Return a list of all available rack space prior to creating rack reservation #1084

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adam · 2025-12-29T16:28:39+01:00

adam commented

2025-12-29 16:28:39 +01:00

Originally created by @cmccallan on GitHub (Jul 10, 2017).

Issue type: Feature Request

**Python version: 2.7
**NetBox version: 2.0

Prior to making a rack reservation we currently manually check in Racks for free space before allocating, as /api/dcim/racks doesn't return information on what is currently in a rack or on what unit. We'd like to be able to query all racks and return a list of available space and units for each.

We think writing a script that will automate rack allocation could be useful in taking away some of the back and forth between the networks team and provisioning teams and improve how up-to-date our information on netbox is.

Originally created by @cmccallan on GitHub (Jul 10, 2017).  ### Issue type: Feature Request  **Python version: 2.7 **NetBox version: 2.0  Prior to making a rack reservation we currently manually check in Racks for free space before allocating, as /api/dcim/racks doesn't return information on what is currently in a rack or on what unit. We'd like to be able to query all racks and return a list of available space and units for each. We think writing a script that will automate rack allocation could be useful in taking away some of the back and forth between the networks team and provisioning teams and improve how up-to-date our information on netbox is.

adam closed this issue

2025-12-29 16:28:40 +01:00

adam commented

2025-12-29 16:28:40 +01:00

@jeremystretch commented on GitHub (Jul 10, 2017):

/api/dcim/racks doesn't return information on what is currently in a rack or on what unit

The API endpoint at /api/dcim/racks/<pk>/units/ provides this information. Note that you can view the front or rear rack face by passing ?face=0 (default) or ?face=1 respectively. Does this address your requirement? If not, please detail the exact change(s) you're proposing per the contributing guidelines.

@jeremystretch commented on GitHub (Jul 10, 2017): > /api/dcim/racks doesn't return information on what is currently in a rack or on what unit The API endpoint at `/api/dcim/racks/<pk>/units/` provides this information. Note that you can view the front or rear rack face by passing `?face=0` (default) or `?face=1` respectively. Does this address your requirement? If not, please detail the exact change(s) you're proposing per the [contributing guidelines](https://github.com/digitalocean/netbox/blob/develop/CONTRIBUTING.md).

adam commented

2025-12-29 16:28:40 +01:00

@cmccallan commented on GitHub (Jul 11, 2017):

Didn't realize /api/dcim/racks/<pk>/units/ provided something like this, having issues with it but I posted it in the forum rather than here.

What ideally I think would be a good enhancement is having something like /api/dcim/racks/<units_needed>/ that returns the free space on a rack and their unit number(s) where the <units_needed> are all directly beside each other. Information this spits out could then be used by an ops engineer and separately pushed into a jira ticket, removing back and forth of discussion between the various networks/ops teams as to what unit(s) to allocate for a server.

Don't think any schema changes or 3rd party libraries would be needed, it would be using already present information to return a particular unit or units that can then be reserved.

@cmccallan commented on GitHub (Jul 11, 2017): Didn't realize `/api/dcim/racks/<pk>/units/` provided something like this, having issues with it but I posted it in the forum rather than here. What ideally I think would be a good enhancement is having something like `/api/dcim/racks/<units_needed>/` that returns the free space on a rack and their unit number(s) where the <units_needed> are all directly beside each other. Information this spits out could then be used by an ops engineer and separately pushed into a jira ticket, removing back and forth of discussion between the various networks/ops teams as to what unit(s) to allocate for a server. Don't think any schema changes or 3rd party libraries would be needed, it would be using already present information to return a particular unit or units that can then be reserved.

adam commented

2025-12-29 16:28:40 +01:00

@jeremystretch commented on GitHub (Jul 11, 2017):

Provisioning rack space is typically more involved than requesting n free units. You need to consider power availability, direction of airflow, total weight, etc. This is why NetBox simply provides all free units within a rack and relies on a human to select from that.

@jeremystretch commented on GitHub (Jul 11, 2017): Provisioning rack space is typically more involved than requesting _n_ free units. You need to consider power availability, direction of airflow, total weight, etc. This is why NetBox simply provides all free units within a rack and relies on a human to select from that.

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Reference: starred/netbox#1084