Call a PERL script which connect to a host with SSH - php

Question

I've created a Perl script which connects to a host and executes some commands, and it works fine! I'm kinf of proud 'cause I'm a real newb with Perl ^^...
A overview of the perl script:
use Expect;
$|=0;
$Expect::Debug=0;
$Expect::Exp_Internal=0;
$Expect::Log_Stdout=1;
my $ip = $ARGV[0];
my $file = $ARGV[1];
my $username = $ARGV[2];
my $password = $ARGV[3];
open(CONF,$file) || die "File not found";
while(<CONF>){
$con .= $_;
}
my #conf = split("#",$con);
my $ssh = Expect->spawn("ssh -q -l $username $ip") || die "Spawn ssh failed, $!";
if($ssh->expect(5,"yes")) {
print $ssh "yes\r";
if($ssh->expect(10,"assword")) {
print $ssh "$password\r";
}
else {
warn $ssh->exp_error()."\n";
next;
}
}
elsif($ssh->expect(10,"assword")) {
print $ssh "$password\r";
}
else {
warn $ssh->exp_error()."\n";
next;
}
#Variables Globales
my $rcmd;
my #lcmd;
my $lrcmd;
$regExpCmd = "\#";
$regExpCmd2 = "^(A|B).*(\$|\#)";
$regExp = "\n";
$ssh->expect(10,$regExpCmd);
my $cmd0 = "environment no more\r";
my $cmdExit = "logout\r";
$ssh->send($cmd0);
$ssh->expect(5,$regExpCmd);
foreach my $step (#conf) {
my #lines = split("\n",$step);
foreach my $val (#lines){
$val =~ s/^\s+//;
$val =~ s/\r//;
$ssh->send("$val\r");
$i *= 1;
if(!$ssh->expect(2,$regExpCmd2)){
$i *= 0;
# if($ssh->expect(1,"MINOR")){
# die "Erreur mineur: $val";}
if($ssh->expect(2,"Error")){
die "Erreur majeur: $val";
}
}
}
$ssh->expect(1,$regExpCmd2);
}
$ssh->send($cmdExit);
print $i;
Now, I'd like to call it from PHP...
I have tried different way:
Like calling my perl script with the exec() function :
<?php
$arg1 = "MY.ADD.IP";
$arg2 = "MY/FILE";
$arg3 = "USERNAME";
$arg4 = "PASSWORD";
$result = exec("perl /path/of/perl/script.pl $arg1 $arg2 $arg3 $arg4");
if($result == 1) {
return true: }
else {
return false;
} ?>
but it is not doing anything (Checked on the remote host and so SSH connexion at all)...
I also tried using the PECL Perl interpreter for PHP, calling my script like that:
<?php
$perl = new Perl();
$perl->require('myperl.pl'); ?>
but I didn't figure how to send some arg to my script..
The fact is that I need to call it with an jQuery $.ajax request and I need to wait for the end of the script before sending back any "answer" to jQuery.
Everything I tried did not work, as the PHP script ends "before" the Perl Script...
PS: I also tried to create a Package in PERL called with PHP, like below:
package Connect;
sub new{
#Init some var... }
sub connect {
#Something like the script above.....
}
<?php
$perl = new Perl();
$perl->require('myscript.pl');
$perl->call('connect',$args);
?>
Have you ever succeeded in something like that? I really don't know what to do :(

Answer 1

Why don't you use ssh from php? It looks like the ssh part would be easier than what you've done in perl, and you can still get the perl regexes using preg_ functions.
PHP.net ssh2 manual page
PHP.net preg_match manual page

Answer 2

phpseclib, a pure PHP SSH implementation, has something very similar to expect.
An example follows:
<?php
include('Net/SSH2.php');
$sftp = new Net_SSH2('www.domain.tld');
$sftp->login('username', 'password');
echo $sftp->read('username#username:~$');
$sftp->write("sudo ls -la\n");
$output = $sftp->read('#Password:|username#username:~\$#', NET_SSH2_READ_REGEX);
echo $output;
if (preg_match('#Password:#', $lines)) {
$ssh->write("password\n");
echo $sftp->read('username#username:~$');
}
?>
It does "sudo ls -la" and waits for either "Password:" or "username#username:~".