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Best Practices

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CSV Import types and how to use them (with examples)

 

 

The CSV Import feature in Infoblox allows you to migrate data from legacy or alternate server databases to the Infoblox server Grid. CSV Import also allows you to perform bulk operations such as to add new data, overwrite existing data, merge new data with existing data, delete existing data, replace certain existing data in the database, or even a combination of these actions.

 

Information on how to access and manage CSV Imports in Infoblox are available in the Infoblox Admin Guide. Details on how to format the CSV data and the use of appropriate CSV headers are best explained by the CSV Import Reference guide.

 

The goal of this article is to equip you with practical knowledge of each Import option, their individual behaviors, use case and expected usage outcomes. The Import options explained here include:

 

  1. ADD
  2. MERGE
  3. OVERRIDE
  4. CUSTOM
  5. DELETE

 

The practical perspective of this blog is aimed at serving as a reference for selecting the best suited option.

 

Conventions:

Manually added changes to CSV data being imported are marked in red

The changes that took effect in the Grid are marked in green

 

Note: For the actions discussed here, the Skip to the next row and continue was selected for action On Error in the CSV Import dialog

 

 

ADD:

 

Select this to add new rows from the imported CSV file to the database. NIOS updates the database with the new data that you have added to the imported CSV file and retains the rows that do not have any changes.

 

Example:

 

Existing initial state in Grid:

 

Name

Type

Data

Record Source

Principal

Protected

Comment

Monitored Since

Last Queried

Reclaimable

a

A Record

1.1.1.1

Static

 

No

 

Not Monitored

Not Monitored

No

b

A Record

2.2.2.2

Static

 

No

 

Not Monitored

Not Monitored

No

 

 

Imported csv:

 

 

header-arecord

address*

_new_address

fqdn*

_new_fqdn

comment

view

arecord

1.1.1.1

 

a.test.com

 

function: add

default

arecord

2.2.2.2

 

b.test.com

bb.test.com

 

default

arecord

3.3.3.3

 

c.test.com

 

function: add

default

 

Output in Grid:

 

Name

Type

Data

Record Source

Principal

Protected

Comment

Monitored Since

Last Queried

Reclaimable

a

A Record

1.1.1.1

Static

 

No

 

Not Monitored

Not Monitored

No

b

A Record

2.2.2.2

Static

 

No

 

Not Monitored

Not Monitored

No

c

A Record

3.3.3.3

Static

 

No

function: add

Not Monitored

Not Monitored

No

 

 

 

 

MERGE:

 

Select this to add values from the imported CSV file to the existing columns in the database that do not have any data. It does not overwrite the existing data. It does not add new rows (objects).

 

If you want to modify a required (XXX*) fields (for either the overwrite or merge function), you must add a corresponding field, _new_XXX, to include the new value. For example, "fqdn*" is a required field in an A record. If you want to update this field, you must include a new field "_new_fqdn" and define the new value here. The appliance overwrites the existing data in the required field using the values you specify in the new field. Note that the replace function ignores _new_XXX fields in the imported CSV files.

 

Example:

 

Existing initial state in Grid:

 

Name

Type

Data

Record Source

Principal

Protected

Comment

Monitored Since

Last Queried

Reclaimable

a

A Record

1.1.1.1

Static

 

No

 

Not Monitored

Not Monitored

No

b

A Record

2.2.2.2

Static

 

No

some comment

Not Monitored

Not Monitored

No

c

A Record

3.3.3.3

Static

 

No

 

Not Monitored

Not Monitored

No

d

A Record

4.4.4.4

Static

 

No

 

Not Monitored

Not Monitored

No

 

 

Imported csv:

 

 

 

header-arecord

address*

_new_address

fqdn*

_new_fqdn

comment

view

arecord

1.1.1.1

 

a.test.com

 

function: merge

default

arecord

2.2.2.2

 

b.test.com

 

function: merge

default

arecord

3.3.3.3

 

c.test.com

cc.test.com

function: merge

default

arecord

4.4.4.4

 

d2.test.com

 

function: merge

default

arecord

5.5.5.5

 

e.test.com

 

function: merge

default

 

 

Output in Grid:

 

 

Name

Type

Data

Record Source

Principal

Protected

Comment

Monitored Since

Last Queried

Reclaimable

a

A Record

1.1.1.1

Static

 

No

function: merge

Not Monitored

Not Monitored

No

b

A Record

2.2.2.2

Static

 

No

some comment

Not Monitored

Not Monitored

No

cc

A Record

3.3.3.3

Static

 

No

function: merge

Not Monitored

Not Monitored

No

d

A Record

4.4.4.4

Static

 

No

 

Not Monitored

Not Monitored

No

 

 

OVERRIDE:

 

Select this to overwrite the existing data in the database with the data from the uploaded file. You cannot add new rows or delete existing rows.

 

Example:

 

Existing initial state in Grid:

 

Name

Type

Data

Record Source

Principal

Protected

Comment

Monitored Since

Last Queried

Reclaimable

a

A Record

1.1.1.1

Static

 

No

 

Not Monitored

Not Monitored

No

b

A Record

2.2.2.2

Static

 

No

some comment

Not Monitored

Not Monitored

No

c

A Record

3.3.3.3

Static

 

No

 

Not Monitored

Not Monitored

No

d

A Record

4.4.4.4

Static

 

No

 

Not Monitored

Not Monitored

No

 

 

Imported csv:

 

 

 

header-arecord

address*

_new_address

fqdn*

_new_fqdn

comment

view

arecord

1.1.1.1

 

a.test.com

 

function: override

default

arecord

2.2.2.2

 

b.test.com

 

function: override

default

arecord

3.3.3.3

 

c.test.com

cc.test.com

function: override

default

arecord

4.4.4.4

 

d2.test.com

 

function: override

default

arecord

5.5.5.5

 

e.test.com

 

function: override

default

 

 

Output in Grid:

 

Name

Type

Data

Record Source

Principal

Protected

Comment

Monitored Since

Last Queried

Reclaimable

a

A Record

1.1.1.1

Static

 

No

function: override

Not Monitored

Not Monitored

No

b

A Record

2.2.2.2

Static

 

No

function: override

Not Monitored

Not Monitored

No

cc

A Record

3.3.3.3

Static

 

No

function: override

Not Monitored

Not Monitored

No

d

A Record

4.4.4.4

Static

 

No

 

Not Monitored

Not Monitored

No

 

 

 

CUSTOM:

 

Select this to apply custom import actions for individual data rows in your CSV file. When preparing the CSV file for import with the Custom option, add an IMPORT-ACTION column to the file and specify a custom import action for each data row. Use the following abbreviations for import actions: 'I' (INSERT), 'M' (MERGE), 'O' (OVERRIDE), 'IM' (INSERT+MERGE), 'IO' (INSERT+OVERRIDE), 'D' (DELETE).

 

Example:

 

Existing initial state in Grid:

 

Name

Type

Data

Record Source

Principal

Protected

Comment

Monitored Since

Last Queried

Reclaimable

a

A Record

1.1.1.1

Static

 

No

 

Not Monitored

Not Monitored

No

b

A Record

2.2.2.2

Static

 

No

some comment

Not Monitored

Not Monitored

No

c

A Record

3.3.3.3

Static

 

No

 

Not Monitored

Not Monitored

No

d

A Record

4.4.4.4

Static

 

No

 

Not Monitored

Not Monitored

No

 

 

Imported csv:

 

 

header-arecord

address*

_new_address

fqdn*

_new_fqdn

comment

view

IMPORT-ACTION

arecord

1.1.1.1

 

a.test.com

 

action: MERGE

default

M

arecord

2.2.2.2

 

b.test.com

b2.test.com

action: OVERRIDE

default

O

arecord

3.3.3.3

 

c.test.com

 

action: DELETE

default

D

arecord

4.4.4.4

 

d.test.com

 

action: if exists-MERGE, if not-INSERT

default

IM

arecord

5.5.5.5

 

e.test.com

 

action: if exists-OVERRIDE, if not-INSERT

default

IO

arecord

6.6.6.6

 

f.test.com

 

action: INSERT

default

I

 

Output in Grid:

 

Name

Type

Data

Record Source

Principal

Protected

Comment

Monitored Since

Last Queried

Reclaimable

a

A Record

1.1.1.1

Static

 

No

action: MERGE

Not Monitored

Not Monitored

No

b2

A Record

2.2.2.2

Static

 

No

action: OVERRIDE

Not Monitored

Not Monitored

No

d

A Record

4.4.4.4

Static

 

No

action: if exists-MERGE, if not-INSERT

Not Monitored

Not Monitored

No

e

A Record

5.5.5.5

Static

 

No

action: if exists-OVERRIDE, if not-INSERT

Not Monitored

Not Monitored

No

f

A Record

6.6.6.6

Static

 

No

action: INSERT

Not Monitored

Not Monitored

No

 

 

 

DELETE:

 

Select this to delete the rows in the imported CSV file from the database.

 

Example:

 

Existing initial state in Grid:

 

Name

Type

Data

Record Source

Principal

Protected

Comment

Monitored Since

Last Queried

Reclaimable

a

A Record

1.1.1.1

Static

 

No

 

Not Monitored

Not Monitored

No

c

A Record

3.3.3.3

Static

 

No

 

Not Monitored

Not Monitored

No

e

A Record

5.5.5.5

Static

 

No

 

Not Monitored

Not Monitored

No

 

 

Imported csv:

 

 

header-arecord

address*

_new_address

fqdn*

_new_fqdn

comment

view

arecord

1.1.1.1

 

a.test.com

 

 

default

arecord

5.5.5.5

 

e.test.com

 

 

default

 

Output in Grid:

 

Name

Type

Data

Record Source

Principal

Protected

Comment

Monitored Since

Last Queried

Reclaimable

c

A Record

3.3.3.3

Static

 

No

 

Not Monitored

Not Monitored

No

 

 

 

Additional Information:

 

For Supported Object Types and Guidelines for CSV Import, refer the CSV Import Reference guide available from the Infoblox GUI >> Help, or from the Support portal >> Tech Docs

 

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