Multi-termination no longer working in web UI since 4.0

[TheWidowLicker]

Deployment Type

Self-hosted

NetBox Version

v4.0.2

Python Version

3.11

Steps to Reproduce

Click on a front port or interface
Create a cable and connect to other interface/frontport
Try to add second interface (you should be able to have multiple terminations)

Expected Behavior

That you should be able to have multiple termiantion points

Observed Behavior

Each time you type in the second device interface it just replaces the orignhal temination point. You can only have 1.
Old "cables" made from 3.7.x still show the multi terminations but it you edit them and add or edit a new termination point, all others are wiped out and you have jsut 1 termination point

[TheWidowLicker]

I upgraded to 4.0.2 to see if this would fix the issue but it appears to still be the same. I cannot choose more than I parent termination point. I can choose multiple interfaces or front ports if they are on the same device. Once you try to add a 2nd device/interface the 1st is removed/overwritten

[arthanson]

@TheWidowLicker thank you for opening a bug report. I was unable to reproduce the reported behavior on NetBox v4.0.2.
Please re-confirm the reported behavior on the current stable release and adjust your post above as
necessary. Remember to provide detailed steps that someone else can follow using a clean installation of
NetBox to reproduce the issue. Remember to include the steps taken to create any initial objects or other
data.

Can you please expand on the steps to reproduce - I added interfaces on two devices and connected a cable between them and added a second interface to the cable (see screenshot) it added and saved. I'm not sure if I'm following the same steps you went through however.

[TheWidowLicker]

Hi
Thanks for this but the issue isn't what you have above. The issue is that I cannot pick 2 interfaces, 1 on each switch/host.
So imagine, I have a front port on a patch panel and the fiber cable from this (tx side) is split/tapped and goes to multiple servers. The servers have say PHY14 and the split TX cable goes to the RX side on the PHY14's on the servers. I was able to do this multi-termination (multiple servers to 1 front port). I have also tried connecting multiple NIC's/interfaces (1 from each server) to a switch port (which I was able to do on 3.7.x), and I get the same situation. Once I try to add the second host/system and its interface, it over writes the 1st instead of adding it. I have some old cables, created before the upgrade and they still have the multiple host interfaces to 1 interface/front port. I dont want to edit them in case I lose these. Thanks

For Clarity: here is a cable made before upgrade. You can see 3 host interfaces (rx side) connects to 1 front port panel (TX side)

Here is a cable I made after. I can only seem to connect to 1 host interface. If I try to add a 2nd host/NIC I lose the first

[TheWidowLicker]

If its just something im doing wrong, please let me know. Thanks

[TheWidowLicker]

I also tried to make this happen in the public demo and again. I can have 2 ports from the same device but not 1 port from 2 devices
https://demo.netbox.dev/dcim/cables/132/

[TheWidowLicker]

I noticed that there is a fix in 4.0.1 for an issue that was discovered with cable termination. Maybe this is related to that, even though that specific issue appear to be fixed in 4.0.2
Issue #15973

[arthanson]

@TheWidowLicker can you please provide a step-by-step repro, something like:

1. add a device A
2. add interface i1 to device A
3. add device B
4. add front-port P1 to device B
   ...

It can take a lot of time to figure out and reproduce issues if the reproduction steps aren't clear.

[TheWidowLicker]

Her goes.
In this video I create a cable from an interface on a host, then try to add a second host with interface (this removes the 1st host and interface). I then try to add the original back (this removes the second host and puts back the 1st). Finally I show a cable made before the upgrade that has 3 hosts (and there interfaces) connected to 1 front port.
1 host only allowed.webm

I found a strange work around. If I add interfaces without choosing a host I can add multiple hosts (unfortunately as it doesn't let me see the hosts at time of picking its hit or miss on getting it right)
Work around but shows no device names.webm

I don't seem to be able to upload pictures or videos. I will try from another location

[cademetz]

@arthanson

I am having the same issue. For context, in my specific case, I am trying to create a cable connection to represent a QSFP breakout cable: directly from a switch QSFP port to four different servers' SFP ports (no panels in between).

Consider these steps:

1. Create three devices: sw-1, svr-1, and svr-2
2. Create three interfaces, one per device created in step 1, calling all interfaces int-1
3. Create a cable connection. For Side A, select interface for the type, select sw-1 for device, select int-1 for the interface. For Side B, select interface for the type, select svr-1 for the device, and int-1 for the interface.
4. Attempt to add svr-2, int-1 to Side B.

This is where the issue will present itself.

Attempt mechanism 1:

• Attempt to type int-1 in the Interface field for Side B (in essence, searching for svr-2, int-1). No results will be found. Presumably, this is because the results are filtered to only svr-1, (as selected in Step 3 above). This therefore seems to prevent the user from selecting an interface from any other device once a device is populated in the Device field of Side B (or Side A for that matter).

Attempt mechanism 2:

• Attempt to type svr-2 in the Device field of Side B. It will be shown, but if it is selected, svr-1(and its interface) will be removed from the connection.

Attempt mechanism 3 (this is the work around @TheWidowLicker mentioned):

• (If svr-1 is still listed in the Device field for Side B) Remove svr-1 from the Device field of Side B (click the 'x' icon in the field); this should remove the interface as well.
• Without selecting a device, search for the int-1 in the Interface field. All int-1 results will be listed. The user CAN select the int-1 interface for svr-1 and svr-2 here. The problem is that it is unknown which int-1 you are selecting. In this specific example, we only have two int-1's from which to select (belonging to svr-1 and svr-2) so we accomplish our goal. However, in a larger environment where interface names may be duplicated many times over, it will not be possible to ensure you select the right "int-1" for the intended device. In my specific environment, with numerous ESXi hosts, I have many interfaces called "vmnic0" and no way of telling them apart, unless the interfaces have had unique descriptions provided to them somehow indicating to which device the interface belongs.

[TheWidowLicker]

@arthanson have you been able to recreate the issue @cademetz and I are having.