Object files

An Object file is a YAML file that allows you to manage data to be loaded in Infrahub based on your own custom schema. It provides a declarative way to define and manage resources in your Infrahub instance.

Object files work well for models that don't change too often and/or that need to be tracked in Git. Examples include: Groups, tags, Users, etc.

The goal of this guide is to show you how you define and load an object file.

Loading an example schema into Infrahub

We assume that you have an empty instance of Infrahub started.

Save the following schema into a file on your disk.

The schema contains the following nodes:

• A location hierarchy with a Country and a Site
• A network device with a relation to network interfaces and a site
• A network interface with a relation to a network device

---
version: "1.0"
generics:
  - name: Generic
    namespace: Location
    include_in_menu: false
    hierarchical: true
    attributes:
      - name: name
        kind: Text
        optional: false
        unique: true
nodes:
  - name: Country
    namespace: Location
    inherit_from:
      - LocationGeneric
    parent: ""
    children: LocationSite
  - name: Site
    namespace: Location
    inherit_from:
      - LocationGeneric
    parent: LocationCountry
    children: ""
    relationships:
      - name: devices
        kind: Generic
        peer: NetworkDevice
        cardinality: many
        optional: true
  - name: Device
    namespace: Network
    attributes:
      - name: name
        kind: Text
        optional: false
        unique: true
    relationships:
      - name: site
        kind: Attribute
        cardinality: one
        optional: true
        peer: LocationSite
      - name: interfaces
        kind: Component
        cardinality: many
        optional: true
        peer: NetworkInterface
  - name: Interface
    namespace: Network
    attributes:
      - name: name
        kind: Text
        optional: false
    relationships:
      - name: device
        kind: Parent
        optional: false
        cardinality: one
        peer: NetworkDevice

Load the schema into Infrahub using the following command

infrahubctl schema load /path/to/schema.yml

In the web interface you will now see that all the nodes defined in the schema are available in the top section of the menu.

Defining a object file

Our goal is to define data that can be loaded into Infrahub based on the schema we just defined. We will create an object file that defines a Country and a Site.

---
apiVersion: infrahub.app/v1
kind: Object
spec:
  kind: LocationCountry
  data:
    - name: United Kingdom
      children:
        kind: LocationSite
        data:
          - name: Stonehenge Visitor Centre
          - name: Tower of London
          - name: Edinburgh Castle
---
apiVersion: infrahub.app/v1
kind: Object
spec:
  kind: NetworkDevice
  data:
    - name: sw01-svc01
      site: Stonehenge Visitor Centre
---
apiVersion: infrahub.app/v1
kind: Object
spec:
  kind: NetworkInterface
  data:
    - name: eth0
      device: sw01-svc01
    - name: eth1
      device: sw01-svc01
    - name: eth2
      device: sw01-svc01
    - name: eth3
      device: sw01-svc01
    - name: eth4
      device: sw01-svc01
    - name: eth5
      device: sw01-svc01

Note that these definitions can be in separate files but for simplicity we have put them all in one file using --- to separate the different objects.

For a more detailed information on the structure and relationship management within an object file, visit the SDK Object File docs.

Loading a object file

You can load the object files into Infrahub using object subcommand of the infrahubctl utility.

Load the objects into Infrahub using the following command

infrahubctl object load /path/to/objects.yml

More information on infrahubctl command line utility can be found here. More information on the object subcommand can be found here.

Objects can also be loaded into Infrahub using the git repository integration. To do this, you need to add the object file to the .infrahub.yml details can be seen in the .infrahub.yml documentation.

info

Loading objects using git or via the command line will load folders/files in alphabetical order.