remote execution from php

Hi, I'd like to write a PHP app trough which an operator can administer processes running on remote machines, i.e. starting them, stopping them or querying their states through some 'ps -whatever' command, if they run or not. I believe that some remote execution functionality is required for this app. What I'm searching for is some kind of telnet functionality, for expl. over fsocket() PHP API just like Perl has Net::Telnet. So if you have some code that does this or have some idea to it other way please mail privately. Thanks Zoltan Sebestyen.