Nautobot Docker Apps

Nautobot is a powerful network automation platform, and with Docker you can easily deploy Nautobot and its ecosystem of apps and plugins. In this post, I'll show you how to get started with Nautobot in Docker, explore some useful apps, and share tips for a smooth deployment.

Nautobot Docker Images with Pre-Installed Apps

Managing and extending Nautobot with plugins and apps can be challenging, especially for users who are not familiar with Docker, Docker builds, or Python package management. To make things easier, I maintain a set of Docker images based on the official Nautobot images, but with almost all major Nautobot apps pre-installed and ready to use.

🚀 What Are These Images?

• Based on the official Nautobot images (latest two major versions: 1.x and 2.x)
• All major Nautobot apps pre-installed (see full list of apps)
• No need to build or install plugins manually
• Just activate the plugins you want in your nautobot_config.py
• Available on Docker Hub: bsmeding/nautobot

🧩 Included Nautobot Apps

The images include (but are not limited to): - Nautobot ChatOps - Nautobot Data Validation Engine - Nautobot Device Lifecycle Management - Nautobot Device Onboarding - Nautobot Firewall Models - Nautobot Golden Configuration - Nautobot Plugin Nornir - Nautobot Single Source of Truth (SSoT)

For the full and up-to-date list, see the Nautobot Apps documentation.

🛠️ How to Use

1. Pull the image from Docker Hub:

   docker pull bsmeding/nautobot:2.x-latest  # or 1.x-latest for Nautobot 1.x
   

2. Use the provided Docker Compose file:

   services:
     nautobot:
       container_name: nautobot
       image: &shared_image bsmeding/nautobot:stable-py3.11
       depends_on:
         - postgres
         - redis
       ports:
         - "8080:8080"  # Exposes Nautobot on localhost:8080
       environment:
         - NAUTOBOT_DEBUG=True
         - NAUTOBOT_DJANGO_EXTENSIONS_ENABLED=False
         - NAUTOBOT_DJANGO_TOOLBAR_ENABLED=False
         - NAUTOBOT_HIDE_RESTRICTED_UI=True
         - NAUTOBOT_LOG_LEVEL=WARNING
         - NAUTOBOT_METRICS_ENABLED=False
         - NAUTOBOT_NAPALM_TIMEOUT=5
         - NAUTOBOT_MAX_PAGE_SIZE=0
         - NAUTOBOT_DB_HOST=postgres
         - NAUTOBOT_DB_PORT=5432
         - NAUTOBOT_DB_NAME=nautobot
         - NAUTOBOT_DB_USER=nautobot
         - NAUTOBOT_DB_PASSWORD=nautobotpassword
         - NAUTOBOT_ALLOWED_HOSTS=*
         - NAUTOBOT_REDIS_HOST=redis
         - NAUTOBOT_REDIS_PORT=6379
         - NAUTOBOT_SUPERUSER_NAME=admin
         - NAUTOBOT_SUPERUSER_PASSWORD=admin
         - NAUTOBOT_SUPERUSER_API_TOKEN=1234567890abcde0987654321
         - NAUTOBOT_CREATE_SUPERUSER=true
         - NAUTOBOT_INSTALLATION_METRICS_ENABLED=false
         - NAUTOBOT_CONFIG=/opt/nautobot/nautobot_config.py
         - NAUTOBOT_CELERY_BROKER_URL=redis://redis:6379/0
         - NAUTOBOT_SECURE_HSTS_SECONDS=3600
         - NAUTOBOT_SECURE_SSL_REDIRECT=True
         - NAUTOBOT_SESSION_COOKIE_SECURE=True
         - NAUTOBOT_CSRF_COOKIE_SECURE=True
       volumes:
         - nautobot_config:/opt/nautobot/
       restart: unless-stopped
       healthcheck:
         test: ["CMD", "curl", "-f", "http://localhost:8080/health/"]
         interval: 30s
         timeout: 10s
         retries: 3
         start_period: 120s
       command: ["nautobot-server", "runserver", "0.0.0.0:8080"]
   
     postgres:
       image: postgres:13-alpine
       container_name: postgres
       command:
         - "-c"
         - "max_connections=1000"
       healthcheck:
         test: "pg_isready --username=$$POSTGRES_USER --dbname=$$POSTGRES_DB"
         interval: "10s"
         timeout: "5s"
         retries: 10    
       environment:
         POSTGRES_USER: nautobot
         POSTGRES_PASSWORD: nautobotpassword
         POSTGRES_DB: nautobot
       volumes:
         - "postgres_data:/var/lib/postgresql/data"
       restart: unless-stopped
   
     redis:
       image: redis:6
       container_name: redis
       ports:
         - "6379:6379"
       volumes:
         - redis_data:/data
       restart: unless-stopped
   
     celery-beat:
       container_name: nautobot_celery_beat
       image: *shared_image
       command: nautobot-server celery beat
       depends_on:
         nautobot:
           condition: "service_healthy"
       volumes:
         - nautobot_config:/opt/nautobot/
       environment:
         - NAUTOBOT_DB_HOST=postgres
         - NAUTOBOT_DB_PORT=5432
         - NAUTOBOT_DB_NAME=nautobot
         - NAUTOBOT_DB_USER=nautobot
         - NAUTOBOT_DB_PASSWORD=nautobotpassword
         - NAUTOBOT_REDIS_HOST=redis
         - NAUTOBOT_REDIS_PORT=6379      
         - NAUTOBOT_CELERY_BROKER_URL=redis://redis:6379/0
         - NAUTOBOT_CONFIG=/opt/nautobot/nautobot_config.py
   
     celery-worker-1:
       image: *shared_image
       container_name: nautobot_celery_worker_1
       command: nautobot-server celery worker --concurrency=4
       depends_on:
         nautobot:
           condition: "service_healthy"
       healthcheck:
         interval: "30s"
         timeout: "10s"
         start_period: "30s"
         retries: 3
         test:
           [
             "CMD",
             "bash",
             "-c",
             "nautobot-server celery inspect ping --destination celery@$$HOSTNAME"  ## $$ because of docker-compose
           ]
       volumes:
         - nautobot_config:/opt/nautobot/
       environment:
         - NAUTOBOT_DB_HOST=postgres
         - NAUTOBOT_DB_PORT=5432
         - NAUTOBOT_DB_NAME=nautobot
         - NAUTOBOT_DB_USER=nautobot
         - NAUTOBOT_DB_PASSWORD=nautobotpassword
         - NAUTOBOT_REDIS_HOST=redis
         - NAUTOBOT_REDIS_PORT=6379      
         - NAUTOBOT_CELERY_BROKER_URL=redis://redis:6379/0
         - NAUTOBOT_CONFIG=/opt/nautobot/nautobot_config.py
   
   
   volumes:
     nautobot_config: {}
     postgres_data: {}
     redis_data: {}
   

3. Source: docker-compose.yml Gist
4. This Compose file sets up Nautobot, Postgres, Redis, and volumes for persistent data.
5. Configure your plugins/apps:
6. Edit nautobot_config.py to activate the plugins you want. All are pre-installed, just enable them in the config.
7. Example:

   PLUGINS = [
       "nautobot_chatops",
       "nautobot_golden_config",
       # ...add or remove as needed
   ]
   

8. Start Nautobot:

   docker compose up -d
   

🔍 Requirements Files

• For Nautobot 1.x: see requirements_1.x.txt in the GitHub repo
• For Nautobot 2.x: see requirements2.x.txt in the GitHub repo

📝 Why Use These Images?

• Save time: No need to build or install plugins manually.
• Consistency: All users get the same set of apps and versions.
• Easy upgrades: Just pull the latest image for new Nautobot or app versions.
• Great for labs, demos, and production where you want a quick start.

🔗 Resources

• Nautobot Apps Documentation
• Docker Compose Example
• Docker Hub: bsmeding/nautobot
• GitHub: bsmeding/nautobot-docker

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If you have questions or want to suggest more apps to include, feel free to open an issue or contact me via the links above!