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Puppet Enterprise VS NetBox

Compare Puppet Enterprise VS NetBox and see what are their differences

Note: These products don't have any matching categories. If you think this is a mistake, please edit the details of one of the products and suggest appropriate categories.

Puppet Enterprise logo Puppet Enterprise

Get started with Puppet Enterprise, or upgrade or expand.

NetBox logo NetBox

NetBox is an open source web application designed to help manage and document computer networks. NetBox was developed specifically to address the needs of network and infrastructure engineers.
  • Puppet Enterprise Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-06-24
  • NetBox Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-09-15

It encompasses the following aspects of network management:

IP address management (IPAM) - IP networks and addresses, VRFs, and VLANs Equipment racks - Organized by group and site Devices - Types of devices and where they are installed Connections - Network, console, and power connections among devices Virtualization - Virtual machines and clusters Data circuits - Long-haul communications circuits and providers Secrets - Encrypted storage of sensitive credentials

Puppet Enterprise features and specs

  • Scalability
    Puppet Enterprise is designed to manage thousands of nodes efficiently, making it a good fit for large-scale IT environments.
  • Automation
    It offers powerful automation capabilities, which help streamline repetitive tasks and reduce human error.
  • Compliance
    Puppet Enterprise includes strong compliance features, ensuring that the IT infrastructure adheres to various regulatory standards.
  • Pre-built Modules
    A wide array of pre-built modules is available, which can be used to quickly deploy and configure applications and services.
  • Reporting and Visibility
    Provides detailed reporting and dashboards, which offer insights into the status and performance of your infrastructure.
  • Integrations
    Seamless integration with various third-party tools and platforms, enhancing its functionality and adaptability to different environments.
  • Enhanced Security
    Supports role-based access control (RBAC) and other security features to protect sensitive infrastructure configurations.
  • Expert Support
    Access to professional support and services from the Puppet team, ensuring that issues can be resolved quickly and efficiently.

Possible disadvantages of Puppet Enterprise

  • Cost
    Puppet Enterprise can be expensive, especially for smaller organizations or startups with limited budgets.
  • Complexity
    The platform can be complex to set up and manage, requiring a learning curve for new users or administrators.
  • Resource Intensive
    Running Puppet Enterprise can consume significant system resources, which might impact the performance of smaller infrastructure.
  • Vendor Lock-in
    Once you have integrated Puppet into your infrastructure, migrating to another tool can be difficult and time-consuming.
  • Customization
    While there are many pre-built modules, creating custom modules can be complex and time-consuming, requiring extensive knowledge of Puppet's DSL.
  • Initial Setup
    The initial setup of Puppet Enterprise can be time-consuming and may require expert knowledge to configure correctly.
  • Documentation
    While there is extensive documentation available, it can sometimes be overwhelming or unclear for new users.

NetBox features and specs

  • Open Source
    NetBox is open-source software, which means you can use and modify it freely without having to pay for a license. This can significantly reduce costs and allows for customization according to specific needs.
  • Comprehensive IPAM and DCIM
    NetBox includes both IP Address Management (IPAM) and Data Center Infrastructure Management (DCIM) functionalities, offering a single platform to manage diverse aspects of network infrastructure.
  • Extensible via API
    NetBox provides a robust API that allows integration with other tools and systems, enabling automation and enhanced functionality through scripting and third-party applications.
  • User-Friendly Interface
    The web-based user interface is intuitive and easy to use, even for those who may not have extensive experience with network management tools.
  • Active Community and Support
    NetBox has an active community of users and contributors, which helps in quickly addressing issues, sharing knowledge, and contributing to the continuous improvement of the software.

Possible disadvantages of NetBox

  • Initial Setup Complexity
    The initial installation and configuration of NetBox can be complex and time-consuming, potentially requiring a good understanding of Python, PostgreSQL, and other dependencies.
  • Resource Intensive
    As a web-based application, NetBox can be resource-intensive, requiring a capable server environment to run efficiently, which might not be suitable for very small-scale deployments.
  • Steeper Learning Curve
    Despite its intuitive interface, the broad set of features and functionalities might overwhelm new users, leading to a steeper learning curve.
  • Limited Built-in Reporting
    NetBox has limited built-in reporting capabilities, which might necessitate additional tools or custom reports to meet specific reporting needs.
  • No Built-in Alerting
    NetBox does not have built-in alerting mechanisms for tracking changes or unusual activities, so additional monitoring and alerting systems may be required.

Analysis of NetBox

Overall verdict

  • Yes, NetBox is considered a good tool for managing complex networks and data centers. Its strong community support and continuous development contribute to its robustness and reliability in production environments.

Why this product is good

  • NetBox is a popular open-source tool for network automation and management, favored for its comprehensive features such as IP address management (IPAM), data center infrastructure management (DCIM), and its extensibility through plugins and a REST API. It provides a user-friendly web interface and is highly customizable, making it suitable for various network configurations and workflows.

Recommended for

    NetBox is recommended for network engineers, system administrators, data center managers, and IT professionals who need an effective solution for managing IP addresses, network devices, and cabling infrastructure in medium to large-scale operations. It is particularly advantageous for those looking for an open-source option with a strong community backing.

Puppet Enterprise videos

Sml merch Jeffy puppet review and more

More videos:

  • Review - Muppet Whatnot Workshop Puppet Review...(Kinda)
  • Demo - How Puppet works

NetBox videos

Accessing NAPALM via the NetBox API

More videos:

  • Review - Network to Code NetBox with Jeremy Stretch and John Anderson
  • Tutorial - Netbox Global Review- How To Earn Money Browsing The Internet

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Puppet Enterprise and NetBox)
DevOps Tools
100 100%
0% 0
Monitoring Tools
0 0%
100% 100
Continuous Integration And Delivery
Log Management
0 0%
100% 100

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare Puppet Enterprise and NetBox

Puppet Enterprise Reviews

5 Best DevSecOps Tools in 2023
There are multiple providers for Infrastructure as Code such as AWS CloudFormation, RedHat Ansible, HashiCorp Terraform, Puppet, Chef, and others. It is advised to research each to determine what is best for any given situation since each has pros and cons. Some of these also are not completely free while others are. There are also some that are specific to a particular...
What Are The Best Alternatives To Ansible? | Attune, Jenkins &, etc.
Puppet is a DevOps configuration management tool that is available for both open-source and enterprise versions. Puppet is an application developed by Puppet Labs and used to centralize and automate the procedure of configuration management.
Top 5 Ansible Alternatives in 2022: Server Automation Solutions by Alexander Fashakin on the 19th Aug 2021 facebook Linked In Twitter
Puppet uses a server/client architecture, requiring a longer installation process than Ansible, as an agentless system that only needs installation on the master node. In addition, Ansible uses YAML for configuration management while Puppet uses PuppetDSL with YAML datastore. The configuration management language style in Ansible is procedural, and that of Puppet is...
35+ Of The Best CI/CD Tools: Organized By Category
For those who are unfamiliar, Puppet Enterprise is the commercial version of Puppet, an open-source software management tool. It specializes in the automation of not just the configuration process but can also be used for patching, provisioning, and deployment.
Chef vs Puppet vs Ansible
Puppet follows a master-agent or master-slave architecture. In the case of Puppet’s architecture, the master machine serves as the platform for running the Puppet server. The client machines provide the platforms for running Puppet clients as agents. In addition, the requirement of signing a certificate between the master machine and the agent adds complexity. Therefore,...

NetBox Reviews

11 NetBox Alternatives
NetBox is a resource modeling application that is specially designed to automate networks and empower network engineering as well. It manages all the needs of networks and works under the license of Apache 2.
The 10 Best IP Address Management Tools for Linux
NetBox is certainly one of the best open-source IPAM solutions reviewed by our editors. It comes with a simple but elegant user interface that packs a serious punch in terms of functionalities. NetBox was initially developed by the network engineering team at DigitalOCean and has since evolved into a full-fledged IP management application. It is very popular among...
12 Open Source/Commercial Software for Data Center Infrastructure Management
NetBox is an open-source IP address management and data center infrastructure management platform, which was created by the network team at DigitalOcean to store the information about your networks, virtual machines, inventories, and many more.
Source: www.tecmint.com
Best IP Address Management Tools for Linux
NetBox is an open-source web based IP address management and data center infrastructure management application. It was developed more particulary to address the requirements of network and infrastructure engineers.
Source: www.tecmint.com

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, NetBox seems to be a lot more popular than Puppet Enterprise. While we know about 21 links to NetBox, we've tracked only 1 mention of Puppet Enterprise. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Puppet Enterprise mentions (1)

  • Installing Puppet Enterprise 2021
    Now that the system requirements have been verified we need to download the Puppet Enterprise installer. To download the installer, go to the Puppet website to access the free 10 node trial (https://puppet.com/try-puppet/puppet-enterprise). - Source: dev.to / over 3 years ago

NetBox mentions (21)

  • Share your greatest free tools
    Netbox. https://netbox.readthedocs.io/en/stable/ Your “Source of Truth” for your network. NetBox is an infrastructure resource modeling (IRM) application designed to empower network automation. Initially conceived by the network engineering team at DigitalOcean, NetBox was developed specifically to address the needs of network and infrastructure engineers. NetBox is made available as open source under the Apache... Source: about 3 years ago
  • What do you use to track disks and other hardware?
    Currently we are using [SnipeIT](https://snipeitapp.com/) to track our disks, hardware and machines, and [Netbox](https://netbox.readthedocs.io/en/stable/) to track physical layout and locations. Source: about 3 years ago
  • What does a longer career related to computing infrastructure look like?
    You might find it educational/interesting to have a look at Netbox. It's a fairly well respected piece of software that manages network hardware and configuration. Source: about 3 years ago
  • How does proper documentation look like?
    You could take a look at netbox . It’s a little hard to set up at first but worth it in the end IMO. Source: over 3 years ago
  • Web Application That Shows Switch Ports Mapping
    However I'd suggest that Netbox is the more modern and functional solution to this problem. Source: over 3 years ago
View more

What are some alternatives?

When comparing Puppet Enterprise and NetBox, you can also consider the following products

Terraform - Tool for building, changing, and versioning infrastructure safely and efficiently.

phpIPAM - phpipam is an open-source web IP address management application (IPAM).

Ansible - Radically simple configuration-management, application deployment, task-execution, and multi-node orchestration engine

RackTables - Racktables is a nifty and robust solution for datacenter and server room asset management.

Rancher - Open Source Platform for Running a Private Container Service

DCImanager - DCImanager is a platform for managing physical equipment. Connect any physical equipment to a single platform. Use the platform to manage your servers, switches, PDU as well as physical and virtual networks.