[Resolved] Little help with a Server Status Page

Shoreguard

We have several servers that I would like to set up a webpage for that displays them all in a neat little table and puts up a red or a green dot depending on if they are currently up or down. I have been playing around with fsockopen() and that works for some of the servers but for others I get a timeout error. However, I can ping all of them fine from the command line. So after searching through some similar posts here I am wondering if somebody could give me a bit of help.

This is the code I've been trying to use to open the sockets and check for a connection:

<?

function IsAlive($hostname, $portname){

$host = $hostname;
$port = $portname;
$sk = fsockopen("$host", $port, $ernno, $errstr, 3); 
if (!$sk) { 
?><center><img src="/images/red.gif"></center><?php  

} else { 
  ?><center><img src="/images/green.gif"></center><?php
  fclose($sk); 
}

}
?>

Now, the script works in that I get a red or green dot to be displayed. However, there are two problems. When I get a timeout, all of the error msgs are displayed as well (which I dont want to show up, I just want the button to show up) AND some servers that ARE up and that I CAN ping return as timed out.

Should I dump this code and try to just ping the servers for a response, and if so, where should I start?

Thanks.

Shoreguard

Playing around with shell_exec, but I can't figure out how set the If statement to recognize that a timeout = a failure.

<?

function IsAlive($hostname){

$host = $hostname;
$sk = shell_exec("ping $host"); 
if (!$sk) { 
?><center><img src="/images/red.gif"></center><?php  

} else { 
  ?><center><img src="/images/green.gif"></center><?php
}

}
?>

Any help appreciated.

designguy79

If the host system is a Linux/Unix box, you will want to specify how many times to ping the host otherwise it will just keep going. I would reccommend something like this:

$sk = shell_exec("ping -c 5 $host");

Then, test the output by echoing the $sk string. When I pinged my server, I got this string:

PING 65.168.x.x (65.168.16.5) from 192.168.0.99 : 56(84) bytes of data.
64 bytes from 65.168.x.x: icmp_seq=1 ttl=253 time=21.4 ms
64 bytes from 65.168.x.x: icmp_seq=2 ttl=253 time=19.9 ms
64 bytes from 65.168.x.x: icmp_seq=3 ttl=253 time=19.8 ms
64 bytes from 65.168.x.x: icmp_seq=4 ttl=253 time=20.5 ms
64 bytes from 65.168.x.x: icmp_seq=5 ttl=253 time=20.1 ms

--- 65.168.x.x ping statistics ---
5 packets transmitted, 5 received, 0% loss, time 4010ms
rtt min/avg/max/mdev = 19.836/20.377/21.423/0.600 ms

Then, you can do a regex on it to look for the "0% loss" by calling:

if(eregi("[0\\% loss]",$sk)) echo 'works!';

Hope this helps!

Shoreguard

Well, I'm getting warmer I can feel it.

I'm running this server on an older NT 4.0 machine. It doesn't give you back the % packet loss when you ping, just the four ping attempts themselves.

Pinging 192.168.5.19 with 32 bytes of data:
Reply from 192.168.5.19: bytes=32 time=10ms TTL=124
Reply from 192.168.5.19: bytes=32 time<10ms TTL=124
Reply from 192.168.5.19: bytes=32 time<10ms TTL=124
Reply from 192.168.5.19: bytes=32 time<10ms TTL=124

or, conversely, if its fails...

Pinging 192.168.122.123 with 32 bytes of data:
Request timed out. Request timed out. Request timed out. Request timed out.

So I thought that maybe I could change what you had put to

<?
if(eregi("[Request timed out]",$sk)) 
{
?><center><img src="/images/red.gif"></center><?php  

} else { 
  ?><center><img src="/images/green.gif"></center><?php ?>
}

But that doesn't seem to work as all I am getting for any case is the red dot.

Thanks for your help...any thoughts on this now?

designguy79

Oops, my fault... there shouldn't be any brackets in the regex expression. Try this and let me know:

if(eregi("Request timed out",$sk))

Shoreguard

That seems to have done it, thanks!