NAME

NetworkInfo::Discovery - Modules for network discovery and mapping

DESCRIPTION

NetworkInfo::Discovery is a set of modules that can be used to discover network topology, interfaces on the network, and information about the links between subnets. This information is brought together into NetworkInfo::Discovery::Register where it can be examined and used to build a unified map of the network. The network map is controlled from a single location.

Host detection currently runs from a single location, but in the future there will be support for having remote agents that contribute to the central map.

MODULE LAYOUT

NetworkInfo::Discovery consists of several modules that all into three categories:

Register

The Register maintains a full picture of the network. Anything that is discovered should be put into the Register where little details can be used to build the larger picture.

Network Objects

These are the things about your network that you want to discover. Namely, interfaces, subnets, and gateways. See NetworkInfo::Discovery::Register for details about what attributes these have.

Detection Modules

These modules should all be a subclass of NetworkInfo::Discovery::Detect. It is their job to detect interfaces, gateways, and subnets that can then be fed into the register. The following are the existing detection modules:

Sniff

is a passive monitor that listens to ethernet traffic on the local sement to build a list of Hosts.

Traceroute

is used to map interfaces and gateways using traceroute.

Scan

is used to probe ip addresses or ranges of ip addresses for open tcp or udp ports.

AVAILABILITY

This module can be found in CPAN at http://www.cpan.org/authors/id/T/TS/TSCANLAN/ or at http://they.gotdns.org:88/~tscanlan/perl/

AUTHOR

Tom Scanlan <tscanlan@they.gotdns.org>

SEE ALSO

NetworkInfo::Discovery::Register

NetworkInfo::Discovery::Detect

NetworkInfo::Discovery::Sniff

NetworkInfo::Discovery::Traceroute

NetworkInfo::Discovery::Scan

BUGS

Please send any bugs to Tom Scanlan <tscanlan@they.gotdns.org>

COPYRIGHT AND LICENCE

Copyright (c) 2002 Thomas P. Scanlan IV. All rights reserved. This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.