/ 
Net-Proxy-0.13
River stage one • 1 direct dependent • 1 total dependent
/ Net::Proxy

NAME

Net::Proxy - Framework for proxying network connections in many ways

SYNOPSIS

use Net::Proxy;

# proxy connections from localhost:6789 to remotehost:9876
# using standard TCP connections
my $proxy = Net::Proxy->new(
    {   in  => { type => 'tcp', port => '6789' },
        out => { type => 'tcp', host => 'remotehost', port => '9876' },
    }
);

# register the proxy object
$proxy->register();

# and you can setup multiple proxies

# and now proxy connections indefinitely
Net::Proxy->mainloop();

DESCRIPTION

A Net::Proxy object represents a proxy that accepts connections and then relays the data transfered between the source and the destination.

The goal of this module is to abstract the different methods used to connect from the proxy to the destination.

A proxy is a program that transfer data across a network boundary between a client and a server. Net::Proxy introduces the concept of "connectors" (implemented as Net::Proxy::Connector subclasses), which abstract the server part (connected to the client) and the client part (connected to the server) of the proxy.

This architecture makes it easy to implement specific techniques to cross a given network boundary, possibly by using a proxy on one side of the network fence, and a reverse-proxy on the other side of the fence.

See "AVAILABLE CONNECTORS" for details about the existing connectors.

METHODS

If you only intend to use Net::Proxy and not write new connectors, you only need to know about new(), register() and mainloop().

Class methods

new

my $proxy = Net::Proxy->new( { in => { ... }, { out => { ... } } );

Return a new Net::Proxy object, with two connectors configured as described in the hashref.

The connector parameters are described in the table below, as well as in each connector documentation.

mainloop

Net::Proxy->mainloop( $max_connections )

This method initialises all the registered Net::Proxy objects and then loops on all the sockets ready for reading, passing the data through the various Net::Proxy::Connector objets to handle the specifics of each connection.

If $max_connections is given, the proxy will stop after having fully processed that many connections. Otherwise, this method does not return.

add_listeners

Net::Proxy->add_listeners( @sockets );

Add the given sockets to the list of listening sockets.

watch_reader_sockets

Net::Proxy->watch_reader_sockets( @sockets );

Add the given sockets to the readers watch list.

watch_writer_sockets

Net::Proxy->watch_writer_sockets( @sockets );

Add the given sockets to the writers watch list.

remove_writer_sockets

Net::Proxy->remove_writer_sockets( @sockets );

Remove the given sockets from the writers watch list.

close_sockets

Net::Proxy->close_sockets( @sockets );

Close the given sockets and cleanup the related internal structures.

set_verbosity

Net::Proxy->set_verbosity( $level );

Set the logging level. 0 means not messages except warnings and errors.

error

Net::Proxy->error( $message );

Log $message to STDERR, always.

notice

Net::Proxy->notice( $message );

Log $message to STDERR if verbosity level is equal to 1 or more.

info

Net::Proxy->info( $message );

Log $message to STDERR if verbosity level is equal to 2 or more.

debug

Net::Proxy->debug( $message );

Log $message to STDERR if verbosity level is equal to 3 or more.

(Note: throughout the Net::Proxy source code, calls to debug() are commented with ##.)

get_max_buffer_size

my $buffsize = Net::Proxy->get_max_buffer_size;

Get the maximum allowed length of the internal write buffers used by each connector.

set_max_buffer_size

Net::Proxy->set_max_buffer_size($buffsize);

Get or set the maximum allowed length of the internal write buffers used by each connector. A value of 0 means that the maximum length is not checked. The default value is 16384 bytes (16kB).

Note that this is a global value, shared by all proxies and connectors.

Some of the class methods are related to the socket objects that handle the actual connections.

get_peer

my $peer = Net::Proxy->get_peer( $socket );

Get the socket peer.

set_peer

Net::Proxy->set_peer( $socket, $peer );

Set the socket peer.

get_connector

my $connector = Net::Proxy->get_connector( $socket );

Get the socket connector (a Net::Proxy::Connector object).

set_connector

Net::Proxy->set_connector( $socket, $connector );

Set the socket connector (a Net::Proxy::Connector object).

get_state

my $state = Net::Proxy->get_state( $socket );

Get the socket state.

set_state

Net::Proxy->set_state( $socket, $state );

Set the socket state. Some Net::Proxy::Connector subclasses may wish to use this to store some internal information about the socket or the connection.

get_nick

my $nick = Net::Proxy->get_nick( $socket );

Get the socket nickname.

set_nick

Net::Proxy->set_nick( $socket, $nickname );

Set the socket nickname. Typically used by Net::Proxy::Connector to give informative names to socket (used in the log messages).

get_buffer

my $buffer = Net::Proxy->get_buffer( $socket );

Get the content of the writing buffer for the socket.

set_buffer

Net::Proxy->set_buffer( $socket, $data );

Set the content of the writing buffer for the socket. Used by Net::Proxy::Connector in raw_read_from() and ranw_write_to().

get_callback

Net::Proxy->get_callback( $socket );

Get the callback currently associated with the socket.

set_callback

Net::Proxy->set_callback( $socket, $coderef );

Set the callback currently associated with the socket.

add_to_buffer

Net::Proxy->add_to_buffer( $socket, $data );

Add data to the writing buffer of the socket.

Instance methods

register

$proxy->register();

Register a Net::Proxy object so that it will be included in the mainloop() processing.

unregister

$proxy->unregister();

Unregister the Net::Proxy object.

in_connector

my $connector = $proxy->in_connector();

Return the Net::Proxy::Connector objet that handles the incoming connection and handles the data coming from the "client" side.

out_connector

my $connector = $proxy->out_connector();

Return the Net::Proxy::Connector objet that creates the outgoing connection and handles the data coming from the "server" side.

Statistical methods

The following methods manage some statistical information about the individual proxies:

stat_inc_opened

$proxy->stat_inc_opened();

Increment the "opened" connection counter for this proxy.

stat_inc_closed

$proxy->stat_inc_closed();

Increment the "closed" connection counter for this proxy.

stat_opened

my $opened = $proxy->stat_opened();

Return the count of "opened" connections for this proxy.

stat_closed

my $closed = $proxy->stat_closed();

Return the count of "closed" connections for this proxy.

stat_total_opened

my $opened = $proxy->stat_total_opened();

Return the total count of "opened" connections across all proxy objects.

stat_total_closed

my $closed = $proxy->stat_total_closed();

Return the total count of "closed" connections across all proxy objects.

CONNECTORS

All connection types are provided with the help of specialised classes. The logic for protocol xxx is provided by the Net::Proxy::Connector::xxx class.

Connector hooks

There is a single parameter that all connectors accept: hook. Given a code reference, the code reference will be called when data is received on the corresponding socket.

The code reference should have the following signature:

sub callback {
    my ($dataref, $sock, $connector) = @_;
    ...
}

$dataref is a reference to the chunk of data received, $sock is a reference to the socket that received the data, and $connector is the Net::Proxy::Connector object that created the socket. This allows someone to eventually store data in a stash stored in the connector, so as to share data between sockets.

Available connectors

tcp (Net::Proxy::Connector::tcp)

This is the simplest possible proxy connector. On the "in" side, it sits waiting for incoming connections, and on the "out" side, it connects to the configured host/port.

connect (Net::Proxy::Connector::connect)

This proxy connector can connect to a TCP server though a web proxy that accepts HTTP CONNECT requests.

dual (Net::Proxy::Connector::dual)

This proxy connector is a Y-shaped connector: depending on the client behaviour right after the connection is established, it connects it to one of two services, handled by two distinct connectors.

dummy (Net::Proxy::Connector::dummy)

This proxy connector does nothing. You can use it as a template for writing new Net::Proxy::Connector classes.

Summary

This table summarises all the available Net::Proxy::Connector classes and the parameters their constructors recognise.

N/A means that the given Net::Proxy::Connector cannot be used in that position (either in or out).

 Connector  | in parameters   | out parameters
------------+-----------------+-----------------
 tcp        | host            | host
            | port            | port
------------+-----------------+-----------------
 connect    | N/A             | host
            |                 | port
            |                 | proxy_host
            |                 | proxy_port
            |                 | proxy_user
            |                 | proxy_pass
            |                 | proxy_agent
------------+-----------------+-----------------
 dual       | host            | N/A
            | port            |
            | timeout         |
            | server_first    |
            | client_first    |
------------+-----------------+-----------------
 dummy      | N/A             | N/A
------------+-----------------+-----------------
 ssl        | host            | host
            | port            | port
            | start_cleartext | start_cleartext
------------+-----------------+-----------------
 connect_ssl| N/A             | host
            |                 | port
            |                 | proxy_host
            |                 | proxy_port
            |                 | proxy_user
            |                 | proxy_pass
            |                 | proxy_agent

Net::Proxy::Connector::dummy is used as the out parameter for a Net::Proxy::Connector::dual, since the later is linked to two different connector objects.

AUTHOR

Philippe 'BooK' Bruhat, <book@cpan.org>.

BUGS

Please report any bugs or feature requests to bug-net-proxy@rt.cpan.org, or through the web interface at http://rt.cpan.org/. I will be notified, and then you'll automatically be notified of progress on your bug as I make changes.

TODO

Here's my own wishlist:

SUPPORT

You can find documentation for this module with the perldoc command.

perldoc Net::Proxy

You can also look for information at:

The public source repository

http://github.com/book/Net-Proxy/

AnnoCPAN: Annotated CPAN documentation

http://annocpan.org/dist/Net-Proxy

CPAN Ratings

http://cpanratings.perl.org/d/Net-Proxy

RT: CPAN's request tracker

http://rt.cpan.org/NoAuth/Bugs.html?Dist=Net-Proxy

Search CPAN

http://search.cpan.org/dist/Net-Proxy

COPYRIGHT

Copyright 2006-2014 Philippe 'BooK' Bruhat, All Rights Reserved.

LICENSE

This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.