NAME

       asp - find an host IP address by its name

SYNOPSIS

       asp  [-uv]  [-f  |  [-d dir] [-e ext]] [-a addresses] [-r repetitions] [-s send_delay] [-w
       wait_time] [-p port] hostname
       asp -V

DESCRIPTION

       Asp finds the IP address of an Internet connected host. In order  to  find  it,  the  peer
       hostname  (not the FQDN), and the range of its possible IP addresses need to be specified.
       Those IP addresses could be simple IP addresses as  127.0.0.1  or  "metaip"  addresses  as
       127.0.0.1-20  or  127.0.0.*:  the  former  is  a  simple  way  to  avoid  to type a lot of
       consecutive addresses, the latter is short for 127.0.0.1-254.

       In order to simplify the management of the associations between hostnames  and  addresses,
       asp  searches in a specified directory a text file containing the possible IP addresses of
       the looked for host. The name of the text file has to be formed by the  hostname  followed
       by an optional extension of your choice.

       For  example  to  find the author's dynamic IP address, obviously if I am on line, you can
       provide my metaip address on standard input with the command:

              echo "195.31.186.1-62
              194.166.58.2-18" | asp -f atomic

       or you can put my metaip address in a file called atomic in your  ~/.asp  directory,  like
       this:

              echo "195.31.186.1-62
              194.166.58.2-18" > ~/.asp/atomic

       and then you can simply do:

              asp atomic

OPTIONS

       -u     Update  the  file /etc/hosts with the IP address of hostname or delete the possible
              old entry if the address is not found. Obviously the file have to  by  writable  by
              the user.

       -v     Include  more verbiage to make output readable by humans.  Default consists only of
              dotted quad IP address, which is intended for output substitution in scripts.

       -f     Force the reading of addresses from standard input instead that from the hostname's
              file.

       -d dir
              Set  the  directory  containing  the  addresses  file  referred by hostname to dir.
              Default is ~/.asp.

       -e ext
              Set addresses files extension to ext.  Default is no extension.

       -a addresses
              Set the number of queries to send  before  make  a  pause  of  send_delay  seconds.
              Default is 12 queries.

       -r repetitions
              Set the number of times to try the same address. Default is 3 times.

       -s send_delay
              Delay  the  sending of the next group of addresses send_delay seconds. Default is 2
              seconds.

       -w wait_time
              Wait the peer reply for wait_time seconds. Default is 5 seconds.

       -p port
              Specify an alternative port  number.  For  default  the  port  number  is  obtained
              searching the asp entry in /etc/services.

       -V     Show version information.

ENVIRONMENT

       ASPCMD This variable could be used to store your preferred settings. An option set in this
              environment variable could be overridden or toggled from command line.

BUGS

       UDP is an unreliable protocol, therefore there is a chance you will not find the host even
       if  it  is  on  line.  Anyway, if you are sure that the peer is on line and asp aware, you
       could adjust the various parameters until you get a reply.  At  last  you  will  find  the
       correct settings for your particular needs. This until the RDM communication style will be
       implemented under Linux.

       Obviously the hostname has to be unique among the possible IP addresses: asp will hook  to
       the first correct reply.

AUTHOR

       Stenio Brunetta <stenio@brunettaeperin.it>

       Comments and suggestions are welcome.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

       Steven N. Hirsch <shirsch@ibm.net> for v1.3 bug fix and for the verbose option.
       Colin Phipps <cphipps@doomworld.com> for the tmpnam security issue.

SEE ALSO

       aspd(8).