i'm pretty new to perl, too. but this site is a good place to look for info. in fact, just a day or two ago, jdgamache posted this nugget Client / Server app. in general, try a search on 'client server'. there's lots out there.
in fact, if you find something cool, let me know. i've just started looking at client/server code. remote execution of some of my code would make life much easier.