Lets start with python programming and see how to ping a list of servers from a hosts file.
First lets start with program.
I. Program
import os
hostsfile=open("hosts", "r")
lines=hostsfile.readlines()
for line in lines:
response=os.system("ping -c 1 " + line)
if (response == 0):
status = line.rstrip() + " is Reachable"
else:
status = line + " is Not reachable"
print(status)
a. Here we have opened a file named “hosts” read only and taken its content in a variable named “lines”
b. Now we read this content line by line and pinged each host.
c. In the end, printed the ping response on screen.
II. Hosts file with name “hosts”
localhost google.com ngelinux.com
III. Output
/Users/saket/PycharmProjects/programs/venv/bin/python /Users/saket/PycharmProjects/programs/ping_program.py PING localhost (127.0.0.1): 56 data bytes 64 bytes from 127.0.0.1: icmp_seq=0 ttl=64 time=0.054 ms --- localhost ping statistics --- 1 packets transmitted, 1 packets received, 0.0% packet loss round-trip min/avg/max/stddev = 0.054/0.054/0.054/0.000 ms localhost is Reachable PING google.com (216.58.196.78): 56 data bytes 64 bytes from 216.58.196.78: icmp_seq=0 ttl=46 time=525.641 ms --- google.com ping statistics --- 1 packets transmitted, 1 packets received, 0.0% packet loss round-trip min/avg/max/stddev = 525.641/525.641/525.641/0.000 ms google.com is Reachable PING ngelinux.com (104.152.168.40): 56 data bytes --- ngelinux.com ping statistics --- 1 packets transmitted, 0 packets received, 100.0% packet loss ngelinux.com is Not reachable Process finished with exit code 0
IV. Nice program with subprocess library supressing ping output
import subprocess
hostsfile=open("hosts", "r")
lines=hostsfile.readlines()
for line in lines:
response=subprocess.Popen(["ping", "-c", "1", line.strip()],
stdout=subprocess.PIPE,
stderr=subprocess.STDOUT)
stdout, stderr = response.communicate()
#print(stdout)
#print(stderr)
if (response.returncode == 0):
status = line.rstrip() + " is Reachable"
else:
status = line.rstrip() + " is Not reachable"
print(status)
In above example, we have used subprocess library instead of os, which is recommended.
Here we have not printed the ping output, and simply printed the result.
Hosts File
localhost google.com ngelinux.com ngelinux2.com
V. Output
/Users/saket/PycharmProjects/programs/venv/bin/python /Users/saket/PycharmProjects/programs/ping_program.py localhost is Reachable google.com is Reachable ngelinux.com is Reachable ngelinux2.com is Not reachable