Filtering devices using the q filter takes excessively long when many inventory items are present #11751

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adam · 2025-12-29T21:49:26+01:00

adam commented

2025-12-29 21:49:26 +01:00

Originally created by @jeremystretch on GitHub (Oct 20, 2025).

Originally assigned to: @jeremystretch on GitHub.

NetBox Edition

NetBox Community

NetBox Version

v4.4.4

Python Version

3.12

Steps to Reproduce

Have thousands of devices, each with ~100 or more inventory items installed.
Attempt to search for a device by name using the q filter, e.g.

GET /api/dcim/devices/?brief=true&limit=100&q=foobar

Expected Behavior

The set of matching devices should be returned fairly quickly.

Observed Behavior

The query takes an inordinate amount of time due to the underlying search() method pulling in all installed inventory items:

return queryset.filter(
    Q(name__icontains=value) |
    Q(virtual_chassis__name__icontains=value) |
    Q(serial__icontains=value.strip()) |
    Q(inventoryitems__serial__icontains=value.strip()) |  # Queries *all* inventory items
    Q(asset_tag__icontains=value.strip()) |
    Q(description__icontains=value.strip()) |
    Q(comments__icontains=value) |
    Q(primary_ip4__address__startswith=value) |
    Q(primary_ip6__address__startswith=value)
).distinct()

While I can appreciate the utility in including these, it has a very pronounced impact on performance when many inventory items have been created. I propose removing the inventoryitems__serial__icontains lookup from the search() method, and perhaps introducing a more narrowly-focused filter to search specifically on serial number and/or asset tag of the device and its inventory items.

Originally created by @jeremystretch on GitHub (Oct 20, 2025). Originally assigned to: @jeremystretch on GitHub. ### NetBox Edition NetBox Community ### NetBox Version v4.4.4 ### Python Version 3.12 ### Steps to Reproduce 1. Have thousands of devices, each with ~100 or more inventory items installed. 2. Attempt to search for a device by name using the `q` filter, e.g. `GET /api/dcim/devices/?brief=true&limit=100&q=foobar` ### Expected Behavior The set of matching devices should be returned fairly quickly. ### Observed Behavior The query takes an inordinate amount of time due to the [underlying `search()` method](https://github.com/netbox-community/netbox/blob/0b97df098403b24d60889a69a5de9cb2409efe29/netbox/dcim/filtersets.py#L1284) pulling in _all_ installed inventory items: ```python return queryset.filter( Q(name__icontains=value) | Q(virtual_chassis__name__icontains=value) | Q(serial__icontains=value.strip()) | Q(inventoryitems__serial__icontains=value.strip()) | # Queries *all* inventory items Q(asset_tag__icontains=value.strip()) | Q(description__icontains=value.strip()) | Q(comments__icontains=value) | Q(primary_ip4__address__startswith=value) | Q(primary_ip6__address__startswith=value) ).distinct() ``` While I can appreciate the utility in including these, it has a very pronounced impact on performance when many inventory items have been created. I propose removing the `inventoryitems__serial__icontains` lookup from the `search()` method, and perhaps introducing a more narrowly-focused filter to search specifically on serial number and/or asset tag of the device and its inventory items.

adam added the type: bug status: accepted severity: low labels 2025-12-29 21:49:26 +01:00

adam closed this issue

2025-12-29 21:49:26 +01:00

adam referenced this issue

2025-12-29 23:21:04 +01:00

[PR #11751] [MERGED] Fixes #11750 - Fix issues with the ContactAssignmentListView #13835

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main

21102-fix-graphiql-explorer

update-changelog-comments-docs

20911-dropdown

20239-plugin-menu-classes-mutable-state

21097-graphql-id-lookups

feature

fix_module_substitution

20923-dcim-templates

20044-elevation-stuck-lightmode

feature-ip-prefix-link

v4.5-beta1-release

20068-import-moduletype-attrs

20766-fix-german-translation-code-literals

20378-del-script

7604-filter-modifiers-v3

circuit-swap

12318-case-insensitive-uniqueness

20637-improve-device-q-filter

20660-script-load

19724-graphql

20614-update-ruff

14884-script

02496-max-page

19720-macaddress-interface-generic-relation

19408-circuit-terminations-export-templates

20203-openapi-check

fix-19669-api-image-download

7604-filter-modifiers

19275-fixes-interface-bulk-edit

fix-17794-get_field_value_return_list

11507-show-aggregate-and-rir-on-api

9583-add_column_specific_search_field_to_tables

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Reference: starred/netbox#11751

Filtering devices using the q filter takes excessively long when many inventory items are present #11751