Developer

10 of the more useful PHP network information functions explained

Since network programming is one of the areas most developers find potentially troublesome, it is worthwhile spending some time browsing PHP's built-in network functions to understand the kind of capabilities they offer and how they might help in your next project. This listing ten of PHP's most interesting and useful network-related functions provides a starting point for your journey through PHP's network programming capabilities.

By | October 16, 2006, 11:17 AM PST

This article is also available as a TechRepublic download.

PHP integrates so well with Web pages that it's easy to forget the language can be used for other things as well — data encryption, windowing applications and socket programming are just three examples. And since network programming is one of the areas most developers find potentially troublesome, it's worthwhile spending some time browsing PHP's built-in network functions to understand the kind of capabilities they offer and how they might help in your next project.

This listing of 10 of PHP's most interesting and useful network-related functions (Table A) provides a starting point for your journey through PHP's network programming capabilities and gives you insight into an area most Web developers don't usually enter. Explanations and usage examples are used to indicate when and how each function may be used.

Table A


Function

Explanation

Example
getmxrr
($hostname, $mxhosts)

This function is used to retrieve the names of MX (mail exchanger) hosts for a particular host.

Use this function to identify the mail hosts for a domain, typically as a prelude to verifying a mailbox on that domain.

 Code:
<?php
$hosts = array();
$ret = getmxrr('techrepublic.com', $hosts);
if ($ret) {
    print_r($hosts);
} else {
    echo 'MX retrieval failed';
}
?>

Output:
Array (
  [0] => c10-mail.cnet.com
  [1] => c12-mail.cnet.com
)
gethostbyaddr($ip)

This function is used to retrieve the host name associated with an IP.

Use this function to perform a reverse DNS lookup and put a name to an IP address - for example, the IP addresses recorded in your Web server logs.

 Code:
<?php
echo gethostbyaddr('216.239.115.148');
?>

Output:
c10-sha-redirect-lb.cnet.com
gethostbyname($name)

This function does the reverse of gethostbyaddr(), retrieving the IP address associated with a host name.

Use this function to perform a standard DNS lookup and get the IP address associated with a host name - for example, when automatically blacklisting suspicious domains.

 Code:
<?php
echo gethostbyname('techrepublic.com');
?>

Output:
216.239.115.148
ip2long($ip)
and
long2ip($long)

These functions convert IP addresses in dotted-quad notation to long integers, or the other way around.

Use these functions when you need to represent IP addresses in integer format (typically for numerical calculations), or vice-versa.

 Code:
<?php
echo ip2long('216.239.115.148');
echo long2ip(-655395948);
?>

Output:
-655395948
216.239.115.148
checkdnsrr
($host, $type)

This function checks the DNS for records corresponding to type $type for host $host and returns Boolean true if found.

Use this function to evaluate whether a particular type of DNS record exists for a host.

 Code:
<?php
$ret = checkdnsrr('techrepublic.com', SOA);
if ($ret) {
    echo 'SOA records exist for host';
} else {
    echo 'SOA records do not exist for host';
}
?>

Output:
SOA records exist for host
dns_get_record
($host, $type)

This function returns the DNS record for host $host. The optional $type parameter can be used to retrieve only those subsets matching a specified type.

Use this function to retrieve detailed DNS records for a particular host.

 Code:
<?php
$data = dns_get_record('techrepublic.com');
print_r($data);
?>

Output:
Array
(
    [0] => Array
        (
            [host] => techrepublic.com
            [type] => MX
            [pri] => 500
            [target] => c10-mail.cnet.com
            [class] => IN
            [ttl] => 10756
        )

    [1] => Array
        (
            [host] => techrepublic.com
            [type] => NS
            [target] => ns3.cnet.com
            [class] => IN
            [ttl] => 7885
        )

)
getprotobyname
($num)
and
getprotobynum
($name)

These functions retrieve protocol names and numbers from the system-wide /etc/protocols file.

Use this function to retrieve system protocol information, either by name or number.

 Code:
<?php
echo getprotobyname(81);
echo getprotobyname('icmp');
?>

Output:
vmtp
1
getservbyname
($service, $protocol) 

This function is used to retrieve the port number for the service $service using the protocol $protocol, from the system-wide /etc/services file.

Use this function to dynamically obtain information on ports for running system services.

 Code:
<?php
echo getservbyname('http', 'tcp');
?>

Output:
80
inet_ntop
($addr)
and
inet_pton($addr)

These functions unpack and pack IP addresses between binary format and human-readable addresses.

Use this function to convert between IPv4/IPv6 address strings and binary representation.

 Code:
<?php
$packed = inet_pton('192.168.0.1');
$unpacked = inet_ntop($packed);
echo $unpacked;
?>

Output:
192.168.0.1
syslog
($level, $msg)

This function logs the message $msg to the system logging device with warning level $level.

Use this function to issue system-wide errors or alerts.

Code:
<?php
define_syslog_variables();
openlog('mylog', LOG_NDELAY, LOG_LOCAL0);
syslog(LOG_DEBUG, 'This is a debug message');
closelog();
?>

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