Suggestions for a simple configuration management web application

Hey all,

I am trying to find a simple, modular web based configuration
application and am having a little trouble.  Basically, I need
something to do some simple configurations on an appliance similar to
something like a laser printer.  You know the little web based menu
you get when you hit your local Lexmark C530dn or HP LaserJet and it
allows you to change the IP address, set the printer name, and get
some feedback on how many pages you've printed?  That's what I want.

I tried to look at webmin and possibly building my own modules, but
I'm based on Debian and webmin has fallen out of favor.  My next
thought was to write a little something, possibly based on
TemplateToolkit but that seems a little excessive.  I also played
around with the idea of ripping the GUI out of m0n0wall and using it
to base my stuff on, but that didn't seem very clean.

I would rather use and contribute to something that is pre-existing in
the OSS world than to start my own project.  My time is limited and
I'm not that great of a programmer.  :)  Anyway, it's hard to believe
that no-one has ever created a simple little web app that can be
extended with modules.  Do you know of anything that I could use as a
jumping off point?

Thanx!
Richard

On Tue, Mar 11, 2008 at 2:54 PM, Richard <rnhurt@gmail.com> wrote:
> Hey all,
>
>  I am trying to find a simple, modular web based configuration
>  application and am having a little trouble.  Basically, I need
>  something to do some simple configurations on an appliance similar to
>  something like a laser printer.  You know the little web based menu
>  you get when you hit your local Lexmark C530dn or HP LaserJet and it
>  allows you to change the IP address, set the printer name, and get
>  some feedback on how many pages you've printed?  That's what I want.
>
>  I tried to look at webmin and possibly building my own modules, but
>  I'm based on Debian and webmin has fallen out of favor.  My next
>  thought was to write a little something, possibly based on
>  TemplateToolkit but that seems a little excessive.  I also played
>  around with the idea of ripping the GUI out of m0n0wall and using it
>  to base my stuff on, but that didn't seem very clean.
>
>  I would rather use and contribute to something that is pre-existing in
>  the OSS world than to start my own project.  My time is limited and
>  I'm not that great of a programmer.  :)  Anyway, it's hard to believe
>  that no-one has ever created a simple little web app that can be
>  extended with modules.  Do you know of anything that I could use as a
>  jumping off point?

Look into CGI::Application.  Of course, you will have to figure out
how to do the communication between the perl script and your
appliance.

Sean

On 11 Mar 2008 at 11:54, Richard wrote:

> Hey all,
>
> I am trying to find a simple, modular web based configuration
> application and am having a little trouble.  Basically, I need
> something to do some simple configurations on an appliance similar to
> something like a laser printer.  You know the little web based menu
> you get when you hit your local Lexmark C530dn or HP LaserJet and it
> allows you to change the IP address, set the printer name, and get
> some feedback on how many pages you've printed?  That's what I want.

Your requirements aren't as straight forward as you might think. You
want an appliance that can change the config of any device. It sounds
like you assuming that all hardware devices have a standard API for
configuring. They don't. Each manufacturer will have their own. You
might be able to use arp to configure the mac address/IP address on
the device but that's about all you could do with arp. Getting page
counts and other hardware specific information will require detailed
access to the hardware API if one exists.

> I tried to look at webmin and possibly building my own modules, but
> I'm based on Debian and webmin has fallen out of favor.  My next
> thought was to write a little something, possibly based on
> TemplateToolkit but that seems a little excessive.  I also played
> around with the idea of ripping the GUI out of m0n0wall and using it
> to base my stuff on, but that didn't seem very clean.

Won't cups provide you with some of the functionality you want.

> I would rather use and contribute to something that is pre-existing in
> the OSS world than to start my own project.  My time is limited and
> I'm not that great of a programmer.  :)  Anyway, it's hard to believe
> that no-one has ever created a simple little web app that can be
> extended with modules.  Do you know of anything that I could use as a
> jumping off point?

An good application framework would be Catalyst but I am not sure
that a framework is what your after.