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NetBox Quick Start Installation Guide

Deploy a NetBox Dev/Test Environment in 20 Minutes

To get NetBox up and running in the fastest possible way, follow this guide. This framework will allow you to install, backup, remove, upgrade, customize, and deploy NetBox plugins, all in minutes.

The blue info boxes flag What You've Missed, which are stages you should consider in a production, or in "more than just a NetBox lab" environment.

5 Minute Demo

Installation Guide

1. Install Ubuntu Server

You're going to need to get a server with Ubuntu 24.04 LTS up and running. Download an image like ubuntu-24.04-live-server-amd64.iso or spin up an instance on your favorite cloud provider, like AWS.


2. Install Semaphore and the Netos NetOps Project

You can follow the full Install Semaphore Guide, however, in summary, once you install Ubuntu, paste this command to pull the repo and run the install script, and you shouldn't need to do anything else:

sudo wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/netos-networks/netos-netops/refs/heads/main/easy-deploy.sh && sudo chmod +x easy-deploy.sh && sudo ./easy-deploy.sh

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The Key Semaphore Principles guide explains more about Semaphore.

Check the Users, Accounts, and Tokens guide for more information about credentials and variables.

3. Configure Semaphore

These steps are optional, so you can skip this for now.

Change the DOMAIN and SEMAPHORE_HOSTNAME variables in the NetBox Global Settings Semaphore environment. Follow the Deploying NGINX & Certificates guide.

Deploy self-signed certificates, so you don't get "your connection isn't private" browser warnings. Follow the Deploying NGINX & Certificates guide.

Enable Semaphore Backups.

4. Deploy NGINX and Self-Signed Cert for NetBox

You need to deploy NGINX to connect to NetBox. To fast track, you can just create a self-signed certificate. The default hostname will be netbox.netos.dev.

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Change the DOMAIN and NETBOX_HOSTNAME variables in the NetBox Global Settings Semaphore environment. Follow the Deploying NGINX & Certificates guide.

Deploy self-signed certificates, so you don't get "Your connection isn't private" browser warnings. Follow the Deploying NGINX & Certificates guide.

5. Install NetBox

Browse to the NETBOX DEPLOY view in Semaphore to start the installation. The full NetBox Installation Guide is here.

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If you want to install a specific version, set it here, matching the numeric version from Releases ยท netbox-community/netbox (github.com). Don't add the v, i.e. v4.1.2 would be 4.1.2.

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Configure scheduled daily NetBox Backups, or set your own custom frequency.

Upgrade NetBox. For example, maybe you've useused the Restore process to restore to an older version and want to upgrade to a newer version.

Enable the NetBox Maintenance Playbook on a daily schedule as per the developer's guidance.

6. Connect to NetBox

Once the playbook is complete, you should be able to connect using HTTPS and the IP address to NetBox. Check the Users, Accounts, and Tokens guide for full details on account and passwords. The default credentials are as follows:

  • Username: admin
  • Password: ohp8toef7Jee

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If you experience any problems, you can run the Health Check Playbook to quickly diagnose common issues. For example, check the logs to catch the reason why NetBox failed to start.

7. Install NetBox Plugins

You can Install and Upgrade popular NetBox plugins from within Semaphore, and also Disable NetBox Plugins. This feature is a work-in-progress, and probably will be for a while...!

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If things go wrong in your test environment, you can quickly Wipe NetBox and start again.

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