[Nagiosplug-devel] RFC adding functions to utils.pm

[Stanley Hopcroft]

Dear Folks,

I would like to add two functions to utils.pm

sub tethereal2str ($$) # two scalar args
sub dump          ($)  # one scalar arg

tethereal2str($$) takes a string containing a 'tethereal' trace of one 
network packet and a string containing a hex byte and returns the 
string from that hex byte til the end of the trace, formatted as a Perl 
scalar containing a string of characters corresponding to the hex codes 
found in the trace.

This function is used by check_citrix and check_lotus (/contrib) to 
replay a packet to simulate some part of a real clients interaction with 
the server (this is only useful for protocols such as ICA and Lotus 
Notes that are both proprietary [& undocumented] and binary).

dump($) takes a scalar containing a string and outputs in the 
tethereal/hexdump -C style.

Ratioanale:

These functions are part of _two_ contributed (one of which at least is 
used) plugins that currently duplicate this code. Code duplication leads 
to inconsistency and minimises re-use.

Yours sincerely.

 -- 
Stanley Hopcroft

Network specialist, IT Infrastructure
IP Australia
Ph: (02) 6283 3189  Fax: (02) 6281 1353
PO Box 200 Woden  ACT 2606
http://www.ipaustralia.gov.au