Hello!!! I am new to perl, enjoying it but having a few problems.
I am trying to create a program which telnets to a bunch of routers / switches, runs some commands and then outputs to a text file. I currently have the program reading the logon info from an excel doc. Should be simple?...
My problem is that when a telnet session fails the program stops. What I want it to do is Output to the user that it has failed and then carry on to the next router/switch in the excel doc. Is there something that the telnet outputs that I can use to recognise it has failed? Or maybe if it hasn't done anything for 10 seconds go to next item in the for loop.
Thanks for you help :) 

#!/usr/bin/perl
require Net::Cisco;
use Win32::OLE qw(in with);
use Win32::OLE::Const 'Microsoft Excel';

my $Router_Ip;    
my $Router_User;          
my $Router_Logon;      
my $Router_Enable;
my $Row;
my $Col;

my $NumDevices = &promptUser("Amount of devices to Telnet to?");

print ("Telneting to $NumDevices devices \n");       

$Win32::OLE::Warn = 3;    # die on errors...

# get already active Excel application or open new
my $Excel = Win32::OLE->GetActiveObject('Excel.Application')
    || Win32::OLE->new('Excel.Application', 'Quit');

# open Excel file
my $Book = $Excel->Workbooks->Open("c:/SCRIPTS/data.xlsx");

# select worksheet number 1 
my $Sheet = $Book->Worksheets(1);

#Read the excel spreadsheet and telnet to devices
for ($i=1; $i<=$NumDevices; $i++ ){  
    
    $Row = $i; 
    &readExcel();
           &telnetRouter();
}
# close excel doc
$Book->Close; 


 
#------------------------------------------------#
#               SUB ROUTINES                     #
#------------------------------------------------#

# Read Excel doc and set Router Vars
sub readExcel() {
       foreach my $Col (1..4){ 
                   use Switch;
            switch ($Col) { 
        case 1    {$Router_Ip =$Sheet->Cells($Row,$Col)->{'Value'}}
        case 2    {$Router_User =$Sheet->Cells($Row,$Col)->{'Value'}}
        case 3    {$Router_Logon =$Sheet->Cells($Row,$Col)->{'Value'}}
            case 4  {$Router_Enable = $Sheet->Cells($Row,$Col)->{'Valu
+e'}}
            }
          # skip empty cells
          next unless defined $Sheet->Cells($Row,$Col)->{'Value'};
         
           $Sheet->Cells($Row,$Col)->{'Value'},
           $Sheet->Cells($Row,$Col)->{'Formula'};
     }
}

sub telnetRouter() {
      print ("\nAbout to telnet to Router:\nIP: $Router_Ip using:\nUN:
+ $Router_User \nPW: $Router_Logon \nEN: $Router_Enable \n");
        my $session = Net::Telnet::Cisco->new(Host => $Router_Ip , Inp
+ut_log =>"c:/SCRIPTS/$Router_Ip.log");
    $session->login($Router_User, $Router_Logon);
    if ($session->enable($Router_Enable)){                
            @output = $session->cmd('show run | include username');
            print ("Finished $Router_Ip Router Command \n");
        } else {
        warn `Can’t enable:`. $session -> errmsg;
        }
    $session -> close;
}

sub promptUser {
     local($promptString,$defaultValue) = @_;
     if ($defaultValue) {
      print $promptString, "[", $defaultValue, "]: ";
   } else {
      print $promptString, ": ";
   }
   $| = 1;               # force a flush after our print
   $_ = <STDIN>;         # get the input from STDIN (presumably the ke
+yboard)
      chomp;
      if ($defaultValue) {
      return $_ ? $_ : $defaultValue;    # return $_ if it has a value
   } else {
      return $_;
   }
}

[download]

In reply to Telnet Question: by kiwi_chris

Title:
Use:  <p> text here (a paragraph) </p>
and:  <code> code here </code>
to format your post, it's "PerlMonks-approved HTML":


  • Posts are HTML formatted. Put <p> </p> tags around your paragraphs. Put <code> </code> tags around your code and data!
  • Titles consisting of a single word are discouraged, and in most cases are disallowed outright.
  • Read Where should I post X? if you're not absolutely sure you're posting in the right place.
  • Please read these before you post! —
  • Posts may use any of the Perl Monks Approved HTML tags:
    a, abbr, b, big, blockquote, br, caption, center, col, colgroup, dd, del, details, div, dl, dt, em, font, h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6, hr, i, ins, li, ol, p, pre, readmore, small, span, spoiler, strike, strong, sub, summary, sup, table, tbody, td, tfoot, th, thead, tr, tt, u, ul, wbr
  • You may need to use entities for some characters, as follows. (Exception: Within code tags, you can put the characters literally.)
            For:     Use:
    & &amp;
    < &lt;
    > &gt;
    [ &#91;
    ] &#93;
  • Link using PerlMonks shortcuts! What shortcuts can I use for linking?
  • See Writeup Formatting Tips and other pages linked from there for more info.