• SMTP This is the most widely supported, but least well defined. The format of the message is entirely up the provider and how they translate email to a page. Also, unless you do a bit of work, the message could sit in a local or remote mail queue. ( try a combination of Net::DNS::Resolver and Net::SMTP if you want to connect directly to the remote SMTP server).
• TAP (aka IXO ) This is probably the second most widely supported method. Clunky because you have to do it via a modem, but handy for the same reason. ( if your monitoring box notices that the network is down, the modem could still be accessible for notification). I've found it easiest to just have perl talk to kermit. Google around for a script called "ckepage.ksc".
• SNPP (simple network paging protocol) Third most widely supported method. Check out Net::SNPP. If your provider supports it, this is probably the most straightforward way to send pages.
• WCTP: (wireless communication transfer protocol ). This is probably the least widely supported protocol, but is the "latest/greatest" thing. I'm not aware of a perl implementation yet, but there general info here.

• sendpage - a pretty comprehensive paging system that include SNPP and TAP clients, as well as an SNPP server
• Part of the kermit faq explaining how to send a page from kermit
• Net::Pager this perl module uses Simplewire's quasi-free paging service, which I don't like. Perhaps you will though.

Good luck !

Update:This link has fairly decent information on which paging providers support SNPP, WCTP, etc. Also shows host and port names for the services.

Don't forget web interfaces, many paging companies let you send pages through a web interface like this one.
I'd be far more messy than having a nice builtin perl module, but I suspect it wouldn't be that difficult to get the format of the form submission and write a script to send requests to it.

That's not a function of Perl, it's a function of your pagers and their service provider. Check your documentation to see how you can page them. Must you call them and enter a number? If so, you'll need to have your script talk to a modem. Many providers, however, have methods of sending pages via email. Perhaps contacting your pager service provider would be a better way to go.

Cheers,
Ovid

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I assumed this was the case, I was just hoping there would be a way somehow to do this. Thanks for the reply. d

There are also many SMS (short message service - for cellular phones) available. Look in SMS.

My cell service is through AT&T. They support SMS. I use this script to send myself an SMS message when certain interesting things happen on my server.

Hi all, I'm trying to send a page using Perl via the WCTP protocol. For some reason, I cannot connect to the host "wctp.att.net/WCTP" (or any host for that matter) on port 80. I figure it must be some server configuration that I need to set. I don't think it's a port problem b/c I'm able to send a page via WCTP using the same port using a stand-alone app.
Anyhow, here's the code I'm using:


sub send_wctp_old{
    #my $url = "http://wctp.cingular.com:80/WCTP";
    my $url = "http://wctp.att.net/WCTP";
    print "TestEPaging::send_wctp_old()--Sending via WCTP to " . $url . " 
";
 
    my $body = "<?xml version=\"1.0\"?><!DOCTYPE wctp-Operation SYSTEM \"http://www.skytel.com/protocols/dtds/wctp/wctpv1-0.dtd\">";
    $body = $body . "<wctp-Operation wctpVersion=\"WCTP-DTD-1.1\"><wctp-SubmitClientMessage><wctp-SubmitClientHeader>";
    $body = $body . "<wctp-ClientOriginator senderID=\"";
    $body = $body . $from;
    $body = $body . "\"/><wctp-Recipient recipientID=\"";
    $body = $body . $to;
    $body = $body . "\"/></wctp-SubmitClientHeader><wctp-Payload><wctp-Alphanumeric>";
    $body = $body . $message;
    $body = $body . "</wctp-Alphanumeric></wctp-Payload></wctp-SubmitClientMessage></wctp-Operation>";
 
    #my $ua = LWP::UserAgent->new;
    my $ua=new LWP::UserAgent;
    my $header=new HTTP::Headers;
    print "TestEPaging::send_wctp_old()--Created new UserAgent
";
 
    #my $http_response = $ua->request(POST $url, Content_Type => 'text/xml', Content => $body); 
    
    my $req = new HTTP::Request ("POST", $url, $header, Content => $body );
 
    my $http_response=$ua->request($req);
 
    print "TestEPaging::send_wctp_old()--Sent request
";
 
    if ($http_response->is_success){
        print "TestEPaging::send_wctp_old()--Message sent successfully to " . $to;
    }
    else{
        print "TestEPaging::send_wctp_old()--Message failed - " . $http_response->as_string;
    }
}


And here's the error output I'm seeing:

TestEpaging::main()--to=4255333734 
TestEpaging::main()--from=1111111111 
TestEpaging::main()--message=Hello 
TestEpaging::main()--protocol=WCTP 

TestEPaging::send_wctp_old()--Sending via WCTP to http://wctp.att.net/WCTP 
TestEPaging::send_wctp_old()--Created new UserAgent
TestEPaging::send_wctp_old()--Sent request
TestEPaging::send_wctp_old()--Message failed - 500 Can't connect to wctp.att.net:80 (connect: Unknown error) Content-Type: text/plain Client-Date: Thu, 28 Jun 2007 16:35:30 GMT Client-Warning: Internal response 500 Can't connect to wctp.att.net:80 (connect: Unknown error) 


Any advice is much appreciated.
Thanks! Karim Varela

That script is five years old. In internet time that's ancient. I don't it anymore. You'll need to reverse engineer the current AT&T SMS website to the the correct URL, or use one of the fine modules available on CPAN.