-pl_user = ######### <<< ASSIGN the username used to login to the PlanetLab website >>>
-pl_pass = ######## <<< ASSIGN the password used to login to the PlanetLab website >>>
-pl_ssh_key = ####### <<< ASSING the absolute path to the private SSH key used for Planetlab >>>
-slicename = ####### <<< ASSING the PlanetLab slicename >>>
-
-results_dir = "/tmp/demo_CCN_results"
+usage = ("usage: %prog -s <pl-slice> -u <pl-user> -p <pl-password> "
+ "-k <pl-ssh-key> -a <hostanme1> -b <hostname2> ")
+
+parser = OptionParser(usage = usage)
+parser.add_option("-s", "--pl-slice", dest="pl_slice",
+ help="PlanetLab slicename", type="str")
+parser.add_option("-u", "--pl-user", dest="pl_user",
+ help="PlanetLab web username", type="str")
+parser.add_option("-p", "--pl-password", dest="pl_password",
+ help="PlanetLab web password", type="str")
+parser.add_option("-k", "--pl-ssh-key", dest="pl_ssh_key",
+ help="Path to private SSH key associated with the PL account",
+ type="str")
+parser.add_option("-a", "--hostname1", dest="hostname1",
+ help="Remote host 1", type="str")
+parser.add_option("-b", "--hostname2", dest="hostname2",
+ help="Remote host 2", type="str")
+(options, args) = parser.parse_args()
+
+hostname1 = options.hostname1
+hostname2 = options.hostname2
+pl_slice = options.pl_slice
+pl_ssh_key = options.pl_ssh_key
+pl_user = options.pl_user
+pl_password = options.pl_password