TCL sockets broken in 12.2(58)SE ?

[koenpeetermans_2]

Hi,

I have been working on a tcl script that performs autoprovisioning of catalyst 2960 switches. The scripts sends an email report using TCL TCP sockets on port 25.

The problem I'm facing now is that I did a cross-check on the newest-released IOS 12.2(58)SE, and it appears that the TCL socket functionality is not working anymore on Catalyst 2960 *AND* 3560 switches :

Switch#tclsh

Switch(tcl)#socket 10.190.2.8 25

couldn't open socket: invalid argument

Switch(tcl)#

whereas with previous versions it would work correctly :

Switch#tclsh

Switch#socket 10.190.2.8 25

sock0

Switch#

-server sockets still seem to work but that's not what I need.

Using EEM SMTP applets is not an option as well since that's not supported on a Catalyst 2960....

Thanks,

Koen.

[Joe Clarke · Accepted solution]

This looks like an occurrence of CSCsy06373 in the SE branch.  This bug affects IPv4 client sockets.  IPv6 should work fine.

[koenpeetermans_2]

Hi Joseph, thank you very much for the very quick feedback. Unfortunately the details for the bug you mentioned are not visible to me,

I suppose there's no workaround possible for this bug ?

Thanks again and best regards.

[Joe Clarke · Accepted solution]

The bug was originally filed internally.  No, there is no workaround for IPv4 sockets.

[koenpeetermans_2]

OK, thanks for the help.

FWIW, on a cat 3560 it is possible to send an email using an EEM applet (Action x.x mail server "etc"), which -I think- also uses TCL.

I guess the difference is that EEM applets are not restricted as much as user-issued tcl scripts (Safe-tcl).

Best regards.

[Joe Clarke · Accepted solution]

Applets do not use Tcl.  They use native C within IOS.  However, EEM Tcl policies would see the same problem.

[koenpeetermans_2]

Great info, thanks. I'll try to hang around in the forums some more in the future, returning the favor if I can.

In the meantime I worked around this issue by doing a software downgrade in TCL, something I wasn't really planning on doing, but I think to have found a safe way of doing that.

Cheers.