HarvEX / TurboSniper Server Events (SE)

Preparing and testing SE CGI script capability on your own web server space / homepage

The SE technology uses your own relay CGI script on your own web space (home page). This script relays the SE-Event from the HarvEX server and inserts your eBay password. You will receive the small relay script template after registering HarvEX. 

Meanwhile you may test if your web-server is suit for this process with these steps:

1. Setup the following 3 line CGI test script for example as http//yourserver.xxx/cgi-bin/test.py. You may use any FTP Tool, the Windows-Explorer by entering ftp://youruserid@yourserver.xxx/ or SynchronEX FTP upload.
   
   test.py :

   #!/usr/bin/python2 print "Content-Type: text/html" print  print "Hello world!"

   
   (or Perl version here)
    
2. FTP-Transfer this script as ASCII. BIN may result in error message "internal server error" in (5). When using SynchronEX, a setting like ftp_ascii=ftp_executable=['*.py','*.pl'] handles everything automatically
     
3. Mark this file as executable. (Windows-Explorer-FTP: right-click on test.py; Properties/Executable/...; Unix: chmod a+x my_hxse_script.py )
    
4. Be sure that the path /usr/bin/python is right for your web server
    
5. Call http//yourserver.xxx/cgi-bin/test.py with your web broser. "Hello world!" should appear. If the whole script appears as text, you have not set the executable flags (2) right. If something like "internal server error" appears, your /usr/bin/python may not be right or available. Check your server account documentation.
    
6. Test relay capabilities by extending the script:
   
   test.py :

   #!/usr/bin/python2 print "Content-Type: text/html" print  import urllib print urllib.urlopen("http://www.ebay.com").read()

   
   (or Perl version here)
   
7. Call http//yourserver.xxx/cgi-bin/test.py with your web browser. The web page of ebay.com should appear - actively relayed through your script! If this works correct, the HarvEX SE relay script will also work.

(Annotation: If you have an out-of-date web server supporting only Perl / PHP CGI and not Python you could also setup the Perl version scripts, but it is not recommended)

Notes on password security:

1. Only executable: If your script is marked executable as required by the test described, then nobody can read the script text itself from the web. (The only entrance would be backdoor over your web space provider, upload ftp-account, and other criminal paths)
2. Regkey protection: The SE script can be "executed" for relay and maybe password insertion only with correct regkey supplied in the call.
3. Account name not stored together with password: If anybody would intrude backdoor for getting the password, he can only get a password but not the corresponding eBay user account name. 
4. Last but not least: An eBay account is not a bank account as no direct money transfer is involved and you receive mails and money requests if somebody wants something from you ... and you can complain. What would a potential pwd-stealer win bidding 10000$ on his own 1$ item for example? Reveal himself? 

FAQ / Tips & Tricks

Background Knowledge?