IP address status appearance is inconsistent

[abrahamvegh]

NetBox version

v3.0.8

Python version

3.7

Steps to Reproduce

1. Create a device with an interface
2. Create some IPs:
   • ::1/128, status Active, role Loopback
   • 2001:db8::68/128, status Reserved, no role
   • 2001:db8::69/128, status Active, no role
3. Assign all of these IPs to the interface on the device

Expected Behavior

When viewing the Interface in the context of a list (e.g. netbox-url/dcim/devices/{device-id}/interfaces/), IPs with the status of Active with no Role assigned should appear visually with the same border appearance as other IPs, with the Active color background.

Observed Behavior

The Active IP just looks like a link, instead of a pill like I would expect:

[jeremystretch]

The problem seems to be that we're trying to cram too much information into a single table cell. It's not practical to convey the address, status, and role of every IP address assigned to the interface. IMO we should only highlight IPs with a noteworthy status (i.e. not "active") and ignore role entirely.

[abrahamvegh]

Disagree, I think it's the right place for the information to all be visible (although I could hear an argument for hiding Loopback addresses behind a "+2" bubble or something like that), and I appreciate the density I get from how the display works right now.

The purpose of the bug report is to highlight a visual inconsistency, not lose what I consider to be a feature. 😅

[jeremystretch]

IPs with the status of Active with no Role assigned should appear visually with the same border appearance as other IPs

Active is the default state for an IP address: Why would we highlight it? Again, we have three things going on:

1. Address (one line of text per IP)
2. Status (background color)
3. Role (???)

Bear in mind the purpose of this table is to display interfaces, not IP addresses. The assigned IP address are provided for convenience, and a simple click on any of them will lead you to its complete detailed view. Or, alternatively, you could view the list of IP addresses filtered by assigned device if that's what you're primarily interested in.

[abrahamvegh]

Bear in mind the purpose of this table is to display interfaces, not IP addresses.

After further thought, this kept sticking with me, and you’re completely right. The column has always felt a little odd to me, especially on devices where I have quite a few IPs assigned.

I would propose removing the actual IPs from that view, in favor of a simple count, or perhaps a count of v4/v6 addresses (still only in a single column field).

If there was a desire to retain some of the existing functionality while reducing the clutter for this particular area, I could envision displaying the bubbles with the status and/or role influencing the colors as they do now, but still only displaying a count rather than the addresses themselves.

[jeremystretch]

I'm just going to leave it at IP address & status. I believe that's sufficient given the context.

[candlerb]

I have a bunch of routing devices where there are one of more main addresses on an interface, plus a VRRP address.

I wanted the VRRP address to be visually distinct; I invested some time implementing this in #6881, and I am sad that now this is gone. There's not even a tooltip now.