PostgreSQL type extensions for IP and MAC addresses.
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I needed to record IP and MAC level ethernet addresses in a data
base, and I really didn't want to store them as plain strings, with
no enforced error checking, so I put together the accompanying code
as my first experiment with adding a data type to PostgreSQL. I
then thought that this might be useful to others, both directly and
as a very simple example of how to do this sort of thing, so here
it is, in the hope that it will be useful.
IP addresses are implemented as an 8 byte struct (this may well be
more than is useful, but I figured that since it has to be at least 5,
it might as well round well) that contains the four bytes of address
and a mask width. Thus, a node address looks like '158.37.96.15/32'
(or just '158.37.96.15', which is understood to mean the same thing).
This address happens to be part of a subnet where I work;
'158.37.96.0/24', which itself is a part of the larger subnet
allocated to our institution, which is '158.37.96.0/21', which again,
if you go by the book, is part of the class "B" net '158.37.0.0/16'.
Input and output functions are supplied, along with the "normal" <,
<=, =, >=, > and <> operators, which all do what you expect, and the
similarity operator ~~, which checks whether two given addresses are
either the same, or, failing that, whether one is a subnet
specification and the other an address (or a smaller subnet) within
that. Good for picking out records with addresses in a given subnet:
note that '158.37.96.0/21' spans '158.37.96.0' to '158.37.103.255',
which is not all that easily handled in its external representation.
MAC level ethernet addresses are also implemented as an 8 byte struct
(I wish I knew what alignment needs are actually present -- I'm just
not taking any chances here) that contains the address as unsigned
chars. Several input forms are accepted: the following are all the
same address: '08002b:010203', '08002b-010203', '0800.2b01.0203',
'08-00-2b-01-02-03' and '08:00:2b:01:02:03'. Upper and lower case is
accepted for the digits 'a' through 'f'. Output is always in the
latter of the given forms.
Input and output functions are supplied, along with the = and <>
operators, which do what you expect, and the similarity operator ~~,
which checks whether two given addresses belong to hardware from the
same manufacturer (first three bytes the same, that is). As an extra
feature, a function macaddr_manuf() is defined, which returns the name
of the manufacturer as a string.
To install: fix the path names in the SQL files and the Makefile if
you need to, then make, make install, slurp the SQL files into psql or
whatever, and you're off. Enjoy!
Bergen, Norway, 1998-01-11, Tom Ivar Helbekkmo (tih@Hamartun.Priv.NO).
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