Years of spreadsheets, cleaned and imported without breaking anything
Most data centers arrive at NetBox with a workbook that has grown for years: duplicate serials, typos in IP addresses, three spellings of the same model and notes in the wrong columns. The import is where a source of truth is won or lost.
Read the workbook as it is
Every tab is read without editing it first: racks, servers, network gear, IPs, cables and power, including merged cells and free-text notes.
Check and clean
A checker reports every problem in plain language and proposes a fix: matching "R750" to Dell PowerEdge R750, flagging duplicate serials and invalid IPs.
Import in the right order
Sites, racks, device types, devices, interfaces, IPs, cables and power go in through the NetBox API in dependency order, tagged Imported from Spreadsheet.
Verify and label
The result is compared back to the workbook row by row, then asset labels are printed for every imported device.
What the checker finds in a typical workbook
A sample report from a 1,200-row legacy DCIM workbook.
| Problem | Rows | What happens |
|---|---|---|
| Model names "R750", "PowerEdge R750", "Dell R-750" | 86 | Matched to one NetBox device type: Dell PowerEdge R750 |
| Duplicate serials | 7 | Held back for review; both rows shown side by side |
| Invalid IP addresses e.g. 10.20.300.14 | 12 | Held back; the closest free address in the right prefix is suggested |
| Missing rack position | 31 | Imported as "unplaced" and added to the next physical audit |
| Notes in the wrong column ("RMA 3/2024" in Serial) | 19 | Moved into the device journal; serial left blank for the audit |
| Same cable listed twice | 44 | Merged into one NetBox cable with both ends |
| Clean rows | 1,001 | Imported automatically |
The downloadable sample workbook and the interactive checker are being added to this page next.