fping.py

Python library that uses the fping executable as its ping engine.

Requirements

• Python 2.7 on Linux or Mac OS X (Python 3.5 compatibility is in the works, but not there yet.)
• netaddr library (e.g. pip install netaddr)
• Custom, forked build of fping (see Installation).

Installation

This library requires a forked version of fping, that has an added option to output the basic alive, unreachable and unresolvable hosts in CSV format.

• Go to https://github.com/NetworkEng/fping and follow the installation instructions there to compile and install the custom version. Since you will be downloading the files directly from github, DO NOT skip step 1. Download Link: https://github.com/NetworkEng/fping/archive/develop.tar.gz
• If you have issues running autogen.sh, please make sure that you have installed the automake package that is appropriate for your Linux distribution.
• For Mac OS X you will need:
  • Xcode installed from the app store (launch it via gui at least once after install)
  • Xcode command line developer tools via 'xcode-select --install'
  • Accept the command line license agreement via 'sudo xcodebuild -license accept'
  • Install homebrew, and then use 'brew install automake'

Once the fping executable has been compiled and installed, simply use pip to install the fping package from pypi.python.org. e.g.:

pip install fping

Usage

Though this is a work in progress, in its current state, this script is intended to be a library that is called and executed either in the (i)python interpreter / shell, or imported and used by another python script.

Examples:
    >>> from fping import FastPing
    >>> fp = FastPing()
    >>> fp.ping(filename='testing')
    # cmd =  ['/usr/local/sbin/fping', '-nV', '8.8.8.8',
              'www.google.com', '206.190.36.45', 'localhost',
              'host.cannotresolve.com']
    {'host.cannotresolve.com': 'unresolvable',
    'pa-in-f99.1e100.net': 'alive',
    'google-public-dns-a.google.com': 'alive',
    'localhost': 'unreachable',
    'ir1.fp.vip.gq1.yahoo.com': 'alive'}
    >>> fp.hosts(filename='testing', status='alive')
    'pa-in-f99.1e100.net': 'alive',
    'google-public-dns-a.google.com': 'alive',
    'ir1.fp.vip.gq1.yahoo.com': 'alive'}
    >>> fp.alive
    ['pa-in-f99.1e100.net',
    'google-public-dns-a.google.com',
    'ir1.fp.vip.gq1.yahoo.com']
    >>> fp.dead
    ['localhost']
    >>> fp.noip
    ['host.cannotresolve.com']
    >>>