[thelist] determine if a server is running unix

[Kasimir K]

Roger H. scribeva in 2005-03-19 01:30:
> Is there a way to remotely tell if an intranet's server is running some form
> of UNIX or not?

> I had someone upload a info.php file with the <?php phpinfo() ?> in it, but
> it only printed that to the web page.

Just have a look at the HTTP-headers. They often tell something like:
Server: Apache/2.0.47 (Unix)
or:
Server: Microsoft-IIS/6.0
and the server on my lap top tells:
Server: Apache/2.0.48 (Win32) PHP/4.3.4

Not all servers tell what os they are running though, Google says just:
Server: GWS/2.1
And Yahoo tells nothing.

To view the headers, you can download for Firefox LiveHTTPHeaders 
extension [0], Fiddler [1] does the job too (requires .NET Framework), 
as does command line tool Curl [2] - very worthy inclusion in any toolbox.

.k


[0] http://livehttpheaders.mozdev.org/
[1] http://www.fiddlertool.com/fiddler/
[2] http://curl.haxx.se/