NetReg 1.5.1

Programming by Peter Valian <valianp@netreg.org>
Documentation by Peter Valian <valianp@netreg.org>
Todd K. Watson <tkw@netreg.org>
Screenshots screenshots of version 1.1
screenshots of older versions
Presentations
& Publications
  • ResNet99 Slides
  • USENIX - LISA `99
    Conference Proceedings
          [download postscript version (640K)]
          [download PDF version (2.2M)]
  • Dec. 2000, Vol. 9 Issue 12 of SysAdmin Magazine [view HTML version]
  • Download Latest Stable Version: NetReg 1.5.1
    Installation NotesNetReg HowTo by Patrick Jaques (rev 1.5.1) [PDF]
    Mailing Lists netreg-general
    Discussions among users of NetReg. This would be the place to get installation help or make suggestions for future versions.

    To subscribe, visit the NetReg Mailman page.

    The NetReg mailing list archives are available for your perusal:

    Current archives (07 August 2004 -- present)
       http://www.southwestern.edu/pipermail/netreg/

    Old archives (04 August 1999 -- 06 August 2004)
       http://netreg.org/archive/

    ContributionsSnippets of code, add-ons, alternate versions of NetReg, etc.

    The respective authors assume no responsibility whatsoever. All packages in this directory should be untar'ed within the base NetReg install and will be placed in a directory called contrib. There should be specific install notes on each package as well as the author's contact information. Southwestern University in most cases will not verify that the packages here will even work.

    http://netreg.org/contrib/


    Contents


    Overview

      NetReg is an automated system that requires an unknown DHCP client to register their hardware before gaining full network access. Through a simple web interface, the client is prompted for their user identification. Powerful scripts then retrieve the client's network fingerprint and store it along with the user's information in a database. The database provides administrators with real-time information for troubleshooting and auditing their networks. The entire system was developed utilizing unmodified, open-source servers and in-house developed CGI programs.

    History

      NetReg was written with many uses in mind. The primary use is for Tech Support staff to see networking information about a student's computer without having to make a house call. Tech Support can determine if the user's problem is software or network based and schedule the proper staff to inspect and fix the problem. Another great use is for tracing an IP address to a specific user. NetReg does all the cross-referencing of leases files to IP addresses to login IDs. Finally, NetReg is great for IP accounting and providing demographic data on the types of machines and platforms students are using.

    Release Notes

      1.5.1 (stable)
        + Reorganization of all NetReg Perl modules into
           usr/lib/perl5/site_perl/Net/NetReg/
        along with code adjustments accordingly.
        + Corrections in HowTo documentation.
        + Inclusion of pod2man and pod2html conversions of Subnet.pm and Variables.pm documentation.
      1.5 (stable)
        + Numerous bug fixes
        + Inclusion of Robert Lowe's CIDR-Kit which provides:
          o Classless Inter-Domain Routing notation subnet definitions
          o Improved code organization
          o Updated script for restarting DHCP
          o Ability to limit # of registrations per user
          o New authentication methods -- IMAP, LDAP/ActiveDirectory,
          and Radius -- with load-balancing for multiple LDAP and
          Radius servers.
          o File-locking for safe updates
          o Manual registration capability for XBoxes, Playstations, etc.
          o Improved graphing capabilities in the admin GUI
        + Net::Nessus::ScanLite support
        + Blacklisting capabilities
        + Tailored to Apache-2 and BIND-9
        + An updated NetReg install "HowTo" guide
        + New authentication mechanism (LDAP+SSL)

      1.3rc2 (stable)
        Minor bug fix -- registration failed after user already had 9 machines registered.
        Note: The documentation is not updated from 1.2 but installation is the same.

      1.3rc1 (stable)
        Minor bug fixes and updated lease parser that works with DHCPD 3.0 (final).
        Note: The documentation is not updated from 1.2 but installtion is the same.

      1.2 (stable)
        Minor bug fix on deletion of entries.

      1.1 (stable)

        Latest full release. Includes all previous revisions. Perhaps an installer in a future release.

      1.0b3 (internal revision)

        Find User, Find MAC now using one search engine (Search Registration).
        Leases Manager renamed Search Leases.
        No longer uses temp file when deleting entries (no longer needs FILE::Copy Perl module).
        More intuitive ALLOW_DOMAIN variable.

      1.0b2 (internal revision)

        Minor cosmetic updates
        Better parsing of BOOTP leases.

      1.0b1 (NetReg 1st Released Version)

        NetReg has been put into production on our campus for summer residents. A few bugs were ironed out and the PERL scripts are more modular for easy upgrading and bug patching.

      0.9a5

        NetReg had a pretty major change in how it retrieved the client hardware address. An SNMP query is no longer necessary--instead, the information is retrieved from the dhcp leases file. This is probably the last major revision before the source is released for beta testing.

      0.9a1

        NetReg is currently in late alpha testing. Source code will start to be released in beta expected late summer of 1999.


    Peter Valian <valianp@netreg.org> and Todd K. Watson <tkw@netreg.org>


    Copyright ©1999-2007 Peter Valian & Todd K. Watson

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