iptools 0.2.0 is now on CRAN

We are happy to announce that the iptools package is now on CRAN. Formerly only available on GitHub, iptools now compiles under Debian/Ubuntu, Fedora/CentOS/RedHat and Mac OS X (we’re still working on that other operating system).

Oliver (the package co-author and on-CRAN instigator) wrote some excellent vignettes that cover the functionality of the package in-depth, but here’s a short-list of what you can find/expect in iptools:

• wicked-fast IP conversions (148 milliseconds for converting 1,000,000 addresses to integers and 700 milliseconds the other way ‘round)
• IP classification with ip_classify which can distinguish IPv4, IPv6 and non-IP address inputs
• hostname resolution (both ways) with hostname_to_ip and ip_to_hostname

plus, ways to handle CIDR blocks and generate random (but valid) IPv4 addresses.

We’ve also included some core IANA datasets and provided routines to refresh them.

iptools pairs nicely with urltools, webtools, longurl and rgeolocate, enabling many avenues of feature generation (for machine learning) and data analysis for cybersecurity and web analytics.

If you manage to get it working well on Windows, drop us a note in the comments (you’ll get a free copy of Data-Driven Security) and if you’ve use iptools in any cool projects hit us up here or on Twitter so we can get you on the podcast.