Thanks for your fast reply.

Unfortunately, we don't have much of a choice in the server solution we're using. As much as I'd like to set up a dedicated host of my own, we don't have the skills in-house to maintain a secure server. Also, this project involves an ecommerce component, so I need to keep it as localized as possible -- including this script.

Also, this problem has nothing to do with firewalls or even security, believe it or not. I'm sure I could actually manage to wangle the server into doing what I want, or intentionally spin off a zombie or two to manage the task of keeping the process going. Unfortunately, the host would probably start killing off the processes as soon as it saw them. The host just doesn't want its clients messing with its machines -- so no terminal access and no scheduled tasks. I won't name the company, but it is fairly big and well-known. It just doesn't trust its clients.

Thanks for the suggestions, though.

I hope someone else has some equally helpful suggestions.