Application Mapping¶
Beta Feature
Application mapping and mixed mode topology are in beta. The data model is stable but the topology visualization is under active development. Expect UI changes in upcoming releases.
Model your applications, their infrastructure deployments, and inter-application dependencies.
Data Model¶
Applications¶
An application represents a software service (e.g., "Order Service", "PostgreSQL", "Redis Cache").
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Name | Application name |
| Status | Active, Planned, Deprecated, Decommissioned |
| Criticality | Critical, High, Medium, Low |
| Environment | Production, Staging, Development, Testing |
| Version | Version string |
| Group | Optional application group for categorization |
| Site | Optional site association |
| Tenant | Optional tenant ownership |
Unique constraint: An application is unique per (name, environment, tenant).
Application Groups¶
Groups organize applications by category (e.g., "Web Services", "Databases", "Monitoring"). Each group has a color used in topology visualization.
Deployments¶
A deployment links an application to a host (Device or Virtual Machine).
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Application | The deployed application |
| Host | Device or VM (via GenericForeignKey) |
| Role | Primary, Replica, Worker, Standby |
| Port | Service port number |
| Protocol | Protocol string |
| IP Address | Optional link to NetBox IP address |
| Service | Optional link to NetBox Service |
Dependencies¶
A dependency represents a relationship between two applications.
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Source | The application that depends on the target |
| Target | The application being depended upon |
| Type | Hard (required) or Soft (optional) |
| Protocol | API, Database, Messaging, gRPC, Filesystem, Other |
| Port | Connection port |
| Status | Active, Planned, Deprecated, Decommissioned |
Templates¶
Templates define reusable defaults for bulk application creation. Deploy a template to multiple hosts to create application instances with consistent settings.
Topology Visualization¶
App Cards¶
In the topology view (Apps or Mixed mode), applications render as cards showing:
- Application name
- Group color bar (left edge)
- Status dot
- Criticality badge
- Dependency ports (left/right sides)
- Host count badge
Dependency Edges¶
| Style | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Solid colored line | Hard dependency |
| Dashed colored line | Soft dependency |
| Dashed cyan line | Deployed-on (app to device) |
Edge colors reflect criticality: red (critical), orange (high), yellow (medium), blue (low).
Failure Simulation¶
Click an application card and use "Simulate Failure" to visualize the impact cascade:
- Failed app highlighted in red
- Impacted apps (via hard dependencies) highlighted in orange
- Degraded apps (via soft dependencies) shown with reduced opacity
- Summary shows count of affected apps by criticality
Filtering¶
Filter the application topology by:
- Environment (production, staging, etc.)
- Criticality level
- Status
- Application group
- Site
- Tenant
- Tags
Device Integration¶
Device Detail Page¶
The plugin adds an Applications tab to Device and Virtual Machine detail pages, showing all applications deployed on that host with role, port, and protocol.
A summary panel in the right column shows the top 5 applications with status and criticality badges.
IP Address and Service Integration¶
Link deployments to specific NetBox IP addresses and Services for complete infrastructure mapping.
REST API¶
All application models are fully CRUD-able via the REST API:
/api/plugins/map/applications//api/plugins/map/application-groups//api/plugins/map/application-templates//api/plugins/map/application-deployments//api/plugins/map/application-dependencies/
See the REST API reference for details.