Using Amiok to quickly check if configured sites on a shared Apache server respond properly

Every time I make a change on a shared host I get a weird sense of doom. I know that it might break something in one of the 50 sites on that box. Usually all is well, but sometimes you get a desperate call from a client.

We have automated test in all of our projects so why not for our servers? All high profile sites have managed hosting, site monitoring, and other goodness. It's the little sites that get the wrong end of the monkey. In the face.

I wrote a little tool called ‘amiok’. Amiok checks the sanity of the sites in the Apache virtual host configuration. It does a GET on the root of all the configured sites. If they return a sensible status code we know they're probably fine. All the other sites are reported.

$ gem install amiok
$ amiok
....................
example1.fngtps.com     Internal Server Error
example2.fngtps.com     Can't find server

Give it a try and let me know what you think!