PATAPING

A minimal Flask web app that reads a list of hosts from hosts.txt and pings them, showing a simple web UI with green (up) / red (down) labels.

Features

• Backend: Flask endpoint /api/status that returns JSON with host statuses.
• Frontend: static/index.html shows status and auto-refreshes every 30s.
• Dockerfile for containerized runs.

Quick start (local)

1. Create a virtualenv and install dependencies:

python -m venv .venv
source .venv/bin/activate
pip install -r requirements.txt

2. Edit hosts.txt with the hosts you want to monitor (one per line). You may optionally provide a name before the host/IP, e.g.:

localhost 127.0.0.1
8.8.8.8

If a name is provided, the UI shows the name in bold and the host next to it; otherwise the host is shown in bold.

3. Run the app:

python app.py

Open http://localhost:8000

Docker

Build and run with Docker:

docker build -t pataping:latest .
docker run -p 8000:8000 pataping:latest

CERN PaaS Deployment

The app can be deployed to CERN PaaS using the provided Dockerfile. Make sure to set up the hosts.txt file appropriately before building the image. Follow CERN PaaS documentation for deployment steps.

Note

Notes on permissions and ping

• This app uses the system ping binary. On some systems ping requires elevated permissions or a setuid binary. The Debian/Ubuntu iputils-ping binary is typically available and will work inside the container.
• If you run into permission issues inside containers, ensure the inetutils-ping or iputils-ping package is present in the image.