NAME

RAS::HiPerARC.pm - PERL Interface to 3Com/USR Total Control HiPerARC

Version 1.00, December 6, 1999

Gregor Mosheh (stigmata@blackangel.net)

SYNOPSIS

RAS::HiPerARC is a PERL 5 module for interfacing with a 3Com/USR Total Control HiPerARC remote access server. Using this module, one can very easily construct programs to find a particular user in a bank of ARCs, disconnect users, get usage statistics, or execute arbitrary commands on a ARC.

PREREQUISITES AND INSTALLATION

This module uses Jay Rogers' Net::Telnet module. If you don't have Net::Telnet, get it from CPAN or this module won't do much for you.

Installation is easy, thanks to MakeMaker:

1. "perl Makefile.PL && make && make install"

2. Check out the examples in this documentation.

DESCRIPTION

At this time, the following methods are implemented:

creating an object with new

Call the new method while supplying the "hostname", "login", and "password" hash, and you'll get an object reference returned.

   Example:
      use RAS::HiPerARC;
      $foo = new HiPerARC(
         hostname => 'dialup1.example.com',
         login => '!root',
         password => 'mysecret'
      );

printenv

This is for debugging only. It prints to STDOUT a list of its configuration hash, e.g. the hostname, login, and password. The printenv method does not return a value.

   Example:
      $foo->printenv;

run_command

This takes a list of commands to be executed on the ARC, connects to the ARC and executes the commands, and returns a list of references to arrays containg the text of each command's output.

Repeat: It doesn't return an array, it returns an array of references to arrays. Each array contains the text output of each command. Think of it as an array-enhanced version of PERL's `backtick` operator.

   Example:
      # Execute a command and print the output
      $command = 'list conn';
      ($x) = $foo->run_command($command);
      print "Output of command \'$command\':\n", @$x ;

   Example:
      # Execute a string of commands
      # and show the output from one of them
      (@output) = $foo->run_command('list interface','list con');
      print "Modems:\n@$output[0]\n\n";;
      print "Current connections:\n@$output[1]\n\n";;

usergrep

Supply a username as an argument, and usergrep will return an array of ports on which that user was found. Internally, this does a run_command("list connections") and parses the output.

   Example:
      @ports = $foo->usergrep('gregor');
      print "User gregor was found on ports @ports\n";

userkill

This does a usergrep, but with a twist: it disconnects the user by resetting the modem on which they're connected. Like usergrep, it returns an array of ports to which the user was connected before they were reset. This is safe to use if the specified user is not logged in.

   Examples:
      @foo = $foo->userkill('gregor');
      print "Gregor was on ports @foo - HA HA!\n" if @ports ;

      @duh = $foo->userkill('-');
      print "There were ", scalar(@duh), " ports open.\n";

portusage

This returns an array consisting of 2 items: The 1st element is the number of ports. The rest is a list of users who are currently online.

   Examples:
      ($ports,@people) = $foo->portusage;
      print "There are $ports total ports.\n";
      print "There are ", scalar(@people), "people online.\n";
      print "They are: @people\n";

      ($ports,@people) = $foo->portusage;
      print "Ports free: ", $ports - scalar(@people), "\n";
      print "Ports used: ", scalar(@people), "\n";
      print "Ports total: ", $ports, "\n";

EXAMPLE PROGRAMS

portusage.pl - Prints a summary of port usage on a bank of modems

use RAS::HiPerARC; $used = $total = 0; foreach ('arc1.example.com','arc2.example.com','arc3.example.com') { $foo = new HiPerARC( hostname => $_, login => '!root', password => 'mysecret' );

   local($ports,@ports) = $foo->portusage;
   $total += $ports;
   $used += scalar(@ports);
}

print "$used out of $total ports are in use.\n";

###

usergrep.pl - Finds a user on a bank of modems

($username) = @ARGV; die "Usage: $0 <username>\nFinds the specified user.\n" unless $username ;

use RAS::HiPerARC; foreach ('arc1.example.com','arc2.example.com','arc3.example.com') { $foo = new HiPerARC( hostname => $_, login => '!root', password => 'mysecret' );

   @ports = $foo->usergrep($username);
   (@ports) && print "Found user $username on $_ ports @ports\n";
}

###

userkill.pl - Kick a user off a bank of modems. Makes a great cron job. ;)

($username) = @ARGV; die "Usage: $0 <username>\nDisconnects the specified user.\n" unless $username ;

use RAS::HiPerARC; foreach ('arc1.example.com','arc2.example.com','arc3.example.com') { $foo = new HiPerARC( hostname => $_, login => '!root', password => 'mysecret' );

   @ports = $foo->userkill($username);
   (@ports) && print "$_ : Killed ports @ports\n";
}

BUGS

This is one of my first tries at doing PERL 5 stuff, having been satisfied for so many years with using only the PERL 4 features. Though this module seems to work without any problems, the code is probably kinda weak in places and could stand optimization. Any suggestions will be appreciated and credit will be given.

More features are forthcoming. I realize that the existing set of functions is a bit bare. If you need special features, please ask and I'll work on them in my spare time. Alternately, you can write it yourself and send it in and I'll gladly incorporate it and give credit. And there's always the run_command method.

CHANGES IN THIS VERSION

1.00 First released version of RAS::HiPerARC. Learned a lot from RAS::PortMaster, so this one is faster, has a test suite, etc.

LICENSE AND WARRANTY

Where would we be if Larry Wall were tight-fisted with PERL itself? For God's sake, it's PERL code. It's free!

This software is hereby released into the Public Domain, where it may be freely distributed, modified, plagiarized, used, abused, and deleted without regard for the original author.

Bug reports and feature requests will be handled ASAP, but without guarantee. The warranty is the same as for most freeware: It Works For Me, Your Mileage May Vary.

cpanm RAS::HiPerARC

perl -MCPAN -e shell
install RAS::HiPerARC