Software or PHP/PERL scripts for simple network management?

Tue Jun 19 23:52:54 UTC 2007

William Allen Simpson wrote:
>
> Drew Weaver wrote:
>>         Does anyone have a recommendation of any software products 
>> either commercial or freeware which will import the ip routing table 
>> from one of my routers/switches and display it in a sorted manner? We 
>> just need an easier distributed method than logging into our Black 
>> Diamond and typing sh iproute sorted every time we need to find an 
>> available subnet.
>>
> Wow, LOL!
>
> The software product is called a "text editor".
>
> Look at your list of assignments in your NS .arpa. file:
>  1) Find a subnet that hasn't been assigned.
>  2) Update the text file.
>  3) Wait for it to propagate.
>  4) Tell the customer.
>
> The concomitant procedure for static host assignment is:
>  1) Find a number that hasn't been assigned.
>  2) Update the text file.
>  3) Wait for it to propagate.
>  4) Then, and only then, update the forward NS file(s).
>  5) Tell the customer.
>
> Of course, there is software that will automatically maintain the files,
> and even send a signal to bind, but I've alway found them to be weak at
> subnet management.  Text editor is the way to go -- using subversion for
> "distributed" file management (that is, knowing who to blame for mangling
> the assignment commit).

However Drew suffers because some idiots in his org fail to update the 
files correctly. I used to have the same problem when I took over ops at 
a small ISP. They were using the routing table to store assigned subnets 
trick. It was OK until a link died so a subnet dropped out of the 
routing table. They thought "Oh look spare space" and assigned it to 
somebody else.....

There are also a load of decent (not good) free IP address management 
systems available, some with built in DNS updaters.

I do not use these because they all drove me mad. Now I just have 
somebody else do it for me. It's worth it ;-)

--
Leigh