Troubleshooting¶

The menu item is missing¶

• Check Admin > System > Plugins lists Permissions Matrix. If not, check PLUGINS in configuration.py and restart NetBox.
• The item needs users.view_objectpermission. Superusers always see it.
• The plugin puts the item below Permissions in Admin > Authentication. If a future NetBox changes that menu so the item cannot be placed, the plugin logs a warning at start and puts it in the Plugins menu instead. menu_placement: "plugins" does that on purpose; see Configuration.

The page is unstyled or does not react¶

The page needs its static files. Run python manage.py collectstatic --no-input after installing or upgrading the plugin. The page asks for them by a hash of their contents, so browsers fetch new versions by themselves.

NetBox does not start: "PLUGINS_CONFIG new_permission_name ..."¶

The new_permission_name setting cannot name a permission. The error says why, for example unknown placeholder {team}. Only {principal}, {actions} and {action} are known, used as they are: {principal[0]} or {principal.upper} is refused. Write a literal brace as {{ or }}. Fix the setting and start NetBox again; see Configuration.

"The permissions matrix needs view access to all permissions"¶

Your view permission on permissions has constraints. The matrix shows and plans against every permission, so it needs unconstrained view access. See Permissions.

"The permissions changed since this plan was made"¶

Someone (or another tab) changed a permission of a group or user in your change set between Review changes and Apply, or took a name the review gives a permission (or freed one it had to avoid). Nothing was written. Reload the page; your staged changes are lost, so stage them again and review.

"A group or user in this plan was deleted while it was applied"¶

Someone deleted a group or user in your change set while the apply was writing it. Nothing was written. Reload the page, stage your changes again and review.

"You are not allowed to add, change or delete the permission ..."¶

One operation of the plan needs a right you do not have, for example creating a permission during a split when you may only change permissions. Nothing was written. Ask for the missing permission or have someone else apply it.

Logging¶

Applied plans are logged by the netbox_permissions_matrix_plugin logger at INFO level. To keep them in a file, add to configuration.py:

LOGGING = {
    "version": 1,
    "disable_existing_loggers": False,
    "handlers": {
        "matrix_file": {
            "class": "logging.handlers.WatchedFileHandler",
            "filename": "/var/log/netbox/permissions-matrix.log",
        },
    },
    "loggers": {
        "netbox_permissions_matrix_plugin": {"handlers": ["matrix_file"], "level": "INFO"},
    },
}

A line looks like:

admin applied a permissions matrix plan: update 'NOC-RW' (#4); create 'NOC-RW (NOC)' (#12); create 'NOC-RW (NOC) 2' (#13)