Need a header status tool

[youfoundjake]

I'm looking for a php script that I can add as a tool to my site that people can use to check the header status of their site.
Ideally, I'd like to have it process everything, like if a 301 returns for http://example.com to http://www.example.com then a 200 will also be displayed..

Any ideas or should i just roll one from scratch and thus learn some php? heeh.. I'm running on apache btw..

[g1smd]

I guess you enter a URL in the form, the script curls or wgets or whatever their page, extracts the various headers and echos them out... with some error checking and a few other things. What UA should it present? Should it be one identifying your service, or should it just parrot the one received from the browser?

[youfoundjake]

Well, one part of me would have the UA be my website address as agent, as i've seen address's get indexed in the SERPS, so some backlinks couldn't hurt, but probably just the UA of the browser being used.

I've done some searching around, and p1r has a really slick one, includes the 301 to 200 process, where others just report the 301..

I'm not planning on making it too fancy, as of yet, just a value added tool for my site, and add them occasionally. The focus I think is the status being returned, not so much of server, HEAD, connection-type, closing the connection, and so on..

[pageoneresults]

I've done some searching around, and p1r has a really slick one, includes the 301 to 200 process, where others just report the 301.

Thanks Jake! Let me forewarn you, don't do it! There are way too many tools out there now that check headers. Not to mention browser plugins, etc. They are a dime a dozen.

I'm not planning on making it too fancy, as of yet, just a value added tool for my site, and add them occasionally. The focus I think is the status being returned, not so much of server, HEAD, connection-type, closing the connection, and so on.

I was fortunate in that we created our tool at a time when there was a need. Brett had just made his available to logged in members only and the others just were not cutting it for what we needed. Adding the recursive lookups is what gave us an edge.

The biggest challenge has been dealing with errors that get generated by the queries. We've got most of them nailed down but there probably isn't a day that doesn't go by where someone causes a 500 to occur and we have to track down why. 9 out of 10 times it has something to do with the site being checked and some funky redirect setup. We've learned a lot over the years as far as error handling goes.

Unless you have mad time on your hands, I'd stick to improving that URI Shortening Plugin you whipped up with that other fella. And if you're using FF, install Live HTTP Headers. :)

[youfoundjake]

dang it..
want to get my feet wet with php and apache, wamp basically, and i figured that a header check tool was a good start..

for the record, phil whipped up the plugin, i fortunately found it..
gotta do something, keep in mind, im a computer repair fixer, web and seo and all that stuff is new to me..so i try to learn by doing, hacking, modifiying, reading. and so on..can't quit my day job YET..

[g1smd]

I was originally going to say "Just get Live HTTP Headers for Firefox", but thought better of it as you're looking for projects to tackle. :)

[youfoundjake]

@g1smd, yeah, i got that plugin a couple years ago when I asked you how you knew which datacenter was being used during a query..see, i read what you write!