PHP cURL: CLI DtDNS Updater 2

UniServer 5-Nano
PHP cURL.

cURL CLI DtDNS Updater - Part 2

On the previous page we finished with a PHP script that simulates responses from the DtDNS update page. Using this simulation page we can develop a Curl script to update our IP address.

Background

Essentially we already have a solution, all that is required is to access DtDNS page using this URL format:

 http://www.dtdns.com/api/autodns.cfm?id=hostname&pw=password&ip=address&client=name
https://www.dtdns.com/api/autodns.cfm?id=hostname&pw=password&ip=address&client=name

We have tested this on our simulation page using:

http://localhost:82/autodns.php?id=uni.dtdns.net&pw=me123&ip=11.22.33.44&client=UniServerV1

Al that is required is to send our data using the GET method we have covered this see example 10 reproduced below:

<?php
$name_val     = urlencode('MPG RIC');
$password_val = urlencode('fred 123');
$message_val  = urlencode('This is a test & = ?');

$str= "?Name=".$name_val."&Password=".$password_val."&Message=".$message_val;

print $str;

 $ch=curl_init();
 curl_setopt($ch,CURLOPT_URL,'http://localhost:82/remote_form.php'.$str);
 curl_exec($ch);
 curl_close($ch);
?>

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Example 14 - cURL GET

The above template is easily converted, change the variable names to match and add a new variable. Separate out the page URL.

Create a new text file in folder C:\curl_1\UniServer\www and name it test14.php add the following content

<?php
$id_val     = urlencode('uni.dtdns.net'); // User Host on DtDNS
$pw_val     = urlencode('me123');         // User password
$ip_val     = urlencode('11.22.33.44');   // Optional
$client_val = urlencode('UniServerV1');   // Optional - But added it

//$url = 'http://www.dtdns.com/api/autodns.cfm'; // Real URL
$url = 'http://localhost:82/autodns.php';        // Test URL

// Build complete URL
$str= $url."?id=".$id_val."&pw=".$pw_val."&ip=".$ip_val."&client=".$client_val;

// Access page using Curl
$ch=curl_init();
curl_setopt($ch,CURLOPT_URL,$str);
curl_exec($ch);
curl_close($ch);

?>

First four lines URL encode the values we wish to send.
Two URLs are defined, these are switched after testing (reverse the commants)
String $str is assembled into correct format host page name-value pairs.
The string variable $str is inserted into the Curle URL option.

Test:

Run both servers
Type http://localhost/test14.php into your browser
Result: Shown below

Results:

Information

Host     (id)    = uni.dtdns.net
Password (pw)    = me123
Ip       (ip)    = 11.22.33.44
Client   (client)= UniServerV1

Host uni.dtdns.net now points to 11.22.33.44.

Note 1:

Assumes variable $information is set to true; in file C:\curl_2\UniServer\www\autodns.php otherwise the information will not be displayed.

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Example 15 - cURL GET + SSL

The above example sends the password unencrypted not a good idea. The update page can use https hence convert the scrip for SSL operation.

First copy file C:\curl_2\UniServer\www\autodns.php to folder C:\curl_2\UniServer\ssl

Edit file C:\curl_2\UniServer\ssl\.htaccess disable authentication as shown (Leftover from another example)

#AuthName "Uniform Server - Secure Server Access"
#AuthType Basic
#AuthUserFile C:/curl_2/UniServer/htpasswd/ssl/.htpasswd
#Require valid-user

Create a new text file in folder C:\curl_1\UniServer\www and name it test15.php add the following content

<?php
$id_val     = urlencode('uni.dtdns.net'); // User Host on DtDNS
$pw_val     = urlencode('me123');         // User password
$ip_val     = urlencode('11.22.33.44');   // Optional
$client_val = urlencode('UniServerV1');   // Optional - But added it

//$url = 'https://www.dtdns.com/api/autodns.cfm'; // Real URL
$url = 'https://localhost:446/autodns.php';        // Test URL

// Build complete URL
$str= $url."?id=".$id_val."&pw=".$pw_val."&ip=".$ip_val."&client=".$client_val;

// Access page using Curl
$ch=curl_init();
curl_setopt($ch,CURLOPT_URL,$str);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_SSL_VERIFYPEER, false);   // no verify
curl_exec($ch);
curl_close($ch);

?>

First four lines URL encode the values we wish to send.
Two URLs are defined (Note http changed to https), these are switched after testing (reverse the commants)
Our simulation server requires port number 446
String $str is assembled into correct format host page name-value pairs.
The string variable $str is inserted into the Curle URL option.
New line added sets CURLOPT_SSL_VERIFYPEER to false

Test:

Run both servers
Type http://localhost/test15.php into your browser
Results: Identical to Example 14

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Realistic test

Switch the additional information off edit file file C:\curl_2\UniServer\ssl\autodns.php set variable $information to false

Test:

Run both servers
Type http://localhost/test15.php into your browser
Results:

Host uni.dtdns.net now points to 11.22.33.44.

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Capture returned page

We want to capture the returned page (effectively a single line) into a variable to test its contents.

Example 16 - Test returned page

Create a new text file in folder C:\curl_1\UniServer\www and name it test16.php add the following content

<?php
$id_val     = urlencode('uni.dtdns.net'); // User Host on DtDNS
$pw_val     = urlencode('me123');         // User password
$ip_val     = urlencode('11.22.33.44');   // Optional
$client_val = urlencode('UniServerV1');   // Optional - But added it

//$url = 'https://www.dtdns.com/api/autodns.cfm'; // Real URL
$url = 'https://localhost:446/autodns.php';        // Test URL

// Build complete URL
$str= $url."?id=".$id_val."&pw=".$pw_val."&ip=".$ip_val."&client=".$client_val;

// Access page using Curl SSL
$ch=curl_init();
curl_setopt($ch,CURLOPT_URL,$str);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_SSL_VERIFYPEER, false); // no verify
curl_setopt($ch,CURLOPT_CONNECTTIMEOUT,5);       // timeout set to 5 sceonds
curl_setopt($ch,CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER,1);       // force curl_exec to output string 
$buffer = curl_exec($ch);                        // run above, save returned page to buff
curl_close($ch);

// Test returned page 
if(preg_match("/now\spoints\sto/",$buffer)){     // Test for "now points to"
 print " Update successful";                     // Crude but works
}
else{                                            // Failed
 print "Update failed";
}
?>

Added line CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER to force curl_exec to output string.
curl_exec output stored in variable $buffer
Use preg match to test for string now points to

Test:

Run both servers
Type http://localhost/test16.php into your browser
Results: Update successful -Displayed

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Back to CLI

The script has been tested and developed using our test server time to test in CLI mode.

Copy file C:\curl_1\UniServer\www\test16.php to folder C:\curl_1\UniServer\plugins\dtdns_updater

Create a new batch file C:\curl_1\UniServer\plugins\dtdns_updater\Run_test16.bat with the following content:

COLOR B0
@echo off
cls

rem ### working directory current folder 
pushd %~dp0

..\..\usr\local\php\php.exe  test16.php

rem ### restore original working directory
pause
popd
EXIT

Test

Run batch file test16.bat
Result:

 Update successfulPress any key to continue . . .

That completes testing on our simulation server.

Live test

If you have an account at DtDNS you can perform a live test, note IP is optional hence I have removed that section and swapped in the real URL the script looks like:

Just substitute your real id (host name) and password.

<?php
$id_val     = urlencode('uni.dtdns.net'); // User Host on DtDNS
$pw_val     = urlencode('me123');         // User password
$ip_val     = urlencode('11.22.33.44');   // Optional
$client_val = urlencode('UniServerV1');   // Optional - But added it

$url = 'https://www.dtdns.com/api/autodns.cfm'; // Real URL
//$url = 'https://localhost:446/autodns.php';        // Test URL

// Build complete URL
$str= $url."?id=".$id_val."&pw=".$pw_val."&client=".$client_val;

// Access page using Curl SSL
$ch=curl_init();
curl_setopt($ch,CURLOPT_URL,$str);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_SSL_VERIFYPEER, false); // no verify
curl_setopt($ch,CURLOPT_CONNECTTIMEOUT,5);       // timeout set to 5 sceonds
curl_setopt($ch,CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER,1);       // force curl_exec to ouput string 
$buffer = curl_exec($ch);                        // run above, save returned page to buff
curl_close($ch);

// Test returned page 
if(preg_match("/now\spoints\sto/",$buffer)){     // Test for "now points to"
 print " Update successful";                     // Crude but works
}
else{                                            // Failed
 print "Update failed";
}
?>

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Summary

The above provides a working template for a PHP CLI script DtDNS IP updater.

This can be integrated with Example 4 which provides a template to find your IP address as seen from the Internet.

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