IPAM: Child address list for IP prefix is garbled

[peteeckel]

NetBox version

v3.4.0

Python version

3.8

Steps to Reproduce

1. View a prefix with multiple non-sequentially assigned child addresses
2. Click on "IP Addresses"

Expected Behavior

The list of IP address is displayed, with "xx IPs available" rows in rows between assigned IP address ranges

Observed Behavior

All "xx IPs available" placeholders are displayed at the top of the list.

After clicking on the row header in order to sort the list, the "xx IPs available" placeholders are all gone.

[kkthxbye-code]

This is caused by an incomplete fix to #9328:

899b612

To be clear, the now intended functionality is remove the avaliable ip rows when the table is sorted. The bug here is that they are only removed when the list has just been sorted, and not when the list was allready sorted when loaded.

A workaround to the problem of the avaliable IP's not being shown is to press the small x in the column header to reset the sort.

[peteeckel]

Thanks! It makes perfect sense to remove the available IP rows when the list is sorted by any column other than IP addresses. When sorted by IP addresses the would rows make sense, otherwise they don't - or am I missing something?

Removing the sorting by clicking on "x" indeed works around the problem. The question is, however, why the list initially came up sorted by "status" when I first opened it ... is the sorting stored somewhere? When I open the list of IPs for other prefixes there is no sorting enabled by default.

[Edit] The list came up sorted by IP address, not by status ... I was fooled (again) by the red "x" being displayed next to "status" when actually it is referring to the column left of it.

[kkthxbye-code]

When sorted by IP addresses the would rows make sense, otherwise they don't - or am I missing something?

I can't remember exactly (so don't hold me to this), but I believe it's a question of it being hard to implement with the way ordering and the addition of the available IP rows work. The solution is a compromise as the default sort is already sorted by IP. The thing that would be missing is a reversed sort by IP address, but the amount of work required is probably not worth it.

The question is, however, why the list initially came up sorted by "status" when I first opened it ... is the sorting stored somewhere?

Yes all sorting (and chosen columns) is stored on a user-basis. You can see them and reset them in the bottom of the preference view: /user/preferences/

[peteeckel]

That makes sense, thanks for the information. I agree, having the available IP rows as long as the sorting is by IP address would be nice, though it's certainly not worth a major effort.

[jeremystretch]

I believe it's a question of it being hard to implement with the way ordering and the addition of the available IP rows work.

Pretty much. We just don't have a great mechanism for annotating available IPs in between IPAddress records.

Fixing the bug itself is a bit tricky because we need to infer how the table is ordered to prepare the data, but we can't initialize the table until we have the data prepared. We'll probably need to introduce a utility function for determining a table's ordering, that can be used by both prep_table_data() under the view and by a table's configure() method.

[github-actions]

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[jeremystretch]

This is also an issue when filtering the objects list, as non-matching objects may be incorrectly annotated as available space.

[github-actions]

This issue has been automatically marked as stale because it has not had recent activity. It will be closed if no further activity occurs. NetBox is governed by a small group of core maintainers which means not all opened issues may receive direct feedback. Do not attempt to circumvent this process by "bumping" the issue; doing so will result in its immediate closure and you may be barred from participating in any future discussions. Please see our contributing guide.

[7qbit]

please revise this problem again. we need sorting of “Available IP addresses” on TOP.

In addition, status=sorting does not meet the expectation of sorting by status; here, confusingly available IP addresses are removed.

Thank You.

[AM-2027]

Hello all,

we have recently updated our instance to 3.6.2.
Because most users have saved a sort, they could not find available IP addresses. Only after having removed the sorting.

I think you have a malfunction here, users don't expect the sorting function to remove the objects now, but a sorting by all possible "statuses".

Second problem is that it is no longer possible to sort all available IP addresses on top, which was very handy before.

I find this a malfunction because sorting behavior is not the usual one you think.

[peteeckel]

I agree with you that it would be useful to have a list of available IP ranges in one place.

However, having a couple of 'xxx IP Addresses Available' lines on top of a list sorted by criteria other than IP address is not really helpful, even more so as there is no other information about these ranges available. That was confusing, misleading and IMHO a bug (which was fixed subsequently).

One option to solve both issues could be a separate tab listing all free address ranges, sorted by IP address. That way they would all be visible in one place without messing up the IP address list in other views. That could even be implemented as a plugin rather easily if a feature request were unsuccessful.

Suggestion: Instead of insisting on a bugfix being reverted, please open a FR for the functionality described above.