A Perl Server Daemon

emcb has asked for the wisdom of the Perl Monks concerning the following question:

Hi, Im designing a server-daemon which will allow me to telnet to my server and run admin tasks with a special syntax, where certain commands are run against certain programs. This is the perl-code so far:

#########################################################
# Emcb Remote Access Administration Server (RAAS(iserver-0.1))
#########################################################
# All you need to do to get the server up and running...
#
use IO::Socket;
use Net::hostent;              # for OO version of gethostbyaddr

# TCP Port
$PORT = 9000;                  # pick something not in use

# Create Socket Instance
$client2 = IO::Socket::INET->new( Proto     => 'tcp',
                                 LocalPort => $PORT,
                                 Listen    => SOMAXCONN,
                                 Reuse     => 1);

# Cant Start Daemon
die "can't setup server" unless $client2;

# Daemon Up And Running
print "[Server $0 accepting clients]\015\012";
 while ($client2 = $client2->accept()) {
  
  # Flush The Client's STDOUT
  $client2->autoflush(1);
  
  # Welcome The User To The System
  print $client2 "Welcome to $0\015\012Type help for command list.\015
+\012";
  $hostinfo = gethostbyaddr($client2->peeraddr);
  printf "[Connect from %s]\015\012", $hostinfo->name || $client2->pee
+rhost;
  print $client2 "root\@iserver \$ ";
  while ( <$client2>) {
    next unless /\S/;       # blank line
    if    (/quit|exit|kill/i)    { last;                              
+       }
    elsif (/env/i)          { print $client2 `set`;          }
    elsif (/motd/i )        { print  $client2 `cat /etc/motd 2>&1`;   
+   }
    elsif (/date|time/i)    { printf $client2 "%s\015\012", scalar loc
+altime;  }
    elsif (/who/i )         { print  $client2 `who 2>&1`;             
+   }
    elsif (/cookie/i )      { print  $client2 `/usr/games/fortune 2>&1
+`; }
    elsif (/motd/i )        { print  $client2 `cat /etc/motd 2>&1`;   
+   }

    else {
      $usage = "\015\012\015\012Usage:

[exit|quit|kill] - Quit The Client
[date|time] - Display The Current Date/Time
[env|set] - Display The Curfrent Enviroment Variables\015\012\015\012"
+;
      print($usage);
    }
  } continue {
     print $client2 "root\@iserver \$ ";
  }
  close $client2;
}
[download]

But i have a few problems. When i run a command that outputs a lot of data the line breaks make it look like this: abnfjfjfjxjsjede jhcvdavchdahvdhavhadhv chdchehchaehcahec Instead of going to the beginning of a new line. And the output isnt outputed to the client, instead it comes up in my logs ( i run the cmd like: server > "/log.file" &). Can anyone help? Cheers, Elfyn

Comment on A Perl Server Daemon Download Code

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Re: A Perl Server Daemon by perrin (Chancellor) on Dec 07, 2001 at 08:56 UTC
Why don't you try using one of the many CPAN modules for this, like Net::Daemon or Net::Server?	[reply]
Re: A Perl Server Daemon by busunsl (Vicar) on Dec 07, 2001 at 12:56 UTC
It looks like not all output is going to the log. Just the 'usage' output. You have to change the line `print($usage);` to `print $client2 $usage;`. The output gets garbled if I run the telnet client on windows, but is correct if I run it on Unix. This is due to the line ending. You can do something like: elsif (/env/i) {my $out = `set`; $out =~ s/\012/\015\012/g; print $cli +ent2 $out;} [download] Your server crashes when the first connection is closed because you reuse the $client2 variable. Changed your Socket object to $socket. Check whether the socket is created and accept from it: `my $socket = IO::Socket::INET->new( Proto => 'tcp', LocalPort => $PORT, Listen => SOMAXCONN, Reuse => 1); # Cant Start Daemon die "can't setup server" unless $socket; # Daemon Up And Running print "[Server $0 accepting clients]\015\012"; while ($client2 = $socket->accept()) { . . .` [download] And get rid of the close at the end of the program. And last but not least go to your favourite bookstore and buy Lincoln Stein's 'Network Programming'. It will be a real eye-opener.	[reply] [d/l] [select]
Re: A Perl Server Daemon by MZSanford (Curate) on Dec 07, 2001 at 14:55 UTC
I know this does not help your actual error, but in the interest of security, there are a few things ... dont trust the user dont trust the user and, dont trust the user I would suggest doing a few things. For each of the `m//i`'s in the if/else, i suggest using `lc()`, and then using `eq` ... this prevents `evil hacker code man motd` from matching `m/motd/i`. Also, on the non-trusted user front, having the command coded in is very good, but i would think that the environment could have some very usefull information in it, were the wrong person to be pokiing around. This best thing to do, in the short term, is design a protocal for logging in (something as simple as FTP's login procedure). Lastlky, on the error, i do not believe programs like `motd` use `\r\n` for newlines, so it is possible that is causing some issues. `$ perl -e 'do() \|\| ! do() ;' Undefined subroutine &main::try` [download]	[reply] [d/l] [select]
Re: A Perl Server Daemon by gloryhack (Deacon) on Dec 07, 2001 at 11:34 UTC
Save yourself a bucket of grief, and just use Charlie Pope's NetServer::Generic package.	[reply]
Re: A Perl Server Daemon by fuzzysteve (Beadle) on Dec 07, 2001 at 17:10 UTC
suggestion for you, hoe about using xinetd (or inetd) to handle the server stuff. then your program only deal iwth stdio. It also means you don't have thew server sitting and eating resources constantly. it will be started when its needed. (disadvantage: perl has to be started each time.) you could always have xinetd start your sever program and let that fork out individual instances as required, and colse itself after a set time of no connections. look at this node for some basic details.	[reply]
Re: A Perl Server Daemon by merlyn (Sage) on Dec 07, 2001 at 20:06 UTC
In addition to the other suggestions, why not just construct a mini-web-server with HTTP::Daemon, and then you can use basic-AUTH and SSL from any web browser to activate your programs and see the results? Use proven protocols: stop reinventing that wheel unless you're prepared to put in the literally man-years of effort to make it better. -- Randal L. Schwartz, Perl hacker	[reply]


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