NAME

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

Version 1.02, January 17, 2000

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 test"

2. If the tests worked all right, "make install"

3. Check out the examples in this documentation.

DESCRIPTION

At this time, the following methods are implemented:

the constructor

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

Since there's no need to dynamically change the hostname, password, etc. there are no methods supplied to set these. The login name, hostname, and password must be supplied to the constructor. Failing to supply these won't generate an error, but it'll likely cause your program to not work...

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, 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 (or an empty array, if they're not found). If no username is supplied, returns undefined. 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 or an empty array if they weren't found. An undef is returned if no username was supplied.

   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 RAS::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 RAS::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 RAS::HiPerARC( hostname => $_, login => '!root', password => 'mysecret' );

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

CHANGES IN THIS VERSION

1.02 Fixed portusage() to only count Up interfaces. The ARC remembers modems even when they've been removed, and this accounts for that oddity. Cleaned up the code substantially. Fixed the prompt-matching code so that a prompt mismatch will cause run_command() to return instead of hanging in a loop.

1.01 Added a test suite. Corrected some errors in the documentation. Improved error handling a bit.

BUGS

Since we use this for port usage monitoring, new functions will be added slowly on an as-needed basis. If you need some specific functionality let me know and I'll see what I can do. If you write an addition for this, please send it in and I'll incororate it and give credit.

I make some assumptions about router prompts based on what I have on hand for experimentation. If I make an assumption that doesn't apply to you (e.g. all prompts are /^HiPer>>\s+$/) then it could cause "pattern match timeout" problems. If this happens to you, make sure you're using the correct RAS module (e.g. don't connect to a Livingston PortMaster with RAS::HiPerARC). If that's not the problem, check the regexps in the loop within run_command, and make sure your prompt fits this regex. If not, either fix the regex and/or (even better) PLEASE send me some details on your prompt and what commands you used to set your prompt.

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