Req: Hostname visible on DA pages

[erostew]

I sometimes have 2 or 3 DAs open on different servers and I can't count the number of times I've closed the wrong window or clicked the right link on the wrong page. Luckily I haven't made any irreparable mistakes yet!

The only way to tell what server it is from the main page is to look at the address in the browser or look at the user list. Since I usually use the server IP to access DA (bookmarked before the first domain is active) looking at the address bar isn't always helpful if I don't recognize the IP right away.

Would it be possible to add a feature that shows the server's hostname somewhere on the top of each DA page? It doesn't even have to be the hostname. Some user configured variable would be fine. Seems like something fairly easy to add that would benefit anybody with more than one server to administer.

Before you say it: Yes I know it can be done through editing the skin. I will probably end up doing that. But it would be much easier to just go to the admin settings page and check a box or write a descriptive name into the form somewhere.

 

[hehachris]

you add the |HOSTNAME| token to the skin, may be between <title></title>

 

[erostew]

you add the |HOSTNAME| token to the skin, may be between <title></title>

Yeah I figured if there wasn't a token it could just be hard coded into the skin.

Either way I think it would be worthwhile having a checkbox or something on the administrator settings page. I realize it probably isn't a high priority thing, but it probably wouldn't be that hard to add the feature to DA either.

 

[gadgetsguy]

I create custom headers for every server I have ...

Since I own a hosting company - with 40+ servers - it solved the same issue you are having (to the n^th power) for both me and my technical support staff ... and also makes it much more branded ...

 

[nobaloney]

One thing we do on our servers is we've created a small text file we put in /var/www/html which contains simply the server's full hostname.

Then we created a server-wide alias, so it will work for every domain; to see it in action try http://www.nobaloney.net/whichserver.txt

Jeff

 

[gadgetsguy]

That's a good idea too Jeff, but I think what the original poster was looking for, which was my motivation for creating the headers also, was a way to - at a glance - know which server is which, so when closing browser tabs, you don't end up closing the wrong one ..

 

[floyd]

I know at a glance just by looking at the address bar.

 

[nobaloney]

That's a good idea too Jeff, but I think what the original poster was looking for, which was my motivation for creating the headers also, was a way to - at a glance - know which server is which, so when closing browser tabs, you don't end up closing the wrong one ..

I'm obviously an admin. You're at least to some extent, an artist. We all use tools with which we're familiar.

I agree with Floyd as to what I look at when closing multiple control panels in multiple browser windows or tabs.

Sure I've made mistakes. Lots of times. It doesn't take that long to re-open a tab and get right back to where I was.

Chromium (on my linux desktops; I don't know if the feature exists in Chrome, for Windows, or not), even allows you to re-open a recently closed tab.

While we do let our users know which server they're on, I'm not sure I'd want them to see it in the header every time they're logged into the control panel.

However it's something I'll think about.

Jeff