Deploy NetBox on a VPS

Target: single-node NetBox install behind Nginx, PostgreSQL, Redis, and Gunicorn, running as a systemd service. Sized for a 2 vCPU / 4GB RamNode KVM instance; bump PostgreSQL shared_buffers and worker counts for larger fleets.

0. Assumptions

Fresh Ubuntu 24.04 LTS VPS, non-root sudo user
Hostname resolvable (e.g. netbox.ramnode.internal or public FQDN with A record)
Latest stable NetBox release at time of writing tracks the v4.x branch — check https://github.com/netbox-community/netbox/releases and adjust VERSION below

1. Base packages

shell

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y
sudo apt install -y python3 python3-pip python3-venv python3-dev \
    build-essential libxml2-dev libxslt1-dev libffi-dev libpq-dev \
    libssl-dev zlib1g-dev git redis-server curl

2. PostgreSQL

RamNode's Ubuntu 24.04 image ships PostgreSQL 16 in the default repos.

shell

sudo apt install -y postgresql postgresql-contrib
sudo systemctl enable --now postgresql

Create DB and user:

shell

sudo -u postgres psql <<'EOF'
CREATE DATABASE netbox;
CREATE USER netbox WITH PASSWORD 'CHANGE_ME_STRONG_PW';
ALTER DATABASE netbox OWNER TO netbox;
GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON DATABASE netbox TO netbox;
\c netbox
GRANT ALL ON SCHEMA public TO netbox;
EOF

Verify:

shell

psql --username netbox --password --host localhost netbox -c "SELECT 1;"

3. Redis

Already installed above. Confirm it's up and not exposed off-loopback:

shell

sudo systemctl enable --now redis-server
redis-cli ping   # expect PONG
grep -E '^bind' /etc/redis/redis.conf   # should be 127.0.0.1 only

4. Fetch NetBox

shell

sudo mkdir -p /opt/netbox
sudo chown "$USER":"$USER" /opt/netbox
cd /opt
VERSION=v4.2.3   # pin to current stable — check releases page
git clone --branch "$VERSION" --depth 1 https://github.com/netbox-community/netbox.git
sudo ln -s /opt/netbox /opt/netbox/current 2>/dev/null || true

Create the dedicated system user NetBox expects:

shell

sudo adduser --system --group netbox
sudo chown --recursive netbox /opt/netbox/media /opt/netbox/reports /opt/netbox/scripts 2>/dev/null

5. Configuration

shell

cd /opt/netbox/netbox/netbox/
cp configuration_example.py configuration.py

Generate a secret key:

shell

python3 /opt/netbox/netbox/netbox/generate_secret_key.py

Edit configuration.py:

shell

ALLOWED_HOSTS = ['netbox.example.com', '<vps-public-ip>']

DATABASE = {
    'NAME': 'netbox',
    'USER': 'netbox',
    'PASSWORD': 'CHANGE_ME_STRONG_PW',
    'HOST': 'localhost',
    'PORT': '',
    'CONN_MAX_AGE': 300,
}

REDIS = {
    'tasks': {
        'HOST': 'localhost',
        'PORT': 6379,
        'PASSWORD': '',
        'DATABASE': 0,
        'SSL': False,
    },
    'caching': {
        'HOST': 'localhost',
        'PORT': 6379,
        'PASSWORD': '',
        'DATABASE': 1,
        'SSL': False,
    },
}

SECRET_KEY = '<paste generated key>'

6. Install app + run migrations

NetBox ships an upgrade script that handles venv creation, pip installs, migrations, and static collection in one pass:

shell

cd /opt/netbox
sudo ./upgrade.sh

This creates /opt/netbox/venv. Activate it for the remaining manual steps:

shell

source /opt/netbox/venv/bin/activate
cd /opt/netbox/netbox

Create the superuser:

shell

python3 manage.py createsuperuser

7. Gunicorn + systemd

shell

cd /opt/netbox
sudo cp contrib/gunicorn.py /opt/netbox/gunicorn.py
sudo cp contrib/netbox.service contrib/netbox-rq.service /etc/systemd/system/
sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl enable --now netbox netbox-rq
sudo systemctl status netbox --no-pager

Check logs if it fails to bind:

shell

journalctl -u netbox -n 50 --no-pager

8. Nginx (TLS-terminated reverse proxy)

shell

sudo apt install -y nginx
sudo cp /opt/netbox/contrib/nginx.conf /etc/nginx/sites-available/netbox
sudo ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/netbox /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/netbox
sudo rm -f /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/default

Edit /etc/nginx/sites-available/netbox, set server_name to your FQDN, and point ssl_certificate/ssl_certificate_key at real certs. If you don't have certs yet, use certbot:

shell

sudo apt install -y certbot python3-certbot-nginx
sudo certbot --nginx -d netbox.example.com

Then:

shell

sudo nginx -t
sudo systemctl reload nginx

9. Firewall

shell

sudo ufw allow OpenSSH
sudo ufw allow 80,443/tcp
sudo ufw enable

If RamNode's network doesn't use ufw/iptables directly and you're behind their perimeter firewall/security groups instead, open 80/443 there and skip ufw for the app tier.

10. Housekeeping

sudo systemctl enable --now netbox-housekeeping.timer if present in your version's contrib dir — runs nightly cleanup (expired sessions, changelog pruning).
Add a cron/backup job for pg_dump netbox before any upgrade.
Upgrades: git fetch --tags, checkout new tag, re-run upgrade.sh, restart netbox + netbox-rq.

11. Smoke test

shell

curl -Ik https://netbox.example.com/

Expect 200 OK (or 302 to /login/). Log in with the superuser account and confirm the dashboard loads.