Security with Apache htaccess Tutorial
Apache Security tips and tricks for securing Apache Web Servers using htaccess, httpd.conf, and other built-in techniques to thwart attackers. This really should be required reading for any Apache admin or user because these little tricks are so easy to do.
Faster POST and GET Form Submissions… Shazam
Just a very brief look at speeding up form submission by delegating the processing and bandwidth to your server, not your client.
RewriteCond Cheatsheet
Request to https://www.askapache.com/cg/rewrite-test/?catch=caught&this=that
RewriteCond %{THE_REQUEST} = GET /cgi-bin/php/pro/rewrite-test/?catch=caught&this=that HTTP/1.1
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} = /cg/rewrite-test/?catch=caught&this=that
RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} = catch=caught&this=that
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} = www.askapache.com
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} = Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.1; WOW64; rv:18.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/18.0
RewriteCond %{REMOTE_ADDR} = 8.8.8.8
PortaPutty Auto-Reconnecting SSH Tunnels on an Encrypted TrueCrypt Portable USB Key w GPG
Ok I just came back up to write the intro.. I'm trying to keep it short to avoid getting bogged down by the coolness of each step. Here is what goes on. When I logon to my XP machine at work, I bring my usb key and plug it in first. On logging a window pops up first and it's a password prompt to mount my encrypted drive leonardo. It also checks a keyfile that is located on my usb key, but all I do now is type in my password. That causes my encrypted folder to be accessible to me like a normal drive, and it autoruns a startup batch file.
The batch file causes Portable versions of Firefox (all my bookmarks, my settings) to load, and launches Portable Mozilla Thunderbird (IMAP makes this work well), which is my favorite program (great GPG features and open-source!). Also Some Adobe CS4 software is loaded from the hard drive, like DreamWeaver. In the background, a service we created executes a PortaPuttY plink command to create forwarded tunnels from various remote servers and accounts, all using key-based encryption. These tunnels are automatically reconnected if they are disconnected, meaning you can use a socks 5 if you want or even better!
Firefox Add-ons for Web Developers
Advanced Web Development by AskApache is a Firefox Collection I created since I'm always trying new Addons out and using multiple computers and I wanted a quick and easy way to install my favorite's and keep a running list. Firebug, YSlow, LastPass, and Web Developer are the only ones I always use regularly.
I like the idea of the last.fm but it's not as powerful as the site, which is awesome. Lately listening to Kings of Leon Radio...
Adding Akismet Anti-Spam Protection Anywhere
Wouldn't you love to have Akismet Anti-spam protection for non-wordpress forms and pages?
MySQL
Custom Boot Menu in Windows XP
One of the first things that I do upon receiving a new Windows computer is immediately create a poweruser-style customized boot menu. Then every time I boot I can choose Safe Mode, Recovery Console, Debug, whatever I want! It's quick and easy to set-up and everyone should have one, soo sweet!
Speed Tips: Use Multiple SubDomains
To make your site even faster, serve certain content from different subdomains. The reason this works is amazingly cool!
PHP and AJAX shell console
Ever wanted to execute commands on your server through php? Now you can. I'm calling this file (see below) shell.php and it allows you to run commands on your web server with the same permissions that your php executable has.
Smart HTTP and HTTPS .htaccess Rewrite
This is freaking sweet if you use SSL I promise you! Basically instead of having to check for HTTPS using a RewriteCond %{HTTPS} =on for every redirect that can be either HTTP or HTTPS, I set an environment variable once with the value "http" or "https" if HTTP or HTTPS is being used for that request, and use that env variable in the RewriteRule.
Speed Up Sites with php Caching
This explains the basic methods to get started caching with php headers
TMUX
Stop wasting your lives with Mac Terminals.. or Macs. Get a real machine and then get a real shell multiplexer! For many years we all loved GNU Screen, but tmux is by far a better option today. The only time I am in the shell and not using a multiplexer, is when I'm not on one of my machines. My Arch Linux machines all run URxvt and my .bash_profiles all start tmux automataically, whether in X or single-user mode, tmux is where it's at.
Apache Environment Variables CGI Script
My improved version of the common printenv / test-cgi scripts for debugging Apache environment variables set in .htaccess files
phpMyAdmin Shortcuts with .htaccess
Use mod_rewrite to enable phpMyAdmin links in the form: /dbname/table/
Htaccess File Sample
Comprehensive .htaccess example file with advanced examples in 1 htaccess sample skeleton .htaccess file with the very best apache htaccess examples... Updated frequently based on detailed info from the Apache htaccess tutorial.
Use FallbackResource for WordPress instead of mod_rewrite
FallBackResource is a great alternative to using mod_rewrite to direct Apache to send all requests for non-existing files/directories to a script in WordPress. Htaccess and Server Config enabled.
Advanced HTTP Redirection
Learn about the 7 different HTTP response codes specifically reserved for redirection. 301, 302, 303, 304, 305, and 307.
I got hacked
Well, not this sites server, which has never been hacked, but a server hosted with hostgator.
Interestingly, the hacker sent me an email and left me an mp3, which I've uploaded for your listening leisure.
Do real hackers exist? Yes. Can we coexist? Preferably!
Share a Mouse and Keyboard between Windows and Linux
Serve Alternate Content based on Time
Time-dependant rewriting uses mod_rewrite and apache server time variables to display different files depending on the time, while the URL stays the same. An often requested implementation of this is to display a different home page or image depending on if its morning, noon, or night.
Faster Form Submission and Processing with fsockopen
Part II: Example illustrating how to speed up GET/POST form submissions. Uses fsockopen to initiate a server-side background request to process the submitted data, so that the result page of the form is displayed to the client lightningly quick.
Skeleton .htaccess file for Powweb Hosting
If you have a Powweb Webhosting account, you will appreciate this simple skeleton .htaccess file for use on their systems.
Questions I Ask Web Hosting Companies, Before Buying
The following is a transcript of a chat I had with a company called tektonic, and at that time I was looking for a cheap linux host to use for some redundancy/failover operations. I generally contact a new hosting company like this every few months.. I like to have options available in case of some kind of failure or network attack, so it's always a good idea to have a few ace linux servers in your back pocket.
If you've read any other articles on AskApache, you can see a certain obsession towards optimization, speed, and security -- so that is the purpose of the following questions.
Instruct Search Engines to come back to site after you finish working on it
Nifty SEO tip to get Search Engine Bots to check your site every hour until you finish working on it and tell them you are finished.
Google: Let’s Make the Web Faster
Speed Tips: Turn Off ETags
By removing the ETag header, you disable caches and browsers from being able to validate files, so they are forced to rely on your Cache-Control and Expires header.
MariaDB with LZ4 Compression Howto for CentOS
I really really wanted to run the latest MariaDB with LZ4 Page Compression.. it is a game changer for many types of large databases I deal with. So I compiled it manually in a way that is repeatable and follows best-practices and it's now powering this site. Now I can use InnoDB Page Compression with lzo, lzma, bzip2, snappy, or my favorite algorithm: LZ4.
Thought this would be a good chance to post a howto, and show that there is a lot you can do by compiling software yourself and breaking the package management one-click install shackles.
Boosting Googles PageSpeed Module with TMPFS
Google's mod_pagespeed speeds up your site and reduces page load time. This open-source Apache HTTP server module automatically applies web performance best practices to pages, and associated assets (CSS, JavaScript, images), all transparently like a Squid Proxy.
With TMPFS you can dramatically improve the speed of mod_pagespeed and the webpages served by it. TMPFS will store/serve the optimized PageSpeed output directly from RAM!
Links to htaccess tutorials and articles
Links to htaccess tutorials and howtos in the htaccess forum
Using PHP shorthand and short_open_tag
I hope this will pursuade you to stop using PHP short_open_tag syntax.<?= or <?
Advanced WordPress 404.php
For the AskApache Google 404 WordPress Plugin update I added a new 404.php that is more advanced than anything previously seen for a 404.php
.htaccess Plugin Blocks Spam, Hackers, and Password Protects Blog
Well what can I say, other than this is sooo DOPE! Here is a list of the modules this plugin (version 4.7 unreleased) will automatically detect. I compiled the list myself using every module included with any default Apache installation for ALL the versions listed below, 1.3 to 2.2+
Want to know something else I'm including in this plugin? For each and every module that is detected, this plugin can then detect ALL of the modules .htaccess Directives! For instance, RewriteRule, AccessFileName, AddHandler, etc.. are each a directive belonging to a module that is allowed to be used from within .htaccess files.
Talk about sick.. these tricks have the diamond disease!
Optimization
Control htaccess Basic Authentication with PHP and mod_rewrite
Control htaccess Basic Authentication with PHP and mod_rewritePHP fsockopen for FAST DNS lookups over UDP
While reading up on gethostbyaddr on PHP.net, I saw a nice idea for using fsockopen to connect over UDP port 53 to any Public DNS server, like Google DNS 8.8.8.8, and sending the reverse addr lookup in oh about 100 bytes, then getting the response in oh about 150 bytes! All in less than a second. This is how/why to read/write data directly to the wire! This would be extremely valuable for use in things like my online header tool because it's faster than any other method. As usual, I went a bit overboard optimizing it to be lean and fast.
SEO Secrets of AskApache.com
Learn how in a year, with no previous blogging experience this blog was able to rank so high in search engines and achieve 15,000 unique visitors every day. Uses combination of tricks and tips from throughout AskApache.com for Search Engine Optimization.
Htaccess SEO Trends by Google
htaccess vs. httpd.conf