Note: I spent no time on readability, this is primarily a read the code and figure it out article.. This is for advanced users looking for a reference or discussion and for those of you looking to advance. Feedback would be great if you make it that far..

For a better handle on the way I like to structure web site directories, see Optimize a Website for Speed, Security, and Easy Management but note it is a bit outdated compared to what I’m doing now. I don’t have the luxury of using only one type of server, or hosting provider anymore, so I have been working towards making things even more portable in order to move from host to host from server to server without issues i.e. my portable .bash_profile.

So I’ve been basically experimenting various ways to accomplish that and thought I would share what I am currently doing for my benefit and hopefully get some input. All of my WP installs run the development version, and one main idea with my setups is that upgrading is automated. So I really keep the WordPress install clean and use plugins and wp-config.php to do all the customization.

• Portability – Hands-free upgrades and easy to move
• Security – Additional security and protection
• Speed – Less CPU and Disk I/O
• Customization – All my favorite customizations

wp-config.php

These are the main settings I use.. Seriously this is more like an interactive article, because to understand it you will need to do some code grepping. You may want to grab a jolt.

ASKAPACHE_ROOT

The ASKAPACHE_ROOT variable is just a better way for me to be able to include and access all the different files in my site tree. For instance, in my non-wp php files, I can do this:

!defined('ASKAPACHE_ROOT') && require $_SERVER['DOCUMENT_ROOT'] . '/wp-config.php';
include(ASKAPACHE_ROOT . '/includes/custom-download.inc.php');

ASKAPACHE_LOCK

This is one of my all-time favorite hacks, that I think is one of the most useful methods I employ as a web developer. This allows me to use far-future-expire headers for optimum caching, while still forcing browsers to re-validate every day or so automatically, or forcing them to re-validate whenever I change the suffix. This takes advantage of the mod_rewrite trick that I use on EVERY site I run, definately worth learning. Because I practice best-practice web-standards, for every web site I create a single css file and javascript file, which I then add to the template like:

<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" media="all" href="http://static.askapache.com/c/apache-0<?php echo ASKAPACHE_LOCK?>.css" />
<script src="http://static.askapache.com/j/apache-0<?php echo ASKAPACHE_LOCK;?>.js" type="text/javascript"></script>

<?php
/**
 * The base configurations of the WordPress.
 *
 * This file has the following configurations: MySQL settings, Table Prefix,
 * Secret Keys, WordPress Language, and ABSPATH. You can find more information by
 * visiting {@link http://codex.wordpress.org/Editing_wp-config.php Editing
 * wp-config.php} Codex page. You can get the MySQL settings from your web host.
 *
 * This file is used by the wp-config.php creation script during the
 * installation. You don't have to use the web site, you can just copy this file
 * to "wp-config.php" and fill in the values.
 *
 * @package WordPress
 */
/* http://codex.wordpress.org/Editing_wp-config.php */
 
/** /home/liet/askapache.com */
!defined('ASKAPACHE_ROOT') && define('ASKAPACHE_ROOT', str_replace('/public_html','', $_SERVER['DOCUMENT_ROOT']));
 
/** The 008 at the end is for manual tweaking.  time() returns seconds since '00:00:00 1970-01-01 UTC'. */
// http://www.askapache.com/htaccess/mod_rewrite-fix-for-caching-updated-files.html
!defined('ASKAPACHE_LOCK') && define(ASKAPACHE_LOCK', substr(time(),0,5).'008'); // 12533001
 
/** absolute path to the WordPress directory */
!defined('ABSPATH') && define('ABSPATH', ASKAPACHE_ROOT .'/public_html/');
 
/**
 * WP_SITEURL, defined since WordPress Version 2.2, allows the WordPress address (URL) to be defined. The valued defined is the address where your WordPress core files reside.
 * It should include the http:// part too. Do not put a slash "/" at the end.
 * Setting this value in wp-config.php overrides the wp_options table value for siteurl and disables the WordPress address (URL) field in the Administration > Settings > General panel.
 */
!defined('WP_SITEURL') && define('WP_SITEURL', 'http://'.$_SERVER['SERVER_NAME']);
 
/**
 * WP_HOME is another wp-config.php option added in WordPress Version 2.2. Similar to WP_SITEURL,
 * WP_HOME overrides the wp_options table value for home but does not change it permanently.
 * home is the address you want people to type in their browser to reach your WordPress blog. It should include the http:// part. Also, do not put a slash "/" at the end.
 */
!defined('WP_HOME') && define('WP_HOME', WP_SITEURL);
 
/** no trailing slash, full paths only */
!defined('WP_CONTENT_DIR') && define( 'WP_CONTENT_DIR', ABSPATH . 'wp-content' );
 
// full url - WP_CONTENT_DIR is defined further up
!defined('WP_CONTENT_URL') && define( 'WP_CONTENT_URL', WP_SITEURL . '/wp-content');
 
/** Allows for the plugins directory to be moved from the default location. @since 2.6.0 */
// full path, no trailing slash
!defined('WP_PLUGIN_DIR') && define( 'WP_PLUGIN_DIR', WP_CONTENT_DIR . '/plugins' );
 
/** Allows for the plugins directory to be moved from the default location. @since 2.6.0 */
// full url, no trailing slash
!defined('WP_PLUGIN_URL') && define( 'WP_PLUGIN_URL', WP_CONTENT_URL . '/plugins' );
 
/** Allows for the plugins directory to be moved from the default location. @since 2.1.0 */
// Relative to ABSPATH.  For back compat.
//!defined('PLUGINDIR') && define( 'PLUGINDIR', 'wp-content/plugins' );
 
/** Number of autosaves to save. TRUE is default and enables post revisions, FALSE disables revisions completely. */
!defined('WP_POST_REVISIONS') && define('WP_POST_REVISIONS', 150);
 
/* ini_set('memory_limit', WP_MEMORY_LIMIT); */
!defined('WP_MEMORY_LIMIT') && define('WP_MEMORY_LIMIT', '64M');
 
/** Only check at this interval for new messages. Default is 5min */
/** @since 2.9  */
!defined('WP_MAIL_INTERVAL') && define('WP_MAIL_INTERVAL', 3600); // 1 hour
 
/** Saves updated post values to post from edit window every x seconds. (default 60)
 * When editing a post, WordPress uses Ajax to auto-save revisions to the post as you edit. You may want to increase this setting for longer delays in between auto-saves, or decrease the setting to make sure you never lose changes.
 * @since 2.5.0 */
!defined( 'AUTOSAVE_INTERVAL' ) && define( 'AUTOSAVE_INTERVAL', 60 );
 
/** @since 2.9.0  */
/** Permanently deletes posts, pages, attachments, and comments which have been in the trash for EMPTY_TRASH_DAYS. */
!defined( 'EMPTY_TRASH_DAYS' ) && define( 'EMPTY_TRASH_DAYS', 300 );

Debugging WordPress

One of my secrets for getting really good at this stuff is to master debugging. There is really not ever a time when I am working on a site that I don’t have color-highlighted logs scrolling automatically in an ssh window. It’s really almost impossible to fix problems with wordpress or do any kind of advanced anything without being able to view debugging info. At first I relied heavily on a custom php.ini being available on the server, but after having to deal with many hosts who don’t allow php.ini files I now rely completely on setting values using ini_set for ultimate portability. Detailed towards the end of this article and is also included in this wp-config.php

/**#@+
 * DEBUGGING STUFF
 */
/** display of notices during development. if false, error_reporting is E_ERROR | E_WARNING | E_PARSE | E_USER_ERROR | E_USER_WARNING | E_RECOVERABLE_ERROR otherwise E_ALL */
!defined('WP_DEBUG') && define('WP_DEBUG', false);
 
/** The SAVEQUERIES definition saves the database queries to a array and that array can be displayed to help analyze those queries.
 *  The information saves each query, what function called it, and how long that query took to execute.  */
!defined('SAVE_QUERIES') && define('SAVE_QUERIES', WP_DEBUG);
 
!defined('ACTION_DEBUG') && define('ACTION_DEBUG', WP_DEBUG);
 
/** This will allow you to edit the scriptname.dev.js files in the wp-includes/js and wp-admin/js directories.  */
!defined('SCRIPT_DEBUG') && define('SCRIPT_DEBUG', WP_DEBUG);

 
/** Add define('WP_DEBUG_LOG', true); to enable php debug logging to WP_CONTENT_DIR/debug.log */
//!defined('WP_DEBUG_LOG') && define('WP_DEBUG_LOG', true);
 
/** This determines whether errors should be printed to the screen as part of the output or if they should be hidden from the user.
 *  Add define('WP_DEBUG_DISPLAY', false); to wp-config.php to use the globally configured setting for display_errors and not force it to On */
!defined('WP_DEBUG_DISPLAY') && define('WP_DEBUG_DISPLAY', false);

Ultimate Security Tweaks

Well, ultimate for WP’s built-in keys and password functions, this is all for wp-config.php keep in mind. This is a very neccessary and recommended step, and is one of the only things I modify for each new installation.

Security KEYS

If like me you are familiar with password-cracking software like John the ripper, rainbow hash tables, l0pht-crack, etc.. then you will like to know that you can specify your own keys and salts for the encryption used by WP. They are AUTH_KEY, AUTH_SALT, SECURE_AUTH_KEY, SECURE_AUTH_SALT, LOGGED_IN_KEY, LOGGED_IN_SALT, NONCE_KEY, NONCE_SALT, SECRET_KEY and SECRET_SALT.

A random and long key gives you better encryption, and exponentially increasing that is using a random and long salt for the encryption. Encryptions with known salts are incredibly easy to decrypt compared to encryptions with secure salts, because the salt + key individually need to be guessed in order to find a matching hash, vs. just the key if the salt is known. See: Locating weak passwords.

A secret key is a hashing salt which makes your site harder to hack and access harder to crack by adding random elements to the password.

In simple terms, a secret key is a password with elements that make it harder to generate enough options to break through your security barriers. A password like “password” or “test” is simple and easily broken. A random, unpredictable password such as “88a7da62429ba6ad3cb3c76a09641fc” takes years to come up with the right combination.

For more information on the technical background and breakdown of secret keys and secure passwords, see:

• WordPress Support Forum – HOWTO: Set up secret keys in WordPress 2.6+
• Wikipedia’s explanation of Password Cracking

I like to use the WordPress.org secret-key service 4 times. That’s because for each key and salt I like to do: (1 key from api +random keyboard input+1 key from api).

/**#@+
 * Authentication Unique Keys.
 *
 * Change these to different unique phrases!
 * You can generate these using the {@link https://api.wordpress.org/secret-key/1.1/ WordPress.org secret-key service}
 * You can change these at any point in time to invalidate all existing cookies.
 * This will force all users to have to log in again.
 *
 * @since 2.6.0
 *
 * Get salt to add to hashes to help prevent attacks.
 *
 * The secret key is located in two places: the database in case the secret key
 * isn't defined in the second place, which is in the wp-config.php file. If you
 * are going to set the secret key, then you must do so in the wp-config.php
 * file.
 *
 * The secret key in the database is randomly generated and will be appended to
 * the secret key that is in wp-config.php file in some instances. It is
 * important to have the secret key defined or changed in wp-config.php.
 *
 * If you have installed WordPress 2.5 or later, then you will have the
 * SECRET_KEY defined in the wp-config.php already. You will want to change the
 * value in it because hackers will know what it is. If you have upgraded to
 * WordPress 2.5 or later version from a version before WordPress 2.5, then you
 * should add the constant to your wp-config.php file.
 *
 * Below is an example of how the SECRET_KEY constant is defined with a value.
 * You must not copy the below example and paste into your wp-config.php. If you
 * need an example, then you can have a
 * {@link https://api.wordpress.org/secret-key/1.1/ secret key created} for you.
 *
 * Salting passwords helps against tools which has stored hashed values of
 * common dictionary strings. The added values makes it harder to crack if given
 * salt string is not weak.
 *
 * @since 2.5
 * @link https://api.wordpress.org/secret-key/1.1/ Create a Secret Key for wp-config.php
 *
 * @return string Salt value from either 'SECRET_KEY' or 'secret' option
 */
define('AUTH_KEY',        'jflkhaskljdfhkljasdhflkjashd;flkjhas;djfh;kajshdflkjashdlfkjhasdlkfhal?p[B+GR{@>{Yq`c|LnG;dvq#| %OA_cbBSU6,rICC1o/c)-|');
define('SECURE_AUTH_KEY', 'jflkhaskljdfhkljasdhflkjashd;flkjhas;djfh;kajshdflkjashdlfkjhasdlkfhal?Vp[Bb15baar8&R-r<[T|?(xhJJABGq+Ux+U$)-Hltp/');
define('LOGGED_IN_KEY',   'jflkhaskljdfhkljasdhflkjashd;flkjhas;djfh;kajshdflkjashdlfkjhasdlkfhal?Vp[B<5n6DG|YWnJ9tY2!M1L)`{-$LW~~Ia%.uCbn!P. 41o2$Z$4');
define('NONCE_KEY',       'jflkhaskljdfhkljasdhflkjashd;flkjhas;djfh;kajshdflkjashdlfkjhasdlkfhal?Vp[Bgu<wM*zewR0.{+m:bmrB?wj!B,4]Wo+4 Avk ApR-D?E');
define('SECRET_KEY',     'jflkhaskljdfhkljasdhflkjashd;flkjhas;djfh;kajshdflkjashdlfkjhasdlkfhal?Vp[B52ugH6muE9r4._iZwoYKUybrqLPpv|d Xr+|yrqhUE');
 
define('AUTH_SALT',        '123423190847olqkfhladhfsldshafasdfasdf09a7f-90a87df98adfyapoiyaf9asd8f70a9s8d7f908a7sdf97W4qCdm~Ky%+%~PPa5b YEmDI%U[W!-B');
define('SECURE_AUTH_SALT', '123423190847olqkfhladhfsldshafasdfasdf09a7f-90a87df98adfyapoiyaf9asd8f70a9s8d7f908a7sdf97W4qCdmad/7o6.AU3%9o-|Kqm]+eUqr-n~:ag');
define('LOGGED_IN_SALT',   '123423190847olqkfhladhfsldshafasdfasdf09a7f-90a87df98adfyapoiyaf9asd8f70a9s8d7f908a7sdf97W4qCdmsLiCv@KJ{#wd(?qe(KcH3!');
define('NONCE_SALT',       '123423190847olqkfhladhfsldshafasdfasdf09a7f-90a87df98adfyapoiyaf9asd8f70a9s8d7f908a7sdf97W4qCdmG9>+wm 2)bS0Pd_+1rx0brX]ND8|');
define('SECRET_SALT',      '123423190847olqkfhladhfsldshafasdfasdf09a7f-90a87df98adfyapoiyaf9asd8f70a9s8d7f908a7sdf97W4qCdm2<>))U|sty)+4vpWooKls/^[vN');
/**#@-*/

Using SSL for Admin and Login

SSL is kinda required from my point of view, it is just way to easy to sniff data off the wire otherwise. At least with SSL you force them to use tools like burpsuite, paros proxy, webscarab, etc..

/** @since 2.6.0  */
!defined('FORCE_SSL_ADMIN') && define('FORCE_SSL_ADMIN', true);
 
/** @since 2.6.0  */
!defined('FORCE_SSL_LOGIN') && define('FORCE_SSL_LOGIN', true);

Mod_Rewrite to Force SSL

This is pretty cool, it forces non-https for all urls except for /wp-admin and wp-login.php, which both require https. It also checks for the logged_in_cookie, and if that is present in the request then it doesn't force non-https. Kinda confusing if you don't have a mod_rewrite cheatsheet.

RewriteCond %{THE_REQUEST} ^$ [OR]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} ^/(wp-admin|wp-login\.php).*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_COOKIE} ^.*wp_li_sadfsdfasdf11b361cdsdfasdfasd=.*$ [NC]
RewriteRule .* - [S=1]
 
RewriteCond %{HTTPS} =on [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} !^www\.askapache\.com$ [NC]
RewriteRule .* http://%{SERVER_NAME}%{REQUEST_URI} [R=301,L]
 
RewriteCond %{THE_REQUEST} ^[A-Z]{3,9}\ /(wp-admin/.*|wp-login\.php.*)\ HTTP/ [NC]
RewriteCond %{HTTPS} !=on
RewriteRule .* https://%{SERVER_NAME}%{REQUEST_URI} [R=301,L]

File System Permissions

You can get a basic and solid intro on file permissions by reading: Changing File Permissions, or you can check out some of my file permission research.

/** The permissions as octal number, usually 0644 for files, 0755 for dirs.
 *  http://codex.wordpress.org/Changing_File_Permissions
 *  if ( !$wp_filesystem->mkdir($remote_destination, FS_CHMOD_DIR) )
 */
!defined('FS_CHMOD_DIR') && define('FS_CHMOD_DIR', (0755 & ~ umask()));
!defined('FS_CHMOD_FILE') && define('FS_CHMOD_FILE', (0644 & ~ umask()));
/**#@-*/
 
/** Define the timeouts for the connections. Only available after the construct is called to allow for per-transport overriding of the default. */
//stream_set_timeout( $stream, FS_TIMEOUT );
//!defined('FS_TIMEOUT') && define('FS_TIMEOUT', 30);
 
//$this->link = @ftp_connect($this->options['hostname'], $this->options['port'], FS_CONNECT_TIMEOUT);
//!defined('FS_CONNECT_TIMEOUT') && define('FS_CONNECT_TIMEOUT', 30);
 
// function get_filesystem_method($args = array(), $context = false) {
//  $method = defined('FS_METHOD') ? FS_METHOD : false; //Please ensure that this is either 'direct', 'ssh', 'ftpext' or 'ftpsockets'
//!defined('FS_METHOD') && define('FS_METHOD', 'direct');
 
/** These methods for the WordPress core, plugin, and theme upgrades try to determine the WordPress path, as reported by PHP, but symlink trickery can sometimes
 * 'muck this up' so if you know the paths to the various folders on the server, as seen via your FTP user, you can manually define them in the wp-config.php file.
 * FS_METHOD forces the filesystem method. It should only be "direct", "ssh", "ftpext", or "ftpsockets".
 * FTP_BASE is the full path to the "base" folder of the WordPress installation.
 * FTP_CONTENT_DIR is the full path to the wp-content folder of the WordPress installation.
 * FTP_PLUGIN_DIR is the full path to the plugins folder of the WordPress installation.
 * FTP_PUBKEY is the full path to your SSH public key.
 * FTP_PRIKEY is the full path to your SSH private key.
 * FTP_USER is either user FTP or SSH username. Most likely these are the same, but use the appropriate one for the type of update you wish to do.
 * FTP_PASS is the password for the username entered for FTP_USER. If you are using SSH public key authentication this can be omitted.
 * FTP_HOST is the hostname:port combination for your SSH/FTP server. The standard FTP port is 21 and the standard SSH port is 22.
 */
//define('FS_METHOD', 'ftpext');
//define('FTP_BASE', '/path/to/wordpress/');
//define('FTP_CONTENT_DIR', '/path/to/wordpress/wp-content/');
//define('FTP_PLUGIN_DIR ', '/path/to/wordpress/wp-content/plugins/');
//define('FTP_PUBKEY', '/home/username/.ssh/id_rsa.pub');
//define('FTP_PRIKEY', '/home/username/.ssh/id_rsa');
//define('FTP_USER', 'username');
//define('FTP_PASS', 'password');
//define('FTP_HOST', 'ftp.example.org:21');
 
/**
 * Block requests through the proxy.
 *
 * Those who are behind a proxy and want to prevent access to certain hosts may do so. This will
 * prevent plugins from working and core functionality, if you don't include api.wordpress.org.
 *
 * You block external URL requests by defining WP_HTTP_BLOCK_EXTERNAL in your wp-config.php file
 * and this will only allow localhost and your blog to make requests.
 * The constant WP_ACCESSIBLE_HOSTS will allow additional hosts to go through for requests. The format of the
 * WP_ACCESSIBLE_HOSTS constant is a comma separated list of hostnames to allow.
 *
 * @since 2.8.0
 * @link http://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/8927 Allow preventing external requests.
/** @since 2.9  */
//!defined('WP_HTTP_BLOCK_EXTERNAL') && define( 'WP_HTTP_BLOCK_EXTERNAL', false );
 
/*
 * The constant WP_ACCESSIBLE_HOSTS will allow additional hosts to go through for requests. The format of the
 * WP_ACCESSIBLE_HOSTS constant is a comma separated list of hostnames to allow.
 *
 * @since 2.8.0
 * @link http://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/8927 Allow preventing external requests.
 * $accessible_hosts = preg_split('|,\s*|', WP_ACCESSIBLE_HOSTS);
 * return !in_array( $check['host'], $accessible_hosts ); //Inverse logic, If its in the array, then we can't access it.
 */
//!defined('WP_ACCESSIBLE_HOSTS') && define( 'WP_ACCESSIBLE_HOSTS', 'askapache.com,askapache.org' );

Cookies!

There’s always a little comfort in having non-default cookies for security (against auto-bots), and using shorter names also means smaller HTTP Packets.

The $cookie_hash is my hack to get around the fact that COOKIEHASH isn’t definable in wp-config.

/**#@+
 * COOKIES
 * Used to guarantee unique hash cookies @since 1.5 */
$cookie_hash=md5(WP_SITEURL);
 
/** Set a cookie now to see if they are supported by the browser.
 * setcookie(TEST_COOKIE, 'WP Cookie check', 0, COOKIEPATH, COOKIE_DOMAIN);
 * @since 2.3.0 */
!defined('TEST_COOKIE') && define('TEST_COOKIE', 'wp_tc');
 
/* @since 2.6.0 */
!defined('LOGGED_IN_COOKIE') && define('LOGGED_IN_COOKIE', 'wp_li_' . $cookie_hash);
 
/* @since 2.6.0 */
!defined('SECURE_AUTH_COOKIE') && define('SECURE_AUTH_COOKIE', 'wp_sa_' . $cookie_hash);
 
/* @since 2.5.0 */
!defined('AUTH_COOKIE') && define('AUTH_COOKIE', 'wp_a_' . $cookie_hash);
 
/* @since 2.0.0 */
!defined('PASS_COOKIE') && define('PASS_COOKIE', 'wp_p_' . $cookie_hash);
 
/* @since 2.0.0 */
!defined('USER_COOKIE') && define('USER_COOKIE', 'wp_u_' . $cookie_hash);
 
/* ok unset this var, its not needed as COOKIEHASH will have this value, but is not definable in wp-config.php */
unset($cookie_hash);
 
/** @since 1.2.0 */
!defined('COOKIEPATH') && define('COOKIEPATH', preg_replace('|https?://[^/]+|i', '', WP_HOME . '/' ) );
 
/** @since 1.5.0 */
!defined('SITECOOKIEPATH') && define('SITECOOKIEPATH', preg_replace('|https?://[^/]+|i', '', WP_SITEURL . '/' ) );
 
/** @since 2.6.0 */
!defined('ADMIN_COOKIE_PATH') && define( 'ADMIN_COOKIE_PATH', SITECOOKIEPATH . 'wp-admin' );
 
/** @since 2.6.0 */
!defined('PLUGINS_COOKIE_PATH') && define( 'PLUGINS_COOKIE_PATH', preg_replace('|https?://[^/]+|i', '', WP_PLUGIN_URL)  );
 
/** @since 2.0.0 */
!defined('COOKIE_DOMAIN') && define('COOKIE_DOMAIN', $_SERVER['SERVER_NAME']);

/**
  * The WP_CACHE setting, if true, includes the wp-content/advanced-cache.php script, when executing wp-settings.php.
  * For an advanced caching plugin to use, static because you would only want one
  * if ( defined('WP_CACHE') )@include WP_CONTENT_DIR . '/advanced-cache.php';
  */
!defined('WP_CACHE') && define('WP_CACHE', true);
 
/** WordPress Localized Language, defaults to en_US.
 *
 * Change this to localize WordPress.  A corresponding MO file for the chosen
 * language must be installed to wp-content/languages. For example, install
 * de.mo to wp-content/languages and set WPLANG to 'de' to enable German
 * language support. */
!defined('WPLANG') && define ('WPLANG', 'en_US');
 
/** Stores the location of the language directory. First looks for language folder in WP_CONTENT_DIR
 *   and uses that folder if it exists. Or it uses the "languages" folder in WPINC. @since 2.1.0 */
//!defined('WP_LANG_DIR') && define('WP_LANG_DIR', ABSPATH . WPINC . '/languages');
 
/** LANGDIR defines what directory the WPLANG .mo file resides. If LANGDIR is not defined WordPress looks first to wp-content/languages and then wp-includes/languages for the .mo defined by WPLANG file.  Old static relative path maintained for limited backwards compatibility - won't work in some cases*/
//!defined('LANGDIR') && define('LANGDIR', 'wp-content/languages');
 
/** Stores the location of the WordPress directory of functions, classes, and core content. @since 1.0.0 */
//!defined('WPINC') && define('WPINC', 'wp-includes');

WPMU Stuff

I personally don’t use.

/** Allows for the mu-plugins directory to be moved from the default location. @since 2.8.0 */
//!defined('WPMU_PLUGIN_DIR') && define( 'WPMU_PLUGIN_DIR', WP_CONTENT_DIR . '/mu-plugins' ); // full path, no trailing slash
 
/** Allows for the mu-plugins directory to be moved from the default location. @since 2.8.0 */
//!defined('WPMU_PLUGIN_URL') && define( 'WPMU_PLUGIN_URL', WP_CONTENT_URL . '/mu-plugins' ); // full url, no trailing slash
 
/** Allows for the mu-plugins directory to be moved from the default location. @since 2.8.0 */
//!defined( 'MUPLUGINDIR' ) && define( 'MUPLUGINDIR', 'wp-content/mu-plugins' ); // Relative to ABSPATH.  For back compat.

WordPress Database

This is usually the only thing I have to manually edit when creating a new site, unless I just use the same DB and modify the $table_prefix, (farther down). I run everything I possibly can in UTF-8, but if you don’t already know alot about character sets, wow it is one of the most confusing things so you may want to save learning about that topic for another day. Otherwise the following are helpful (and show how confusing character sets are!)

• Character Sets and Collations MySQL Support
• Converting Database Character Sets
• UTF-8 character sets (UTF-8)

If you ever setup WP to use the builtin membership features, make sure you learn about the CUSTOM_USER_TABLE and CUSTOM_USER_META_TABLE constants, I’ve found them very helpful.

/**#@+
 * MySQL settings
 */
/** The name of the database for WordPress */
define('DB_NAME', 'askapachewpblog75');
 
/** The username to access the database */
define('DB_USER', 'askapache245d');
 
/** The password for the username to access the database */
define('DB_PASSWORD', 'asdfklj2340');
 
/** The hostname to connect to the database at */
define('DB_HOST', 'mysql.askapache.com');
 
/** The charset of the database */
define('DB_CHARSET', 'utf8');
 
/** The collation of the database */
define('DB_COLLATE', 'utf8_general_ci');

$table_prefix

The $table_prefix is the value placed in the front of your database tables. Change the value if you want to use something other than wp_ for your database prefix. Typically this is changed if you are installing multiple WordPress blogs in the same database, and also for enhanced security.

Its a safe and good idea to change this value pre-installation to add more security to your WordPress blog. Exploits attempted against your WordPress blog by malicious crackers often are built with the premise that your blog uses the prefix wp_, by changing the value you mitigate some attack vectors.

/**
 * WordPress Database Table prefix.
 *
 * You can have multiple installations in one database if you give each a unique
 * prefix. Only numbers, letters, and underscores please!
 */
$table_prefix  = 'ar15_';
 
/** CUSTOM_USER_TABLE and CUSTOM_USER_META_TABLE are used to designated that the user and usermeta tables normally utilized by WordPress are not used, instead these values/tables are used to store your user information. */
//!defined('CUSTOM_USER_TABLE') && define('CUSTOM_USER_TABLE', $table_prefix . 'my_users');
//!defined('CUSTOM_USER_META_TABLE') && define('CUSTOM_USER_META_TABLE', $table_prefix . 'my_usermeta');

Setup PHP Ini Settings

 
/** Turns the output of errors on or off, you really never want this on, you should only view errors by reading the log file. */
ini_set('display_errors', WP_DEBUG_DISPLAY);
 
/** Tells whether script error messages should be logged to the server's error log or error_log. */
ini_set('log_errors', 'On');
 
/** http://us.php.net/manual/en/timezones.php */
ini_set('date.timezone', 'America/Indianapolis');
 
/** Where to log php errors */
ini_set('error_log', ASKAPACHE_ROOT . '/logs/php_error.log');
 
/** Set the memory limit, otherwise defaults to '32M' */
ini_set('memory_limit', WP_MEMORY_LIMIT);

Sessions are slow

So I only use sessions when I have a specific use… In this case I need sessions only when one of the tools in the /online-tools/ directory is being used. And that is for the captcha image. In the future I won’t ever use sessions.

if(preg_match( '#^/online-tools/#',$_SERVER['REQUEST_URI'])) session_start();

Include Custom Files

Sure you could use the my-hacks.php that WP allows, or you can just stick your functions in your TEMPLATEPATH/functions.php file, but they are executed only after the wp-settings.php file, which may be too late for your file.

In the past I’ve also used the auto_prepend_file settings to run my script before anything (index.php) but I ran into some issues on different hosts, and it wasn’t as portable.

This is useful because you can have a file with globally available functions that you can use in non-WP areas as well as WP areas. I am moving away from this more and more as I learn more about classes and build plugins instead for portability.

include_once ASKAPACHE_ROOT . '/includes/myfunctions.inc';
 
/** Sets up WordPress vars and included files. */
require_once(ABSPATH . 'wp-settings.php');
?>

Some Useful PHP

I am constantly trying to make my sites and code more portable, so I am using plugins alot more to accomplish things that I use to do with separate php. Here are some examples of minimal php.

add_filter("the_generator", create_function('$a','return "";'));
add_filter('the_content', create_function('$a', 'return ((is_feed())? $a."<p><a href=\"".get_permalink()."\">".get_the_title()."</a> originally appeared on ".get_bloginfo("name").".</p>" : $a);'), 99999);
add_filter('excerpt_length', create_function('$a', 'return 300;'),99);
add_filter('excerpt_more', create_function('$a', 'return "&hellip;";'),99);
add_action( 'wp_head', create_function('$a','echo "<link rel=\"pingback\" href=\"'.get_bloginfo('pingback_url').'\" />\n";'), 95 );
add_action( 'wp_head', create_function('$a','echo "<link rel=\"schema.rss\" href=\"http://purl.org/rss/1.0/\" />\n";'), 96 );
add_action( 'wp_head', create_function('$a','echo "<link rel=\"schema.rel\" href=\"http://purl.org/vocab/relationship/\" />\n";'), 97 );
add_action( 'wp_head', create_function('$a','echo "<link rel=\"meta\" type=\"application/rdf+xml\" href=\"/foaf.rdf\" />\n";'), 98 );
add_action( 'wp_head', create_function('$a','echo "<link href=\"/favicon.ico\" rel=\"shortcut icon\" type=\"image/x-icon\" />\n";'), 99 );

Debugging Note

If you read this far than you probably know how important debugging is, but I sometimes like to stick the best tips deep in my articles to make sure only YOU find it. GRTFM isn’t used on this site, it’s mostly a requirement because my writing can get pretty bad.. The point, debugging is more than a crucial requirement if you want to do anything cool. Don’t worry I got you.. check my AskApache Debug Viewer Plugin from the official WP site. It’s pretty close to providing as verbose amount of information that I could possibly figure out how to get out of php, probably more than you have ever seen at least, I focused on quantity. I use it all the time on new installs as there is no setup required and it tells me advanced information about the setup of the server, hacker code for sure.

Here’s a quick function to see set global vars, I just think this is interesting code.

function askapache_global_debug(){
  global $_GET,$_POST,$_COOKIE,$_SESSION,$_ENV,$_FILES,$_SERVER,$_REQUEST,$HTTP_POST_FILES,$HTTP_POST_VARS,$HTTP_SERVER_VARS,$HTTP_RAW_POST_DATA,$HTTP_GET_VARS,$HTTP_COOKIE_VARS,$HTTP_ENV_VARS;
  $gv=create_function('$n','global $$n; ob_start(); if ( is_array($$n) && sizeof($$n)>0 && print("[{$n}]\n") ) print_r($$n);return ob_get_clean();');
  foreach (array('_GET','_POST','_COOKIE','_SESSION','_ENV','_FILES','_SERVER','_REQUEST','HTTP_POST_FILES','HTTP_POST_VARS','HTTP_SERVER_VARS','HTTP_RAW_POST_DATA','HTTP_GET_VARS','HTTP_COOKIE_VARS','HTTP_ENV_VARS') as $k)echo $gv($k);
  print_r(get_defined_constants());
}

Also check the WordPress Codex page: Editing wp-config.php and Perishable Press’s: Stupid WordPress Tricks

Advanced WordPress wp-config.php Tweaks originally appeared on AskApache.com

The batch file also runs PortaPuttY plink to create forwarded tunnels from various remote servers and accounts, all using key-based encryption. This includes dynamic SOCKS 4/5 tunnels, VPN tun device tunnels, and of course the basic SSH port forwarding tunnels that are so powerful. These tunnels are automatically reconnected if they are disconnected, using simple windows builtin command-line tools. And believe me it was not easy to figure out how to make this all work using plink ( essentially the same as putty minus the gui ), I literally had to use almost all of my Windows kung fu to finally end up with this.

Using MyEnTunnel

Initially I was using the MyEnTunnel program combined with a custom windows batch install script I wrote to handle the tunnels.

The tunnels are very important to making things easy while improving security. It’s not easy to understand at first, but basically it means you can now connect to ANY IP address:port as if you were on that very machine connecting to localhost, like if you pinged yourself!. The result is any traffic you want is now encrypted, and you can set up your servers to only accept connections from localhost, which could save you tons of memory, bandwidth, and security attack vectors to think about. So I configure everything to use these tunnels as proxies, like Mozilla Thunderbird and Chrome, Firefox, Pidgeon, all portable versions and running from my encrypted usb drive.

This means you can walk into my house with that usb key, plug into any computer here, and surf the web/check your emails all across SSH… I know for a fact I wouldn’t be able to snoop that traffic! There is a lot of exciting things going on around here, new servers and all.. Its going to take a couple more posts for me to finish this up, enjoy the article and comment.

Buy a couple USB Mini Drives

The first thing to do, is purchase a USB thumb drive.. My favorite store, TigerDirect.com, has over 104 tiny usb drives for under $24.. I’ve used them since the late 90′s.

I bought some 4GB PNY’s the size of a fingernail at a gas station and they are amazing, way faster than say a dvd drive. Just try to do some research of the differences between the 16GB vs the $4 1GB drives.. You want speed because the whole drive will be encrypted. If you can afford the super excellent and crazy fast ones, hey send me one! Buying cheap means you can buy 3 or 4 so you can always have backups. This device will make you Internationally mobile, untethered from a box, maybe getting some work done at a cafe in Florenze, or at a beach hotel in Miami. Keep dreaming, but that is more possible with a better organized system.

Backup the USB Drive

You only need to know 1 way that works, there are several. The way I do backups is to copy the entire disk image of the usb, that way I can always access it in case of usb key failure, which does happen. Free software like CloneZilla live CD with its crazy cluster computing power, or Self Image, which is free for both linux and Windows. And you could never go wrong with GHOST, one of the first to make mega bucks in the market.. it’s some seriously impressive software but not open-source. Even easier for some is to just set a cron job for dd to pipe the entire drive image to a remote computer using netcat, or sshfs, or curlftpfs, or just simple ssh like below. Once setup (without stupid, bulky, dangerous software), the files on your encrypted usb don’t change often, otherwise I would want to sync a backup to happen automatically every X number of logins or days (test logfile time in bash_profile?)..

SSH Back-ups To Remote Server

Files and data on your drives slow it down tremendously, meaning a web server storing backups locally is slower than one storing them externally.

Notice how much safer this command is by optimizing both the CPU and DISK I/O.. Though it’s much smarter to create a new separate ssh user, one with no shell and a passwordless safer key-based encryption. Then in your /etc/security/limits.conf file or your initscript you can cause that user to have nice -19 and ionice -c2 -n7 priority set all the time automatically, since sshd, compression, and disk writing are this accounts only job. turboslow is an alias defined in a ssh_config file so you don’t have to type the host, port, and settings each time.

#
# much better ways to do this on google!!!!!!!
#
ionice -c2 -n7 nice -n 19 dd if=/dev/sdb2 bs=1k conv=sync,noerror | gzip -c | ssh turboslow "dd of=sdb2.gz bs=1k"

Note that you may decide it would be better to configure the ssh connection to a less CPU intensive algorithm, perhaps even protocol 1 and DES. That’s perfectly alright, but the tradeoff is that the encryption can be broken much quicker, and so you would have to implement a cron job to create new keys on both ends of the tunnel every few hours.. It’s really not a big deal to setup, kind of sweet way to use key-based encryption. Also, important files ( those containing passwords, any database ) are encrypted before transport using private GPG keys, which don’t need to be changed. The other thing to think about too is only letting your main PC send/write on the backup host, so the backup host is only authorized to rx and can never login back to yours.

Hey! the Internet is a dangerous place you better believe it! And it’s only going to get more interesting with cloud computing’s breakthrough’s… More people who know they’re way around… I can always use an extra server, I’d love to expand my network another node without having to pay for it (free cloud computing?), so make sure your servers are locked up strenuously. Not super perfect, just a little unique or creative in your defense to avoid any coming super-worm’s that may be employing vast arsenals of the deadliest attack-engines like metasploit.. Scarry rumors.

Compression Speeds: PBZip2, Rzip, Lzop, Gzip

Probably the fastest is to use rsync over ssh, which is what I’m doing, since the algorithms used by rsync are much faster and safer. Rsync also lets you specify a compression program, so depending on your machine you will want pbzip2 (for multi processors) or rzip which are the 2 fastest I know of, though I have had some reliability issues with rzip for gigabyte transfers. Pbzip2 is amazing, blew me away the first time being 8x faster (8 CPUs) then anything. You can get it and compile a static binary for your thumb drive if want at Parallel BZIP2 (PBZIP2). Heavy code, re: this note by Jeff Gilchrist

NOTE: If you are looking for a parallel BZIP2 that works on cluster machines, you should check out MPIBZIP2 which was designed for a distributed-memory message-passing architecture.

tar cpf "$G" --use-compress-prog=pbzip2 ./

Benchmarking for Performance

Finally a couple tips, you should get an idea what the device can do, format it a few times for linux and test it on windows, and vice versa.. Some drives are too small or too old and can only support fat32 filesystems on winblows, you DO NOT want fat32 because this drive is going to be 100% encrypted and then 100% transparently decrypted as you use it,

# note this is 512MB
dd if=/dev/sda1 of=/dev/null bs=512 count=1000000
512000000 bytes (512 MB) copied, 5.16588 s, 99.1 MB/s

Part II: Encrypted AutoRunning USB Key with TrueCrypt

Now this section anyone can do, it’s so easy on Windows. What I’m going to show you how to do is get setup the right way super-fast. There are many ways to use TrueCrypt, it’s one of the nicest built software programs’s I’ve ever used… Sadly, it is not licensed open-source, and that is often a deal-breaker for security-conscious folks or anti-pirate anarchists. From the very helpful TrueCrypt web site:

• Creates a virtual encrypted disk within a file and mounts it as a real disk.
• Encrypts an entire partition or storage device such as USB flash drive or hard drive.
• Encrypts a partition or drive where Windows is installed (pre-boot authentication).
• Encryption is automatic, real-time (on-the-fly) and transparent.
• Parallelization and pipelining allow data to be read and written as fast as if the drive was not encrypted.
• Provides plausible deniability, in case an adversary forces you to reveal the password: Hidden volume (steganography) and hidden operating system.
• Encryption algorithms: AES-256, Serpent, and Twofish. Mode of operation: XTS.

Further Reading

• Network File Copy using SSH
• Check out the trunk version of PuTTY:~ svn co svn://svn.tartarus.org/sgt/putty

The real fun doesn’t start till all the automation starts, automating all of that from a couple batch files I wrote, one click setup. Kind of like building your own knoppix for when you have to use Windows. To begin this tutorial, setup a truecrypt traveller setup on your usb and also install the portaputty package onto the usb. You do this by creating a 3GB or whatever file on the usb and then mounting that file like you would mount an iso file. I will show the Windows Batch file I use and the tricks with Windows Volume names and how to consistently make it all work. Then we will setup MyEnTunnel with a customized batch file that forces all puttys to use portaputty (sweet hack stolen from sysinternals pagedefrag tool).Stay Tuned!

PortaPutty Auto-Reconnecting SSH Tunnels on an Encrypted TrueCrypt Portable USB Key w GPG originally appeared on AskApache.com

I use this awesome skeleton setup for all my high-paying clients sorry poor people! and also of course on this blog, which I use as a bleeding-edge dev server for my crazy testing. So realize that I’m already past this setup and using it to do cooler stuff. In order for you to use these more advanced ideas, you first need to get up to speed on what I’m doing so you know what I’m talking about. This article tries to help you accomplish that… remains to be seen.

An Optimized Website, The Real Deal

This first article is to give you some ideas and get you thinking and reading before the first article in this series comes out. This series details how to setup, configure, secure, optimize, and manage a website the best possible way I can come up with. It pieces together all the AskApache hacks and tricks and uses methods and ideas discussed all over this blog and all over the net and glues them all together to show you how to have the most optimized, fastest, best website setup I can think of.

Knowing the why and how behind the operation of a Web Server allows us to optimize that operation. For this example we will be creating the website www.askapache.com, which will be running WordPress and php. We will also set up static.askapache.com to serve all of our sites uploads, images, css and javascript files, flash files, etc. with advanced caching and security using Apache Server .htaccess files. So lets get started and take a look at this site structure for a moment.

/home/askapache.com
|-- /home/askapache.com/backups/
|-- /home/askapache.com/public_html/
|-- /home/askapache.com/inc/
|-- /home/askapache.com/logs/
|-- /home/askapache.com/static/
|-- /home/askapache.com/tmp/
|-- /home/askapache.com/.htpasswd-basic
`-- /home/askapache.com/.htpasswd-digest

• /backups/ – For encrypted backups of WordPress database and site files. And any other backups.
• /public_html/ – The document root for www.askapache.com
• /inc/ – Folder to keep your php include files for extra security and easy management.
• /logs/ – Save your php, apache, and other logs here or create symlinks to them.
• /static/ – The document root for static.askapache.com
• /tmp/ – Only need this if your host doesn’t already have a /tmp folder

Strong Security, Top to Bottom

Simply by implementing correct access permissions, file permissions, password protection and segmenting various folders and services we are already ahead of the game. I’ve always taken security extremely seriously, so you can benefit from alot of the simple solutions I’m recommending for a really locked down site.

Indeed, security is a major part of every step of this setup process, as security concerns are what drives a lot of the motivations I have for coming up with this setup in the first place. We will be doing very simple but very effective site security like the following items, which is a short list compared to everything we will be doing.

• Fixing file permissions automatically
• Searching for modified files on the server
• Encrypting your backups
• Get alerted to breakin attempts
• Block tons of bad clients
• Disallowing cgi scripts or any other handlers, just serve files.
• Configuring PHP
• Password Protection for certain areas

Ready for Warfare?

My past work for an Internet Service Provider, followed by 4 years of auditing the security of organizations external/internal networks has given me a fresh perspective on website security, and I think it allows me to see what would really be effective at preventing and killing attacks. In fact just last night I was once again doing some research into some off-the-wall security topics, and I discovered a new defense method that I will be writing about very soon. I believe that this new method, could be quickly adopted and implemented by hosting providers and software developers, which would result in us finally taking the Internet back from all those zombies and robots. This method will be discussed in great detail soon, and will be a core part of this site setups security and optimization.

Built to Bleed Speed

Serve’s files as fast and efficiently as possible using advanced caching, HTTP Protocols, php/server configurations.

Many of the articles and research on this blog is about improving the speed and efficiency of your website. In fact that is why I am helping develop open-source software to block spammers from WordPress blogs… not because I’m bothered by the spam, but because they make the net slow! So lets look at some of the ideas we’ll be implementing.

Many techniques I’ve been using and tweaking for several years, and recently many of them were included in the high-performance websites list. Of course we will be taking a look at this list in practical terms, meaning almost all of it, the caching, compression, etc., will be automated in keeping with our “comfort” goal, which is to say we want to make the Web Developer and Server Admin’s lives as easy and comfy as possible. After all, we do the work right?

1. Reduce HTTP requests – Reducing 304 requests with Cache-Control Headers
2. Use a customized php.ini – Creating and using a custom PHP.ini
3. Add an Expires header – Caching with mod_expires on Apache
4. Gzip components
5. Make CSS and unobtrusive Javascript as external files not inline
6. Reduce DNS lookups – Use Static IP address, use a subdomain with static IP address for static content.
7. Minimize Javascript – Refactor the code, compress with dojo
8. Avoid external redirects – Use internal redirection with mod_rewrite, The correct way to redirect with 301
9. Turn off ETags – Prevent Caching with htaccess
10. Make AJAX cacheable and small

AskApache.com, Fastest Site Ever!

Ok it might not be the #1, but surely the top 10.. ;)

I’m very proud of the performance I am able to achieve on this site. Very proud. I started looking for ways to improve the wp-cache and wp-super-cache WordPress plugins, and came up with hacks for both of them.. but they still didn’t do what I wanted so I started from scratch and wrote my own caching plugin.

With much more advanced caching options and unquestionably higher performance and lower time usage on the machine. I’m hesitant to release it to the public until I get faded on it.. I just really love it.. it has been running my site for several months now and I keep finding ways to improve it.. Stay tuned.

One feature it has is the ability to allow negotiation of a resource between apache and the client. Think almost transparent mutli-lingual blogs, mutliple formats per document (look at the rdf for this page for an example*). But that plugin is the future and this is the present.. so back to it we go.

Pamper the Webmaster with Extreme Comfort

This section alone would make this setup appealing. I have developed all types of techniques and methods to make my life as easy as possible. I could literally DIE right now and this blog would continue to run and operate for years on its own. The general philosophy that I have used to get to where I can goto the beach with my laptop and do all this crazy stuff is the idea of perfection. That may sound a little put-offish, but it basically means I will focus in on one very specific area for improvement or research and just get sick with it. Most of this blogs articles are enlightening examples of this in action. I will take a relatively unknown or unused piece of code or software and experiment with it until I feel I have it down, then I move on to the next item of never-ending research. Mostly I think this is just plain habit from when I was studying security. I’m much better at this then that :)

Apache ErrorDocuments

The 57 HTTP Status Codes and Apache ErrorDocuments article is a prime example. I was simply searching for an authoritative list of HTTP status codes, an issue not many web people find worth their time, and that search led to some of the most useful stuff I’ve found about the Web

This “Comfort” article will include multi-language, intelligent, and optimized error documents for handling any type of HTTP error with class and allow us to stop spammers, save bandwidth, redirect correctly, etc.. You will probably be surprised at all the uses an Apache ErrorDocument can have.. It IS one of the foundations of the HTTP-based Net after all.

Emphasis on Easy Upgrades

The whole setup is geared to make hassle-free WordPress/PHP/application upgrades possible by keeping different types of files in separate places, keeping backups, other misc tricks and since all of these files are in /home/askapache.com, your FTP connection can still access every file easily. Sometimes security and optimizing your server can lead to it being more of a pain to do updates, backups, and general maintenance. This article tries to overwhelm the balance with a trifecta of goals.

Move to a new host? Ok!

Comfort to me also means being able to pack up the whole website and database and move to another web host in under an hour. I can move the whole AskApache site to one of several other hosting providers accounts I have in about 30minutes. If this was a clients site or I was getting paid more, I’d also be focused on round-robin DNS technology, balance-load setups, and just go crazy making it fast.

Staying Online, Improving Uptime

Ever since I started sharing information and software to stop all these resource hogging zombies attacking everything I’ve been attacked several times. Normally I get over 10K exploit attempts or requests per day, which I pretty much block 100%. But a few times they’ve actually tried to DDOS me off the net in a distributed attack. I have implemented several “poor mans” techniques to put up your best effort at surviving, which I did. Basically you want to configure your server to KILL connections just as fast as possible and prevent your server resources from skyrocketing and surpassing your quotas. A skilled attacker could easily shut you down even without the use of a widespread botnet if they are clever, which could be devastating to your small blog or site if it goes down at a crucial instant.

Organization with Templates and Systems

I used to work with a guy who did alot of the coldfusion programming for us, and I used to cringe every time I was called in to upgrade a site or do a re-design. Files and folders EVERYWHERE! Literally images in every folder, multiple index.html, index1.html, index-old.html, and on and on it went.. It would take me hours just to reverse-engineer the site enough so I could modify files on it without having some unkown consequence happen.

Do You Have a Cluttered Desktop?

Everyone has this problem, what I do all the time is just grab everything on my desktop and put it in a folder named with the date. Then the process repeats itself and invariably a few months later I’m looking at a cluttered screen again.

This absolutely is the worst thing that can happen to a website, worst for security, comfort for webmaster, and speed. So this setup addresses that issue completely heads on. With all the different pages, tools, and resources available on this blog, I can almost promise you that my site has less files than yours. No small feat to be sure, but worth every second I spent researching how to do it now that its on and popping.

What’s a Website really?

All hosts are different, but any host worth their salt is running some kind of BSD/Linux operating system, and that is good news because those operating systems all use very similarly excellent file/folder structures with huge organization systems. If your web hosting provider is running on a Windows based operating system or other locked/proprietary software than this article is not for you and I would recommend switching hosts to a BSD/Linux open-source operating system.

Listening for Requests with Web Hosting and DNS

First you set your website up so it can start serving.

1. You buy your domain name, which just gives you the right to use it.
2. You pay your webhost for an account on their machine running a Server connected to the Net via a fast connection link.
3. You pay a DNS provider to redirect requests for your domain name to be sent to your webhosts machine running the server.

Sub-Domain for Serving Assets

This is a very cool method I’ve been using more and more frequently because it makes updates, upgrades, and changes so much easier to manage. And segmenting various parts of the site is smart security, and even smarter in the way of speeding up a website and keeping your servers running mean and lean.

Full Site Structure Expanded

/home/askapache.com
|-- /home/askapache.com/backups/
|-- /home/askapache.com/public_html/
|   |-- /home/askapache.com/public_html/about/
|   |-- /home/askapache.com/public_html/admin/
|   |-- /home/askapache.com/public_html/cgi-bin/
|   |-- /home/askapache.com/public_html/.htaccess
|   |-- /home/askapache.com/public_html/index.php
|   `-- /home/askapache.com/public_html/robots.txt
|-- /home/askapache.com/inc/
|   |-- /home/askapache.com/inc/config.inc.php
|   `-- /home/askapache.com/inc/settings.inc.php
|-- /home/askapache.com/logs/
|   |-- /home/askapache.com/logs/access.log
|   |-- /home/askapache.com/logs/error.log
|   |-- /home/askapache.com/logs/logins.log
|   |-- /home/askapache.com/logs/modsec_audit.log
|   |-- /home/askapache.com/logs/modsec_debug.log
|   `-- /home/askapache.com/logs/php_error.log
|-- /home/askapache.com/static/
|   |-- /home/askapache.com/static/css/
|   |-- /home/askapache.com/static/flv/
|   |-- /home/askapache.com/static/img/
|   |-- /home/askapache.com/static/js/
|   |-- /home/askapache.com/static/mp3/
|   |-- /home/askapache.com/static/pdf/
|   |-- /home/askapache.com/static/swf/
|   |-- /home/askapache.com/static/.htaccess
|   |-- /home/askapache.com/static/index.html
|   `-- /home/askapache.com/static/robots.txt
|-- /home/askapache.com/tmp/
|-- /home/askapache.com/.htpasswd-basic
`-- /home/askapache.com/.htpasswd-digest

Full Expanded Structure

/home/askapache.com
|-- /home/askapache.com/backups/
|-- /home/askapache.com/public_html/
|   |-- /home/askapache.com/public_html/about/
|   |   `-- /home/askapache.com/public_html/about/index.html
|   |-- /home/askapache.com/public_html/admin/
|   |   |-- /home/askapache.com/public_html/admin/.htaccess
|   |   `-- /home/askapache.com/public_html/admin/index.html
|   |-- /home/askapache.com/public_html/cgi-bin/
|   |   |-- /home/askapache.com/public_html/cgi-bin/bin/
|   |   |   |-- /home/askapache.com/public_html/cgi-bin/bin/.htaccess
|   |   |   |-- /home/askapache.com/public_html/cgi-bin/bin/php.cgi*
|   |   |   |-- /home/askapache.com/public_html/cgi-bin/bin/php.ini
|   |   |   |-- /home/askapache.com/public_html/cgi-bin/bin/php4.cgi*
|   |   |   `-- /home/askapache.com/public_html/cgi-bin/bin/php5.cgi*
|   |   |-- /home/askapache.com/public_html/cgi-bin/private/
|   |   |   |-- /home/askapache.com/public_html/cgi-bin/private/.htaccess
|   |   |   |-- /home/askapache.com/public_html/cgi-bin/private/debug.php
|   |   |   `-- /home/askapache.com/public_html/cgi-bin/private/stats.php
|   |   |-- /home/askapache.com/public_html/cgi-bin/.htaccess
|   |   |-- /home/askapache.com/public_html/cgi-bin/login.php
|   |   |-- /home/askapache.com/public_html/cgi-bin/printenv.cgi*
 
|   |   `-- /home/askapache.com/public_html/cgi-bin/redir.cgi*
|   |-- /home/askapache.com/public_html/.htaccess
|   |-- /home/askapache.com/public_html/index.php
|   `-- /home/askapache.com/public_html/robots.txt
|-- /home/askapache.com/inc/
|   |-- /home/askapache.com/inc/config.php
|   `-- /home/askapache.com/inc/functions.php
|-- /home/askapache.com/logs/
|   |-- /home/askapache.com/logs/access.log
|   |-- /home/askapache.com/logs/error.log
|   |-- /home/askapache.com/logs/logins.log
|   |-- /home/askapache.com/logs/modsec_audit.log
|   |-- /home/askapache.com/logs/modsec_debug.log
|   `-- /home/askapache.com/logs/php_error.log
|-- /home/askapache.com/static/
|   |-- /home/askapache.com/static/css/
|   |   `-- /home/askapache.com/static/css/apache.css
|   |-- /home/askapache.com/static/flv/
|   |   `-- /home/askapache.com/static/flv/apache.flv
|   |-- /home/askapache.com/static/img/
|   |   |-- /home/askapache.com/static/img/apache.gif
|   |   |-- /home/askapache.com/static/img/apache.jpg
|   |   `-- /home/askapache.com/static/img/apache.png
|   |-- /home/askapache.com/static/js/
|   |   `-- /home/askapache.com/static/js/apache.js
|   |-- /home/askapache.com/static/mp3/
|   |   `-- /home/askapache.com/static/mp3/apache.mp3
|   |-- /home/askapache.com/static/pdf/
|   |   `-- /home/askapache.com/static/pdf/apache.pdf
|   |-- /home/askapache.com/static/swf/
|   |   `-- /home/askapache.com/static/swf/apache.swf
|   |-- /home/askapache.com/static/.htaccess
|   |-- /home/askapache.com/static/index.html
|   `-- /home/askapache.com/static/robots.txt
|-- /home/askapache.com/tmp/
|-- /home/askapache.com/.htpasswd-basic
`-- /home/askapache.com/.htpasswd-digest

The buzz about apache and open-source is very real, apache is becoming more of a discussed topic as people realize the power and importance of Doing it and Doing it and Doing it well. – Movable Type Apache Installs made easy, Checking out Apache Web logs, Securing WordPress with .htaccess, WordPress Permalinks and .htaccess, New search and replace module for apache!, creating an .htaccess template, .htaccess allow directive

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Optimize a Website for Speed, Security, and Easy Management originally appeared on AskApache.com

Update March 9, 2009: A lot of sites on the web have updated their HTTP status code lists to include the HTTP Status codes listed on this page, including Wikipedia, IANA, W3C, and others, so rest assured this info is accurate and complete. If you’d like to see how to create custom error pages for all of these errors like mine /show-error-506 , then check out this detailed tutorial I just posted.

Contents

• List of All 57 HTTP Response Status Code
• Quick Start to triggering ErrorDocuments for each Status Code
• Automate the ErrorDocument Triggering
  • The htaccess Code
  • PHP script that gets and outputs the Headers/Content
• Headers and Content Returned
• Apache Source Code
  • httpd.h
  • http_protocol.c

57 APACHE HTTP STATUS RESPONSE CODES

Once I compiled the list of Apache recognized HTTP Status Codes, I was dying to see them all in action (i.e. the corresponding ErrorDocument). At first I thought I would have to create a php or perl script emulating each of the 57 HTTP Status Codes, a tedious undertaking I wasn’t about to do. Instead I “asked Apache” by searching the Apache HTTP Documentation for ambiguity sending Status Codes and/or triggering ErrorDocuments with an Apache Directive.
While reading up on mod_alias and the Redirect directive I found:

Apache Docs

Syntax: Redirect [status] URL-path URL The status argument can be used to return other HTTP status codes. Other status codes can be returned by giving the numeric status code as the value of status. If the status is between 300 and 399, the URL argument must be present, otherwise it must be omitted.

100 Continue

ErrorDocument Continue | Sample 100 Continue
This means that the server has received the request headers, and that the client should proceed to send the request body (in case of a request which needs to be sent; for example, a POST request). If the request body is large, sending it to a server when a request has already been rejected based upon inappropriate headers is inefficient. To have a server check if the request could be accepted based on the requests headers alone, a client must send Expect: 100-continue as a header in its initial request (see RFC 2616 14.20 Expect header) and check if a 100 Continue status code is received in response before continuing (or receive 417 Expectation Failed and not continue).

101 Switching Protocols

ErrorDocument Switching Protocols | Sample 101 Switching Protocols
This means the requester has asked the server to switch protocols and the server is acknowledging that it will do so.[3]

102 Processing

ErrorDocument Processing | Sample 102 Processing
(WebDAV) – (RFC 2518 )

200 OK

ErrorDocument OK | Sample 200 OK
Standard response for successful HTTP requests. The actual response will depend on the request method used. In a GET request, the response will contain an entity corresponding to the requested resource. In a POST request the response will contain an entity describing or containing the result of the action.

201 Created

ErrorDocument Created | Sample 201 Created
The request has been fulfilled and resulted in a new resource being created.

202 Accepted

ErrorDocument Accepted | Sample 202 Accepted
The request has been accepted for processing, but the processing has not been completed. The request might or might not eventually be acted upon, as it might be disallowed when processing actually takes place.

203 Non-Authoritative Information

ErrorDocument Non-Authoritative Information | Sample 203 Non-Authoritative Information
The server successfully processed the request, but is returning information that may be from another source.

204 No Content

ErrorDocument No Content | Sample 204 No Content
The server successfully processed the request, but is not returning any content.

205 Reset Content

ErrorDocument Reset Content | Sample 205 Reset Content
The server successfully processed the request, but is not returning any content. Unlike a 204 response, this response requires that the requester reset the document view.

206 Partial Content

ErrorDocument Partial Content | Sample 206 Partial Content
The server is delivering only part of the resource due to a range header sent by the client. This is used by tools like wget to enable resuming of interrupted downloads, or split a download into multiple simultaneous streams.

207 Multi-Status

ErrorDocument Multi-Status | Sample 207 Multi-Status
(WebDAV) – The message body that follows is an XML message and can contain a number of separate response codes, depending on how many sub-requests were made.

226 IM Used

ErrorDocument IM Used | Sample 226 IM Used
The server has fulfilled a GET request for the resource, and the response is a representation of the result of one or more instance-manipulations applied to the current instance. The actual current instance might not be available except by combining this response with other previous or future responses, as appropriate for the specific instance-manipulation(s).

300 Multiple Choices

ErrorDocument Multiple Choices | Sample 300 Multiple Choices
Indicates multiple options for the resource that the client may follow. It, for instance, could be used to present different format options for video, list files with different extensions, or word sense disambiguation.

301 Moved Permanently

ErrorDocument Moved Permanently | Sample 301 Moved Permanently
This and all future requests should be directed to the given URI.

302 Found

ErrorDocument Found | Sample 302 Found
This is the most popular redirect code[citation needed], but also an example of industrial practice contradicting the standard. HTTP/1.0 specification (RFC 1945 ) required the client to perform a temporary redirect (the original describing phrase was “Moved Temporarily”), but popular browsers implemented it as a 303 See Other. Therefore, HTTP/1.1 added status codes 303 and 307 to disambiguate between the two behaviours. However, the majority of Web applications and frameworks still use the 302 status code as if it were the 303.

303 See Other

ErrorDocument See Other | Sample 303 See Other
The response to the request can be found under another URI using a GET method. When received in response to a PUT, it should be assumed that the server has received the data and the redirect should be issued with a separate GET message.

304 Not Modified

ErrorDocument Not Modified | Sample 304 Not Modified
Indicates the resource has not been modified since last requested. Typically, the HTTP client provides a header like the If-Modified-Since header to provide a time against which to compare. Utilizing this saves bandwidth and reprocessing on both the server and client, as only the header data must be sent and received in comparison to the entirety of the page being re-processed by the server, then resent using more bandwidth of the server and client.

305 Use Proxy

ErrorDocument Use Proxy | Sample 305 Use Proxy
Many HTTP clients (such as Mozilla[4] and Internet Explorer) do not correctly handle responses with this status code, primarily for security reasons.

306 Switch Proxy

ErrorDocument Switch Proxy | Sample 306 Switch Proxy
No longer used.

307 Temporary Redirect

ErrorDocument Temporary Redirect | Sample 307 Temporary Redirect
In this occasion, the request should be repeated with another URI, but future requests can still use the original URI. In contrast to 303, the request method should not be changed when reissuing the original request. For instance, a POST request must be repeated using another POST request.

400 Bad Request

ErrorDocument Bad Request | Sample 400 Bad Request
The request contains bad syntax or cannot be fulfilled.

401 Unauthorized

ErrorDocument Unauthorized | Sample 401 Unauthorized
Similar to 403 Forbidden, but specifically for use when authentication is possible but has failed or not yet been provided. The response must include a WWW-Authenticate header field containing a challenge applicable to the requested resource. See Basic access authentication and Digest access authentication.

402 Payment Required

ErrorDocument Payment Required | Sample 402 Payment Required
The original intention was that this code might be used as part of some form of digital cash or micropayment scheme, but that has not happened, and this code has never been used.

403 Forbidden

ErrorDocument Forbidden | Sample 403 Forbidden
The request was a legal request, but the server is refusing to respond to it. Unlike a 401 Unauthorized response, authenticating will make no difference.

404 Not Found

ErrorDocument Not Found | Sample 404 Not Found
The requested resource could not be found but may be available again in the future. Subsequent requests by the client are permissible.

405 Method Not Allowed

ErrorDocument Method Not Allowed | Sample 405 Method Not Allowed
A request was made of a resource using a request method not supported by that resource; for example, using GET on a form which requires data to be presented via POST, or using PUT on a read-only resource.

406 Not Acceptable

ErrorDocument Not Acceptable | Sample 406 Not Acceptable
The requested resource is only capable of generating content not acceptable according to the Accept headers sent in the request.

407 Proxy Authentication Required

ErrorDocument Proxy Authentication Required | Sample 407 Proxy Authentication Required
Required

408 Request Timeout

ErrorDocument Request Timeout | Sample 408 Request Timeout
The server timed out waiting for the request.

409 Conflict

ErrorDocument Conflict | Sample 409 Conflict
Indicates that the request could not be processed because of conflict in the request, such as an edit conflict.

410 Gone

ErrorDocument Gone | Sample 410 Gone
Indicates that the resource requested is no longer available and will not be available again. This should be used when a resource has been intentionally removed; however, it is not necessary to return this code and a 404 Not Found can be issued instead. Upon receiving a 410 status code, the client should not request the resource again in the future. Clients such as search engines should remove the resource from their indexes.

411 Length Required

ErrorDocument Length Required | Sample 411 Length Required
The request did not specify the length of its content, which is required by the requested resource.

412 Precondition Failed

ErrorDocument Precondition Failed | Sample 412 Precondition Failed
The server does not meet one of the preconditions that the requester put on the request.

413 Request Entity Too Large

ErrorDocument Request Entity Too Large | Sample 413 Request Entity Too Large
The request is larger than the server is willing or able to process.

414 Request-URI Too Long

ErrorDocument Request-URI Too Long | Sample 414 Request-URI Too Long
The URI provided was too long for the server to process.

415 Unsupported Media Type

ErrorDocument Unsupported Media Type | Sample 415 Unsupported Media Type
The request did not specify any media types that the server or resource supports. For example the client specified that an image resource should be served as image/svg+xml, but the server cannot find a matching version of the image.

416 Requested Range Not Satisfiable

ErrorDocument Requested Range Not Satisfiable | Sample 416 Requested Range Not Satisfiable
The client has asked for a portion of the file, but the server cannot supply that portion (for example, if the client asked for a part of the file that lies beyond the end of the file).

417 Expectation Failed

ErrorDocument Expectation Failed | Sample 417 Expectation Failed
The server cannot meet the requirements of the Expect request-header field.

418 I’m a teapot

ErrorDocument I’m a teapot | Sample 418 I’m a teapot
The HTCPCP server is a teapot. The responding entity MAY be short and stout. Defined by the April Fools specification RFC 2324. See Hyper Text Coffee Pot Control Protocol for more information.

422 Unprocessable Entity

ErrorDocument Unprocessable Entity | Sample 422 Unprocessable Entity
(WebDAV) (RFC 4918 ) – The request was well-formed but was unable to be followed due to semantic errors.

423 Locked

ErrorDocument Locked | Sample 423 Locked
(WebDAV) (RFC 4918 ) – The resource that is being accessed is locked

424 Failed Dependency

ErrorDocument Failed Dependency | Sample 424 Failed Dependency
(WebDAV) (RFC 4918 ) – The request failed due to failure of a previous request (e.g. a PROPPATCH).

425 Unordered Collection

ErrorDocument Unordered Collection | Sample 425 Unordered Collection
Defined in drafts of WebDav Advanced Collections, but not present in “Web Distributed Authoring and Versioning (WebDAV) Ordered Collections Protocol” (RFC 3648).

426 Upgrade Required

ErrorDocument Upgrade Required | Sample 426 Upgrade Required
(RFC 2817 ) – The client should switch to TLS/1.0.

449 Retry With

ErrorDocument Retry With | Sample 449 Retry With
A Microsoft extension. The request should be retried after doing the appropriate action.

500 Internal Server Error

ErrorDocument Internal Server Error | Sample 500 Internal Server Error
A generic error message, given when no more specific message is suitable.

501 Not Implemented

ErrorDocument Not Implemented | Sample 501 Not Implemented
The server either does not recognise the request method, or it lacks the ability to fulfil the request.

502 Bad Gateway

ErrorDocument Bad Gateway | Sample 502 Bad Gateway
The server was acting as a gateway or proxy and received an invalid response from the upstream server.

503 Service Unavailable

ErrorDocument Service Unavailable | Sample 503 Service Unavailable
The server is currently unavailable (because it is overloaded or down for maintenance). Generally, this is a temporary state.

504 Gateway Timeout

ErrorDocument Gateway Timeout | Sample 504 Gateway Timeout
The server was acting as a gateway or proxy and did not receive a timely request from the upstream server.

505 HTTP Version Not Supported

ErrorDocument HTTP Version Not Supported | Sample 505 HTTP Version Not Supported
The server does not support the HTTP protocol version used in the request.

506 Variant Also Negotiates

ErrorDocument Variant Also Negotiates | Sample 506 Variant Also Negotiates
(RFC 2295 ) – Transparent content negotiation for the request, results in a circular reference.

507 Insufficient Storage

ErrorDocument Insufficient Storage | Sample 507 Insufficient Storage
(WebDAV) (RFC 4918 )

509 Bandwidth Limit Exceeded

ErrorDocument Bandwidth Limit Exceeded | Sample 509 Bandwidth Limit Exceeded
(Apache bw/limited extension) – This status code, while used by many servers, is not specified in any RFCs.

510 Not Extended

ErrorDocument Not Extended | Sample 510 Not Extended
(RFC 2774 ) – Further extensions to the request are required for the server to fulfil it.

1xx Info / Informational

HTTP_INFO – Request received, continuing process. Indicates a provisional response, consisting only of the Status-Line and optional headers, and is terminated by an empty line.

• 100 Continue – HTTP_CONTINUE
• 101 Switching Protocols – HTTP_SWITCHING_PROTOCOLS
• 102 Processing – HTTP_PROCESSING

2xx Success / OK

HTTP_SUCCESS – The action was successfully received, understood, and accepted. Indicates that the client’s request was successfully received, understood, and accepted.

• 200 OK – HTTP_OK
• 201 Created – HTTP_CREATED
• 202 Accepted – HTTP_ACCEPTED
• 203 Non-Authoritative Information – HTTP_NON_AUTHORITATIVE
• 204 No Content – HTTP_NO_CONTENT
• 205 Reset Content – HTTP_RESET_CONTENT
• 206 Partial Content – HTTP_PARTIAL_CONTENT
• 207 Multi-Status – HTTP_MULTI_STATUS

3xx Redirect

HTTP_REDIRECT – The client must take additional action to complete the request. Indicates that further action needs to be taken by the user-agent in order to fulfill the request. The action required may be carried out by the user agent without interaction with the user if and only if the method used in the second request is GET or HEAD. A user agent should not automatically redirect a request more than 5 times, since such redirections usually indicate an infinite loop.

• 300 Multiple Choices – HTTP_MULTIPLE_CHOICES
• 301 Moved Permanently – HTTP_MOVED_PERMANENTLY
• 302 Found – HTTP_MOVED_TEMPORARILY
• 303 See Other – HTTP_SEE_OTHER
• 304 Not Modified – HTTP_NOT_MODIFIED
• 305 Use Proxy – HTTP_USE_PROXY
• 306 unused – UNUSED
• 307 Temporary Redirect – HTTP_TEMPORARY_REDIRECT

4xx Client Error

HTTP_CLIENT_ERROR – The request contains bad syntax or cannot be fulfilled. Indicates case where client seems to have erred. Except when responding to a HEAD request, the server should include an entity containing an explanation of the error situation, and whether it is a temporary or permanent condition.

• 400 Bad Request – HTTP_BAD_REQUEST
• 401 Authorization Required – HTTP_UNAUTHORIZED
• 402 Payment Required – HTTP_PAYMENT_REQUIRED
• 403 Forbidden – HTTP_FORBIDDEN
• 404 Not Found – HTTP_NOT_FOUND
• 405 Method Not Allowed – HTTP_METHOD_NOT_ALLOWED
• 406 Not Acceptable – HTTP_NOT_ACCEPTABLE
• 407 Proxy Authentication Required – HTTP_PROXY_AUTHENTICATION_REQUIRED
• 408 Request Time-out – HTTP_REQUEST_TIME_OUT
• 409 Conflict – HTTP_CONFLICT
• 410 Gone – HTTP_GONE
• 411 Length Required – HTTP_LENGTH_REQUIRED
• 412 Precondition Failed – HTTP_PRECONDITION_FAILED
• 413 Request Entity Too Large – HTTP_REQUEST_ENTITY_TOO_LARGE
• 414 Request-URI Too Large – HTTP_REQUEST_URI_TOO_LARGE
• 415 Unsupported Media Type – HTTP_UNSUPPORTED_MEDIA_TYPE
• 416 Requested Range Not Satisfiable – HTTP_RANGE_NOT_SATISFIABLE
• 417 Expectation Failed – HTTP_EXPECTATION_FAILED
• 418 I’m a teapot – UNUSED
• 419 unused – UNUSED
• 420 unused – UNUSED
• 421 unused – UNUSED
• 422 Unprocessable Entity – HTTP_UNPROCESSABLE_ENTITY
• 423 Locked – HTTP_LOCKED
• 424 Failed Dependency – HTTP_FAILED_DEPENDENCY
• 425 No code – HTTP_NO_CODE
• 426 Upgrade Required – HTTP_UPGRADE_REQUIRED

5xx Server Error

HTTP_SERVER_ERROR – The server failed to fulfill an apparently valid request. Indicate cases in which the server is aware that it has erred or is incapable of performing the request. Except when responding to a HEAD request, the server should include an entity containing an explanation of the error situation, and whether it is a temporary or permanent condition. User agents should display any included entity to the user. These response codes are applicable to any request method.

• 500 Internal Server Error – HTTP_INTERNAL_SERVER_ERROR
• 501 Method Not Implemented – HTTP_NOT_IMPLEMENTED
• 502 Bad Gateway – HTTP_BAD_GATEWAY
• 503 Service Temporarily Unavailable – HTTP_SERVICE_UNAVAILABLE
• 504 Gateway Time-out – HTTP_GATEWAY_TIME_OUT
• 505 HTTP Version Not Supported – HTTP_VERSION_NOT_SUPPORTED
• 506 Variant Also Negotiates – HTTP_VARIANT_ALSO_VARIES
• 507 Insufficient Storage – HTTP_INSUFFICIENT_STORAGE
• 508 unused – UNUSED
• 509 unused – UNUSED
• 510 Not Extended – HTTP_NOT_EXTENDED

Quick Start to triggering ErrorDocuments for each Status Code

Let start with a quick and easy example. Add the following Redirect rules to your htaccess file, then open your browser and goto each url like yoursite.com/e/400. Don’t create an /e/ directory or any files.

Redirect 400 /e/400
Redirect 503 /e/503
Redirect 405 /e/405

Automate the ErrorDocument Triggering

The htaccess Redirects

When a Status code is encountered, Apache outputs the Header and the ErrorDocument for that error code. So you can view any Header and the default ErrorDocument, by causing that numerical error code, which is caused by the Status Code.

For instance, if you request a file that doesn’t exist, a 404 Not Found Header is issued and the corresponding ErrorDocument is served with the 404 Not Found Header.

Redirect 100 /e/100
Redirect 101 /e/101
Redirect 102 /e/102
Redirect 200 /e/200
Redirect 201 /e/201
Redirect 202 /e/202
Redirect 203 /e/203
Redirect 204 /e/204
Redirect 205 /e/205
Redirect 206 /e/206
Redirect 207 /e/207
Redirect 300 /e/300 http://www.askapache.com/?s=300
Redirect 301 /e/301 http://www.askapache.com/?s=301
Redirect 302 /e/302 http://www.askapache.com/?s=302
Redirect 303 /e/303 http://www.askapache.com/?s=303
Redirect 304 /e/304 http://www.askapache.com/?s=304
Redirect 305 /e/305 http://www.askapache.com/?s=305
Redirect 306 /e/306 http://www.askapache.com/?s=306
Redirect 307 /e/307 http://www.askapache.com/?s=307
Redirect 400 /e/400
Redirect 401 /e/401
Redirect 402 /e/402
Redirect 403 /e/403
Redirect 404 /e/404
Redirect 405 /e/405
Redirect 406 /e/406
Redirect 407 /e/407
Redirect 408 /e/408
Redirect 409 /e/409
Redirect 410 /e/410
Redirect 411 /e/411
Redirect 412 /e/412
Redirect 413 /e/413
Redirect 414 /e/414
Redirect 415 /e/415
Redirect 416 /e/416
Redirect 417 /e/417
Redirect 418 /e/418
Redirect 419 /e/419
Redirect 420 /e/420
Redirect 421 /e/421
Redirect 422 /e/422
Redirect 423 /e/423
Redirect 424 /e/424
Redirect 425 /e/425
Redirect 426 /e/426
Redirect 500 /e/500
Redirect 501 /e/501
Redirect 502 /e/502
Redirect 503 /e/503
Redirect 504 /e/504
Redirect 505 /e/505
Redirect 506 /e/506
Redirect 507 /e/507
Redirect 508 /e/508
Redirect 509 /e/509
Redirect 510 /e/510

PHP script that gets and outputs the Headers/Content

Now all I have to do is add 57 Redirect Directives to my htaccess, and then request each of them 1 at a time from my browser to see the result, and use a packet sniffing program like WireShark to see the Headers. Uh, scratch that, that would take way too long!

Instead I hacked up a simple php script using cURL to automate sending GET Requests to each of the 57 Redirect URL-paths. A side benefit of using the php script is that it performs all 57 Requests concurrently and saves each Requests returned headers and content to an output buffer. After all 57 have been queried, the output buffer is flushed to the browser.

<?php
$SITENAME='http://www.askapache.com';
 
$CODES = array(array('100','101','102'),
array('200','201','202','203','204','205','206','207'),
array('300','301','302','303','304','305','306','307'),
array('400','401','402','403','404','405','406','407','408','409','410','411','412','413',
'414','415','416','417','418','419','420','421','422','423','424','425','426'),
array('500','501','502','503','504','505','506','507','508','509','510'));
 
$TMPSAVETO='/tmp/'.time().'.txt';
 
# if file exists then delete it
if(is_file($TMPSAVETO))unlink($TMPSAVETO);
 
foreach($CODES as $keyd => $res)
{
foreach($res as $key)
{
$ch = curl_init("$SITENAME/e/$key");
$fp = fopen ($TMPSAVETO, "a");
curl_setopt ($ch, CURLOPT_FILE, $fp);
curl_setopt ($ch, CURLOPT_FOLLOWLOCATION ,1);
curl_setopt ($ch, CURLOPT_HEADER ,1);
curl_exec ($ch);
curl_close ($ch);
fclose ($fp);
}
}
$OUT='';
ob_start();
header ("Content-Type: text/plain;");
readfile($TMPSAVETO);
$OUT=ob_get_clean();
echo $OUT;
unlink($TMPSAVETO);
exit;
?>

Headers and Content Returned

100 Continue

HTTP/1.1 100 Continue
<html>
<head>
<title>100 Continue</title>
</head>
<body>
<h1>Continue</h1>
<p>The server encountered an internal error or misconfigurationand was unable to complete your request.</p>
<p>Please contact the server administrator, a@s.com and inform them of the time the error occurred, and anything you might have done that may have caused the error.</p>
<p>More information about this error may be available in the server error log.</p>
</body>
</html>

101 Switching Protocols

HTTP/1.1 101 Switching Protocols<html>
<head>
<title>101 Switching Protocols</title>
</head>
<body>
<h1>Switching Protocols</h1>
<p>The server encountered an internal error or misconfigurationand was unable to complete your request.</p>
<p>Please contact the server administrator, a@s.com and inform them of the time the error occurred, and anything you might have done that may have caused the error.</p>
<p>More information about this error may be available in the server error log.</p>
</body>
</html>

102 Processing

HTTP/1.1 102 Processing
X-Pad: avoid browser bug<html>
<head>
<title>102 Processing</title>
</head>
<body>
<h1>Processing</h1>
<p>The server encountered an internal error or misconfigurationand was unable to complete your request.</p>
<p>Please contact the server administrator, a@s.com and inform them of the time the error occurred, and anything you might have done that may have caused the error.</p>
<p>More information about this error may be available in the server error log.</p>
</body>
</html>

200 OK

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
<html>
<head>
<title>200 OK</title>
</head>
<body>
<h1>OK</h1>
<p>The server encountered an internal error or misconfigurationand was unable to complete your request.</p>
<p>Please contact the server administrator, a@s.com and inform them of the time the error occurred, and anything you might have done that may have caused the error.</p>
<p>More information about this error may be available in the server error log.</p>
</body>
</html>

201 Created

HTTP/1.1 201 Created
<html>
<head>
<title>201 Created</title>
</head>
<body>
<h1>Created</h1>
<p>The server encountered an internal error or misconfigurationand was unable to complete your request.</p>
<p>Please contact the server administrator, a@s.com and inform them of the time the error occurred, and anything you might have done that may have caused the error.</p>
<p>More information about this error may be available in the server error log.</p>
</body>
</html>

202 Accepted

HTTP/1.1 202 Accepted
<html>
<head>
<title>202 Accepted</title>
</head>
<body>
<h1>Accepted</h1>
<p>The server encountered an internal error or misconfigurationand was unable to complete your request.</p>
<p>Please contact the server administrator, a@s.com and inform them of the time the error occurred, and anything you might have done that may have caused the error.</p>
<p>More information about this error may be available in the server error log.</p>
</body>
</html>

203 Non-Authoritative Information

HTTP/1.1 203 Non-Authoritative Information
<html>
<head>
<title>203 Non-Authoritative Information</title>
</head>
<body>
<h1>Non-Authoritative Information</h1>
<p>The server encountered an internal error or misconfigurationand was unable to complete your request.</p>
<p>Please contact the server administrator, a@s.com and inform them of the time the error occurred, and anything you might have done that may have caused the error.</p>
<p>More information about this error may be available in the server error log.</p>
</body>
</html>

204 No Content

HTTP/1.1 204 No Content
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8
 

205 Reset Content

HTTP/1.1 205 Reset Content<html>
<head>
<title>205 Reset Content</title>
</head>
<body>
<h1>Reset Content</h1>
<p>The server encountered an internal error or misconfigurationand was unable to complete your request.</p>
<p>Please contact the server administrator, a@s.com and inform them of the time the error occurred, and anything you might have done that may have caused the error.</p>
<p>More information about this error may be available in the server error log.</p>
</body>
</html>

206 Partial Content

HTTP/1.1 206 Partial Content<html>
<head>
<title>206 Partial Content</title>
</head>
<body>
<h1>Partial Content</h1>
<p>The server encountered an internal error or misconfigurationand was unable to complete your request.</p>
<p>Please contact the server administrator, a@s.com and inform them of the time the error occurred, and anything you might have done that may have caused the error.</p>
<p>More information about this error may be available in the server error log.</p>
</body>
</html>

207 Multi-Status

HTTP/1.1 207 Multi-Status
X-Pad: avoid browser bug<html>
<head>
<title>207 Multi-Status</title>
</head>
<body>
<h1>Multi-Status</h1>
<p>The server encountered an internal error or misconfigurationand was unable to complete your request.</p>
<p>Please contact the server administrator, a@s.com and inform them of the time the error occurred, and anything you might have done that may have caused the error.</p>
<p>More information about this error may be available in the server error log.</p>
</body>
</html>

300 Multiple Choices

HTTP/1.1 300 Multiple Choices
Location: http://www.askapache.com/?s=300<html>
<head>
<title>300 Multiple Choices</title>
</head>
<body>
<h1>Multiple Choices</h1>
</body>
</html>

301 Moved Permanently

HTTP/1.1 301 Moved Permanently
Location: http://www.askapache.com/?s=301<html>
<head>
<title>301 Moved Permanently</title>
</head>
<body>
<h1>Moved Permanently</h1>
<p>The document has moved  <a href="http://www.askapache.com/?s=301">here</a> .</p>
</body>
</html>

302 Found

HTTP/1.1 302 Found
Location: http://www.askapache.com/?s=302<html>
<head>
<title>302 Found</title>
</head>
<body>
<h1>Found</h1>
<p>The document has moved  <a href="http://www.askapache.com/?s=302">here</a> .</p>
</body>
</html>

303 See Other

HTTP/1.1 303 See Other
Location: http://www.askapache.com/?s=303<html>
<head>
<title>303 See Other</title>
</head>
<body>
<h1>See Other</h1>
<p>The answer to your request is located  <a href="http://www.askapache.com/?s=303">here</a> .</p>
</body>
</html>

304 Not Modified

HTTP/1.1 304 Not Modified

305 Use Proxy

HTTP/1.1 305 Use Proxy
Location: http://www.askapache.com/?s=305<html>
<head>
<title>305 Use Proxy</title>
</head>
<body>
<h1>Use Proxy</h1>
<p>This resource is only accessible through the proxy
    http://www.askapache.com/?s=305<br />You will need to configure your client to use that proxy.</p>
</body>
</html>

306 unused

HTTP/1.1 306 unused
Location: http://www.askapache.com/?s=306<html>
<head>
<title>306 unused</title>
</head>
<body>
<h1>unused</h1>
<p>The server encountered an internal error or misconfigurationand was unable to complete your request.</p>
<p>Please contact the server administrator, a@s.com and inform them of the time the error occurred, and anything you might have done that may have caused the error.</p>
<p>More information about this error may be available in the server error log.</p>
</body>
</html>

307 Temporary Redirect

HTTP/1.1 307 Temporary Redirect
Location: http://www.askapache.com/?s=307<html>
<head>
<title>307 Temporary Redirect</title>
</head>
<body>
<h1>Temporary Redirect</h1>
<p>The document has moved  <a href="http://www.askapache.com/?s=307">here</a> .</p>
</body>
</html>

400 Bad Request

HTTP/1.1 400 Bad Request
Connection: close<html>
<head>
<title>400 Bad Request</title>
</head>
<body>
<h1>Bad Request</h1>
<p>Your browser sent a request that this server could not understand.</p>
</body>
</html>

401 Authorization Required

HTTP/1.1 401 Authorization Required<html>
<head>
<title>401 Authorization Required</title>
</head>
<body>
<h1>Authorization Required</h1>
<p>This server could not verify that you
    are authorized to access the document
    requested.  Either you supplied the wrong
    credentials (e.g., bad password), or your
    browser doesn't understand how to supply
    the credentials required.</p>
<p>Additionally, a 404 Not Found error was encountered while trying to use an ErrorDocument to handle the request.</p>
</body>
</html>

402 Payment Required

HTTP/1.1 402 Payment Required<html>
<head>
<title>402 Payment Required</title>
</head>
<body>
<h1>Payment Required</h1>
<p>The server encountered an internal error or misconfigurationand was unable to complete your request.</p>
<p>Please contact the server administrator, a@s.com and inform them of the time the error occurred, and anything you might have done that may have caused the error.</p>
<p>More information about this error may be available in the server error log.</p>
</body>
</html>

403 Forbidden

HTTP/1.1 403 Forbidden<html>
<head>
<title>403 Forbidden</title>
</head>
<body>
<h1>Forbidden</h1>
<p>You don't have permission to access /e/403
    on this server.</p>
<p>Additionally, a 404 Not Found error was encountered while trying to use an ErrorDocument to handle the request.</p>
</body>
</html>

404 Not Found

HTTP/1.1 404 Not Found<html>
<head>
<title>404 Not Found</title>
</head>
<body>
<h1>Not Found</h1>
<p>The requested URL /e/404 was not found on this server.</p>
</body>
</html>

NOTE:
You will most definately want to check out and use the Google 404 Error Page if you run WordPress.

405 Method Not Allowed

HTTP/1.1 405 Method Not Allowed
Allow: TRACE
<html>
<head>
<title>405 Method Not Allowed</title>
</head>
<body>
<h1>Method Not Allowed</h1>
<p>The requested method GET is not allowed for the URL /e/405.</p>
</body>
</html>

406 Not Acceptable

HTTP/1.1 406 Not Acceptable
<html>
<head>
<title>406 Not Acceptable</title>
</head>
<body>
<h1>Not Acceptable</h1>
<p>An appropriate representation of the requested resource /e/406 could not be found on this server.</p>
</body>
</html>

407 Proxy Authentication Required

HTTP/1.1 407 Proxy Authentication Required<html>
<head>
<title>407 Proxy Authentication Required</title>
</head>
<body>
<h1>Proxy Authentication Required</h1>
<p>This server could not verify that you
    are authorized to access the document
    requested.  Either you supplied the wrong
    credentials (e.g., bad password), or your
    browser doesn't understand how to supply
    the credentials required.</p>
</body>
</html>

408 Request Time-out

HTTP/1.1 408 Request Time-out
Connection: close
<html>
<head>
<title>408 Request Time-out</title>
</head>
<body>
<h1>Request Time-out</h1>
<p>Server timeout waiting for the HTTP request from the client.</p>
</body>
</html>

409 Conflict

HTTP/1.1 409 Conflict
<html>
<head>
<title>409 Conflict</title>
</head>
<body>
<h1>Conflict</h1>
<p>The server encountered an internal error or misconfigurationand was unable to complete your request.</p>
<p>Please contact the server administrator, a@s.com and inform them of the time the error occurred, and anything you might have done that may have caused the error.</p>
<p>More information about this error may be available in the server error log.</p>
</body>
</html>

410 Gone

HTTP/1.1 410 Gone
<html>
<head>
<title>410 Gone</title>
</head>
<body>
<h1>Gone</h1>
<p>The requested resource<br />/e/410<br />is no longer available on this server and there is no forwarding address.
    Please remove all references to this resource.</p>
</body>
</html>

411 Length Required

HTTP/1.1 411 Length Required
Connection: close
<html>
<head>
<title>411 Length Required</title>
</head>
<body>
<h1>Length Required</h1>
<p>A request of the requested method GET requires a valid Content-length.</p>
</body>
</html>

412 Precondition Failed

HTTP/1.1 412 Precondition Failed
<html>
<head>
<title>412 Precondition Failed</title>
</head>
<body>
<h1>Precondition Failed</h1>
<p>The precondition on the request for the URL /e/412 evaluated to false.</p>
</body>
</html>

413 Request Entity Too Large

HTTP/1.1 413 Request Entity Too Large
Connection: close<html>
<head>
<title>413 Request Entity Too Large</title>
</head>
<body>
<h1>Request Entity Too Large</h1>
The requested resource<br />/e/413<br />does not allow request data with GET requests, or the amount of data provided in
the request exceeds the capacity limit.
</body>
</html>

414 Request-URI Too Large

HTTP/1.1 414 Request-URI Too Large
Connection: close<html>
<head>
<title>414 Request-URI Too Large</title>
</head>
<body>
<h1>Request-URI Too Large</h1>
<p>The requested URL's length exceeds the capacity
    limit for this server.</p>
</body>
</html>

415 Unsupported Media Type

HTTP/1.1 415 Unsupported Media Type<html>
<head>
<title>415 Unsupported Media Type</title>
</head>
<body>
<h1>Unsupported Media Type</h1>
<p>The supplied request data is not in a format
    acceptable for processing by this resource.</p>
</body>
</html>

416 Requested Range Not Satisfiable

HTTP/1.1 416 Requested Range Not Satisfiable

417 Expectation Failed

HTTP/1.1 417 Expectation Failed<html>
<head>
<title>417 Expectation Failed</title>
</head>
<body>
<h1>Expectation Failed</h1>
<p>The expectation given in the Expect request-header
    field could not be met by this server.</p>
<p>The client sent<pre>
    Expect: </p>
</body>
</html>

418 I’m a teapot

HTTP/1.1 418 I'm a teapot<html>
<head>
<title>418 I'm a teapot</title>
</head>
<body>
<h1>I'm a teapot</h1>
<p>Unfortunately this coffee machine is out of coffee.</p>
</body>
</html>

419 unused

HTTP/1.1 419 unused<html>
<head>
<title>419 unused</title>
</head>
<body>
<h1>unused</h1>
<p>The server encountered an internal error or misconfigurationand was unable to complete your request.</p>
<p>Please contact the server administrator, a@s.com and inform them of the time the error occurred, and anything you might have done that may have caused the error.</p>
<p>More information about this error may be available in the server error log.</p>
</body>
</html>

420 unused

HTTP/1.1 420 unused<html>
<head>
<title>420 unused</title>
</head>
<body>
<h1>unused</h1>
<p>The server encountered an internal error or misconfigurationand was unable to complete your request.</p>
<p>Please contact the server administrator, a@s.com and inform them of the time the error occurred, and anything you might have done that may have caused the error.</p>
<p>More information about this error may be available in the server error log.</p>
</body>
</html>

421 unused

HTTP/1.1 421 unused<html>
<head>
<title>421 unused</title>
</head>
<body>
<h1>unused</h1>
<p>The server encountered an internal error or misconfigurationand was unable to complete your request.</p>
<p>Please contact the server administrator, a@s.com and inform them of the time the error occurred, and anything you might have done that may have caused the error.</p>
<p>More information about this error may be available in the server error log.</p>
</body>
</html>

422 Unprocessable Entity

HTTP/1.1 422 Unprocessable Entity<html>
<head>
<title>422 Unprocessable Entity</title>
</head>
<body>
<h1>Unprocessable Entity</h1>
<p>The server understands the media type of the
    request entity, but was unable to process the
    contained instructions.</p>
</body>
</html>

423 Locked

HTTP/1.1 423 Locked<html>
<head>
<title>423 Locked</title>
</head>
<body>
<h1>Locked</h1>
<p>The requested resource is currently locked.
    The lock must be released or proper identification
    given before the method can be applied.</p>
</body>
</html>

424 Failed Dependency

HTTP/1.1 424 Failed Dependency<html>
<head>
<title>424 Failed Dependency</title>
</head>
<body>
<h1>Failed Dependency</h1>
<p>The method could not be performed on the resource
    because the requested action depended on another
    action and that other action failed.</p>
</body>
</html>

425 No code

HTTP/1.1 425 No code<html>
<head>
<title>425 No code</title>
</head>
<body>
<h1>No code</h1>
<p>The server encountered an internal error or misconfigurationand was unable to complete your request.</p>
<p>Please contact the server administrator, a@s.com and inform them of the time the error occurred, and anything you might have done that may have caused the error.</p>
<p>More information about this error may be available in the server error log.</p>
</body>
</html>

426 Upgrade Required

HTTP/1.1 426 Upgrade Required<html>
<head>
<title>426 Upgrade Required</title>
</head>
<body>
<h1>Upgrade Required</h1>
<p>The requested resource can only be retrieved
    using SSL.  The server is willing to upgrade the current
    connection to SSL, but your client doesn't support it.
    Either upgrade your client, or try requesting the page
    using https:// </p>
</body>
</html>

500 Internal Server Error

HTTP/1.1 500 Internal Server Error
Connection: close<html>
<head>
<title>500 Internal Server Error</title>
</head>
<body>
<h1>Internal Server Error</h1>
<p>The server encountered an internal error or misconfigurationand was unable to complete your request.</p>
<p>Please contact the server administrator, a@s.com and inform them of the time the error occurred, and anything you might have done that may have caused the error.</p>
<p>More information about this error may be available in the server error log.</p>
<p>Additionally, a 404 Not Found error was encountered while trying to use an ErrorDocument to handle the request.</p>
</body>
</html>

501 Method Not Implemented

HTTP/1.1 501 Method Not Implemented
Allow: TRACE
Connection: close<html>
<head>
<title>501 Method Not Implemented</title>
</head>
<body>
<h1>Method Not Implemented</h1>
<p>GET to /e/501 not supported.</p>
</body>
</html>

502 Bad Gateway

HTTP/1.1 502 Bad Gateway
X-Pad: avoid browser bug<html>
<head>
<title>502 Bad Gateway</title>
</head>
<body>
<h1>Bad Gateway</h1>
<p>The proxy server received an invalid
    response from an upstream server.</p>
</body>
</html>

503 Service Temporarily Unavailable

HTTP/1.1 503 Service Temporarily Unavailable
Connection: close<html>
<head>
<title>503 Service Temporarily Unavailable</title>
</head>
<body>
<h1>Service Temporarily Unavailable</h1>
<p>The server is temporarily unable to service your
    request due to maintenance downtime or capacity
    problems. Please try again later.</p>
</body>
</html>

504 Gateway Time-out

HTTP/1.1 504 Gateway Time-out<html>
<head>
<title>504 Gateway Time-out</title>
</head>
<body>
<h1>Gateway Time-out</h1>
<p>The proxy server did not receive a timely response
    from the upstream server.</p>
</body>
</html>

505 HTTP Version Not Supported

HTTP/1.1 505 HTTP Version Not Supported<html>
<head>
<title>505 HTTP Version Not Supported</title>
</head>
<body>
<h1>HTTP Version Not Supported</h1>
<p>The server encountered an internal error or misconfigurationand was unable to complete your request.</p>
<p>Please contact the server administrator, a@s.com and inform them of the time the error occurred, and anything you might have done that may have caused the error.</p>
<p>More information about this error may be available in the server error log.</p>
</body>
</html>

506 Variant Also Negotiates

HTTP/1.1 506 Variant Also Negotiates<html>
<head>
<title>506 Variant Also Negotiates</title>
</head>
<body>
<h1>Variant Also Negotiates</h1>
<p>A variant for the requested resource
    <pre>
    /e/506
    </pre>
    is itself a negotiable resource. This indicates a configuration error.</p>
</body>
</html>

507 Insufficient Storage

HTTP/1.1 507 Insufficient Storage<html>
<head>
<title>507 Insufficient Storage</title>
</head>
<body>
<h1>Insufficient Storage</h1>
<p>The method could not be performed on the resource
    because the server is unable to store the
    representation needed to successfully complete the
    request.  There is insufficient free space left in
    your storage allocation.</p>
</body>
</html>

508 unused

HTTP/1.1 508 unused<html>
<head>
<title>508 unused</title>
</head>
<body>
<h1>unused</h1>
<p>The server encountered an internal error or misconfigurationand was unable to complete your request.</p>
<p>Please contact the server administrator, a@s.com and inform them of the time the error occurred, and anything you might have done that may have caused the error.</p>
<p>More information about this error may be available in the server error log.</p>
</body>
</html>

509 unused

HTTP/1.1 509 unused
<html>
<head>
<title>509 unused</title>
</head>
<body>
<h1>unused</h1>
<p>The server encountered an internal error or misconfigurationand was unable to complete your request.</p>
<p>Please contact the server administrator, a@s.com and inform them of the time the error occurred, and anything you might have done that may have caused the error.</p>
<p>More information about this error may be available in the server error log.</p>
</body>
</html>

510 Not Extended

HTTP/1.1 510 Not Extended
X-Pad: avoid browser bug
<html>
<head>
<title>510 Not Extended</title>
</head>
<body>
<h1>Not Extended</h1>
<p>A mandatory extension policy in the request is not
    accepted by the server for this resource.</p>
</body>
</html>

Apache Source Code

httpd.h

From httpd.h

/**
* The size of the static array in http_protocol.c for storing
* all of the potential response status-lines (a sparse table).
* A future version should dynamically generate the apr_table_t at startup.
*/
#define RESPONSE_CODES 57
#define HTTP_CONTINUE            100
#define HTTP_SWITCHING_PROTOCOLS       101
#define HTTP_PROCESSING          102
#define HTTP_OK              200
#define HTTP_CREATED             201
#define HTTP_ACCEPTED            202
#define HTTP_NON_AUTHORITATIVE       203
#define HTTP_NO_CONTENT          204
#define HTTP_RESET_CONTENT         205
#define HTTP_PARTIAL_CONTENT         206
#define HTTP_MULTI_STATUS          207
#define HTTP_MULTIPLE_CHOICES        300
#define HTTP_MOVED_PERMANENTLY       301
 
#define HTTP_MOVED_TEMPORARILY       302
#define HTTP_SEE_OTHER           303
#define HTTP_NOT_MODIFIED          304
#define HTTP_USE_PROXY           305
#define HTTP_TEMPORARY_REDIRECT      307
#define HTTP_BAD_REQUEST           400
#define HTTP_UNAUTHORIZED          401
#define HTTP_PAYMENT_REQUIRED        402
#define HTTP_FORBIDDEN           403
#define HTTP_NOT_FOUND           404
#define HTTP_METHOD_NOT_ALLOWED      405
#define HTTP_NOT_ACCEPTABLE        406
#define HTTP_PROXY_AUTHENTICATION_REQUIRED 407
#define HTTP_REQUEST_TIME_OUT        408
#define HTTP_CONFLICT            409
#define HTTP_GONE              410
#define HTTP_LENGTH_REQUIRED         411
#define HTTP_PRECONDITION_FAILED       412
#define HTTP_REQUEST_ENTITY_TOO_LARGE    413
#define HTTP_REQUEST_URI_TOO_LARGE     414
#define HTTP_UNSUPPORTED_MEDIA_TYPE    415
#define HTTP_RANGE_NOT_SATISFIABLE     416
#define HTTP_EXPECTATION_FAILED      417
#define HTTP_UNPROCESSABLE_ENTITY      422
#define HTTP_LOCKED            423
#define HTTP_FAILED_DEPENDENCY       424
#define HTTP_UPGRADE_REQUIRED        426
#define HTTP_INTERNAL_SERVER_ERROR     500
#define HTTP_NOT_IMPLEMENTED         501
#define HTTP_BAD_GATEWAY           502
#define HTTP_SERVICE_UNAVAILABLE       503
#define HTTP_GATEWAY_TIME_OUT        504
#define HTTP_VERSION_NOT_SUPPORTED     505
#define HTTP_VARIANT_ALSO_VARIES       506
#define HTTP_INSUFFICIENT_STORAGE      507
#define HTTP_NOT_EXTENDED          510
 
/** is the status code informational */
#define ap_is_HTTP_INFO(x)     (((x) >= 100)&&((x) < 200))
/** is the status code OK ?*/
#define ap_is_HTTP_SUCCESS(x)    (((x) >= 200)&&((x) < 300))
/** is the status code a redirect */
#define ap_is_HTTP_REDIRECT(x)   (((x) >= 300)&&((x) < 400))
/** is the status code a error (client or server) */
#define ap_is_HTTP_ERROR(x)    (((x) >= 400)&&((x) < 600))
/** is the status code a client error  */
#define ap_is_HTTP_CLIENT_ERROR(x) (((x) >= 400)&&((x) < 500))
/** is the status code a server error  */
#define ap_is_HTTP_SERVER_ERROR(x) (((x) >= 500)&&((x) < 600))
/** is the status code a (potentially) valid response code?  */
#define ap_is_HTTP_VALID_RESPONSE(x) (((x) >= 100)&&((x) < 600))
 
/** should the status code drop the connection */
#define ap_status_drops_connection(x) \
(((x) == HTTP_BAD_REQUEST)       || \
((x) == HTTP_REQUEST_TIME_OUT)    || \
((x) == HTTP_LENGTH_REQUIRED)     || \
((x) == HTTP_REQUEST_ENTITY_TOO_LARGE) || \
((x) == HTTP_REQUEST_URI_TOO_LARGE) || \
((x) == HTTP_INTERNAL_SERVER_ERROR) || \
((x) == HTTP_SERVICE_UNAVAILABLE) || \
((x) == HTTP_NOT_IMPLEMENTED))

HTTP_INFO

Is the status code (x) informational?

x >= 100 && x < 200

HTTP_SUCCESS

Is the status code (x) OK?

x >= 200 && x < 300

HTTP_REDIRECT

Is the status code (x) a redirect?

x >= 300 && x < 400

HTTP_ERROR

Is the status code (x) a error (client or server)?

x >= 400 && x < 600

HTTP_CLIENT_ERROR

Is the status code (x) a client error?

x >= 400 && x < 500

HTTP_SERVER_ERROR

Is the status code (x) a server error?

x >= 500 && x < 600

HTTP_VALID_RESPONSE

Is the status code (x) a (potentially) valid response code?

x >= 100 && x < 600

http_protocol.c

From http_protocol.c

static const char * status_lines[RESPONSE_CODES] =
static const char * const status_lines[RESPONSE_CODES] =
"100 Continue",
"101 Switching Protocols",
"102 Processing",
"200 OK",
"201 Created",
"202 Accepted",
"203 Non-Authoritative Information",
"204 No Content",
"205 Reset Content",
"206 Partial Content",
"207 Multi-Status",
"300 Multiple Choices",
"301 Moved Permanently",
"302 Found",
"303 See Other",
"304 Not Modified",
"305 Use Proxy",
"306 unused",
"307 Temporary Redirect",
"400 Bad Request",
"401 Authorization Required",
"402 Payment Required",
"403 Forbidden",
"404 Not Found",
"405 Method Not Allowed",
"406 Not Acceptable",
"407 Proxy Authentication Required",
"408 Request Time-out",
"409 Conflict",
"410 Gone",
"411 Length Required",
"412 Precondition Failed",
"413 Request Entity Too Large",
"414 Request-URI Too Large",
"415 Unsupported Media Type",
"416 Requested Range Not Satisfiable",
"417 Expectation Failed",
"418 unused",
"419 unused",
"420 unused",
"421 unused",
"422 Unprocessable Entity",
"423 Locked",
"424 Failed Dependency",
"425 No code",
"426 Upgrade Required",
"500 Internal Server Error",
"501 Method Not Implemented",
"502 Bad Gateway",
"503 Service Temporarily Unavailable",
"504 Gateway Time-out",
"505 HTTP Version Not Supported",
"506 Variant Also Negotiates",
"507 Insufficient Storage",
"508 unused",
"509 unused",
"510 Not Extended"

IANA HTTP Status Code Registry

WordPress 2.8 Changes

I just learned that my modification to the WordPress core was accepted and will be implemented for version 2.8! This may mean WordPress is the only 100% HTTP/1.1 compliant software on the net! Below is the new list (I thought someone out there could use the php array) and as you can see, unfortunately418 I’m a teapotdidn’t make it ;)

$wp_header_to_desc = array(
  100 => 'Continue',
  101 => 'Switching Protocols',
  102 => 'Processing',
 
  200 => 'OK',
  201 => 'Created',
  202 => 'Accepted',
  203 => 'Non-Authoritative Information',
  204 => 'No Content',
  205 => 'Reset Content',
  206 => 'Partial Content',
  207 => 'Multi-Status',
  226 => 'IM Used',
 
  300 => 'Multiple Choices',
  301 => 'Moved Permanently',
  302 => 'Found',
  303 => 'See Other',
  304 => 'Not Modified',
  305 => 'Use Proxy',
  306 => 'Reserved',
  307 => 'Temporary Redirect',
 
  400 => 'Bad Request',
  401 => 'Unauthorized',
  402 => 'Payment Required',
  403 => 'Forbidden',
  404 => 'Not Found',
  405 => 'Method Not Allowed',
  406 => 'Not Acceptable',
  407 => 'Proxy Authentication Required',
  408 => 'Request Timeout',
  409 => 'Conflict',
  410 => 'Gone',
  411 => 'Length Required',
  412 => 'Precondition Failed',
  413 => 'Request Entity Too Large',
  414 => 'Request-URI Too Long',
  415 => 'Unsupported Media Type',
  416 => 'Requested Range Not Satisfiable',
  417 => 'Expectation Failed',
  422 => 'Unprocessable Entity',
  423 => 'Locked',
  424 => 'Failed Dependency',
  426 => 'Upgrade Required',
 
  500 => 'Internal Server Error',
  501 => 'Not Implemented',
  502 => 'Bad Gateway',
  503 => 'Service Unavailable',
  504 => 'Gateway Timeout',
  505 => 'HTTP Version Not Supported',
  506 => 'Variant Also Negotiates',
  507 => 'Insufficient Storage',
  510 => 'Not Extended'
);

RIPE WHOIS

All the status codes are standard HTTP codes ( http://www.iana.org/assignments/http-status-codes ).

Clients should avoid any form of coupling with the the text/plain error message contained in response body since it may change between different releases of the API and is only intended as a starting point for indentifying the real causes of the exception event.

The following table gives a brief description of the mapping between standard Whois V.3 responses and the related REST services status codes. Consider this table as just an example of the error mapping strategy, it may change with future releases.

Clients will have to define error messages generic enough to represent the four main error conditions, that are Bad Request, Forbidden, Not Found and Internal Server Error.

For example a possible mapping for client side error messages may be:

Helpful HTTP Links

1. IANA registry
2. Hyper Text Coffee Pot Control Protocol (HTCPCP/1.0)
3. Adobe Flash status code definitions (ie 408)
4. Microsoft Internet Information Server Status Codes and Sub-Codes
5. httplint
6. HTTP Headers, brief intro.
7. Common User-Agent Issues
8. [RFC2295] Holtman, K. and A.H. Mutz , ” Transparent Content Negotiation in HTTP “, RFC 2295, March 1998.
9. [RFC2518] Goland, Y. , Whitehead, E. , Faizi, A. , Carter, S.R. , and D. Jensen , ” HTTP Extensions for Distributed Authoring — WEBDAV “, RFC 2518, February 1999.
10. [RFC2616] Fielding, R. , Gettys, J. , Mogul, J. , Frystyk, H. , Masinter, L. , Leach, P. , and T. Berners-Lee , ” Hypertext Transfer Protocol — HTTP/1.1 “, RFC 2616, June 1999.
11. [RFC2774] Nielsen, H. , Leach, P. , and S. Lawrence , ” An HTTP Extension Framework “, RFC 2774, February 2000.
12. [RFC2817] Khare, R. and S. Lawrence, ” Upgrading to TLS Within HTTP/1.1 “, RFC 2817, May 2000.
13. [RFC3229] Mogul, J., Krishnamurthy, B., Douglis, F., Feldmann, A., Goland, Y., van Hoff, A., and D. Hellerstein, ” Delta encoding in HTTP “, RFC 3229, January 2002.
14. [RFC4918] Dusseault, L., Ed. , ” HTTP Extensions for Web Distributed Authoring and Versioning (WebDAV) “, RFC 4918, June 2007.

HTTP Status Codes and .htaccess ErrorDocuments originally appeared on AskApache.com

The Worst Kind of People

Spammers, and Leechers. They operate like this: Let’s say you have some mp3 files on a server, and SOMEWHERE on the web there is a link to that mp3 file’s location. This includes in javascript files, css files, robots.txt files, the spammers and leechers robots check all those files looking for the type of link they are looking for. Then they try to request that file usually utilizing a number of different types of requests to get access to the file. Then they use it for personal gain, at your peril.

Some robots perform valuable services for the world wide web community, and other leeching programming is pretty cool, so not all these activities are perpetrated by nefarious spammers.

Blocking by IP COOKIE

Ok so if a link exists to your file, it is going to be requested by a robot eventually, so the way to defeat them is by doing something on your site that modifies the way a user would request it. Robots for the most part are not javascript-capable, so the most-common advanced method is to set a cookie using javascript, and then we can check for that cookie in the request for the file using mod_rewrite.

So if your site sets a cookie named fspammers, and furthermore gives that cookie a value of 445, then this is what the request sent by an HTTP Client like Firefox looks like.

GET /hotlink/lovefreedom.mp3 HTTP/1.1
Host: static.askapache.com
User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.9.1.3) Gecko/20090824 Firefox/3.5.3 (.NET CLR 3.5.30729)
Accept: image/png,image/*;q=0.8,*/*;q=0.5
Accept-Language: en-us,en;q=0.5
Accept-Encoding: gzip,deflate
Accept-Charset: ISO-8859-1,utf-8;q=0.7,*;q=0.7
Keep-Alive: 300
Connection: keep-alive
Referer: http://www.askapache.com/wordpress/seo-in-wordpress.html
Cookie: fspammers=455

Mod_Rewrite HTTP Headers

The mod_rewrite module has access to ALL the HTTP Headers sent in a request, so for each of the HTTP Headers in the request example above, we can use mod_rewrite to validate.

Mod_Rewrite .htaccess Example

Finally, now that everyone is on the same page about what is really going on, here is the .htaccess code that blocks any requests for anything in the /hotlink/ folder.

Here are the triggers this code blocks access based on.

1. Cookie: Checks if fspammers cookie is present, and that it has the value of 445.
2. HTTP Protocol: Checks if HTTP 1.1 is being used (many robots use 1.0)
3. Host: Checks that the HOST Requested was static.askapache.com
4. Referer: Checks for Referring site is static.askapache.com or www.askapache.com

RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /
 
RewriteCond %{HTTP_COOKIE} !^.*fspammers=445.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{THE_REQUEST} !^[A-Z]{3,9}\ /(.*)\ HTTP/1\.1 [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} !^z\.askapache\.com$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} !^http://(www|z)\.askapache\.com.*$ [NC]
RewriteRule ^hotlink/.*$ - [F]</p>

Protecting Files with Advanced Mod_Rewrite Anti-Hotlinking originally appeared on AskApache.com

The following undocumented techniques and methods will allow you to utilize mod_rewrite at an “expert level” by showing you how to unlock its secrets.

Most if not all web developers and server administrators struggle with Apache mod_rewrite. It’s very tough and only gets a little easier with practice. Until Now! Get ready to explode your learning curve, I figured something out.

Why mod_rewrite is so tough

I have come to the conclusion, after many hours of zenful thought, that the reason mod_rewrite is so tough is pretty obvious, people are trying to apply regular-expressions to URLs and Variables that they don’t really understand. They understand what they want, but they don’t understand what the URLS and Variables are that they are trying to rewrite.

Hit-Or-Miss with mod_rewrite

A lot of the mod_rewrite “experts” and “gurus” floating around the net absolutely know their mod_rewrite, but what separates them from a beginner or novice is for the most part an understanding of what the URLS and Variables look like that are targeted by the regular expressions. Take this simple rewriterule that rewrites requests made without the www to www.

RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /
 
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} !^www\.askapache\.com$ [NC]
RewriteRule .+ http://www.askapache.com%{REQUEST_URI}

Pretty simple right? WRONG. Most people could not figure that out..

Why?

The reason intelligent people can’t figure that out is because they have no idea what HTTP_HOST or REQUEST_URI actually looks like. How can you write a rule for something if you don’t know what it looks like? You can’t.

When Not To Use Mod_Rewrite

Ok so heres an important concept that alot of people haven’t heard. You should only use mod_rewrite’s rewriterule when you use a rewritecond or if you are rewriting internally like my feedcount hack.

If you are simply redirecting one url to another, you should definately be using the much easier mod_alias’s redirect and redirectmatch, which is enabled on most Apache servers.

When To Use Mod_Rewrite

So then, you should only use mod_rewrite’s rewriterule when you are checking against one of the Apache Environment Variables to determine whether to rewrite or not. This is where the Apache Documentation is grossly lacking. They don’t tell you what those variables look like, leaving us completely incapable of creating rewrites based on them. Not anymore.

Mod_Rewrite Environment Variables (The Secret)

Here’s the variables I have found accessible by mod_rewrite (both documented and undocumented). A thing to note is that you can set these variables early in an .htaccess file using SetEnv, RewriteRule, Header, etc.. and they will be accessible at the end of the .htaccess file.

• API_VERSION
• AUTH_TYPE
• CONTENT_LENGTH
• CONTENT_TYPE
• DOCUMENT_ROOT
• GATEWAY_INTERFACE
• HTTPS
• HTTP_ACCEPT
• HTTP_ACCEPT_CHARSET
• HTTP_ACCEPT_ENCODING
• HTTP_ACCEPT_LANGUAGE
• HTTP_CACHE_CONTROL

• HTTP_CONNECTION
• HTTP_COOKIE
• HTTP_FORWARDED
• HTTP_HOST
• HTTP_KEEP_ALIVE
• HTTP_PROXY_CONNECTION
• HTTP_REFERER
• HTTP_USER_AGENT
• IS_SUBREQ
• ORIG_PATH_INFO
• ORIG_PATH_TRANSLATED
• ORIG_SCRIPT_FILENAME

• ORIG_SCRIPT_NAME
• PATH
• PATH_INFO
• PHP_SELF
• QUERY_STRING
• REDIRECT_QUERY_STRING
• REDIRECT_REMOTE_USER
• REDIRECT_STATUS
• REDIRECT_URL
• REMOTE_ADDR
• REMOTE_HOST
• REMOTE_IDENT

• REMOTE_PORT
• REMOTE_USER
• REQUEST_FILENAME
• REQUEST_METHOD
• REQUEST_TIME
• REQUEST_URI
• SCRIPT_FILENAME
• SCRIPT_GROUP
• SCRIPT_NAME
• SCRIPT_URI
• SCRIPT_URL
• SCRIPT_USER

• SERVER_ADDR
• SERVER_ADMIN
• SERVER_NAME
• SERVER_PORT
• SERVER_PROTOCOL
• SERVER_SIGNATURE
• SERVER_SOFTWARE
• THE_REQUEST
• TIME
• TIME_DAY
• TIME_HOUR
• TIME_MIN

• TIME_MON
• TIME_SEC
• TIME_WDAY
• TIME_YEAR
• TZ
• UNIQUE_ID

Decoding Mod_Rewrite Variables

So when I realized my problem was that I didn’t know the value of the variable being tested by the RewriteCond, I set out to try and discover how to view those variables.. Keep in mind you can also use RewriteLogging, but its only allowed for root users who can edit the httpd.conf, this is .htaccess.

Setting Environment Variables with RewriteRule

I discovered a multitude of methods to set and view apache environment variables, using various modules and some core tricks, but the method that allows me to view the most environment variables is RewriteRule.. I wanted to use SetEnvIf more, but its just not as powerful as mod_rewrite, due to programming.

This code sets the variable INFO_REQUEST_URI to have the value of REQUEST_URI.

RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /
RewriteRule .* - [E=INFO_REQUEST_URI:%{REQUEST_URI},NE]

Saving the Apache Variable Values

Now the trick is how to view that environment variable… The method I came up with is nice… We will send the environment variable value in an HTTP Header, as there isn’t much data manipulation/validation so you get an accurate look at the actual value.. At first I tried adding the variable value to a redirection using the query_string.. but a HTTP_USER_AGENT value doesn’t play well as a query_string.

Using RequestHeader in .htaccess

This code takes advantage of the incredible mod_headers apache module to actually ADD a whole new header to YOUR request. Seriously one of the coolest tricks I’ve found yet.. Its almost the same as being able to spoof POST requests! Since Headers can be protected data… especially the HTTP_COOKIE header..

RequestHeader set INFO_REQUEST_URI "%{INFO_REQUEST_URI}e"

Viewing the Variable Values

Now you can use any kind of server-run interpreter like perl, php, ruby, etc., to view all the variable values. All cgi-script handlers like those are able to view request headers..

PHP Code to access Apache Variables

Works even in safe-mode… any interpreter can view HTTP Headers! Note that each of these variables are added as HTTP headers to the request for the script.. kinda confusing.. So each variable sent as a header is prefixed with HTTP_ to denote it was a header.

<?php
header("Content-Type: text/plain");
$INFO=$MISS=array();
foreach($_SERVER as $v=>$r)
{
  if(substr($v,0,9)=='HTTP_INFO')
  {
    if(!empty($r))$INFO[substr($v,10)]=$r;
    else $MISS[substr($v,10)]=$r;
  }
}
 
/* thanks Mike! */
ksort($INFO);
ksort($MISS);
ksort($_SERVER);
 
echo "Received These Variables:\n";
print_r($INFO);
 
echo "Missed These Variables:\n";
print_r($MISS);
 
echo "ALL Variables:\n";
print_r($_SERVER);
?>

Time to Get Crazy

Just create the above php file on your site as /test/index.php or whatever, then create /test/.htaccess which should contain the below .htaccess file snippet. Now just request /test/index.php and be amazed! If you’re looking for more general help check out this excellent mod_rewrite cheat sheet.

Ok, so I’ve prepared the .htaccess code you can use to view the values of all these variables. Just add it to a .htaccess file and make a request. For this test I created an index.php file that printed out all the $_SERVER variables, and made requests to it.

RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /
RewriteRule .* - [E=INFO_API_VERSION:%{API_VERSION},NE]
RewriteRule .* - [E=INFO_AUTH_TYPE:%{AUTH_TYPE},NE]
RewriteRule .* - [E=INFO_CONTENT_LENGTH:%{CONTENT_LENGTH},NE]
RewriteRule .* - [E=INFO_CONTENT_TYPE:%{CONTENT_TYPE},NE]
RewriteRule .* - [E=INFO_DOCUMENT_ROOT:%{DOCUMENT_ROOT},NE]
RewriteRule .* - [E=INFO_GATEWAY_INTERFACE:%{GATEWAY_INTERFACE},NE]
RewriteRule .* - [E=INFO_HTTPS:%{HTTPS},NE]
RewriteRule .* - [E=INFO_HTTP_ACCEPT:%{HTTP_ACCEPT},NE]
RewriteRule .* - [E=INFO_HTTP_ACCEPT_CHARSET:%{HTTP_ACCEPT_CHARSET},NE]
RewriteRule .* - [E=INFO_HTTP_ACCEPT_ENCODING:%{HTTP_ACCEPT_ENCODING},NE]
RewriteRule .* - [E=INFO_HTTP_ACCEPT_LANGUAGE:%{HTTP_ACCEPT_LANGUAGE},NE]
RewriteRule .* - [E=INFO_HTTP_CACHE_CONTROL:%{HTTP_CACHE_CONTROL},NE]
RewriteRule .* - [E=INFO_HTTP_CONNECTION:%{HTTP_CONNECTION},NE]
RewriteRule .* - [E=INFO_HTTP_COOKIE:%{HTTP_COOKIE},NE]
RewriteRule .* - [E=INFO_HTTP_FORWARDED:%{HTTP_FORWARDED},NE]
RewriteRule .* - [E=INFO_HTTP_HOST:%{HTTP_HOST},NE]
RewriteRule .* - [E=INFO_HTTP_KEEP_ALIVE:%{HTTP_KEEP_ALIVE},NE]
RewriteRule .* - [E=INFO_HTTP_MOD_SECURITY_MESSAGE:%{HTTP_MOD_SECURITY_MESSAGE},NE]
RewriteRule .* - [E=INFO_HTTP_PROXY_CONNECTION:%{HTTP_PROXY_CONNECTION},NE]
RewriteRule .* - [E=INFO_HTTP_REFERER:%{HTTP_REFERER},NE]
RewriteRule .* - [E=INFO_HTTP_USER_AGENT:%{HTTP_USER_AGENT},NE]
RewriteRule .* - [E=INFO_IS_SUBREQ:%{IS_SUBREQ},NE]
RewriteRule .* - [E=INFO_ORIG_PATH_INFO:%{ORIG_PATH_INFO},NE]
RewriteRule .* - [E=INFO_ORIG_PATH_TRANSLATED:%{ORIG_PATH_TRANSLATED},NE]
RewriteRule .* - [E=INFO_ORIG_SCRIPT_FILENAME:%{ORIG_SCRIPT_FILENAME},NE]
RewriteRule .* - [E=INFO_ORIG_SCRIPT_NAME:%{ORIG_SCRIPT_NAME},NE]
RewriteRule .* - [E=INFO_PATH:%{PATH},NE]
RewriteRule .* - [E=INFO_PATH_INFO:%{PATH_INFO},NE]
RewriteRule .* - [E=INFO_PHP_SELF:%{PHP_SELF},NE]
RewriteRule .* - [E=INFO_QUERY_STRING:%{QUERY_STRING},NE]
RewriteRule .* - [E=INFO_REDIRECT_QUERY_STRING:%{REDIRECT_QUERY_STRING},NE]
RewriteRule .* - [E=INFO_REDIRECT_REMOTE_USER:%{REDIRECT_REMOTE_USER},NE]
RewriteRule .* - [E=INFO_REDIRECT_STATUS:%{REDIRECT_STATUS},NE]
RewriteRule .* - [E=INFO_REDIRECT_URL:%{REDIRECT_URL},NE]
RewriteRule .* - [E=INFO_REMOTE_ADDR:%{REMOTE_ADDR},NE]
RewriteRule .* - [E=INFO_REMOTE_HOST:%{REMOTE_HOST},NE]
RewriteRule .* - [E=INFO_REMOTE_IDENT:%{REMOTE_IDENT},NE]
RewriteRule .* - [E=INFO_REMOTE_PORT:%{REMOTE_PORT},NE]
RewriteRule .* - [E=INFO_REMOTE_USER:%{REMOTE_USER},NE]
RewriteRule .* - [E=INFO_REQUEST_FILENAME:%{REQUEST_FILENAME},NE]
RewriteRule .* - [E=INFO_REQUEST_METHOD:%{REQUEST_METHOD},NE]
RewriteRule .* - [E=INFO_REQUEST_TIME:%{REQUEST_TIME},NE]
RewriteRule .* - [E=INFO_REQUEST_URI:%{REQUEST_URI},NE]
RewriteRule .* - [E=INFO_SCRIPT_FILENAME:%{SCRIPT_FILENAME},NE]
RewriteRule .* - [E=INFO_SCRIPT_GROUP:%{SCRIPT_GROUP},NE]
RewriteRule .* - [E=INFO_SCRIPT_NAME:%{SCRIPT_NAME},NE]
RewriteRule .* - [E=INFO_SCRIPT_URI:%{SCRIPT_URI},NE]
RewriteRule .* - [E=INFO_SCRIPT_URL:%{SCRIPT_URL},NE]
RewriteRule .* - [E=INFO_SCRIPT_USER:%{SCRIPT_USER},NE]
RewriteRule .* - [E=INFO_SERVER_ADDR:%{SERVER_ADDR},NE]
RewriteRule .* - [E=INFO_SERVER_ADMIN:%{SERVER_ADMIN},NE]
RewriteRule .* - [E=INFO_SERVER_NAME:%{SERVER_NAME},NE]
RewriteRule .* - [E=INFO_SERVER_PORT:%{SERVER_PORT},NE]
RewriteRule .* - [E=INFO_SERVER_PROTOCOL:%{SERVER_PROTOCOL},NE]
RewriteRule .* - [E=INFO_SERVER_SIGNATURE:%{SERVER_SIGNATURE},NE]
RewriteRule .* - [E=INFO_SERVER_SOFTWARE:%{SERVER_SOFTWARE},NE]
RewriteRule .* - [E=INFO_THE_REQUEST:%{THE_REQUEST},NE]
RewriteRule .* - [E=INFO_TIME:%{TIME},NE]
RewriteRule .* - [E=INFO_TIME_DAY:%{TIME_DAY},NE]
RewriteRule .* - [E=INFO_TIME_HOUR:%{TIME_HOUR},NE]
RewriteRule .* - [E=INFO_TIME_MIN:%{TIME_MIN},NE]
RewriteRule .* - [E=INFO_TIME_MON:%{TIME_MON},NE]
RewriteRule .* - [E=INFO_TIME_SEC:%{TIME_SEC},NE]
RewriteRule .* - [E=INFO_TIME_WDAY:%{TIME_WDAY},NE]
RewriteRule .* - [E=INFO_TIME_YEAR:%{TIME_YEAR},NE]
RewriteRule .* - [E=INFO_TZ:%{TZ},NE]
RewriteRule .* - [E=INFO_UNIQUE_ID:%{UNIQUE_ID},NE]
 
RequestHeader set INFO_API_VERSION "%{INFO_API_VERSION}e"
RequestHeader set INFO_AUTH_TYPE "%{INFO_AUTH_TYPE}e"
RequestHeader set INFO_CONTENT_LENGTH "%{INFO_CONTENT_LENGTH}e"
RequestHeader set INFO_CONTENT_TYPE "%{INFO_CONTENT_TYPE}e"
RequestHeader set INFO_DOCUMENT_ROOT "%{INFO_DOCUMENT_ROOT}e"
RequestHeader set INFO_GATEWAY_INTERFACE "%{INFO_GATEWAY_INTERFACE}e"
RequestHeader set INFO_HTTPS "%{INFO_HTTPS}e"
RequestHeader set INFO_HTTP_ACCEPT "%{INFO_HTTP_ACCEPT}e"
RequestHeader set INFO_HTTP_ACCEPT_CHARSET "%{INFO_HTTP_ACCEPT_CHARSET}e"
RequestHeader set INFO_HTTP_ACCEPT_ENCODING "%{INFO_HTTP_ACCEPT_ENCODING}e"
RequestHeader set INFO_HTTP_ACCEPT_LANGUAGE "%{INFO_HTTP_ACCEPT_LANGUAGE}e"
RequestHeader set INFO_HTTP_CACHE_CONTROL "%{INFO_HTTP_CACHE_CONTROL}e"
RequestHeader set INFO_HTTP_CONNECTION "%{INFO_HTTP_CONNECTION}e"
RequestHeader set INFO_HTTP_COOKIE "%{INFO_HTTP_COOKIE}e"
RequestHeader set INFO_HTTP_FORWARDED "%{INFO_HTTP_FORWARDED}e"
RequestHeader set INFO_HTTP_HOST "%{INFO_HTTP_HOST}e"
RequestHeader set INFO_HTTP_KEEP_ALIVE "%{INFO_HTTP_KEEP_ALIVE}e"
RequestHeader set INFO_HTTP_MOD_SECURITY_MESSAGE "%{INFO_HTTP_MOD_SECURITY_MESSAGE}e"
RequestHeader set INFO_HTTP_PROXY_CONNECTION "%{INFO_HTTP_PROXY_CONNECTION}e"
RequestHeader set INFO_HTTP_REFERER "%{INFO_HTTP_REFERER}e"
RequestHeader set INFO_HTTP_USER_AGENT "%{INFO_HTTP_USER_AGENT}e"
RequestHeader set INFO_IS_SUBREQ "%{INFO_IS_SUBREQ}e"
RequestHeader set INFO_ORIG_PATH_INFO "%{INFO_ORIG_PATH_INFO}e"
RequestHeader set INFO_ORIG_PATH_TRANSLATED "%{INFO_ORIG_PATH_TRANSLATED}e"
RequestHeader set INFO_ORIG_SCRIPT_FILENAME "%{INFO_ORIG_SCRIPT_FILENAME}e"
RequestHeader set INFO_ORIG_SCRIPT_NAME "%{INFO_ORIG_SCRIPT_NAME}e"
RequestHeader set INFO_PATH "%{INFO_PATH}e"
RequestHeader set INFO_PATH_INFO "%{INFO_PATH_INFO}e"
RequestHeader set INFO_PHP_SELF "%{INFO_PHP_SELF}e"
RequestHeader set INFO_QUERY_STRING "%{INFO_QUERY_STRING}e"
RequestHeader set INFO_REDIRECT_QUERY_STRING "%{INFO_REDIRECT_QUERY_STRING}e"
RequestHeader set INFO_REDIRECT_REMOTE_USER "%{INFO_REDIRECT_REMOTE_USER}e"
RequestHeader set INFO_REDIRECT_STATUS "%{INFO_REDIRECT_STATUS}e"
RequestHeader set INFO_REDIRECT_URL "%{INFO_REDIRECT_URL}e"
RequestHeader set INFO_REMOTE_ADDR "%{INFO_REMOTE_ADDR}e"
RequestHeader set INFO_REMOTE_HOST "%{INFO_REMOTE_HOST}e"
RequestHeader set INFO_REMOTE_IDENT "%{INFO_REMOTE_IDENT}e"
RequestHeader set INFO_REMOTE_PORT "%{INFO_REMOTE_PORT}e"
RequestHeader set INFO_REMOTE_USER "%{INFO_REMOTE_USER}e"
RequestHeader set INFO_REQUEST_FILENAME "%{INFO_REQUEST_FILENAME}e"
RequestHeader set INFO_REQUEST_METHOD "%{INFO_REQUEST_METHOD}e"
RequestHeader set INFO_REQUEST_TIME "%{INFO_REQUEST_TIME}e"
RequestHeader set INFO_REQUEST_URI "%{INFO_REQUEST_URI}e"
RequestHeader set INFO_SCRIPT_FILENAME "%{INFO_SCRIPT_FILENAME}e"
RequestHeader set INFO_SCRIPT_GROUP "%{INFO_SCRIPT_GROUP}e"
RequestHeader set INFO_SCRIPT_NAME "%{INFO_SCRIPT_NAME}e"
RequestHeader set INFO_SCRIPT_URI "%{INFO_SCRIPT_URI}e"
RequestHeader set INFO_SCRIPT_URL "%{INFO_SCRIPT_URL}e"
RequestHeader set INFO_SCRIPT_USER "%{INFO_SCRIPT_USER}e"
RequestHeader set INFO_SERVER_ADDR "%{INFO_SERVER_ADDR}e"
RequestHeader set INFO_SERVER_ADMIN "%{INFO_SERVER_ADMIN}e"
RequestHeader set INFO_SERVER_NAME "%{INFO_SERVER_NAME}e"
RequestHeader set INFO_SERVER_PORT "%{INFO_SERVER_PORT}e"
RequestHeader set INFO_SERVER_PROTOCOL "%{INFO_SERVER_PROTOCOL}e"
RequestHeader set INFO_SERVER_SIGNATURE "%{INFO_SERVER_SIGNATURE}e"
RequestHeader set INFO_SERVER_SOFTWARE "%{INFO_SERVER_SOFTWARE}e"
RequestHeader set INFO_THE_REQUEST "%{INFO_THE_REQUEST}e"
RequestHeader set INFO_TIME "%{INFO_TIME}e"
RequestHeader set INFO_TIME_DAY "%{INFO_TIME_DAY}e"
RequestHeader set INFO_TIME_HOUR "%{INFO_TIME_HOUR}e"
RequestHeader set INFO_TIME_MIN "%{INFO_TIME_MIN}e"
RequestHeader set INFO_TIME_MON "%{INFO_TIME_MON}e"
RequestHeader set INFO_TIME_SEC "%{INFO_TIME_SEC}e"
RequestHeader set INFO_TIME_WDAY "%{INFO_TIME_WDAY}e"
RequestHeader set INFO_TIME_YEAR "%{INFO_TIME_YEAR}e"
RequestHeader set INFO_TZ "%{INFO_TZ}e"
RequestHeader set INFO_UNIQUE_ID "%{INFO_UNIQUE_ID}e"

Mod_Rewrite Variables Decoded!

[API_VERSION] => 20020903:12
[AUTH_TYPE] => Digest
[DOCUMENT_ROOT] => /home/user/www_root/askapache.com
[HTTPS] => off
[HTTP_ACCEPT] => text/xml,application/xml,application/xhtml+xml,text/html;q=0.9,text/plain;q=0.8,image/png,*/*;q=0.5
[HTTP_COOKIE] => PHPSESSID=752ee6d56e15f305233e30045987e5ce568c034; __qca=1176541225-59967328-5223185;
[HTTP_HOST] => www.askapache.com
[HTTP_REFERER] => http://www.askapache.com/protest/index.php?askapache=awesomeness&you=rock
[HTTP_USER_AGENT] => Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.8.1.16) Gecko/20080702 Firefox/2.0.0.16
[IS_SUBREQ] => false
[QUERY_STRING] => e=404
[REMOTE_ADDR] => 22.162.144.211
[REMOTE_HOST] => 22.162.144.211
[REMOTE_PORT] => 4511
[REMOTE_USER] => administrator
[REQUEST_FILENAME] => /home/user/www_root/askapache.com/protest/index.php
[REQUEST_METHOD] => GET
[REQUEST_URI] => /protest/index.php
[SCRIPT_FILENAME] => /home/user/www_root/askapache.com/protest/index.php
[SCRIPT_GROUP] => daemonu
[SCRIPT_USER] => askapache
[SERVER_ADDR] => 208.113.134.190
[SERVER_ADMIN] => webmaster@askapache.com
[SERVER_NAME] => www.askapache.com
[SERVER_PORT] => 80
[SERVER_PROTOCOL] => HTTP/1.1
[SERVER_SOFTWARE] => Apache/2.0.61 (Unix) PHP/4.4.7 mod_ssl/2.0.61 OpenSSL/0.9.7e mod_fastcgi/2.4.2 DAV/2
[THE_REQUEST] => GET /protest/adf HTTP/1.1
[TIME] => 20080820014309
[TIME_DAY] => 20
[TIME_HOUR] => 01
[TIME_MIN] => 43
[TIME_MON] => 08
[TIME_SEC] => 09
[TIME_WDAY] => 3
[TIME_YEAR] => 2008

Request using HTTPS

[API_VERSION] => 20020903:12
[AUTH_TYPE] => Digest
[DOCUMENT_ROOT] => /home/user/www_root/askapache.com
[HTTPS] => on
[HTTP_ACCEPT] => text/xml,application/xml,application/xhtml+xml,text/html;q=0.9,text/plain;q=0.8,image/png,*/*;q=0.5
[HTTP_COOKIE] => PHPSESSID=752ee6d56e15f305233e30045987e5ce568c034; __qca=1176541225-59967328-5223185;
[HTTP_HOST] => www.askapache.com
[HTTP_REFERER] => http://www.askapache.com/protest/index.php?askapache=awesomeness&you=rock
[HTTP_USER_AGENT] => Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.8.1.16) Gecko/20080702 Firefox/2.0.0.16
[IS_SUBREQ] => false
[QUERY_STRING] => hi=you&whats=&you
[REMOTE_ADDR] => 22.162.144.211
[REMOTE_HOST] => 22.162.144.211
[REMOTE_PORT] => 4605
[REMOTE_USER] => administrator
[REQUEST_FILENAME] => /home/user/www_root/askapache.com/protest/index.php
[REQUEST_METHOD] => GET
[REQUEST_URI] => /protest/index.php
[SCRIPT_FILENAME] => /home/user/www_root/askapache.com/protest/index.php
[SCRIPT_GROUP] => daemonu
[SCRIPT_USER] => askapache
[SERVER_ADDR] => 208.113.134.190
[SERVER_ADMIN] => webmaster@askapache.com
[SERVER_NAME] => www.askapache.com
[SERVER_PORT] => 443
[SERVER_PROTOCOL] => HTTP/1.1
[SERVER_SOFTWARE] => Apache/2.0.61 (Unix) PHP/4.4.7 mod_ssl/2.0.61 OpenSSL/0.9.7e mod_fastcgi/2.4.2 DAV/2
[THE_REQUEST] => GET /protest/index.php?hi=you&whats=&you HTTP/1.1
[TIME] => 20080820015016
[TIME_DAY] => 20
[TIME_HOUR] => 01
[TIME_MIN] => 50
[TIME_MON] => 08
[TIME_SEC] => 16
[TIME_WDAY] => 3
[TIME_YEAR] => 2008

Emulating ErrorDocuments with Mod_Rewrite

The ErrorDocument directive is helpful because an errordocument is called differently then a normal file, and it contains special variables to help an admin debug.

I’ve wanted to use a RewriteCond + a RewriteRule to cause an Apache ErrorDocument to be displayed for a long time… I finally figured it out. Simply use the HTTP STATUS CODE trick in combination with a simple RewriteRule to trigger an Apache ErrorDocument.

This code emulates the internal 404 process Apache goes through.. If the file is not found it requests the /test/trigger-error/404 internally which triggers the 404 ErrorDocument.

ErrorDocument 404 /test/errordocument/404.html
Redirect 404 /test/trigger-error/404
 
RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /
RewriteCond %{ENV:REDIRECT_STATUS} !=404
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule .* /test/trigger-error/404 [L]

Big Deal.. you might say… well consider that this works with any status code, and using this method you now have the power to trigger any errordocument page based on any kind of rewritecond. I’ll be writing about some practical uses for this powerful method in the coming weeks, but heres a good example now so you can see how it can be used.

This bit of code Triggers the 505 HTTP Version Not Supported When a request is made to the server with a protocol other than 1.1.

ErrorDocument 505 /test/errordocument/505.html
Redirect 505 /test/trigger-error/505
 
RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /
 
RewriteCond %{ENV:REDIRECT_STATUS} !=505
RewriteCond %{THE_REQUEST} !^[A-Z]{3,9}\ /.*\ HTTP/(0\.9|1\.0|1\.1) [NC]
RewriteRule .* /test/trigger-error/505 [L]

YES! I realize I didn’t explain that very well, I didn’t realize it was that complicated.. I wanted to go into how to use these advanced tricks and methods to achieve some really cool stuff, but explaining just this little bit took me awhile and I’m out of page space!

So play around with this and I’ll post back some of the untapped sicknesses you can give a website with such powerful methods at your disposal.

Ralf S. Engelschall

/*
 *  URL Rewriting Module
 *
 *  This module uses a rule-based rewriting engine (based on a
 *  regular-expression parser) to rewrite requested URLs on the fly.
 *
 *  It supports an unlimited number of additional rule conditions (which can
 *  operate on a lot of variables, even on HTTP headers) for granular
 *  matching and even external database lookups (either via plain text
 *  tables, DBM hash files or even external processes) for advanced URL
 *  substitution.
 *
 *  It operates on the full URLs (including the PATH_INFO part) both in
 *  per-server context (httpd.conf) and per-dir context (.htaccess) and even
 *  can generate QUERY_STRING parts on result.   The rewriting result finally
 *  can lead to internal subprocessing, external request redirection or even
 *  to internal proxy throughput.
 *
 *  This module was originally written in April 1996 and
 *  gifted exclusively to the The Apache Software Foundation in July 1997 by
 *
 *      Ralf S. Engelschall
 *      rse engelschall.com
 *      www.engelschall.com
 */

Crazy Advanced Mod_Rewrite Tutorial originally appeared on AskApache.com

Raw Speed Benefit

This eliminates millions of bandwidth and resource robbing 304 If-Modified-Since requests.

Renaming links vs. Renaming files

On the server my files are named apache.css and apache.js, but in the xhtml I point to them using the names apache-113.css and apache-113.js, after I change the file I just add 1 to the number, and the new file is cached. They are internally redirected to apache.css and apache.js (invisible to the user) The concept is similar to a “shortcut” in windows or a symlink in BSD. The trick is that I never actually rename the files on the server. I just rename them in the html. That means apache-135.css is served from the file apache.css but the browser/cache only see and know about apache-135.css.

XHTML

NOTE: You can do your own investigating of this sites source code and HTTP headers to see this whole system in action

<link href="http://static.askapache.com/z/c/apache-0031.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" />
<script src="http://static.askapache.com/z/j/apache-0031.js" type="text/javascript"></script>

mod_rewrite code for htaccess or httpd.conf

Updated: 10/20/2008

RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /
RewriteCond %{THE_REQUEST} ^(GET|HEAD)\ /z/([a-z]+)/(.+)-([0-9]+)\.(js|css).*\ HTTP/ [NC]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule .+ /z/%2/%3.%5 [NC,L]

Alternate mod_rewrite code

RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /
RewriteRule ^([cij]+)(/?[a-z]*)/([a-z]+)-([0-9]+)\.([a-z]+)$ /$1$2/$3.$5 [L]

Ideal Caching Scheme

Ok so you want the xhtml to be the only file that isn’t cached without being validated, its simple to setup your own caching scheme.

Bad Cache information for a file with the ?v=foo hack

This object will be fresh for 1 week. It can be validated with Last-Modified. This object requests that a Cookie be set; this makes it and other pages affected automatically stale; clients must check them upon every request. Because it contains a query (‘?’) in the URL, many caches will not keep this object.

mod_rewrite Fix for Caching Updated Files originally appeared on AskApache.com

I’ve used just about every CMS/Blog/Forum/Trac/Gallery/etc) and really didn’t like a lot of the way they coded… I could use php but I didn’t KNOW php.. so I’ve had to learn php also, and it was tough to learn the advanced class usage and all the other language specific (but similar) constructs for php. It was especially difficult (but fun and challenging) to program so as to be compatible with php4 and php5 (Such is WordPress). But I kept at it, and soon you can decide for yourself what to make of it.

I can code in plenty of languages (bash, lua, windows .bat and vbs, ocaml, big fan of all things shell) and can work my way through C and even sorta somewhat with assembly. Assembly is the hardest, by far, I’m into easy and powerful languages like Python, Javascript, perl, php, ruby, and CGI. I’ve used PHP for a long time to do various things, but never to build software projects like this. Once I noticed WordPress’s core .php files and the excellent programming I wanted to try and learn hot to do it. The WordPress code is some of the best I’ve seen. It appears the way they built it was planned, and not just dreamt up while typing that I can’t help but do. Every time I read through the core code I learn a new trick or very nice way to do something. Those guys are really good, and I think WordPress is going to dominate for a long long time.

The Strategy

The Password Protection (passpro) plugin has a lot of complex stuff going on, especially for a newbie to PHP and WordPress like me, so after refactoring the whole thing at least 5 times I decided to modify my approach, and wrote the AskApache Google 404 Plugin as a way to practice on a simpler piece of code, while at the same time providing a plugin of value. Eventually I stopped thinking I could just code the whole thing in one sit-down with a stream-of-consciousness, and had to instead modularize the code and focus in on each part before moving to the next (I go without a plan because its fun, just not the most productive, but again, I’m not a programmer in the scientific sense.).

So I decided I had to really learn how WordPress Plugins work, filters, hooks, actions, and basically comfortability at reverse-engineering code, (Im a beginner for the last time), and so with the upcoming release of the AskApache Google 404 Plugin I have succeeded in making an incredibly stable plugin. That way I only have to worry about what the aapasspro plugin is doing, instead of trying to fit it into a framework.

AskApache Google 404 Upgrade

I think its rather unusual to develop a nice plugin like this 404 handler merely for the purpose of improving upon another plugin, but hey it worked. As of 08/03/2009 14:06PM EST I have about 1 hour left of finishing touches to release this upgrade. But as you cantell by my badly edited posts, I don’t have a lot of time to myself. An hour here and there is about it. So it could be up to 2 weeks before I actually have the time to commit the release to the repo. On a sidenote, have you checked out Windows 7 News? I’ve been contracted to do some technical work for them and thought they had an excellent site.

But keep in mind, the 404 PLugin is just where I practice for the passpro plugin, which truly does have features that no other software like it has ever had. I understand the technology behind this plugin, and know it would really have a great impact on improving the Web (esp. WordPress) for all of us, I’ve just had to learn how to make it.

AskApache Password Protection

Probably still a couple weeks away, this plugin is the ultimate culmination of apache hackers dreams, at least those on shared servers (who may be interested in learning how to bypass security of said servers).. So this is something I have much too fun with doing what I like to do.. network/protocol-level security. I’ve examined the source code for many software packages that I use or have used to audit a server’s security, and this simple php plugin in most instances can enumerate with accuraccy most of the server’s setup in about a minute. The catch (and the file permission problems I had to find a workaround too) is that this software is launched on the server, not remotely against the server.

Some of the software I examined was whiskers, nessus, nmap, hping, mozilla source, wireshark, ncftp, netcat, etc.. The closest comparison to the socket-level class I’ve hacked together to those is wireshark. Except that wireshark only interprets (captures) the data passing over the wire, while this class does that and in fact sends and receives the data like netcat or nmap. Its really more similar to metasploit, and can easily be used to send hex, binary, ascii, or any type of payload to the remote or local host.

The Upgrades Begin

Well I started working on them a long time ago. Both the Password Protection plugin and the Google 404 plugin needed serious work. And I finally have it all figured out. Essentially I would work on one and finish an upgrade, but I just wasn’t happy with it and I wold start all over again, refactoring the code. So as I put the finishing touches on those 2 plugins keep an eye out. They are major upgrades. I was able to meet all the goals I had for them, and came up with a lot of more improvements during the process.One of the main things I needed was a socket-level class to perform all kinds of checks and tests on. I need this also for my crazy cache plugin, which my blog is currently using , and I have a 2 more really nice pplugins I use that also needed access to a network class. I wrote about what I was doing with fsockopen, and I’ve been improving on that example ever since. I use this class to do some really powerful and exciting stuff, but you’ll see it soon enough. As an indication of ‘getting it right’ for the Password Protection plugin, the plugin will now work on Windows, Apache, IIS, Lighthttpd, and will even work running on a blackberry web server. So now everyone using wordpress can at least get some security()

Many of the the other improvements focus on using the fsockopen class and .htaccess tricks to basically enumerate and discover all the different capabilities of your particular server; That way you can learn about all the features and security that are possible for your specific server, and the securty modules wi8ll be geared for that as well. FINALLY this plugin is going to be stable, and I just cant wait to see how people react when they learn all great capability their Apache-based Server has that they didn’t have a clue about. Its amazing in that sense, and hackers will love theh way it works.. but your server admins will love it even more because its entirely 100% focused on helping you to set your site up (if you have Apache) to keep spammers out, to keep virii-serving robots and their log-hogging exploit requests and CPU/Mem robiing 404 errors off of your servers for real. This will have a noticeable affect to whoever is running the server. As you can tell.. I am pumped!

Apache can only be influenced by the main server configs and by .htaccess files. Not by php, not by perl, and the main configs are almost never accessible to the masses. But .htaccess files are. And many hosting providers allow and enable .htaccess files, a configuration file for your web server. The advanced features and capabilities of Apache were out of reach for most of us, it just wasn’t possible to enumerate or access, and most hosting providers are infamous for their lack of .htaccess (customer) support. This plugin goes around those problems to give the power back to the people.

y creating custom .htaccess files containing unpublished .htaccess tricks and techniques and combining that with the use of socket-level networking from WordPress (PHP) using fsockopen, we can effectively enumerate and discover an incredible amount of features and settings you will be able to control and use with this plugin.

Here are a few examples of the capabilities of this plugin, some of which I believe no other software can do.. (Open source free to copy!).

1. Current Version of Apache (Down to the API Version)
2. List of ALL Modules currently enabled by Apache (Such as Mod_Rewrite)
3. List of ALL Directives enabled by EACH enabled Module.
4. Enumerate .htaccess Overrides, Context Permissions
5. Test for any builtin Handlers (like the status handler screenshot)
6. Configure SSI (http://www.askapache.com/htaccess/advanced-htaccess-ssi.html#htaccess-ssi-security)

March 1, 2009
I would focus on the method that WordPress uses. The code they have now (2.8 bleeding-edge) still isn’t where it needs to be, but this is some difficult stuff and they have a brilliant start, it’ll work.. just a question of when.

The main issue with the password protection plugin working for some people and not others is due to file permission configurations. The plugin attempts to write/modify files in your blog’s root directory.

November 05, 2008
To make a long story short, I downloaded each major release of the apache httpd source code starting at version 1.3.0 and finishing with version 2.2.11, I then compiled each version and built a HTTPD from source for all these apache versions.

• 1.3.0
• 1.3.1
• 1.3.11
• 1.3.12
• 1.3.14
• 1.3.17
• 1.3.19
• 1.3.2
• 1.3.20
• 1.3.22
• 1.3.23
• 1.3.24
• 1.3.27
• 1.3.28

• 1.3.29
• 1.3.3
• 1.3.31
• 1.3.32
• 1.3.33
• 1.3.34
• 1.3.35
• 1.3.36
• 1.3.37
• 1.3.39
• 1.3.4
• 1.3.41
• 1.3.6
• 1.3.9

• 2.0.35
• 2.0.36
• 2.0.39
• 2.0.40
• 2.0.42
• 2.0.43
• 2.0.44
• 2.0.45
• 2.0.46
• 2.0.47
• 2.0.48
• 2.0.49
• 2.0.50
• 2.0.51

• 2.0.52
• 2.0.53
• 2.0.54
• 2.0.55
• 2.0.58
• 2.0.59
• 2.0.61
• 2.0.63
• 2.1.3-beta
• 2.1.6-alpha
• 2.1.7-beta
• 2.1.8-beta
• 2.1.9-beta

• 2.2.0
• 2.2.10
• 2.2.2
• 2.2.3
• 2.2.4
• 2.2.6
• 2.2.8
• 2.2.9
• 2.2.10
• 2.2.11

Then I went through each version and determined the compatible modules for that version, and I’m pretty confident that I was also able to find each and every directive allowed by the compatible modules for that version (including core directives). See .htaccess directive list. Basically I can now test a server using a variety of methods and determine almost 100% accurately what version of Apache (down to the API) is running, what modules (and versions) are enabled, and each and every directive that is allowed or disallowed for that version. So this is so awesome because now we can enable all sorts of additional security features.

Htaccess enabled Modules

Here are most of the modules that come with Apache. Each one can have new commands that can be used in .htaccess file scopes.

mod_actions, mod_alias, mod_asis, mod_auth_basic, mod_auth_digest, mod_authn_anon, mod_authn_dbd, mod_authn_dbm, mod_authn_default, mod_authn_file, mod_authz_dbm, mod_authz_default, mod_authz_groupfile, mod_authz_host, mod_authz_owner, mod_authz_user, mod_autoindex, mod_cache, mod_cern_meta, mod_cgi, mod_dav, mod_dav_fs, mod_dbd, mod_deflate, mod_dir, mod_disk_cache, mod_dumpio, mod_env, mod_expires, mod_ext_filter, mod_file_cache, mod_filter, mod_headers, mod_ident, mod_imagemap, mod_include, mod_info, mod_log_config, mod_log_forensic, mod_logio, mod_mem_cache, mod_mime, mod_mime_magic, mod_negotiation, mod_proxy, mod_proxy_ajp, mod_proxy_balancer, mod_proxy_connect, mod_proxy_ftp, mod_proxy_http, mod_rewrite, mod_setenvif, mod_speling, mod_ssl, mod_status, mod_substitute, mod_unique_id, mod_userdir, mod_usertrack, mod_version, mod_vhost_alias

Debugging HTTP protocol

Check this out! I’m particularly happy about this feature, which outputs an exact trace of any requests made by the plugin (such as during the testing phase) by saving the actual raw data sent out on the wire using fsockopen, RX and TX. This is useful for a number of reasons, viewing your headers, finding Redirect Loops, testing RewriteRules, and following the request hop-by-hop for debugging. The below example shows 2 requests for 2 URIs. The first URI is protected using Digest Authentication, the 2nd shows Basic.

 ______________
|  RAW TRACE   |
==================================================================================================================================
GET /htaccess/index.txt?testing=query HTTP/1.1
Host: www.askapache.com
User-Agent: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 8.0; Windows NT 5.1) AA_PassPro/1.9 (http://www.askapache.com/)
Accept: text/html,application/xhtml+xml,application/xml;q=0.9,*/*;q=0.8
Accept-Language: en-us
Accept-Encoding: gzip, deflate
Connection: close
Referer: http://www.askapache.com/
 
HTTP/1.1 401 Authorization Required
Date: Wed, 22 Jul 2009 06:29:58 GMT
Server: Apache
WWW-Authenticate: Digest realm="do or die", nonce="03328f3ec7c7b", algorithm=MD5, domain="/", qop="auth"
Accept-Ranges: bytes
Vary: Accept-Encoding
Content-Encoding: gzip
Content-Length: 882
Connection: close
Content-Type: text/html; charset=UTF-8
 
GET /htaccess/index.txt?testing=query HTTP/1.1
Host: www.askapache.com
User-Agent: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 8.0; Windows NT 5.1) AA_PassPro/1.9 (http://www.askapache.com/)
Accept: text/html,application/xhtml+xml,application/xml;q=0.9,*/*;q=0.8
Accept-Language: en-us
Accept-Encoding: gzip, deflate
Connection: close
Referer: http://www.askapache.com/
Authorization: Digest username="test",realm="do or die",nonce="03328f3ec7c7b",uri="/htaccess/index.txt?testing=query",
cnonce="82d057852a9dc497",nc=00000001,algorithm=MD5,response="9d476e9ea3",qop="auth"
 
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Date: Wed, 22 Jul 2009 06:29:58 GMT
Server: Apache
Authentication-Info: rspauth="9051b01ee26dd62b3e2b40dada694f45", cnonce="82d057852a9dc497", nc=00000001, qop=auth
Last-Modified: Tue, 21 Jul 2009 23:56:00 GMT
Accept-Ranges: bytes
Cache-Control: max-age=3600
Expires: Wed, 22 Jul 2009 07:29:58 GMT
Vary: Accept-Encoding
Content-Encoding: gzip
Content-Length: 27
Connection: close
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8
```````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
 
 ______________
|  RAW TRACE   |
==================================================================================================================================
GET /htaccess/po.txt?testing=query HTTP/1.1
Host: www.askapache.com
User-Agent: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 8.0; Windows NT 5.1) AA_PassPro/1.9 (http://www.askapache.com/)
Accept: text/html,application/xhtml+xml,application/xml;q=0.9,*/*;q=0.8
Accept-Language: en-us
Accept-Encoding: gzip, deflate
Connection: close
Referer: http://www.askapache.com/
 
HTTP/1.1 401 Authorization Required
Date: Wed, 22 Jul 2009 06:29:58 GMT
Server: Apache
WWW-Authenticate: Basic realm="Po Pimping"
Accept-Ranges: bytes
Vary: Accept-Encoding
Content-Encoding: gzip
Content-Length: 878
Connection: close
Content-Type: text/html; charset=UTF-8
 
GET /htaccess/po.txt?testing=query HTTP/1.1
Host: www.askapache.com
User-Agent: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 8.0; Windows NT 5.1) AA_PassPro/1.9 (http://www.askapache.com/)
Accept: text/html,application/xhtml+xml,application/xml;q=0.9,*/*;q=0.8
Accept-Language: en-us
Accept-Encoding: gzip, deflate
Connection: close
Referer: http://www.askapache.com/
Authorization: Basic adfAGAltcA==
 
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Date: Wed, 22 Jul 2009 06:29:58 GMT
Server: Apache
Last-Modified: Wed, 22 Jul 2009 05:54:39 GMT
Accept-Ranges: bytes
Cache-Control: max-age=3600
Expires: Wed, 22 Jul 2009 07:29:58 GMT
Vary: Accept-Encoding
Content-Encoding: gzip
Content-Length: 27
Connection: close
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8
```````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````

.htaccess Directives

AcceptFilter, AcceptMutex, AcceptPathInfo, AccessFileName, Action, AddAlt, AddAltByEncoding, AddAltByType, AddCharset, AddDefaultCharset, AddDescription, AddEncoding, AddHandler, AddIcon, AddIconByEncoding, AddIconByType, AddInputFilter, AddLanguage, AddModuleInfo, AddOutputFilter, AddOutputFilterByType, AddType, Alias, AliasMatch, AllowCONNECT, AllowEncodedSlashes, AllowOverride, Anonymous, Anonymous_Authoritative, Anonymous_LogEmail, Anonymous_MustGiveEmail, Anonymous_NoUserID, Anonymous_NoUserId, Anonymous_VerifyEmail, AssignUserId, AuthAuthoritative, AuthBasicAuthoritative, AuthBasicProvider, AuthDBDUserPWQuery, AuthDBDUserRealmQuery, AuthDBM, AuthDBMAuthoritative, AuthDBMGroupFile, AuthDBMType, AuthDBMUserFile, AuthDefaultAuthoritative, AuthDigestAlgorithm, AuthDigestDomain, AuthDigestFile, AuthDigestGroupFile, AuthDigestNcCheck, AuthDigestNonceFormat, AuthDigestNonceLifetime, AuthDigestProvider, AuthDigestQop, AuthDigestShmemSize, AuthGroupFile, AuthLDAPAuthzEnabled, AuthLDAPBindDN, AuthLDAPBindON, AuthLDAPBindPassword, AuthLDAPCharsetConfig, AuthLDAPCompareDNOnServer, AuthLDAPDereferenceAliases, AuthLDAPEnabled, AuthLDAPFrontPageHack, AuthLDAPGroupAttribute, AuthLDAPGroupAttributeIsDN, AuthLDAPRemoteUserAttribute, AuthLDAPRemoteUserIsDN, AuthLDAPStartTLS, AuthLDAPURL, AuthLDAPUrl, AuthName, AuthType, AuthUserFile, AuthzDBMAuthoritative, AuthzDBMType, AuthzDefaultAuthoritative, AuthzGroupFileAuthoritative, AuthzLDAPAuthoritative, AuthzOwnerAuthoritative, AuthzUserAuthoritative, BS2000Account, BalancerMember, BrowserMatch, BrowserMatchNoCase, BufferedLogs, CGIMapExtension, CacheDefaultExpire, CacheDirLength, CacheDirLevels, CacheDisable, CacheEnable, CacheExpiryCheck, CacheFile, CacheForceCompletion, CacheGcClean, CacheGcDaily, CacheGcInterval, CacheGcMemUsage, CacheGcUnused, CacheIgnoreCacheControl, CacheIgnoreHeaders, CacheIgnoreNoLastMod, CacheLastModifiedFactor, CacheMaxExpire, CacheMaxFileSize, CacheMaxStreamingBuffer, CacheMinFileSize, CacheNegotiatedDocs, CacheRoot, CacheSize, CacheStoreNoStore, CacheStorePrivate, CacheTimeMargin, CharsetDefault, CharsetOptions, CharsetSourceEnc, CheckCaseOnly, CheckSpelling, ChildPerUserId, ContentDigest, CookieDomain, CookieExpires, CookieLog, CookieName, CookieStyle, CookieTracking, CoreDumpDirectory, CustomLog, DAV, DAVDepthInfinity, DAVGenericLockDB, DAVMinTimeout, DBDExptime, DBDKeep, DBDMax, DBDMin, DBDParams, DBDPersist, DBDPrepareSQL, DBDriver, Dav, DavDepthInfinity, DavGenericLockDB, DavLockDB, DavMinTimeout, DefaultIcon, DefaultLanguage, DefaultType, DeflateBufferSize, DeflateCompressionLevel, DeflateFilterNote, DeflateMemLevel, DeflateWindowSize, Directory, DirectoryIndex, DirectoryMatch, DirectorySlash, DocumentRoot, DumpIOInput, DumpIOOutput, EnableExceptionHook, EnableMMAP, EnableSendfile, ErrorDocument, ErrorLog, Example, ExpiresActive, ExpiresByType, ExpiresDefault, ExtFilterDefine, ExtFilterOptions, ExtendedStatus, FancyIndexing, FileETag, Files, FilesMatch, FilterChain, FilterDeclare, FilterProtocol, FilterProvider, FilterTrace, ForceLanguagePriority, ForceType, ForensicLog, GprofDir, GracefulShutdownTimeout, Group, Header, HeaderName, HostNameLookups, HostnameLookups, ISAIPFakeAsync, ISAPIAppendLogToErrors, ISAPIAppendLogToQuery, ISAPICacheFile, ISAPIFakeAsync, ISAPILogNotSupported, ISAPIReadAheadBuffer, IdentityCheck, IdentityCheckTimeout, IfDefine, IfModule, IfVersion, ImapBase, ImapDefault, ImapMenu, Include, IndexIgnore, IndexOptions, IndexOrderDefault, IndexStyleSheet, KeepAlive, KeepAliveTimeout, LDAPCacheEntries, LDAPCacheTTL, LDAPCertDBPath, LDAPConnectionTimeout, LDAPOpCacheEntries, LDAPOpCacheTTL, LDAPSharedCacheFile, LDAPSharedCacheSize, LDAPTrustedClientCert, LDAPTrustedGlobalCert, LDAPTrustedMode, LDAPVerifyServerCert, LanguagePriority, Limit, LimitExcept, LimitInternalRecursion, LimitRequestBody, LimitRequestFields, LimitRequestFieldsize, LimitRequestLine, LimitXMLRequestBody, Listen, ListenBacklog, LoadFile, LoadModule, Location, LocationMatch, LockFile, LogFormat, LogLevel, MCacheMaxObjectCount, MCacheMaxObjectSize, MCacheMaxStreamingBuffer, MCacheMinObjectSize, MCacheRemovalAlgorithm, MCacheSize, MMapFile, MaxClients, MaxKeepAliveRequests, MaxMemFree, MaxRequestsPerChild, MaxSpareServers, MaxSpareThreads, MaxSpareThreadsPerChild, MaxThreads, MetaDir, MetaFiles, MetaSuffix, MimeMagicFile, MinSpareServers, MinSpareThreads, ModMimeUsePathInfo, MultiviewsMatch, NWSSLTrustedCerts, NWSSLUpgradeable, NameVirtualHost, NoProxy, NumServers, Options, PassEnv, PerlAccessHandler, PerlAuthenHandler, PerlAuthzHandler, PerlChildExitHandler, PerlChildInitHandler, PerlCleanupHandler, PerlDispatchHandler, PerlFixupHandler, PerlFreshRestart, PerlHandler, PerlHeaderParserHandler, PerlInitHandler, PerlLogHandler, PerlModule, PerlPassEnv, PerlPostReadRequestHandler, PerlRequire, PerlRestartHandler, PerlSendHeader, PerlSetEnv, PerlSetVar, PerlSetupEnv, PerlTaintCheck, PerlTransHandler, PerlTypeHandler, PerlWarn, PidFile, Port, Protocol, ProtocolEcho, Proxy, ProxyBadHeader, ProxyBlock, ProxyDomain, ProxyErrorOverride, ProxyFtpDirCharset, ProxyIOBufferSize, ProxyMatch, ProxyMaxForwards, ProxyPass, ProxyPassInterpolateEnv, ProxyPassMatch, ProxyPassReverse, ProxyPassReverseCookieDomain, ProxyPassReverseCookiePath, ProxyPreserveHost, ProxyReceiveBufferSize, ProxyRemote, ProxyRemoteMatch, ProxyRequests, ProxySet, ProxyStatus, ProxyTimeout, ProxyVia, RLimitCPU, RLimitMEM, RLimitNPROC, ReadmeName, Redirect, RedirectMatch, RedirectPermanent, RedirectTemp, RemoveCharset, RemoveEncoding, RemoveHandler, RemoveInputFilter, RemoveLanguage, RemoveOutputFilter, RemoveType, RequestHeader, Require, RewriteBase, RewriteCond, RewriteEngine, RewriteLock, RewriteLog, RewriteLogLevel, RewriteMap, RewriteOptions, RewriteRule, SSIAccessEnable, SSIEndTag, SSIErrorMsg, SSIStartTag, SSITimeFormat, SSIUndefinedEcho, SSLCACertificateFile, SSLCACertificatePath, SSLCADNRequestFile, SSLCADNRequestPath, SSLCARevocationFile, SSLCARevocationPath, SSLCertificateChainFile, SSLCertificateFile, SSLCertificateKeyFile, SSLCipherSuite, SSLCryptoDevice, SSLEngine, SSLHonorCipherOrder, SSLLog, SSLLogLevel, SSLMutex, SSLOptions, SSLPassPhraseDialog, SSLProtocol, SSLProxyCACertificateFile, SSLProxyCACertificatePath, SSLProxyCARevocationFile, SSLProxyCARevocationPath, SSLProxyCipherSuite, SSLProxyEngine, SSLProxyMachineCertificateFile, SSLProxyMachineCertificatePath, SSLProxyProtocol, SSLProxyVerify, SSLProxyVerifyDepth, SSLRandomSeed, SSLRequire, SSLRequireSSL, SSLSessionCache, SSLSessionCacheTimeout, SSLUserName, SSLVerifyClient, SSLVerifyDepth, Satisfy, ScoreBoardFile, Script, ScriptAlias, ScriptAliasMatch, ScriptInterpreterSource, ScriptLog, ScriptLogBuffer, ScriptLogLength, ScriptStock, SecureListen, SendBufferSize, ServerAdmin, ServerAlias, ServerLimit, ServerName, ServerPath, ServerRoot, ServerSignature, ServerTokens, SetEnv, SetEnvIf, SetEnvIfNoCase, SetHandler, SetInputFilter, SetOutputFilter, StartServers, StartThreads, Substitute, SuexecUserGroup, ThreadLimit, ThreadStackSize, ThreadsPerChild, TimeOut, Timeout, TraceEnable, TransferLog, TypeAuthDBMUserFile, TypesConfig, UnsetEnv, UseCanonicalName, UseCanonicalPhysicalPort, User, UserDir, VirtualDocumentRoot, VirtualDocumentRootIP, VirtualHost, VirtualScriptAlias, VirtualScriptAliasIP, Win32DisableAcceptEx, XBitHack, allow, deny, order, php_admin_flag, php_admin_value, php_flag, php_value

You can view the plugins home page, old, or view it on the wordpress.org site.

An AskApache Plugin Upgrade to Rule them All originally appeared on AskApache.com

Loading Video

PHP for shell.php

Substitue 1.1.1.1 for your IP address.. or see below for password authentication methods.

<?php
 if ($_SERVER['REMOTE_ADDR'] !== '1.1.1.1') die();
 ob_start();
 if (!empty($_GET['cmd'])){
 $ff=$_GET['cmd'];
 #shell_exec($ff);
 system($ff);
 #exec($ff);
 #passthru($ff);
 }
 else {
?>
<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/loose.dtd">
<html>
<head>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8">
<title>PHP AJAX Shell</title>
<script type="text/javascript" language="javascript">var CommHis=new Array();var HisP;
function doReq(_1,_2,_3){var HR=false;if(window.XMLHttpRequest){HR=new XMLHttpRequest();if(HR.overrideMimeType){HR.overrideMimeType("text/xml");}}
else{if(window.ActiveXObject){try{HR=new ActiveXObject("Msxml2.XMLHTTP");}catch(e){try{HR=new ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLHTTP");}
catch(e){}}}}if(!HR){return false;}HR.onreadystatechange=function(){if(HR.readyState==4){
if(HR.status==200){if(_3){eval(_2+"(HR.responseXML)");}else{eval(_2+"(HR.responseText)");}}}};HR.open("GET",_1,true);HR.send(null);}
function pR(rS){var _6=document.getElementById("outt");var _7=rS.split("\n\n");
var _8=document.getElementById("cmd").value;_6.appendChild(document.createTextNode(_8));
_6.appendChild(document.createElement("br"));for(var _9 in _7){var _a=document.createElement("pre");
_a.style.display="inline";line=document.createTextNode(_7[_9]);_a.appendChild(line);_6.appendChild(_a);
_6.appendChild(document.createElement("br"));}_6.appendChild(document.createTextNode(":-> "));_6.scrollTop=_6.scrollHeight;
document.getElementById("cmd").value="";}function keyE(_b){switch(_b.keyCode){
case 13:var _c=document.getElementById("cmd").value;if(_c){CommHis[CommHis.length]=_c;HisP=CommHis.length;var _d=document.location.href+"?cmd="+escape(_c);
doReq(_d,"pR");}break;
case 38:if(HisP>0){HisP--;document.getElementById("cmd").value=CommHis[HisP];}break;
case 40:if(HisP<CommHis.length-1){HisP++;document.getElementById("cmd").value=CommHis[HisP];}break;default:break;}}
</script></head><body style="font-family:courier">
<form onsubmit="return false" style="color:#3F0;background:#000;position:relative;min-height:450px;max-height:490px">
<div id="outt" style="overflow:auto;padding:5px;height:90%;min-height:450px;max-height:490px">:-></div>
<input tabindex="1" onkeyup="keyE(event)" style="color:#FFF;background:#333;width:100%;" id="cmd" type="text" />
</form>
</body>
</html>
<?php } ?>

Read this

Note: The history feature works by remembering the last commands that you typed.. Access them by pressing the up or down arrows on your keyboard.

This is not an interactive session, so you cannot cd to a directory and then do stuff in that directory.. You may however be able to do stuff like /bin/bash -c "cd ../../;mv this there;ls -la;" or you could try exporting your current dir or something..

Writing shell scripts and serving them on your web server works by renaming the file.sh to file.cgi and chmodding it to 750 or +x. Also make sure you try dos2unix -dv file.cgi If you can’t get it to work..

Example shell script as cgi

#!/bin/sh
export MYBNAME=`date +%mx%dx%y-%Hx%M.tgz`
tar -czf ${HOME}/backups/${MYBNAME} ${HOME}/site1/
exit 0;

Locking Down Access to your shell.php

Thanks to the comment by Andrew Ramsden, Here are a couple ways to secure your shell.php file so that only you can run this script.

Secure your remote shell by adding this to your shell.php

Add this line to the very top of your shell.php file to make sure that only you can access this script. Everyone else sees a blank screen.

if ($_SERVER['REMOTE_ADDR'] !== '1.1.1.1') die();

Secure your remote shell with htaccess

This only allows access from IP 1.1.1.1 and redirects everyone else. See Using the Allow Directive in Apache htaccess for more info.

Order deny,allow
Deny from all
Allow from 1.1.1.1
ErrorDocument 403 http://www.askapache.com

Secure your remote shell with mod_rewrite and htaccess

Based on the code from htaccess article This only allows access from user with IP of 1.1.1.1 and redirects everyone else.

RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /
RewriteCond %{REMOTE_HOST} !^1\.1\.1\.1
RewriteRule .* http://www.askapache.com [R=302,L]

PHP and AJAX shell console originally appeared on AskApache.com

Welcome to the first generation of the new .htaccess tutorials/articles. Basically these are articles detailing my BEST (almost) successful .htaccess experiments, meaning this is the only place on the net you’ll find this technique. It’s home-grown .htaccess, and its some kush, good kush. Instead of just publishing my cryptic results and code in days past, whoah.. a working demo and the NSA building ;)

Using the Mod_Rewrite Variables Cheatsheet makes this example, and all advanced .htaccess code easier to understand. Well, advanced for me at least. I know alot of AskApache visitors are some of the top gurus in many IT fields, but mostly web developers or website owners like me.. This demo is pretty self-explanatory.. Try it out to see how simple of a task this .htaccess trick performs. And make sure you read the whole article as this htaccess technique can be used to do a heck of a lot more than this simple demo.

Set PDF Viewing Mode

Whoa pretty sweet huh? Bet you’ve never seen that before! As I explain the htaccess code that achieves this, keep in mind this is merely one simple application for this code. It’s much more advanced than your basic htaccess trick, notice how this htaccess acts like a php script, very unusual.. I really wanted to share this trick after I created it for one of my clients because this is the tip of the iceberg. Another use would be to display an alternate style sheet depending on a users theme preference. The coolest thing about this example IMHO is that it uses multiple advanced .htaccess ideas in order for it to work, most htaccess code on the net is very singular. This code uses mod_headers to set the Content-Disposition header for forcing a download and uses mod_rewrite to:

1. Send different Content-Type headers
2. Check the value of a cookie
3. Set environment variables for use later by mod_headers header directive

What’s Going On

There are 3 different ways for a server to send a pdf file in response to a request for one. This causes 3 different ways to open/view the pdf file in the clients browser.

1. The browser display’s a “Save File As” dialog, allowing you to save the file or open.
2. The browser opens the pdf file “Inline”, opening the pdf file in the browser like a web page.
3. The browser “Downloads” the pdf file automatically as an “Attachment” and then causes an external pdf reader program like adobe reader to open the file.

Some people prefer to have the option of saving the file to view later, some prefer opening it with an external program, and some just like the pdf file to load right in the browser… The point is that by using .htaccess, we can let them choose any of the 3 methods and save their preference for all further pdf files requested from our site by that user.

How It Works

When you click on one of the 3 demo buttons above, “Inline”, “Save As”, or “Download”, a cookie named askapache_pdf is saved in your browser using the javascript below, with the value being set to which button you clicked. Then when you request the pdf file the .htaccess code below uses mod_rewrite to read the value of the askapache_pdf cookie, and depending on which was your preference it will send alternate HTTP Headers that control how your browser handles the file.

Htaccess Demo File

For the demo I created the folder /storage/pdf/ and this is the .htaccess file at /storage/pdf/.htaccess

#
# The default Content-Type for .pdf files
# This will make .pdf files default Content-Type header have
# the value 'application/pdf' - but the default can be overridden by
# using RewriteRule with the [T='different/type']
#
AddType application/pdf .pdf
 
#
# Turn on the rewrite engine
# if its already on you dont need this
#
RewriteEngine On
 
#
# Skip RewriteRules if not .pdf request, like autoindexing
# The next [2] RewriteRule directives are specific for .pdf files
# so if the filename requested does not end in .pdf
# then the [S=2] instructs the next 2 RewriteRule
# directives to be completely skipped
#
RewriteRule !.*\.pdf$ - [S=2]
 
#
# The first RewriteCond checks to see if the askapache_pdf cookie
# is NOT set.  The second RewriteCond checks to see if the askapche_pdf
# cookie has the value of s, which is the value corresponding to
# someone clicking the "Save As" button.
#
# The [NC,OR] flag means that if the cookie askapache_pdf does not
# exist, OR (next cond) if the askapache_pdf cookie does exist and is set to 's'
# then process the RewriteRule.  If neither cond is true the rewriterule is skipped.
#
# If one of the RewriteCond is true, then the RewriteRule is processed.
# The RewriteRule applies to any/all requests (.*) but doesn't rewrite anything (-)
# This RewriteRule sets an Apache environment variable ASKAPACHE_PDFS to have the
# value of 1 if either rewritecond is true.  The variable can be checked by any directives
# following the rewriterule in the whole htaccess file.  The ASKAPACHE_PDFS ends in S
# because if this variable exists then it means the users preference is 'Save As'
#
# Notice that if the user requested the pdf file without selecting a preference
# i.e. no cookie exists, then the ASKAPACHE_PDFS variable is still set.
# This just lets us pick the default preference for them, in this example the
# default is 'Save As'
#
RewriteCond %{HTTP_COOKIE} !^.*askapache_pdf.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_COOKIE} ^.*askapache_pdf=s.*$ [NC]
RewriteRule .* - [E=ASKAPACHE_PDFS:1]
 
#
# The RewriteCond checks the askapache_pdf cookie for the value 'a'
# which 'a' represents 'Download'
#
# If the cookies value is 'a' then the RewriteRule overrides the default
# Content-Type from 'application/pdf' set with AddType earlier, to
# 'application/octet-stream', which is a special content-type that tells the browser
# that the file cannot be loaded by the browser 'Inline', but must be saved
# which will be opened by an external viewer depending on browser
#
RewriteCond %{HTTP_COOKIE} ^.*askapache_pdf=a.*$
RewriteRule .* - [T=application/octet-stream]
 
#
# This is superfly.  If the cookie/users-preference was 'Save As' (s)
# then the RewriteRule above the last one set the environment
# variable ASKAPACHE_PDFS to have the value 1.  The Header directive here
# is ONLY processed in that variable ASKAPACHE_PDFS exists.  That is what
# the end 'env=ASKAPACHE_PDFS' does, it is the condition that must be met or
# the Header directive is skipped.
#
# If the ASKAPACHE_PDFS environment variable set by RewriteRule does exist
# then the header directive adds the header 'Content-Disposition: attachment' to
# the normal Response Headers.  The 'Content-Disposition: attachment' header
# instructs your browser to present you with the 'Save As' dialog box
# allowing you to choose whether you want to save or open
#
Header set Content-Disposition "attachment" env=ASKAPACHE_PDFS

Unique HTTP Headers Returned

When it comes down to it, the following information is the 3 modes. Notice each one is different, because these headers are the only thing controlling how your browser handles the file.

Save As Mode (askapache_pdf=s)

Content-Disposition: attachment
Content-Type: application/pdf

Inline Mode (askapache_pdf=i)

Content-Type: application/pdf

Download Mode (askapache_pdf=a)

Content-Type: application/octet-stream

Javascript used by Demo

The best place for javascript is quirksmode, here is a definitive article on setting, reading, parsing, etc.. COOKIES.

  if(!gi('pdfr'))return;
  var pdfr=gi('pdfr');
  var cval=getCookie('askapache_pdf');

  if(cval=='i'){pdfr.innerHTML='Currently set to "Inline".';}
  else if(cval=='a'){pdfr.innerHTML='Currently set to "Download" mode.';}
  else if(cval=='s'){pdfr.innerHTML='Currently set to "Save As" mode.';}
 
  addMyEvent(gi('pdfi'),"mousedown",function(){setCookie("askapache_pdf", "i", "", "/", "www.askapache.com"); gi('pdfr').innerHTML = 'Changed mode to "Inline".'; return false; });
  addMyEvent(gi('pdfa'),"mousedown",function(){setCookie("askapache_pdf", "a", "", "/", "www.askapache.com"); gi('pdfr').innerHTML = 'Changed mode to "Download".'; return false; });
  addMyEvent(gi('pdfs'),"mousedown",function(){setCookie("askapache_pdf", "s", "", "/", "www.askapache.com"); gi('pdfr').innerHTML = 'Changed mode to "Save As".'; return false; });

Alternative Method – No Cookies + PHP

This is what I came up with first for my client, and then while programming the php I noticed.. Hey! I think I can do the same thing using .htaccess, which would save me on cpu/memory/potential security/etc.. but this works great too. Though you will need to hack the code to get it working probably..

Note that the .htaccess rewrite code I used here used FILENAME-i.pdf or FILENAME-s.pdf to pass the preference to the pdf-dl.php script, it also worked for FILENAME.pdf?i=i

pdf-dl.php

if (
!isset($_GET['file'])
|| ($f=$_GET['file'])===false
|| ($fp=@fopen($f,"rb"))===false
|| ($fi=pathinfo($f))===false
|| ($fi['fsize']=filesize($f))===false
|| strtolower($fi["extension"])!='pdf'
) die('Failed');

ob_start();
header('Accept-Ranges: bytes');
header("Content-Length: {$fi['fsize']}");
header('Content-Type: application/pdf');
if(!isset($_GET['i'])) header("Content-Disposition: attachment; filename=\"{$fi['basename']}\"");

$sent = 0;
while ( !feof($fp) && $sent < $fi['fsize'] && ($buf = fread($fp, 8192)) != '' ){
echo $buf;
$sent += strlen($buf);
flush();
ob_flush();
}
fclose($fp);
exit;
?>

Alternate Method .htaccess

#
# Deny direct request to pdf-dl.php file
#
RewriteCond %{THE_REQUEST} ^.*pdf-dl\.php.*$ [NC]
RewriteRule .* - [F]
 
#
# Handle PDF files named anything-i.pdf as inline
#
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteRule ([^/]*)-i\.pdf$  /cgi-bin/pdf-dl.php?i=i&file=%{DOCUMENT_ROOT}/storage/pdf/$1.pdf [L,NC,QSA,S=1]
 
#
# Handle PDF files without -i.pdf as attachments
#
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteRule ([^/]*)\.pdf$  /cgi-bin/pdf-dl.php?file=%{DOCUMENT_ROOT}/storage/pdf/$1.pdf [L,NC,QSA]

More Info

The following is more information about the Content-Dispositon header and related headers, and will make you an expert at this if you read it all.. (no thanks)

Interesting Reading

Here is the thread of the original draft proposal for the Content-Disposition header.

• Content-Disposition Header, Rens Troost - 22 Jun 1993
  • Re: Content-Disposition Header, Nathaniel Borenstein
    • Re: Content-Disposition Header, Gabe Beged-Dov
      • Re: Content-Disposition Header, Rens Troost
      • Re: Content-Disposition Header, Gabe Beged-Dov
      • Content-Disposition Header and multipart/alternative, Rens Troost
      • Re: Content-Disposition Header and multipart/alternative, Nathaniel Borenstein
    • Re: Content-Disposition Header, Keith Moore
      • Re: Content-Disposition Header, Nathaniel Borenstein
      • Re: Content-Disposition Header, Ed Levinson (Contractor)
      • Re: Content-Disposition Header, Keith Moore
      • Re: Content-Disposition Header, Rens Troost
      • Re: Content-Disposition Header, Harald Tveit Alvestrand
    • Re: Content-Disposition Header, Steve Dorner
      • Re: Content-Disposition Header, Rens Troost
        • Re: Content-Disposition Header, Keith Moore
    • Re: Content-Disposition Header, Carlyn M. Lowery

Intense Reading

• Using the MIME Headers Effectively
• Mail Content Disposition Values and Parameters
• Tags for the Identification of Languages
• The Internet Gopher Protocol (a distributed document search and retrieval protocol)
• Universal Resource Identifiers in WWW
• Uniform Resource Locators (URL)
• Hypertext Markup Language - 2.0
• Hypertext Transfer Protocol -- HTTP/1.0
• Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME) Part One: Format of Internet Message Bodies
• Requirements for Internet Hosts -- Communication Layers
• Standard for The Format of ARPA Internet Text Messages
• Relative Uniform Resource Locators
• Standard for Interchange of USENET Messages
• Network News Transfer Protocol
• MIME (Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions) Part Three: Message Header Extensions for Non-ASCII Text
• Form-based File Upload in HTML
• Simple Mail Transfer Protocol
• Media Type Registration Procedure
• File Transfer Protocol
• Assigned Numbers
• Functional Requirements for Uniform Resource Names
• The Content-MD5 Header Field
• Renumbering Needs Work
• GZIP file format specification version 4.3
• Improving HTTP Latency
• Analysis of HTTP Performance
• Network Time Protocol (Version 3) Specification, Implementation and Analysis
• DEFLATE Compressed Data Format Specification version 1.3
• Analysis of HTTP Performance Problems,
• ZLIB Compressed Data Format Specification version 3.3
• An Extension to HTTP: Digest Access Authentication
• Hypertext Transfer Protocol -- HTTP/1.1
• Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate Requirement Levels
• Communicating Presentation Information in Internet Messages: The Content-Disposition Header
• Use and Interpretation of HTTP Version Numbers
• Common Internet Message Headers
• UTF-8, a transformation format of Unicode and ISO-10646
• Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME) Part Two: Media Types
• IETF Policy on Character Sets and Languages
• Uniform Resource Identifiers (URI): Generic Syntax and Semantics
• HTTP Authentication: Basic and Digest Access Authentication
• MIME E-mail Encapsulation of Aggregate Documents, such as HTML (MHTML)
• The Internet Standards Process -- Revision 3
• Hyper Text Coffee Pot Control Protocol (HTCPCP/1.0)
• Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME) Part Five: Conformance Criteria and Examples
• Communicating Presentation Information in Internet Messages: The Content-Disposition Header Field

Advanced Htaccess Demo/Example using Cookies, Headers, Rewrites originally appeared on AskApache.com

Scale is based on the average worldwide traffic of htaccess in all years.

.htaccess vs. htaccess

htaccess vs. httpd.conf

mod_rewrite vs. mod_security

Web Server Comparisons

Of course IIS is well-known to someone like me… but who cares about the big servers when small, light, super-fast servers are on the rise? See this Comparison of Web Servers.

Apache HTTP vs. Windows IIS

Fnord, Nginx, LightHttpd

Fnord what is going on?

Web Programming Comparisons

An interesting look at the search engine trends of programming languages out there today…

Did Ruby Pass Perl!

Keep in mind that Google may be interpreting “ruby” to be a precious stone… and what is a “perl” exactly? ;)

Perl vs. PHP, Old Debate

SEO

Wow. Big surpise there ;)

Treo vs. Blackberry vs. Palm

I love my Blackberry Curve! I used to love my Sony Clie, and I won’t forget my many Palms!

AskApache WebSite

Google Trends also lets you compare websites, I can’t believe its been over a year for askapache.com, thanks for stopping by!

Google Trends – Rocks!

Fun, free, and helpful tool from who else?

Htaccess SEO Trends by Google originally appeared on AskApache.com

1. Improved Directory Listings and SEO
2. Enhanced Error Pages
3. Dealing with Spam and Website Attacks

Improved Directory Listings and SEO

One way that I use SSI is for improved Directory Listing. Anyone here like SEO? Check out my WordPress uploads directory to get an idea. Basically I can customize the header and footer of each directory.. Pretty sweet, thanks Apache!

In your /uploads/.htaccess

# turn on auto-indexing and turn off SSI's ability to exec
Options None
Options SymLinksIfOwnerMatch Indexes IncludesNOEXEC
 
# we need to make sure files are displayed when requested, not executed or parsed
AddType text/plain .ini .sh .bsh .bash .csh .var .asc .md5 .sha .sha1 .cgi .pl .php .inc .asp .exe .bin
DefaultType text/plain
 
# turn on auto-indexing, with askapache-optimized options
IndexOptions FancyIndexing SuppressColumnSorting SuppressHTMLPreamble IconHeight=22 IconWidth=20
IndexOptions IgnoreClient NameWidth=40 DescriptionWidth=* XHTML FoldersFirst
 
# don't show these files and folders
IndexIgnore .htaccess .ht* *_notes *.log feed inc HEADER.html FOOTER.html feed*.gif
 
# the SSI files used for the header and footer
HeaderName /ssi/HEADER.html
ReadmeName /ssi/FOOTER.html
 
# used to determine the time and for SSI output
SetEnv TZ America/Indianapolis
SetEnv SERVER_ADMIN webmaster@askapache.com

In your /ssi/.htaccess

# makes files ending in .html be filtered through the INCLUDES filter before being sent to client
AddOutputFilter Includes html

My HEADER.html

<!--#set var="PAGETITLE" value="-- static.askapache.com" -->
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN"
"http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd">
<html>
<head>
  <title><!--#echo encoding="none" var="REQUEST_URI" --> <!--#echo encoding="none" var="PAGETITLE" --></title>
  <meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" />
  <link rel="stylesheet" href="http://static.askapache.com/c/error.css" />
  <link rev="made" href="mailto:<!--#echo encoding="url" var="SERVER_ADMIN" -->" />
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="http://www.askapache.com/" title="AskApache Home" accesskey="1">
<img src="http://www.askapache.com/nlogo.jpg" height="75" alt="AskApache" />
</a> <!--#echo encoding="url" var="REQUEST_URI" --> <!--#echo encoding="none" var="PAGETITLE" --></h1>
<hr />

My FOOTER.html

<p>Find the information you are looking for on the <a href="http://www.askapache.com/">AskApache Home page</a>
or the <a href="http://www.askapache.com/search<!--#echo encoding="url" var="REQUEST_URI" -->">
AskApache search page</a>.</p>
<hr />
<address>
  <small>$Id:<!--#echo encoding="none" var="UNIQUE_ID" --> E:<!--#echo encoding="none" var="REDIRECT_STATUS" -->,v 1.30
<!--#config timefmt="%c" --><!--#echo var="DATE_LOCAL" --></small><br />
  <small><!--#echo var="SERVER_SOFTWARE" --></small><br /><br />
  static.askapache.com -- AskApache | <a href="http://www.askapache.com/about/">Webmaster</a>
| Copyright &copy; 2009 AskApache<br />
</address>
<!--#if expr="$REMOTE_ADDR = 10.10.10.10" -->
<pre ><!--#printenv --></ pre>
<!--#endif -->
<script src="http://static.askapache.com/j/apache-0780.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
<script type="text/javascript">var pageTracker = _gat._getTracker("UA-7"+"321"+"53-38");
pageTracker._initData();pageTracker._trackPageview();</script>
</body>
</html>

Enhanced Error Pages

If you are using WordPress, I’m sure you are using my AskApache Google 404 Plugin, but whatever your error pages may be, using SSI you can make them better. My 404 Error Page is handled by WordPress and PHP, but all of my other error pages (codes 4xx to 5xx) are handled using SSI. You can check out any of them: /show-error-400, /show-error-403, /show-error-503, etc..

Notice the email note which has the subject prefilled? Thats one of the main uses for SSI, you can add forms to your errordocuments and get notified of problems which mean you can fix them.

Add this to your /.htaccess for each ErrorDocument you make.

ErrorDocument 503 /errordocs/503.html

My /errordocs/.htaccess

# turn on symlinks for rewrites and turn off SSI's ability to exec
Options None
Options SymLinksIfOwnerMatch IncludesNOEXEC
 
# makes files ending in .html be filtered through the INCLUDES filter before being sent to client
AddOutputFilter Includes html
 
# this internal apache variable prevents your errordocs from allowing keep-alive connections
SetEnv nokeepalive
 
# used to determine the time and for SSI output
SetEnv TZ America/Indianapolis
SetEnv SERVER_ADMIN webmaster@askapache.com

My /errordocs/503.html

<!--#set var="TITLE" value="Service Temporarily Unavailable" -->
<!--#include virtual="/errordocs/TOP.html" -->
<p>The server is temporarily unable to service your
request due to <strong>maintenance downtime</strong>
or super-crazy-extreme capacity problems. Please try
again later... Or <a href="mailto:<!--#echo encoding="url" var="SERVER_ADMIN" -->">send me an email</a> and let me know about it..</p>
<!--#include virtual="/errordocs/BOTTOM.html" -->

My /errordocs/TOP.html

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN"
"http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd">
<html>
<head>
  <title><!--#echo encoding="none" var="REQUEST_URI" --> <!--#echo encoding="none" var="TITLE" --></title>
  <meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" />
  <link rel="stylesheet" href="http://static.askapache.com/c/error.css" />
  <link rev="made" href="mailto:<!--#echo encoding="url" var="SERVER_ADMIN" -->" />
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="http://www.askapache.com/" title="AskApache Home" accesskey="1"><img src="http://www.askapache.com/nlogo.jpg" height="75" alt="AskApache" />
</a> <!--#echo encoding="url" var="REQUEST_URI" --> <!--#echo encoding="none" var="TITLE" --></h1>
<hr />

My /errordocs/BOTTOM.html

<p>If this should not be an error please <a href="mailto:webmaster@askapache.com?subject=ID#<!--#echo encoding="none" var="UNIQUE_ID" -->">email</a> me right away.</p>
<!--#if expr="$HTTP_REFERER" -->
<p>You came from <!--#echo var="HTTP_REFERER"--></p>
<!--#endif -->
<p>If you still have a question, please try to find the information you are looking
for on the <a href="http://www.askapache.com/">AskApache Home page</a> or
the <a href="http://www.askapache.com/search/">AskApache search page</a>.</p>
<hr />
<address>
  <a href="http://www.askapache.com/about/">Webmaster</a>
  $Id:<!--#echo encoding="none" var="UNIQUE_ID" --> Error-<!--#echo encoding="none" var="REDIRECT_STATUS" -->,v 1.30 <!--#config timefmt="%c" --><!--#echo var="DATE_LOCAL" --><br />
  <!--#echo var="SERVER_SOFTWARE" -->
</address>
<!--#if expr="$REMOTE_ADDR = 10.10.10.10" -->
<pre ><!--#printenv --></ pre>
<!--#endif -->
</body>
</html>

Dealing with Spam and Website Attacks

Say you are using some nice .htaccess rewrite rules to block offending bots, web scrapers, and other nefarious net characters. Instead of just sending a 403 Denied, you could send them to be handled by an SSI document that could do any number of things.. From adding the offending bot’s IP address to the .htaccess Deny List (blacklisting), emailing you with an alert, emailing the IP Block Owner, executing a denial-of-service response ala guardian (script will return an artificially high Content-Length, and will then spoon-feed content bytes back to the client at a rate of one byte per second, for single-threaded or fixed-threadpool clients, this will hang all of their requests and render the attack inoperable), or just output a frightening looking message which usually does the trick if the bot is humanoid.

RewriteCond %{THE_REQUEST} ^[A-Z]{3,9}\ /.*\?\=?(http|ftp|ssl|https):/.*\ HTTP/ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{THE_REQUEST} ^[A-Z]{3,9}\ /.*\?\?.*\ HTTP/ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{THE_REQUEST} ^[A-Z]{3,9}\ /.*\.(asp|ini|dll).*\ HTTP/ [NC]
RewriteRule .* - [F]
 
ErrorDocument 403 /errordocs/f-off.html

Example /errordocs/f-off.html View it Live (Not Responsible for mental or physical harm caused by fright)

<html><head><title>WARNING <!--#echo encoding="none" var="REMOTE_ADDR" -->
- SECURITY TEAM ALERTED</title></head><body>
<h2>ATTENTION <!--#echo encoding="none" var="REMOTE_ADDR" --></h2>
<p>You have been flagged by our system as a potential threat.</p>
<p>This request has been logged and the Security Team has been notified.<br>
Repeated attempts from IP address <strong><!--#echo encoding="none" var="REMOTE_ADDR" --></strong> will result <br>
in the IP automatically being <strong>blacklisted</strong> on this server<br>
and sent to blacklists around the world.  Additionally, the Security Team<br>
WILL alert the IP Address Block Owner and/or contact the authorities.<br><br></p>
 
<h3>LOGGED INFORMATION FROM THIS REQUEST</h3>
< pre>
REMOTE_ADDR   :  <!--#echo encoding="none" var="REMOTE_ADDR" -->
REMOTE_PORT   :  <!--#echo encoding="none" var="REMOTE_PORT" -->
REQUEST_METHOD:  <!--#echo encoding="none" var="REQUEST_METHOD" --><!--#if expr="$HTTP_REFERER"
-->
REFERER       :  <!--#echo encoding="url" var="HTTP_REFERER" --><!--#endif
-->
REQUEST_URI   :  <!--#echo encoding="url" var="REQUEST_URI" --><!--#if expr="$HTTP_USER_AGENT"
-->
USER_AGENT    :</ pre>
< pre style="white-space:normal;margin-left:150px;max-width:80%;">  <!--#echo encoding="none" var="HTTP_USER_AGENT" -->
</ pre>
< pre><!--#endif
--><!--#if expr="$HTTP_COOKIE"
-->
COOKIES       :</ pre>
< pre style="white-space:normal;margin-left:150px;max-width:80%;">  <!--#echo encoding="none" var="HTTP_COOKIE" -->
</ pre>
< pre><!--#endif
--><!--#if expr="$QUERY_STRING"
-->
QUERY_STRING  :  <!--#echo encoding="url" var="QUERY_STRING" --><!--#endif
-->
</ pre></body></html>

Server Side Includes Detailed Info

Ok now that we have the real-world usage out of the way, lets dig in a bit to the actual module mod_include, which if you want you can view the source code here.

Enabling Server-Side Includes

Server Side Includes are implemented by the INCLUDES filter. For backwards compatibility, the server-parsed handler also activates the INCLUDES filter. As well, Apache will activate the INCLUDES filter for any document with mime type text/x-server-parsed-html or text/x-server-parsed-html3 (and the resulting output will have the mime type text/html). If documents containing server-side include directives are given the extension .shtml, the following directives will make Apache parse them and assign the resulting document the mime type of text/html:

AddType text/html .shtml
AddOutputFilter INCLUDES .shtml

The following directive must be given for the directories containing the shtml files (typically in a section, but this directive is also valid in .htaccess files if AllowOverride Options is set):

Options +Includes

Server-Side Include Directives

These are the Directives allowed in .htaccess files that are handled by mod_include. Note that other modules may add additional directives, for instance the exec SSI Directive is supplied by mod_cgi. This is how mod_cgi registers with mod_include to provide processing of the exec directive. This is the code required to handle the “exec” SSI directive.

cgi_pfn_reg_with_ssi = APR_RETRIEVE_OPTIONAL_FN(ap_register_include_handler);
cgi_pfn_reg_with_ssi("exec", handle_exec);
static const char * const aszPre[] = { "mod_include.c", NULL };

config

Controls various aspects of the parsing.

<!--#config [timefmt="..."] [sizefmt="..."] [errmsg="..."] -->
<!--#config [echomsg="..."] -->
<!--#config errmsg="[It appears that you don't know how to use SSI]" -->

echomsg

(since 2.1) The value is a message that is sent back to the client if the echo element attempts to echo an undefined variable. This overrides any SSIUndefinedEcho directives.

errmsg

The value is a message that is sent back to the client if an error occurs while parsing the document. This overrides any SSIErrorMsg directives.

sizefmt

The value sets the format to be used which displaying the size of a file. Valid values are bytes for a count in bytes, or abbrev for a count in Kb or Mb as appropriate, for example a size of 1024 bytes will be printed as “1K”.

timefmt

The value is a string to be used by the strftime(3) library routine when printing dates.

echo

Prints one of the include variables. If the variable is unset, the result is determined by the SSIUndefinedEcho directive.

<!--#echo [encoding="none|url|entity"] var="..." [encoding="none|url|entity"] var="..." ... -->

var

The value is the name of the variable to print.

encoding

Specifies how Apache should encode special characters contained in the variable before outputting them. If set to none, no encoding will be done. If set to url, then URL encoding (also known as %-encoding; this is appropriate for use within URLs in links, etc.) will be performed. The default is set to entity, resulting in entity encoding.

exec

Execute external programs

<!--#exec cgi="/cgi-bin/s.cgi" -->
<!--#exec cmd="ls" -->
<!--#include virtual="/cgi-bin/s.cgi?argument=value" -->
<!--#exec cmd="perl /cgi-bin/s.pl args" -->

include

Include a file

<!--#include virtual|file="..." [virtual|file="..."] ... -->

printenv

Print all available variables

<!--#printenv -->

set

Set a value of a variable.

<!--#set var="..." value="..." ... -->
<!--#set var="modified" value="$LAST_MODIFIED" -->
<!--#set var="name" value="AskApache" -->
<!--#set var="date" value="${DATE_LOCAL}_${DATE_GMT}" -->

flastmod

Prints the last modification date of the specified file, subject to the timefmt format specification.

<!--#flastmod virtual|file="..." [virtual|file="..."] ... -->

fsize

Prints the size of the specified file, subject to the sizefmt format specification.

<!--#fsize virtual|file="..." [virtual|file="..."] ... -->

if

The if element works like an if statement in a programming language. The test condition is evaluated and if the result is true, then the text until the next elif, else or endif element is included in the output stream.

<!--#if expr="..." -->
<!--#if expr="${REMOTE_USER} && ${HTTP_USER_AGENT}" -->

<!--#if expr="test_condition" -->
<!--#elif expr="test_condition" -->
<!--#else -->
<!--#endif -->

elif

Used to put text into the output stream if the original test_condition was false.

<!--#elif expr="..." -->

else

Used to put text into the output stream if the original test_condition was false.

<!--#else -->

endif

Ends the if element and is required.

<!--#endif -->

.htaccess directives

1. XBitHack
2. SSIErrorMsg
3. SSITimeFormat
4. SSIStartTag
5. SSIEndTag
6. SSIUndefinedEcho
7. SSIAccessEnable

mod_include Default SSI Values

START_SEQUENCE

– The ending tag for mod_include to recognize and parse as SSI.

ERROR_MSG

[an error occurred while processing this directive] – On Errors parsing SSI.

TIME_FORMAT

%A, %d-%b-%Y %H:%M:%S %Z – Default Time format for DATE

UNDEFINED_ECHO

(none) – When echoing an undefined variable.

SSI Variables

DATE_GMT=Sun Mar  8 22:58:56 2009
DATE_LOCAL=Sun Mar  8 15:58:56 2009
DOCUMENT_NAME=FOOTER.html
DOCUMENT_ROOT=/root-srv/protected/askapache.com/sec
DOCUMENT_URI=/includes/FOOTER.html
GATEWAY_INTERFACE=CGI/1.1
HTTP_ACCEPT=text/html,application/xhtml+xml,application/xml;q=0.9,*/*;q=0.8
HTTP_ACCEPT_CHARSET=ISO-8859-1,utf-8;q=0.7,*;q=0.7
HTTP_ACCEPT_ENCODING=gzip,deflate
HTTP_ACCEPT_LANGUAGE=en-us,en;q=0.5
HTTP_CACHE_CONTROL=max-age=0
HTTP_CONNECTION=keep-alive
HTTP_COOKIE=__qca=12298910-686528-46510;  __utmb=50625.1.0.11311
HTTP_HOST=www.askapache.com
HTTP_KEEP_ALIVE=300
HTTP_REFERER=http://www.askapache.com/htaccess/htaccess.html
HTTP_USER_AGENT=Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.9.0.6) Gecko/2009011913 Firefox/3.0.6 (.NET CLR 3.5.30729)
LAST_MODIFIED=Sun Mar  8 14:53:50 2009
PATH=/bin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/usr/sbin
QUERY_STRING=
REMOTE_ADDR=24.123.215.60
REMOTE_PORT=4785
REQUEST_METHOD=GET
REQUEST_URI=/htaccess/
SCRIPT_FILENAME=/root-srv/protected/askapache.com/sec/includes/FOOTER.html
SCRIPT_NAME=/includes/FOOTER.html
SCRIPT_URI=http://www.askapache.com/htaccess/
SCRIPT_URL=/htaccess/
SERVER_ADDR=64.111.114.111
SERVER_ADMIN=webmaster@askapache.com
SERVER_NAME=www.askapache.com
SERVER_PORT=80
SERVER_PROTOCOL=INCLUDED
SERVER_SIGNATURE=
SERVER_SOFTWARE=Apache/2.0.61 (Unix) PHP/4.4.7 mod_ssl/2.0.63 OpenSSL/0.9.7e mod_fastcgi/2.4.2 DAV/2 SVN/1.4.2
UNIQUE_ID=dnbtH0Bvcm8A2ZHqcAAAAM
USER_NAME=

More SSI Information

1. mod_include
2. Apache Filters
3. Introduction to Server Side Includes
4. Apache Handlers

Advanced Htaccess – SSI, ErrorDocuments, DirectoryIndexing SEO originally appeared on AskApache.com