Windows servers¶

A Windows server says how to reach the Windows host behind one netbox-plugin-dhcp DHCP server. Each sys4 DHCP server has at most one. Find them under Windows DHCP > Windows servers.

Windows servers are bookkeeping, not DHCP configuration: with netbox-branching they always live in main and are never branched.

Fields¶

Field	Default	Meaning
DHCP server		The netbox-plugin-dhcp server this Windows host serves
Host		Host name or IP address to connect to. A plain name or address: no port, user or path
Transport	WinRM	WinRM or SSH
Port	empty	Empty means 5986 (WinRM over HTTPS), 5985 (WinRM over HTTP) or 22 (SSH)
Credential profile		Name of a credential profile. Its `allowed_hosts` must cover the host
WinRM authentication	NTLM	NTLM, Basic or Kerberos, see Preparing Windows
WinRM over HTTPS	on	Off uses HTTP; NTLM and Kerberos messages are still encrypted
Verify host	on	Check the TLS certificate (WinRM) or the host key (SSH). Cannot be turned off for SSH, nor for Basic
Kerberos realm	empty	Required with Kerberos, for example `CORP.EXAMPLE`
Kerberos SPN	empty	Empty means `WSMAN/<host>`
SSH host key	empty	The server's host key in `authorized_keys` form; when empty, the worker's `~/.ssh/known_hosts` is used
Remote DHCP server	empty	Run the cmdlets against this server through the host (`computer_name`). See the double hop
Import VRF	empty (global)	VRF of the prefixes, IP ranges and IP addresses that imports create or reuse
Sync enabled	on	Push NetBox changes to this server. Off stops pushes (manual and automatic), not imports or dry runs
Import interval	empty	Minutes between scheduled imports; empty or 0 means none

The form refuses a host the credential profile does not allow, Basic over HTTP or without verification, Kerberos without a realm, and SSH without host verification.

Windows servers can be created, edited and deleted in bulk, and imported from CSV, like other NetBox objects.

Actions¶

The Windows server page has four buttons. Each queues a background job and returns at once; the result appears in the Sync runs table at the bottom of the page (reload it) and in the job's log. All four need the change permission on the Windows server (see Permissions).

Test connection¶

Connects, checks that the DhcpServer PowerShell module is there, and counts the IPv4 scopes. Use it after every change to the connection settings.

Import now¶

Reads the whole server and brings the differences into NetBox, as a branch or an import proposal. See Import. Refused while another import of the same server is queued or running.

Sync now¶

Pushes NetBox to the server: creates, updates and deletes what differs. See Push. Refused when Sync enabled is off, or when a push for the server is already waiting to start (that one will read the latest data).

Dry run¶

Plans a push without writing anything. The planned changes and anything that would not be pushed go into the sync run summary. A dry run works with Sync enabled off, so you can check a server before turning sync on.

Sync runs¶

Every test, import, push and dry run leaves a sync run (Windows DHCP > Sync runs), linked to its NetBox job:

Field	Meaning
Kind	Push, Dry run, Import or Connection test
Status	Pending, Running, Completed or Failed
Started, Completed	When the run started and ended
Branch	The branch whose merge triggered the push, or that the import created
Summary	Counts and lists, see below
Error	One line per failed change, or the reason the run failed

The summary of a push or dry run holds:

changes, create, update, delete: what was planned;
planned: the planned changes (the first 1000), each with its kind, Windows key and values;
not_pushed: changes the push refused, each with the reason (see what a push will not do);
unmanaged: how many Windows objects NetBox does not manage and the push left alone;
for a push, applied, failed and skipped counts, and errors and not_attempted lists.

The summary of an import holds the number of differences by action and notes about what was left out. With branching it also holds how many changes were written into the branch.

The job log (Operations > Jobs, or the job linked from the sync run) has one line per change and per note.

Deleting a Windows server¶

Deleting a Windows server deletes its sync runs, sync state and import proposals. The sys4 DHCP server and the DHCP objects stay, and nothing is removed from Windows. Without the sync state, a new Windows server for the same host manages nothing at first: the next push adopts the objects that are identical on both sides, and leaves the rest of Windows alone until it is imported.