefixed with its app_label) to renaturalize:

$ nautobot-server renaturalize dcim.Device
Renaturalizing 1 models.
dcim.Device.name (_name)... 208
Done.

runjob

nautobot-server runjob [job]

Run a job (script, report) to validate or update data in Nautobot.

--commit
Commit changes to DB (defaults to dry-run if unset).

$ nautobot-server runjob local/example/MyJobWithVars --commit

Please see the guide on Jobs for more information on working with and running jobs.

start

nautobot-server start

Directly invoke uWSGI to start a Nautobot server suitable for production use. This command behaves exactly as uWSGI does, but allows us to maintain a single entrypoint into the Nautobot application.

Note

uWSGI offers an overwhelming amount of command-line arguments that could not possibly be covered here. Please see the official uWSGI Options guide for more information.

$ nautobot-server start --ini ./uwsgi.ini
[uWSGI] getting INI configuration from ./uwsgi.ini
[uwsgi-static] added mapping for /static => /opt/nautobot/static
*** Starting uWSGI 2.0.19.1 (64bit) on [Thu Mar 11 21:13:22 2021] ***
compiled with version: 8.3.1 20190311 (Red Hat 8.3.1-3) on 23 September 2020 02:39:40
os: Linux-5.4.0-52-generic #57-Ubuntu SMP Thu Oct 15 10:57:00 UTC 2020
nodename: jathan-nautobot-testing
machine: x86_64
clock source: unix
pcre jit disabled
detected number of CPU cores: 48
current working directory: /opt/nautobot
detected binary path: /usr/bin/python3.8
your processes number limit is 256070
your memory page size is 4096 bytes
detected max file descriptor number: 1024
building mime-types dictionary from file /etc/mime.types...567 entry found
lock engine: pthread robust mutexes
thunder lock: disabled (you can enable it with --thunder-lock)
uwsgi socket 0 bound to TCP address 0.0.0.0:9191 fd 7
Python version: 3.8.5 (default, Jan 27 2021, 15:41:15)  [GCC 9.3.0]
--- Python VM already initialized ---
Python main interpreter initialized at 0x2573e30
python threads support enabled
your server socket listen backlog is limited to 1024 connections
your mercy for graceful operations on workers is 60 seconds
mapped 636432 bytes (621 KB) for 15 cores
*** Operational MODE: preforking+threaded ***
WSGI app 0 (mountpoint='') ready in 0 seconds on interpreter 0x2573e30 pid: 112153 (default app)
spawned uWSGI master process (pid: 112153)
spawned uWSGI worker 1 (pid: 112159, cores: 3)
spawned uWSGI worker 2 (pid: 112162, cores: 3)
spawned uWSGI worker 3 (pid: 112165, cores: 3)
spawned uWSGI worker 4 (pid: 112168, cores: 3)
spawned uWSGI worker 5 (pid: 112171, cores: 3)

Please see the guide on Deploying Nautobot Services for our recommended configuration for use with uWSGI.

startplugin

nautobot-server startplugin <name> [directory]

Create a new plugin with name.

This command is similar to the django-admin startapp command, but with a default template directory (--template) of nautobot/core/templates/plugin_template. This command assists with creating a basic file structure for beginning development of a new Nautobot plugin.

Without passing in the destination directory, nautobot-server startplugin will use your current directory and the name argument provided to create a new directory. We recommend providing a directory so that the plugin can be installed or published easily. Here is an example:

$ mkdir -p ~/myplugin/myplugin
$ nautobot-server startplugin myplugin ~/myplugin/myplugin

Additional options such as --name or --extension can be found in the Django documentation.

trace_paths

nautobot-server trace_paths

Generate any missing cable paths among all cable termination objects in Nautobot.

After upgrading the database or working with Cables, Circuits, or other related objects, there may be a need to rebuild cached cable paths.

--force
Force recalculation of all existing cable paths.

--no-input
Do not prompt user for any input/confirmation.

$ nautobot-server trace_paths
Found no missing circuit termination paths; skipping
Found no missing console port paths; skipping
Found no missing console server port paths; skipping
Found no missing interface paths; skipping
Found no missing power feed paths; skipping
Found no missing power outlet paths; skipping
Found no missing power port paths; skipping
Finished.

Note

This command is safe to run at any time. If it does detect any changes, it will exit cleanly.

webhook_receiver

nautobot-server webhook_receiver

Start a simple listener to display received HTTP requests.

--port PORT
Optional port number (default: 9000)

--no-headers
Hide HTTP request headers.

$ nautobot-server webhook_receiver --port 9001 --no-headers
Listening on port http://localhost:9000. Stop with CONTROL-C.

Please see the guide on Troubleshooting Webhooks for more information.