server-side browsers

I occasionally need the services of an anonymous browser, mostly to check
out sites that may be "unfriendly", ie malicious scripting, etc. I have
root access to a co-located server running Plesk 6 on Apache, and wondering
if there's any kind of "server-side" browser software that I could run, from
a public or private access folder on one of the sites I maintain. Better
if it's something that could run without an install because I'm not up on
Linux command line stuff, but have done a little server side tweaking with
mail scripts, php stuff, etc.

is this at all possible, the idea of a "server-side" browser that I could
use that would not open up my own computer to security risks?

thanks for any input...

NK

On Fri, 05 Oct 2007 05:35:34 +0000, Netcracker wrote:
[color=blue]
> ...
> wondering if there's any kind of "server-side" browser software that I
> could run, from a public or private access folder on one of the sites I
> maintain. Better if it's something that could run without an install
> because I'm not up on Linux command line stuff, but have done a little
> server side tweaking with mail scripts, php stuff, etc.
> ...NK[/color]


Maybe consider running a remote desktop session?

Sounds scary...

But you can always use X forwarding through SSH from a machine running
an X server. (ssh -Y -C bla@server). That way you can fire up firefox
(or some lightweight browser) on the server and use it for browsing.
Another option is using a text-based webbrowser like Link, Lynx or W3M.
And a final option is to make a php script that passes through URLs.
So a script that opens a connection to some webserver on port 80, relays
your get requests and then substitutes through regexps all href, img src
and all other url thingies into a php script call.
Sounds far fetched, but I used it to proxy into websites located in a
private net (not an illegal act).

Ow.. and another thing that comes to mind is to open an SSH tunnel to
the server to forward some remote port 80 to your local port 80 and edit
your hosts file to resolv your url to localhost.

I hope there's anything you can use.

regards,

-R-

Netcracker wrote:[color=blue]
> I occasionally need the services of an anonymous browser, mostly to check
> out sites that may be "unfriendly", ie malicious scripting, etc. I have
> root access to a co-located server running Plesk 6 on Apache, and wondering
> if there's any kind of "server-side" browser software that I could run, from
> a public or private access folder on one of the sites I maintain. Better
> if it's something that could run without an install because I'm not up on
> Linux command line stuff, but have done a little server side tweaking with
> mail scripts, php stuff, etc.
>
> is this at all possible, the idea of a "server-side" browser that I could
> use that would not open up my own computer to security risks?
>
> thanks for any input...
>
> NK
>
>
>[/color]