another big commit :D

app/helpers/application_helper.rb

@@ -1,2 +1,17 @@
 module ApplicationHelper
+  def port_open?(host, port)
+    wait = 300/1000.0 #milliseconds, the .0 is required!!
+    require 'timeout'
+    require 'socket'
+    isopen = false
+    begin
+      Timeout::timeout(wait) {
+        TCPSocket.new host, port
+        isopen = true
+      }
+    rescue Exception
+      # could not connect to the server
+    end
+    return isopen
+  end
 end