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# 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 as the Nautobot user:

    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

Output:

    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

Output:

    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

This provides the following output:

    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

Output:

    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.

### `dumpdata`

Changed in version 1.3.0

- `extras.job` should now be included in the dump (removed `--exclude extras.job` from the example usage)
- `django_rq` should now be excluded from the dump (added `--exclude django_rq` to the example usage)

Changed in version 1.5.23

- We do not recommend at this time using `--natural-primary` as this can result in inconsistent or incorrect data for data models that use GenericForeignKeys, such as `Cable`, `Note`, `ObjectChange`, and `Tag`.
- We also do not recommend at this time using `--natural-foreign` as it can potentially result in errors if any data models incorrectly implement their `natural_key()` and/or `get_by_natural_key()` API methods.
- `contenttypes` must not be excluded from the dump (it could be excluded previously due to the use of `--natural-foreign`).

    nautobot-server dumpdata \
      --exclude auth.permission \
      --exclude django_rq \
      --format json \
      --indent 2 \
      --traceback \
      > nautobot_dump.json

Use this command to generate a JSON dump of the database contents.

One example of using this command would be to export data from PostgreSQL and then import the data dump into MySQL.

### `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

Example output:

    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

Output:

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

### `generate_test_data`

Added in version 1.5.0

`nautobot-server generate_test_data [--flush] --seed SEED`

Populate the database with various data as a baseline for testing (automated or manual).

`--flush`
Flush any existing data from the database before generating new data.

Danger

Running this command with the `--flush` argument will clear all existing data in your database. You have been warned.

`--seed SEED`
String to use as a random generator seed for reproducible results.

    nautobot-server generate_test_data --flush --seed "Nautobot"

Sample output:

    Flushing all existing data from the database...
    Seeding the pseudo-random number generator with seed "Nautobot"...
    Creating Statuses...
    Creating TenantGroups...
    Creating Tenants...
    Creating RIRs...
    Creating Aggregates...
    Creating RouteTargets...
    Creating VRFs...
    Creating IP/VLAN Roles...
    Creating VLANGroups...
    Creating VLANs...
    Database populated successfully!

### `health_check`

`nautobot-server health_check`

Run health checks and exit 0 if everything went well.

    nautobot-server health_check

Output

    DatabaseBackend          ... working
    DefaultFileStorageHealthCheck ... working
    RedisBackend             ... working

Please see the healthcheck documentation for more information.

### `init`

`nautobot-server init [--disable-installation-metrics] [config_path]`

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

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

    nautobot-server init

Output:

    Nautobot would like to send anonymized installation metrics to the project's maintainers.
    These metrics include the installed Nautobot version, the Python version in use, an anonymous "deployment ID", and a list of one-way-hashed names of enabled Nautobot Apps and their versions.
    Allow Nautobot to send these metrics? [y/n]: y
    Installation metrics will be sent when running 'nautobot-server post_upgrade'. Thank you!
    Configuration file created at /home/example/.nautobot/nautobot_config.py

Added in version 1.6.0

The `nautobot-server init` command will now prompt you to set the initial value for the `INSTALLATION_METRICS_ENABLED` setting. See the send_installation_metrics command for more information about the feature that this setting toggles.

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.

### `loaddata`

`nautobot-server loaddata --traceback nautobot_dump.json`

To import the data that was exported with `nautobot-server dumpdata ...` see the following documentation:

- Remove auto-populated records from the database
- Import the database dump
- Rebuild cached cable path traces

### `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

Output:

    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

Prompt provided:

    ### Nautobot interactive shell (localhost)
    ### Python 3.11.4 | Django 3.2.20 | Nautobot 1.6.0
    ### lsmodels() will show available models. Use help(<model>) for more info.
    >>>

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

### `populate_platform_network_driver`

Added in version 1.6.2

`nautobot-server populate_platform_network_driver`

This is a convenience command to populate the `network_driver` field on the `Platform` model. This is useful for users who have upgraded from Nautobot 1.5.x to 1.6.x and have not yet populated the `network_driver` field on the `Platform` model. By default, this command will attempt to map the `Platform.napalm_driver` field to a matching `network_driver` value through the `netutils.lib_mapper.NAPALM_LIB_MAPPER` mapping. If no match is found, the value of the `Platform.slug` field will be used as the `network_driver` instead. These behaviors can be modified through the `--no-use-slug-field` and `--no-use-napalm-driver-field` arguments. If the `--interactive` argument is provided, the user will be prompted to confirm each change. By default, the `network_driver` field will only be populated if it is currently empty. Use `--force` to overwrite existing values.

Important

The `Platform.slug` field will be removed in Nautobot v2.0. We recommend populating the `network_driver` field with the appropriate value before upgrading to v2.0 or higher if you're using any Nautobot apps or jobs that connect to devices.

Note

Some Nautobot apps (eg: Device Onboarding and Golden Config) require the `Platform.slug` to be set to the netmiko driver name in Nautobot v1.X. If you are using these apps, you should inspect your platforms' `slug` and `napalm_driver` fields to determine whether the `--no-use-slug-field` and `--no-use-napalm-driver-field` arguments should be used in your environment.

    nautobot-server populate_platform_network_driver [--no-use-slug-field | --no-use-napalm-driver-field] [--interactive]

Example output:

    Checking Aruba Platform 19...
    Set "Aruba Platform 19" network_driver to "aruba-platform-19".
    Checking Aruba Platform 5...
    Set "Aruba Platform 5" network_driver to "aruba-platform-5".
    Checking Cisco Platform 1...
    Set "Cisco Platform 1" network_driver to "cisco_xr".
    Checking Cisco Platform 7...
    Set "Cisco Platform 7" network_driver to "cisco_nxos".
    Checking Citrix Platform 3...

### `pre_migrate`

Added in version 1.5.23

`nautobot-server pre_migrate`

Changed in version 1.6.3

Added permission constraint checks to the list of pre-migration checks.

Performs pre-migration validation checks for Nautobot 2.0.

If the Nautobot 1.X instance cannot be upgraded, this command will exit uncleanly making it suitable for use in continuous integration workflows.

For example, if any of the pre-migration checks fail, you may see an error message like this:

    $ nautobot-server pre_migrate
    >>> Running check: check_configcontext_uniqueness...
    >>> Running check: check_exporttemplate_uniqueness...
    >>> Running check: check_virtualchassis_uniqueness...
    CommandError: One or more pre-migration checks failed:
        You cannot migrate ConfigContext or ConfigContextSchema objects that have non-unique names:
        - ConfigContext: [{'name': 'cc1', 'count': 2}]
        - ConfigContextSchema: [{'name': 'ccs1', 'count': 2}]

        You cannot migrate VirtualChassis objects with non-unique names:
         - [{'name': 'vc1', 'count': 2}]

Otherwise, a clean exit displays "All pre-migration checks passed." incidating that your Nautobot instance is ready to be upgraded to Nautobot 2.0:

    $ nautobot-server pre_migrate
    >>> Running check: check_configcontext_uniqueness...
    >>> Running check: check_exporttemplate_uniqueness...
    >>> Running check: check_virtualchassis_uniqueness...
    All pre-migration checks passed.

This command also emits messages to help identify permissions that may need to be manually updated. These messages are informational and will not cause the command to exit uncleanly.

### `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:

Changed in version 1.6.0

Added the `send_installation_metrics` command to the list of commands run by `post_upgrade`.

- `migrate`
- `trace_paths`
- `collectstatic`
- `remove_stale_contenttypes`
- `clearsessions`
- `invalidate all`
- `send_installation_metrics`
- `refresh_content_type_cache`
- `refresh_dynamic_group_member_caches`

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.

`--no-refresh-content-type-cache`
Do not automatically refresh the content type cache.

`--no-refresh-dynamic-group-member-caches`
Do not automatically refresh the dynamic group member lists.

    nautobot-server post_upgrade

Example Output:

    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...

### `refresh_dynamic_group_member_caches`

Added in version 1.6.0

`nautobot-server refresh_dynamic_group_member_caches`

Refresh the cached members of all Dynamic Groups. This is useful to periodically update the cached list of members of a Dynamic Group without having to wait for caches to expire, which defaults to one hour.

### `refresh_content_type_caches`

Added in version 1.6.0

`nautobot-server refresh_content_type_caches`

Refresh the cached ContentType object property available via `Model._content_type_cached`. If content types are added or removed, this command will update the cache to reflect the current state of the database, but should already be done through the `post_upgrade` command.

### `remove_stale_scheduled_jobs`

Added in version 1.3.10

`nautobot-server remove_stale_scheduled_jobs [max-age of days]`

Delete non-recurring scheduled jobs that were scheduled to run more than `max-age` days ago.

### `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

Example output:

    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

Example output:

    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). `--username` is mandatory if using this argument.

`--username <username>`
User account to impersonate as the requester of this job.

    nautobot-server runjob --commit --username someuser local/example/MyJobWithNoVars

Note that there is presently no option to provide input parameters (`data`) for jobs via the CLI.

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

### `send_installation_metrics`

Added in version 1.6.0

`nautobot-server send_installation_metrics`

Send anonymized installation metrics to the Nautobot maintainers. This management command is called by `post_upgrade` and is not intended to be run manually.

If the `INSTALLATION_METRICS_ENABLED` setting is `True`, this command will send a list of all installed plugins and their versions, as well as the currently installed Nautobot and Python versions, to the Nautobot maintainers. A randomized UUID will be generated and saved in the `DEPLOYMENT_ID` setting to anonymously but uniquely identify this installation. The plugin names will be one-way hashed with SHA256 to further anonymize the data sent. This enables tracking the installation metrics of publicly released plugins without disclosing the names of any private plugins.

The following is an example of the data that is sent:

    {
        "deployment_id": "1de3dacf-f046-4a98-8d4a-17419080db79",
        "nautobot_version": "1.6.0b1",
        "python_version": "3.10.12",
        "installed_apps": {
            # "example_plugin" hashed by sha256
            "3ffee4622af3aad6f78257e3ae12da99ca21d71d099f67f4a2e19e464453bee7": "1.0.0"
        }
    }

### `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

Example output:

    [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

Example output:

    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

Example output:

    Listening on port http://localhost:9000. Stop with CONTROL-C.

Please see the guide on Troubleshooting Webhooks for more information.