Extensible attributes are identifiers that you use to further define and track a NIOS object. For example, to specify the location of a network, you can add the predefined attribute Site and enter a specific location for the network. You can also specify whether an extensible attribute is required for an object or restrict the values that can be entered when you create a new object.
You can also specify if an extensible attribute is inheritable by other objects in an inheritance chain. When you enable the inheritance of an extensible attribute, all descendants in the inheritance chain can inherit the extensible attribute so you do not have to configure it at all object levels. For example, if you define an extensible attribute for a network, the attribute and its value can be automatically added for DHCP ranges and fixed addresses in the network.
An extensible attribute is inheritable by descendants in an inheritance chain if its definition does not restrict it to objects that are not part of an inheritance chain. The appliance supports this inheritance chain: Network View -> Network Container -> Network -> Range -> Host/Fixed Address/Reservation. A parent object can have descendants at one or more levels. For example, a network view, network container, network, or DHCP range can be a parent object and have descendants at one or more levels, while a host, fixed address, and reservation can only be a descendant, not a parent. You can set an extensible attribute to be inheritable by selecting the Enable Inheritance option when you define an attribute. For more information, see Configuring Inheritable Extensible Attributes bookmark857.

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Note: Only superusers can configure extensible attributes.

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When you use a predefined attribute, you can modify it and change its name, but you cannot change the type of data it accepts. You can also delete predefined attributes that you do not use. All predefined attributes accept text strings. You can define other settings though, as described in Modifying Extensible Attributes bookmark862. You can also create your own extensible attributes, as described in Adding Extensible Attributes bookmark855.
For example, you can configure the predefined attribute Site for fixed addresses and hosts, and define a new attribute Department for admin groups.
When you configure an extensible attribute, you can specify the following:

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Activities such as additions, modifications, and deletions of inheritable extensible attributes, are recorded in the audit log. For information about how to use the audit log, see Using the Audit Log.
Figure 8.5 bookmark854 illustrates a network with different device types. Each device is represented as a host in the NIOS appliance database. You can configure Device Type, Location and Owner as required attributes for hosts. Then when admins add hosts, they will be required to enter values for these attributes in the Extensible Attributes tab of the Add Host wizard.

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1. From the Administration tab, select the Extensible Attributes tab.
2. Click the Add icon on any of the toolbars.
3. In the Add Extensible Attribute wizard, complete the following:
   • Name: Enter the name of the attribute. This is a required field and is case-sensitive. You can enter up to 128 UTF-8 characters.
   • Type: Specify the type of data that you want to capture for an object. Select one of the following:
     • String: Select this when the attribute is used to define string values, such as names. When you select this type, the wizard displays the Number of Characters field where you can enter the minimum and maximum number of characters that users can enter.
     • List: Select this when you want to define a list of values for the attribute. Users can then select a value from this list. For example, if you want to restrict an attribute to five specific values, you can define the attribute as a List and then list the five values in the List Values section. When a user uses the attribute, they are limited to selecting from one of the five values.
       When you select List, the wizard displays the List of values table, where you add the allowed values. These values appear in the drop-down list when a user defines the attribute. Click the Add icon to enter values in the table. You can enter up to 64 UTF-8 characters for each value.
       You can also modify list values at a later time. When you modify list values, all object attributes using the modified values are updated to the new values.
       You can also delete values from the list. Note that when you delete a list value, all attributes using the deleted values are removed from the objects. For objects with multiple attribute values, only the deleted values are removed.
       You can also move a value up or down in the list.
     • Integer: Select this when the attribute is used to track whole numbers, such as serial numbers. When you select this type, the wizard displays the Value Limits fields where you can enter the range of allowed values. Note that you cannot change your entries in the Value Limits fields if you modify the attribute at a later date.
     • Email: Select this when the attribute is used for email addresses. Email addresses are entered in the format user@domain.com.
     • URL: Select this when the attribute is used for tracking URLs (Uniform Resource Locators). URLs must be entered in a valid format.
     • Date: Select this when the attribute is used for dates. The date value is in YYYY-MM-DD format.
   • Comment: Enter additional information about the attribute. You can enter up to 256 UTF-8 characters.
4. Click Next and complete the following:
   • Enable Inheritance: Select this check box if you want to allow the extensible attribute and its values to be inherited by descendants in an inheritance chain. When you select this check box, inheritance is enabled for network related objects only. When you select this check box and restrict an attribute to certain objects, then the extensible attribute and its value will be inherited by those objects only.
     Note the following:
     • If you create an extensible attribute with inheritance disabled and later enable it, the Descendant Actions dialog box may be displayed with the available options for adding an extensible attribute. For information, see Managing Inheritable Extensible Attributes at the Parent and Descendant Level. bookmark859bookmark859
     • If you create an extensible attribute with inheritance enabled and later disable it, the Descendant Actions dialog box may be displayed with the available options for deleting an extensible attribute. For information, see Deleting Inheritable Extensible Attributes Associated with Parent Objects bookmark865.
   • Allow multiple values: Select this check box if you want to allow multiple values for this attribute to be set on an object. You cannot change this value for predefined attributes.
     Restricting synchronization of extensible attributes
   • Disable sync to MGM: Select this check box to disable synchronization of extensible attributes from the managed Grid to the Multi-Grid Master. This check box is available only on the managed Grid when it remains joined with the Multi-Grid Master.
   • Default Value: Enter the default value that the appliance displays for the attribute. Leave this blank if there is no default value for this attribute. If the attribute type is String, you can enter up to 256 UTF-8 characters. If the attribute type is List, the value must be one of the list values and can be up to 64 UTF-8 characters.
   • Required: If you select this option, it is required to enter a value for this attribute when adding or modifying the corresponding object in the GUI.
   • Recommended: If you select this option, it is recommended to enter a value for this attribute when adding or modifying the corresponding object in the GUI.
   • Optional: This is selected by default. By selecting this option, you may or may not enter a value for this attribute when adding or modifying the corresponding object in the GUI.
   • Restrict to Specific Object Types: Click the Add icon to select the object type with which you want to associate the attribute. The appliance adds a row to the table. To delete an object type, select an object type and click the Delete icon. By default, the appliance associates an extensible attribute with all the supported object types.
   • Log Attribute Values When Objects are Updated: Select this check box if you want the appliance to make an entry in the audit log each time an object with this attribute is added or modified. When you select attribute values for audit, they are included in all the audit log entries. For information about the audit log, see Using the Audit Log.
   • Allow cloud members to have the following access to this extensible attribute: Select this if you are configuring this extensible attribute for Cloud Network Automation. When you select this check box, the Cloud Platform Appliance can access this extensible attribute and perform requested tasks based on the cloud API requests. This function is enabled by default for all cloud specific extensible attributes. Note that if you disable this function for any cloud attributes, you will receive an error when you try to perform tasks that involve these attributes through cloud API requests. You can select Read/Write or Read only. For information about this feature, see Deploying Cloud Network Automation.
     • Read/Write (and disallow Write access from the GUI and the standard API): When you select this, the Cloud Platform Appliance can access and modify the value of this extensible attribute based on the tasks requested only through cloud API requests. You cannot modify this attribute using Grid Manager or the Infoblox API.
     • Read only: When you select this, the Cloud Platform Appliance can access this extensible attribute and report the value based on the cloud API requests, but it cannot modify the value. You receive an error if you try to modify this attribute when this option is selected.
5. Save the configuration and click Restart if it appears at the top of the screen.

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An extensible attribute can be inherited by descendants when it is at the top or in the middle of the inheritance chain.
When you add a new extensible attribute to a parent object, the same extensible attribute may or may not already exist at the descendant levels. If the extensible attribute exists on a descendant, you can choose to have the descendant inherit the value from the parent, or retain the original value from the descendant. When the extensible attribute does not exist on the descendant, you can choose to have the descendant either inherit the extensible attribute and its value from the parent or not inherit anything from the parent.
When you add a range, host, fixed address or IPv4 reservation to a parent object which has inheritable extensible attributes, the newly added object can inherit extensible attributes from the parent object. For example, if you create an IPv4 network with inheritable extensible attributes, and then add a host, the values you specified for the extensible attributes while creating the network can be inherited by the host.
To assist you in identifying whether an extensible attribute value is inherited or overridden, the appliance displays the inheritance state of an attribute in the Inheritance State column of an extensible attribute. This column is displayed only for objects that support inheritance. For information about how to view inheritance states, see Modifying Inheritable Extensible Attributes bookmark863.
Following are the supported inheritance states:

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• When you add an inheritable extensible attribute to a parent object, you can choose to have descendants inherit or override the parent's extensible attribute value. You can also choose that the extensible attribute not be added to a descendant.
• When you add a new parent with an inheritable extensible attribute, the options for changes to descendants remain the same as when you add a new inheritable extensible attribute to a parent. For more information, see Configuring Inheritable Extensible Attributes. bookmark857
• When you add a new descendant to the existing parent with inheritable attributes, the descendant inherits all the extensible attributes. However, you can select if you want to inherit or override the values. If you set the inheritance state to Not Inherited, then the extensible attribute will not exist on the descendant, but you can later change the state to Inherited or Overridden. For more information, see Managing Inheritable Extensible Attributes at the Parent and Descendant Level bookmark859 bookmark859.
• When you delete an inheritable extensible attribute associated with the parent, you can either preserve the extensible attribute values on the descendants or delete the inherited extensible attributes. For information, see Deleting Inheritable Extensible Attributes Associated with Parent Objects. bookmark865
• When you delete a parent object and if there is grandparent, then the extensible attribute will be re-parented when you choose preserve. The current inheritance state of the attribute will be retained. If you delete a parent object and if there is no grandparent, then the inheritance state of the extensible attribute is changed to No Parent when you choose preserve.
• When you split a network, the extensible attribute will be copied to the newly created networks. For inheritable extensible attributes, the newly created network inherits the extensible attributes and the state is set to Inherited. For information, see Managing Inheritable Extensible Attributes at the Parent and Descendant Level. bookmark859bookmark859
• When you join two networks to form a larger network, the Descendant Actions dialog box is displayed with the following options:
  When joining networks, select the action(s) you want to apply to the merged networks:
  • Preserve extensible attributes for all descendants of the merged networks and change the inheritance state to No Parent: Select this if you want to preserve the extensible attributes for all descendants of the merged networks. The inheritance state of the attributes will be changed to No Parent.
  • Remove extensible attributes from descendants of the merged networks: Select this if you want to remove extensible attributes that are inherited by descendants.
    

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    Note: The options above apply only to extensible attributes which no longer have a parent, due to the merge. If the extensible attributes on descendants are also on the resulting merged network, then they will retain their current state.
    

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    When you add multiple inheritable networks, new networks will automatically inherit all extensible attributes from the parent.

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1. Network Container: From the Dashboards tab, select the Tasks tab -> click Add Networks. Select a network, enter the required details. You can edit the inheritable extensible attributes that are displayed automatically. If this is a parent object, then you can add extensible attributes.
   IPv4 Network: From the Data Management tab -> select the DHCP tab -> Networks tab. In the Networks section, select IPv4 Network from the Add drop-down menu. In the Add IPv4 Network wizard, enter the attributes in the Extensible Attributes tab after specifying the required details.
   IPv6 Network: From the Data Management tab -> select the DHCP tab -> Networks tab. In the Networks section, select IPv6 Network from the Add drop-down menu. In the Add IPv6 Network wizard, enter the attributes in the Extensible Attributes tab after specifying the required details.
   IPv4 Range: From the Data Management tab > select the DHCP tab -> Networks tab -> Networks tab -> network > click addr_range, select Range from the Add drop-down menu. In the Add IPv4 Range wizard, enter the attributes in the Extensible Attributes tab after specifying the required details.
   IPv6 Range: From the Data Management tab > select the DHCP tab -> Networks tab -> Networks tab -> network > click addr_range, select Range from the Add drop-down menu. In the Add IPv6 Range wizard, enter the attributes in the Extensible Attributes tab after specifying the required details.
2. You can either add new extensible attributes to the parent object or modify original extensible attribute values. Click on the extensible attribute value displayed in the Value column of the respective attribute to modify the original value or click the Add icon to add a new attribute.
3. Select a state from the drop-down list displayed in the Inheritance State column. Note that you can only change the inheritance state of a descendant. You must select Overridden from the drop-down list to enter a new value. For more information about inheritance states, see Table 8bookmark858. 2. When an object has a parent and the parent does not have the object's inheritable extensible attribute, then the inheritance state of the extensible attribute is set to No Parent and the state cannot be changed.
4. Select the inheritable extensible attributes for which you want to modify descendant actions: Select this check box if you would like to apply the actions of the Descendant Actions dialog box for existing extensible attributes. Before you select this check box, you must select the extensible attributes which will be affected by the actions of the Descendant Actions dialog box.
   

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   Note: This check box is not displayed for hosts, fixed addresses, and reservations since they do not have descendants.
   

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5. In the Descendant Actions dialog box, select options that will be applied for descendant objects as described in Configuring Inheritable Extensible Attributes. bookmark857
   The Descendant Actions dialog box displays all the mentioned options when you perform add and delete operations simultaneously. Consider an example where you add a new inheritable extensible attribute Site, and delete an existing inheritable attribute Region from the parent object, and then click Save to save both changes. In this case, the Descendant Actions dialog box displays all the options.
6. Save the configuration.

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• Name: The name of the extensible attribute.
• Type: The type of data defined by the attribute.
• Comment: Comments entered for the extensible attribute.
• Required: Indicates whether users are required to complete this field.
• Restricted to Objects: The object types that are associated with the attribute.
• Inheritance Enabled: Indicates whether inheritance is enabled or not. You can do the following in this panel:
• Sort the displayed data in ascending or descending order by column.
• Use filters and the Go to function to narrow down the list. With the autocomplete feature, you can just enter the first few characters of an object name in the Go to field and select the object from the possible matches.
• Create a quick filter to save frequently used filter criteria. For information, see Using Quick Filters.
• Modify some of the data in the table. Double click a row of data, and either edit the data in the field or select an item from a drop-down list. Note that some fields are read-only. For more information about this feature, see Modifying Data in Tables.
• Group results by extensible attributes. For information, see Grouping Results by Extensible Attributes bookmark872.
• Add or delete extensible attributes.
• Print or export the data.

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1. In the Administration tab, select the Extensible Attributes tab.
2. Select the attribute and click the Edit icon.
3. In the General tab of the Extensible Attributes editor, you can only change the name of the attribute. You cannot change the data type. The data type for predefined attributes is string.
4. In the Additional Properties tab, you can modify any of the fields described in step 4 of Adding Extensible Attributes bookmark855 bookmark855.
5. Save the configuration and click Restart if it appears at the top of the screen.

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1. For IPv4 and IPv6 Network: From the Data Management tab, select the DHCP tab -> Networks tab -> Networks → network -> addr_range check box, and then click the Edit icon.
   For IPv4 Range, IPv6 Range, Fixed Address, Reservation, and Host: From the Data Management tab > select the DHCP tab -> Networks tab -> Networks tab -> network > click addr_range, click the Edit icon.
2. In the editor, click the Extensible Attributes tab, select the check box of the respective attribute.
3. At the parent level, click on the value you want to change and enter the new value.
   At the descendant level, click on the value you want to change and enter the new value. Note that you can change the value only when the inheritance state is set to Overridden.
4. Select a state from the drop-down list displayed in the Inheritance State column. Note that you can only change the inheritance state of a descendant. You must select Overridden from the drop-down list to enter a new value. For more information, see Table 8bookmark858.2.
5. Select the inheritable extensible attributes for which you want to modify descendant actions: Select this check box if you would like to apply the actions of the Descendant Actions dialog box for existing extensible attributes. Before you select this check box, select the extensible attributes which will be affected by the actions of the Descendant Actions dialog box. For more information about the Descendant Actions dialog box, see Managing Inheritable Extensible Attributes at the Parent and Descendant Level. bookmark859 bookmark859
6. Save the configuration.

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Deleting Extensible Attributes Deleting Extensible Attributes

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bookmark864 bookmark864

Deleting Extensible Attributes

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1. Select the objects whose extensible attributes you want to modify. You can select specific objects or select all objects in a dataset, as described in Selecting Objects in Tables.
2. Expand the Toolbar and click Extensible Attributes.
   Grid Manager displays the Multi-Select Edit Extensible Attributes dialog box which lists the extensible attributes of the selected objects. It displays the following information for each attribute:
• Attribute Name: This field displays the name of the extensible attribute associated with the selected object.
• Value: If the selected objects have the same value for the attribute, Grid Manager displays that value in this field. If the selected objects have different values for the attribute or if some have values and others do not, this field displays Multiple Values and the cell is highlighted in gray.
  An attribute can have multiple rows if it allows multiple values. Grid Manager displays the values that all objects have in common, if any. Otherwise, it displays Multiple Values. This column displays the source for inherited extensible attributes only. Note that when you add new extensible attributes, edit values of existing extensible attributes or delete an extensible attribute, then the Descendant Actions dialog box is displayed, even if the objects do not have any descendants. For more information about Source values, see Modifying Inheritable Extensible Attributes bookmark863.
• If you select objects that have the same inherited extensible attributes, but objects have different parents, then the Source column will display Multiple Ancestors.
• If the inheritance state of an extensible attribute is Not Inherited, then the extensible attribute will not be added as a new extensible attribute to objects that are currently not inheriting this extensible attribute.
• Inheritance State: This field displays the inheritance state of an extensible attribute. The column value can be Inherited, Not Inherited, No Parent, No Change or Overridden. This column is not displayed if all selected objects do not belong to the supported inheritance chain. Example: Zones, DNS View, DNS records, etc.
  If extensible attributes for the selected objects have the same inheritance state, then the respective inheritance state is displayed in this column. When objects have different inheritance states, this column displays No Change, so that the current inheritance state is retained on the selected objects. If you then change the inheritance state of an extensible attribute to a specific state, the corresponding attribute will be changed to the selected inheritance state on all selected objects where the extensible attribute is currently inherited. If the object is at the top of the inheritance chain (Network View), then the inheritance state is not displayed. The inheritance state is set to No Parent only if an object has a parent, but the parent does not have the inherited extensible attribute. For more information about inheritance states, see Table 8.2 bookmark858.
• Required: This field displays Yes if the attribute is required in at least one object associated with the attribute. It displays No if the attribute is not required in any of the objects.
3. You can do the following:
   • Change the value of an attribute. Depending on the attribute type, select the value and either enter a new value or select one from the drop-down list.
   • Add an attribute to the selected objects. Click the Add icon. In the Attribute Name field of the new row, select an attribute from the list of available attributes and specify its value. If the attribute that you added was configured as a required attribute, the Required field displays Yes. Otherwise, it displays No.
   • Delete an attribute. You can delete an attribute if it is not required. Select the attribute and click the Delete icon.
4. Click OK when you are finished modifying the extensible attributes.

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