Standard Input Server
Posted: Sat Mar 15, 2008 3:59 pm
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*****************************************************************
** Standard Input Server **
*****************************************************************
#-----------------------------------------------------------#
# TITLE : Standard Input Server (SIS) #
# TYPE : Server Utility #
# VERSION : 0.1 #
# AUTHOR : Gamall Wednesday Ida #
# E-MAIL : gamall.ida@gmail.com #
# WEBSITE : http://gamall-ida.com #
# #
# FILESIZE : ~1600 Ko #
# OS Server: GNU/Linux & other Unixes #
# OS Client: Any #
# RELEASE DATE : March 2008 #
#-----------------------------------------------------------#
+ READ ME! (CONTACT)
+=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-o +
Should you want to contact me, please do NOT jump on my email
or spam filefront comments or anything, you won't get an
answer. And if you do it won't be what you expected...
Read the "CONTACT" section near the end of that file instead
;-).
+ TECHNICAL DESCRIPTION
+=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-o +
- Terse Description
-~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~o -
SIS is a basic server for telnet clients, which retransmits its
standard input to all connected clients. Password
authentification can be required. Connections and deconnections
are logged by IP (and username when applicable). Packets are
not encrypted.
- Why use it?
-~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~o -
I suppose you could use it as a very crude instant messaging
system or whatnot, but that's not what it was written for...
Let S be a server application (or any other kind of
application) running on a remote computer (of IP address A). S
prints useful information I on its standard output (or on
stderr, or both). You want to be able to read I as it is being
written, from a computer C. You have at least remote access
(SSH for instance) to S. But you want other people, without any
kind of access to S, to be able to read I from anywhere. That
is what SIS is for.
Note: I think this kind of situation is quite common, but oddly
enough I couldn't find any software solving that problem when I
needed one. So I wrote SIS. Maybe I have just reinvented the
wheel, maybe not. If you happen to stumble on a similar tool,
or if I have missed some standard unix trick doing that job,
please tell me.
- How to use it?
-~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~o -
Of course, 'sis --help' displays the command-line options.
You'll get something along those lines:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
$ ./sis --help
usage: sis [options]
-port <int> : set the netport of the service (default 1337)
-user <str name> <str pass> : add user and activates access restriction
-name : name for the server, displayed to the clients
-disp : stdin is displayed on stdout
-silent : logs will not be displayed on stdout
-pipe : pipe mode (for filter chains)
-delay <int> : waiting time, in microseconds (default 10000)
-delaysec <int> : the same in seconds (default 1)
--no-logs : logs will not be used at all
--logs-path <str> : path to the log file
--lazy-logs : log writing will be buffered
--help : display this help page
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The obvious way to get it running is to use a pipe to connect
the standard output of S to the standard input of SIS. Assuming
the S and SIS executables are both in the PATH:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
S | sis -port P
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
will open the SIS server on port P. Now, from any computer, a
telnet client can be connected to A on port P, and will display
I.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
telnet A P
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
You can control who has access to I by setting up users and
passwords. Then any client has to enter a username and a
password in order to be able to use SIS. That username is
logged, alongside the IP address of each client.
Example session:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
./mess | ./sis -user Gamall test
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
$ telnet localhost 1337
Trying 127.0.0.1...
Connected to localhost.
Escape character is '^]'.
** Standard Input Server v0.1
** by Gamall Wednesday Ida
** email : gamall.ida@gmail.com
** web : gamall-ida.com
--> SIS Client (127.0.0.1:45200)
--> SIS Server 'Test SIS' (0.0.0.0:1337).
Authentification is required.
Please enter your username:
Gamall
Please enter your password :
test
Access granted (Gamall)
READING DATA:
================================================================================
MESSAGE 8
MESSAGE 9
MESSAGE 10
MESSAGE 11
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
- Some Basic Unix Tips
-~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~o -
NOTE: Some sample programs and their source code are shipped to
let you test SIS locally: can can just run the following
samples and see what happens.
STDERR: You may want to use stderr, and not just stdout.
Depending on the kind of shell on your system, the syntax will
be different. A syntax to get both stdout and stderr is this:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
./mess 2>&1| ./sis
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
And if you want to get stderr alone, you can do this:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
./mess 3>&1 1>&2 2>&3 | ./sis
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
FILTERS: SIS retransmits its standard input just the way it
receives it. That does not prevent you from controlling the
information, though. Just write a filter F (ie. a program
taking its data from stdin and sending the results to stdout)
and put it between S and SIS. ('S | F | sis'). I have provided
tiny filters to illustrate that: see `toup.ml' and `tostar.ml'.
CHAINED FILTERS: You may want to run several SIS servers from
the same source, but offering content altered by different
filters. SIS lets you chain several filters very easily by
using the -pipe option. The following example runs three
different servers offering three distinct views from the same
source. (remove line breaks, of course)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
./mess | ./sis -pipe -p 1337
| ./toup | ./sis -pipe -p 1338
| ./tostar | ./sis -p 1339
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Note that in `real life', you may want to use different log
files for these three servers. In this example they all share
the default log file, which is messy.
- The Source Code
-~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~o -
The source code for SIS is released under the GNU General
Public License.
SIS is written in Objective Caml. Plus three or four lines of
C, for good measure...
- The Binaries
-~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~o -
SIS is shipped with statically compiled binaries, which may or
may not work on your own system. If they don't you will just
have to compile it from source. You will need an OCaml compiler
and a C compiler. In most cases, you will just need to run the
build script in the /src directory.
+ APPLICATION TO JKA & JK2 (AND OTHER GAMES)
+=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-o +
The initial reason for which I wrote SIS was to make it
possible for JKA server admins to chat with the players inside
the server via RCon. The fact that RCon can send messages but
not retrive the answers (or simply allow the admin to spy on
their unsuspecting flock) is a long-time annoyance.
Of course, using SIS requires access to the dedicated server,
and this server must be some flavour of Unix.
Assuming that, you either run jampded (or jk2ded or whatever)
directly from the command line, or through some kind of shell
script. Find it and simply add '| sis' (or '| ./sis' or
whatever path works) at the end of the line launching the game
server.
Needless to say, if there is already a standard output
redirection in this line, probably for logs writing, use a
'tee' to duplicate the stream.
Then you can use telnet to see what is happening in your
server.
+ CONTACT
+=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-o +
If you need help, or have suggestions, comments, insults,
praise or in general, anything to say about this program you
expect me to read and answer to, please post on the program's
topic on my website:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
http://gamall-ida.com/f/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=390
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+ END OF FILE
+=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-o +
+-----------------------------+
| File generated with 'GaTeX',|
| an ASCII typesetting system |
| by Gamall Wednesday Ida. |
| http://gamall-ida.com |
+-----------------------------+
Build: Sat Mar 15 16:13:01 2008
File : F:readme-sis.GaTeX.source
.
