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CMDBsyncer

CMDBsyncer is a rule-based, modular synchronization hub for host and configuration data. It connects your source systems — CMDBs, asset management tools, APIs, CSV files — with your target systems like Checkmk, Netbox, or I-Doit, and keeps them in sync automatically.

Every connection to an external system is configured through an Account. Rules control what gets synchronized, how attributes are transformed, and which hosts are included.

Rules overview

Key Features

  • Web Interface with login, 2FA, and user management — all configuration after installation is done in the UI
  • Rule Engine to control synchronization based on host attributes, with rewrite, filter, and condition support
  • Jinja support throughout rules and configuration fields
  • Built-in CMDB mode for managing objects, hosts, and templates directly in CMDBsyncer
  • Plugin API to integrate custom data sources with minimal code
  • Cron management to schedule sync jobs from the UI, including externally-triggered runs via per-group webhook tokens
  • Notifications with email out of the box and rule-based routing — Slack, MS Teams and signed webhooks add on with the Enterprise license
  • REST API for external automation
  • Ansible support — dynamic inventory source plus a built-in UI runner, run history, and event-driven onboarding rules
  • Encryption of stored credentials, with optional external secret stores (KeePass / Vault) under the Enterprise license
  • Debug tooling via CLI and web-based debug views
  • Monitoring integration via Checkmk Exchange check

What's New in 4.0

Version 4.0 is a major release. Highlights — see the changelog for the full list:

Community Edition

  • Admin UI refresh across every page — consistent card layout for edit forms, sticky table headers, modernised login and start page, plugin-picker for new accounts
  • Notifications — Settings → Notifications with Channels and Rules, email out of the box
  • Cron groups: external webhook trigger with per-group token; resilient mode that continues remaining tasks on failure; auto-released locks; per-group "last successful run" tracking

Enterprise (license-gated)

  • Audit log — append-only compliance trail with field-level diffs, CSV/JSON export, optional SIEM streaming (Splunk HEC, syslog, generic webhook)
  • Native OIDC login — Azure AD, Okta, Keycloak, Google Workspace, Auth0
  • 4-Eyes Approval Workflow — changes to critical resources queue up until a second admin approves
  • Scheduled backups — encrypted, rotated DB backups to any S3-compatible target or local path, each backup auto-manages its own protected cron group
  • Prometheus metrics — /metrics endpoint with license info, per-cron-group state and host totals
  • Signed webhook triggers — HMAC-signed cron-trigger requests with replay window and per-group IP allowlists
  • Notification routing — Slack, MS Teams, signed webhooks; rules with templates, cooldowns and hourly caps
  • Secrets manager — account passwords resolve from KeePass, LastPass, HashiCorp Vault, AWS Secrets Manager or an environment variable, transparent to every plugin
  • JSON log stream — Elastic Common Schema on stdout for Loki / Elastic / CloudWatch / Datadog / Splunk

Coming Soon

Two larger features are on dedicated branches and will land in a follow-up 4.x release:

Ansible Workspace

A first-class workspace for running Ansible from CMDBsyncer:

  • Ansible Projects — per-project rule sources, served as their own inventory provider
  • Run Playbook page with a --check --diff preview button and a per-run inventory-provider picker
  • Fire Rule outcome that triggers a playbook with the inventory of the matched hosts and is recorded as an audit event
  • Playbook catalog via manifest with friendly names plus a .local override file
  • CLI under cmdbsyncer ansible … with backward-compat shims for the old -i ansible/inventory invocations

Notification Hub

A local "who do we alert and how" layer that is event-source agnostic, with Checkmk wired as the first caller:

  • Contacts, Contact Groups (static + tag-dynamic + LDAP) and Vacation records
  • Shift calendars synced from any iCal URL (Google, Outlook, CalDAV) — used as an on-call intersection filter
  • Dispatch rules that match by source / event type / context regex and pick channels per recipient
  • REST endpoint POST /api/v1/notify/dispatch and a sample Checkmk notification script
  • Channel reuse — Slack, MS Teams, signed webhooks and email come from the Enterprise Notification Channels when licensed; falls back to a stdout log otherwise

How it Works

CMDBsyncer imports hosts and attributes from one or more sources, processes them through the rules engine, and exports the result to the configured targets. Sources and targets can overlap — a system like Checkmk or Netbox can be both.

→ How it Works

Supported Integrations

Module Import Export Notes
Checkmk ✓ ✓ Full host lifecycle, rules, tags, labels, groups, BI, DCD, agents, sites — tested with 140,000+ hosts
Netbox ✓ ✓ Devices, VMs, interfaces, IPAM, contacts, sites
I-Doit ✓ ✓ Template-based device sync
Ansible — ✓ Dynamic inventory source, Checkmk agent and site management, UI playbook runner with run history and rule-driven firing
CMDB Mode ✓ ✓ Use CMDBsyncer itself as a lightweight CMDB

Import Sources

Module Description
REST API / JSON Import from any REST API or JSON file structure
CSV Import hosts or enrich attributes from CSV files
LDAP Import objects from LDAP directories
JDisc Import devices from JDisc Discovery
Jira Import objects from Jira (on-prem and cloud)
Cisco DNA Import devices and interface information
BMC Remedy Limited import from BMC Remedy
PRTG Import objects from PRTG
VMware Import and export attributes for VMware VMs
MySQL Import and inventorize MySQL database tables
MSSQL / ODBC Import from any ODBC-compatible database (FreeTDS, MSSQL, etc.)

Getting Started

  1. Install CMDBsyncer: Docker or Apache/WSGI
  2. Understand how it works
  3. Create your first Account
  4. Set up an Import
  5. Configure Rules
  6. Export to a target system