Control network data collection by using Infoblox filters in VMware Aria Automation

For Infloblox, you can limit the number of data collected networks to only those networks that are needed for VMware Aria Automation operations. This reduces the amount of transferred data and enhances system performance.

VMware Aria Automation collects data every 10 minutes from the external IPAM system. For Infloblox, you can filter in several ways to discover and data-collect only a subset of networks that are used by VMware Aria Automation operations.

To filter data collection for networks that use Infoblox-generated IP addresses, use the following properties on the IPAM integration tab. The filter properties are available as you create or edit the external IPAM integration point for Infoblox.

These filters are only available with the Infoblox plug-in version 1.3 and later (for example Infoblox plugin version 1.4).

• Infoblox.IPAM.NetworkContainerFilter

  Filters on network containers.

• Infoblox.IPAM.NetworkFilter

  Filter on networks.

• Infoblox.IPAM.RangeFilter

  Filter on IP address ranges.

Be cautious when applying these data collection filters to networks that have already been data-collected. If you apply filters to prevent some networks from being data-collected, the networks that are not collected are assumed to be unnecessary and are deleted from VMware Aria Automation. The exception are networks that are associated to VMware Aria Automation subnets. Previously data-collected networks that are not subsequently discovered and data-collected, for example because they were filtered out of the data collection task, are deleted from the VMware Aria Automation database. However, if the previously data-collected networks are in use in VMware Aria Automation, they are not deleted.

These filters are applied as query parameters in the search requests for the different network objects. You can use any search parameters that Infoblox supports. You filter by CIDR or extensible attributes that are based on regular expressions or exact matches. The format uses the Infoblox WAPI filtration format, as described in Infoblox WAPI documentation. Methods of filtering by CIDR or extensible attributes are shown in the following examples:

• Filter based on CIDR for networks and network containers. Examples:
  • Exact match - Infoblox.IPAM.NetworkFilter: network=192.168.0.0
  • Match by extensible attribute - Infoblox.IPAM.NetworkFilter: network~=192.168
• Filter based on CIDR for IP address range. Example:

  Match by regular expression and network view name - Infoblox.IPAM.RangeFilter: network~=192.168.&network_view=my_view

• Filter based on extensible attributes for networks, IP ranges, and network containers.
  Syntax uses the filter_name=* ext_attr= ext_attr_value format. Examples:

  • Exact match - *Building=Data Center
  • Match by regular expression with '~' - *Building~=*Center
  • Case sensitive match with ':' - *Building:=data center
  • Exclude match with '!' - *Building!=Data Center
  • Match by regular expression (case sensitive and exclude can be combined): *Building! ~:=Data Cent / *Building~:=center
• Filter based on CIDR and extensible attributes using syntax from the above methods of filtering. Example:

  network=192.168.&*Building=Data Center

For more information about using extensible attributes and regular expressions in these properties, see Infoblox Supported Expressions for Search Parameters and Infoblox REST API Reference Guide.