Enable custom interface naturalization functions

[PieterL75]

NetBox version

v4.3.7

Feature type

New functionality

Proposed functionality

Interfaces are sorted according a specific interface naturalization function

netbox/netbox/utilities/ordering.py

Line 51 in cf0ef92

def naturalize_interface(value, max_length):

This function suits very well for Cisco branded devices, but does not always work for other vendors.

There has been few proposals (can only find this one #9368 ) to address this, but for now non has been accepted. FR #20335 proposed several options, and the discussion thread ended with this proposal:

• provide different sorting mechanisms, which can be applied per Platform type
• also allow plugins to extend these sorting mechanisms

Proposed sorting algoritms

• Default: (current one) Similar in nature to naturalize(), but takes into account a particular naming format adapted from the old InterfaceManager
• Alphanumeric: Take an alphanumeric string and prepend all integers to integer_places places to ensure the strings are ordered naturally. (Arista)
• Numeric: Take an alphanumeric string and prepend all integers to integer_places places to ensure the strings are ordered naturally, while ignoring the alpa part. (NetApp, JunOS, Arista)

Add new functions with a plugin or in configuration.py

 FIELD_CHOICES = {
     'dcim.Platform.interfacesorting+': (
         ('naturalsort' , 'Natural Interface Sorting', netbox_plugin.ordering.naturalsort),
     )
}

Other sorting option that could be implemented

• Numeric, but with mgmt_only interfaces first

A PoC can be found here, but that needs further coding before it can become a PR
https://github.com/PieterL75/netbox/tree/customize-naturlization

As a side effect, an extra option was implemented to the ChoiceSetMeta, adding the possibility to prevent a ChoiceSet to be replaced or extended. This probably need to go to a separate FR.

Use case

A recent poll in #netbox shows that there is a need for this: https://netdev-community.slack.com/archives/C01P0FRSXRV/p1757313471550629?thread_ts=1757065483.482359&cid=C01P0FRSXRV

Platform OS	Current	Desired
Arista EOS	Ethernet48/1	Ethernet1
	Ethernet48/2	Ethernet2
	Ethernet49/1	Ethernet48/1
	Ethernet49/2	Ethernet48/2
	Ethernet1	Ethernet49/1
	Ethernet2	Ethernet49/2
Juniper JUNOS	ge-0/0/0	ge-0/0/0
	ge-0/0/3	xe-0/0/1
	xe-0/0/1	xe-0/0/2
	xe-0/0/2	ge-0/0/3
Netapp	10a	e9a
	10b	e9e
	e9a	10a
	e9e	10b
	e11a	e11
	e11e	e11

Database changes

Extra field on 'Platform'

            model_name='platform',
            name='interface_sorting',
            field=models.CharField(default='default', max_length=100)

External dependencies

No response