ASP(1)								    User Manual 							    ASP(1)

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 possi-
       ble 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 tog-
	      gled 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  set-
       tings 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).

Linux								   February 1997							    ASP(1)