The posted code runs just fine. It passes the IP address to Server and receives the message, from command line . Problem is when I convert it to cgi, socket is not getting created, nor I get message that it is not getting created. I am pasting part of the cgi script I am trying to make. And yes I am beginner in CGI scripting.

print "<p class=\"systemMsg\">LINE AFTER SOCKET CREATION".$sock."</p>\n";

The web page shows till this line, but again $sock value is not getting printed. Hence I conclude that script has problem in creating socket. For more info, I am pasting my server script as well.

#!/usr/bin/perl
#Client Script
use IO::Socket;

#domain name suffix - if we need it
$domainName="";

$nodeName = "";
if (! $FORM{"\$selected_rows.Node"}) {
        print "<p class=\"systemMsg\">No Node Specified.</p></body></h
+tml>";
        die;
}
else {
        $nodeName = $FORM{"\$selected_rows.Node"}.$domainName;
        print "<p class=\"systemMsg\">Pinging host ".$nodeName."</p>\n
+";
}

$sock = new IO::Socket::INET (PeerAddr => '172.30.166.234',
                              PeerPort => 23 ,
                              Proto    => 'tcp',
                             );
print "<p class=\"systemMsg\">LINE AFTER SOCKET CREATION".$sock."</p>\
+n";
die "Socket could not be created. Reason: $!\n" unless $sock;
print "<p class=\"systemMsg\">Socket could not be created. Reason: $!\
+n".$sock."</p>\n";

print $sock "ping:".$nodeName."\n";
print "Client Connected. \n";
print "Server says: ",scalar(<$sock>);
print $sock "Message acknowledged from the client!\n";
print $sock "Good Bye from client! \n";
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#!/usr/bin/perl
#Server Script
use warnings;
use strict;
use IO::Socket;
use IO::Select;
use Net::Ping;

my $serverport = 23;
# create a socket to listen on SOMAXCONN = 512
my $server = new IO::Socket(
    Domain => PF_INET,
    Proto => 'tcp',
    LocalPort => $serverport,
    Listen => SOMAXCONN,
);
die "Cannot bind: $!\n" unless $server;

# create a 'select' object and add server fh to it
my $selector = new IO::Select($server);
# stop closing connections from aborting the server
$SIG{PIPE} = 'IGNORE';

# loop and handle connections
print "Multiplex server started on port $serverport...\n";

while (my @clients = $selector->can_read) {

# input has arrived, find out which handles(s)
foreach my $client (@clients) {
    if ($client == $server)
         {
        # it's a new connection, accept it
        my $newclient = $server->accept;
                my $port = $newclient->peerport;
        syswrite $newclient, "You've reached the server port at # $por
+t\n";
        #my $port = $newclient->peerport;
        my $name = $newclient->peerhost;
        #print "New client $port:$name\n";
        $selector->add($newclient);
    } else
         {
        # it's a message from an existing client
        my $port = $client->peerport;
        my $name = $client->peerhost;
        my ($message, $buf, $host);

                my $newclient = $client->accept;
#                my $port = $newclient->peerport;

                my $reach = Net::Ping->new($ > ? "tcp": "icmp");
        (defined $reach)
            or die "Couldn't create Net::Ping object: $!\n";

        if (sysread $client, $message, 1024)
                {
            print "\n Client $name:$port sent: $message\n";
                        #while($newserver = $newserver->accept())
                        #{
                            while (defined ($buf = <"$message">))
                             {
                           print "Buffer: $buf";
                    $host = (split(/:/,$buf))[1];
                                        print "Host: $host";
                       print "Remote IP to be pinged $host";
                    if($reach->ping("$host")){
#                                        print "$host is reachable";
                                         syswrite $client, "reachable 
+$host ";
                    }

                        else{
#                                       print "$host is unreachable";
                                          syswrite $client, "unreachab
+le $host";
                        }
                          }
                   #    }#end of outer while {}
                        syswrite $client, "\n Message received OK\n";

        } else
                 {
            $selector->remove($client);
            $client->shutdown(SHUT_RDWR);
            print "\nClient disconnected\n"; # port, name not defined
        }
    }
    }
}#end of foreach loop
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Edited by planetscape - added code tags; moved content out of signature (readability)