I would like to be able to automate the linode control panel based on a set of user defined rules.

For example: For my business I want to set up a personal server cloud where all of my linodes are clustered together as a single server (which I can already do). But at times I will need more linodes than usual and as things are now I will have to add those linodes manually then turn right around and remove them.

Instead I would like a control panel feature where actions in the control panel can be triggered by an event( say running out of bandwidth).

I believe Linode provisioning methods are going to be added to the API soon. (Too lazy to cite my source)

Would love to see that. Backups first, though!

That's good to hear but I wish they would do it soon.

I just thought that I would post this in case someone else finds it useful.

I found a way to automate linode( or any site for that matter). My solution can only automate, it isn't a replacement for an API (but automation is all I need).

The answer is Lynx scripts. Lynx is a text (console web browser).
In lynx you use the keyboard to navigate websites and you can have lynx record your key strokes on a given site to a file and then play them back later (lynx script).

Create a script at the command-line type:

lynx -cmd_log=filename siteURL

Then do what ever task you want to automate and press q ( to quit) when done.

Run script:

lynx -cmd_script=filename siteURL

You must use the same file and url or it won't work.

That lynx trick is cute. Of course, it doesn't get you very far if you need to parameterize the session in any way.

A more robust tool for screen scraping type of automation is curl (apt-get install curl). It allows as much flexibility and parameterization in the script as you need. I have found two practical ways of using it:

1. If you just need to poke/grab one web page, encapsulate the curl command in a shell script that carries the command line args to curl params/options.
2. If the automation script needs to "go places", or generally maintain state (cookies etc.) over multiple PUTs/GETs, the easiest is to use the PHP bindings for curl and use the command line interface version of PHP, also known as "PHP (cli)".

apt-get install php5-cli php5-curl

Of course, seeing that a Linode API will soon be here, there's hopefully no longer any need to use this form of automation on Linode specifically.

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