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Net::Ifconfig::Wrapper(3pm) User Contributed Perl Documentation Net::Ifconfig::Wrapper(3pm)

NAME

Net::Ifconfig::Wrapper - provides a unified way to configure network interfaces on FreeBSD, OpenBSD, Solaris, Linux, OS X, and WinNT (from Win2K).

SYNOPSIS

  use Net::Ifconfig::Wrapper;
  my $rhInfo = Net::Ifconfig::Wrapper::Ifconfig('list');

DESCRIPTION

This module provides a unified way to configure the network interfaces on FreeBSD, OpenBSD, Solaris, Linux, OS X, and WinNT (from Win2K) systems.

Only "inet" (IPv4) and "ether" (MAC) addresses are supported at this time

On Unix, this module calls the system "ifconfig" command to gather the information. On Windows, the functions from IpHlpAPI.DLL are called.

For all supported Unixes, "Net::Ifconfig::Wrapper" expects the "ifconfig" command to be "/sbin/ifconfig".

See the top-level README file for a list of tested OSes.

On the MSWin32 family, only Windows NT is supported. In the Windows NT family, only Windows 2000 or later is supported.

The Net::Ifconfig::Wrapper methods

"Ifconfig(Command, Interface, Address, Netmask);"
The one and only method of the "Net::Ifconfig::Wrapper" module. Does all the jobs. The particular action is described by the $Command parameter.

$Command could be:

'list'
"Ifconfig('list', '', '', '')" will return a reference to a hash containing information about interfaces.

The structure of this hash is the following:

  {IfaceName => {'status' => 0|1          # The status of the interface. 0 means down, 1 means up
                 'ether'  => MACaddr,     # The ethernet address of the interface if available
                 'descr'  => Description, # The description of the interface if available
                 'inet'   => {IPaddr1 => NetMask, # The IP address and his netmask, both are in AAA.BBB.CCC.DDD notation
                              IPaddr2 => NetMask,
                              ...
                             },
  ...
  };

Interface, Address, Netmask parameters are ignored.

The following shows what program is called for each OS:

"/sbin/ifconfig -a"
"/sbin/ifconfig -a"
"/sbin/ifconfig -A"
"/sbin/ifconfig -a"
"/sbin/ifconfig -a"
"GetAdaptersInfo" function from "IpHlpAPI.DLL"

Known Limitations:

OpenBSD: "/sbin/ifconfig -A" command is not returning information about MAC addresses so we are trying to get it from '/usr/sbin/arp -a' command (first 'static' entry). If no one present the 'ff:ff:ff:ff:ff' address is returned.

MSWin32: "GetAdaptersInfo" function is not returning information about the interface which has address 127.0.0.1 bound to it, so we have no way to return it.

Not a limitation, but a small problem: in MSWin32, interface names are not human-readable, they look like "{843C2077-30EC-4C56-A401-658BB1E42BC7}" (on Win2K at least).

'inet'
This function is used to set IPv4 address on interface. It is called as 

  Ifconfig('inet', $IfaceName, $Addr, $Mask);

$IfaceName is an interface name as displayed by 'list' command

$Addr is an IPv4 address in the "AAA.AAA.AAA.AAA" notation

$Mask is an IPv4 subnet mask in the "MMM.MMM.MMM.MMM" notation

In order to accomplish this, the following actual "ifconfig" programs are called:

"/sbin/ifconfig %Iface% inet %Addr% netmask %Mask% up"
"/sbin/ifconfig %Iface% inet %Addr% netmask %Mask% up"
"/sbin/ifconfig %Iface% inet %Addr% netmask %Mask% up"
"/sbin/ifconfig %Iface% inet %Addr% netmask %Mask% up"
"/sbin/ifconfig %Iface% inet %Addr% netmask %Mask% up"
nothing :(

Known Limitations:

MSWin32: I did not find a reliable way to recognize the "main" address on the Win32 network interface, so I have disabled this functionality. If you know how, please let me know.

'up'
Just a synonym for 'inet'
'down'
This function is used to bring specified interface down. It is called as 

  Ifconfig('inet', $IfaceName, '', '');

$IfaceName is an interface name as displayed by 'list' command

Last two arguments are ignored.

In order to accomplish this, the following programs are called:

"/sbin/ifconfig %Iface% down"
"/sbin/ifconfig %Iface% down"
"/sbin/ifconfig %Iface% down"
"/sbin/ifconfig %Iface% down"
"/sbin/ifconfig %Iface% down"
Sorry, this function is not possible.

Known Limitations:

MSWin32: I did not find the way to implement the 'up' command so I did not implement 'down'.

'+alias'
This function is used to set IPv4 alias address on interface. It have to be called as 

  Ifconfig('+alias', $IfaceName, $Addr, $Mask);

$IfaceName is an interface name as displayed by 'list' command

$Addr is an IPv4 address in the "AAA.AAA.AAA.AAA" notation

$Mask is an IPv4 subnet mask in the "MMM.MMM.MMM.MMM" notation

In order to accomplish this, the following "ifconfig" programs are called:

"/sbin/ifconfig %Iface% inet %Addr% netmask %Mask% alias"
"/sbin/ifconfig %Iface%:%Logic% inet %Addr% netmask %Mask% up"
"/sbin/ifconfig %Iface% inet %Addr% netmask %Mask% alias"
"/sbin/ifconfig %Iface%:%Logic% inet %Addr% netmask %Mask% up"
"/sbin/ifconfig %Iface% inet %Addr% netmask %Mask% alias"
"AddIPAddress" function from "IpHlpAPI.DLL"

First available logic interface is taken automatically for Solaris and Linux

'alias'
Just a synonim for '+alias'
'-alias'
This function is used to remove IPv4 alias address from interface. It have to be called as 

  Ifconfig('-alias', $IfaceName, $Addr, '');

$IfaceName is an interface name as displayed by 'list' command.

$Addr is an IPv4 address in the "AAA.AAA.AAA.AAA" notation.

Last argument is ignored if present.

In order to accomplish this, the following "ifconfig" programs are called:

"/sbin/ifconfig %Iface% inet %Addr% -alias"
"/sbin/ifconfig %Iface%:%Logic% down"
"/sbin/ifconfig %Iface% inet %Addr% -alias"
"/sbin/ifconfig %Iface%:%Logic% down"
"/sbin/ifconfig %Iface% inet %Addr% -alias"
"DeleteIPAddress" function from "IpHlpAPI.DLL"

Appropriate logic interface is obtained automatically for Solaris and Linux

On success, the "Ifconfig(...)" function returns the defined value. Actually, it is a reference to the array containing the output of the actual "ifconfig" program called.

In case of error, "Ifconfig(...)" returns 'undef' value, and the $@ variable contains the error message.

EXPORT

None by default.

AUTHOR

Daniel Podolsky, <tpaba@cpan.org> As of 2015-11, maintained by Martin Thurn <mthurn@cpan.org>

SEE ALSO

ifconfig(8), Internet Protocol Helper in Platform SDK.

2022-11-19 perl v5.36.0