A lot of the past and upcoming articles on AskApache are focused on speeding up a server or website, or just making things more efficient. I'm starting several speed tip articles that require the following 3 programs if you want to follow along, that is... if you can keep up! ;)
Software
While testing the exploitability of your target and mapping out vulnerabilities it is important to gain access inside the targets defenses so that you can establish an internal foothold like a owned box or switch. This is so you can use a tool to discover the packet-filtering being used, and literally map out the firewall/IDS rules. Needless to say that really provides you with a lot more complete vulnerability assessment to help discover more weak spots in the system.
Security
Orig published 2006. I had a CD-RW drive but being a computer security researcher I had no money for blank cd-recordables. What follows is how I managed to install various operating systems on my computer (1 hard drive) without having to burn to a CD the ISO and then boot from that.
And also:
==Phrack Inc.==
Volume 0x0b, Issue 0x3f, Phile #0x0a of 0x14
|=-----------------=[ Hacking Grub for fun and profit ]=-----------------=|
Linux bash GRUB iso linux OS Phrack USB
I've put up a new tool to check the strength of your password hash, that locates weak passwords by searching Rainbow Tables for md5 or sha1 hash match. Locate and fix this common security vulnerability before being exploited.
Security
Ok, so on a site like this one, there is a tremendous amount of 'code' styled with CSS fonts in a pre, code, var, tt, samp, or kbd html tag. When using an programming tool like VIM to write code it is shown beautifully using your OS fonts. So then, how can we get that same font beauty to be there on the web? And, of course the solution must use best-practices (and preferably only use CSS and (X)HTML).
Also, text effects! --> View Solution
CSS font Google
AskApache caters to the web/system elite, who's skillsets are also good for online stock trading. Heres a look at a penny stock investment.
Hacking
For the good of your followers,
for the good of mankind,
and for our own enjoyment,
we shall proceed to expel you from the Internet and systematically dismantle the Church of Scientology in its present form.
Hacking
Secure WP Super Cache, Anti-exploits, Mitigation techniques. A bunch of current ways to stop wordpress exploits and spam. 
Hacking, Htaccess, PHP, Security, WordPress security spam wordpress wordpress exploits
Recently I had to setup a script to curl 10k urls, but it could only do 500 requests at any one time. In order to work under that limit, I created a function that returns the number of currently running processes on the machine in an extremely fast and efficient way, thus allowing the curl_multi requests to queu themselves such as GNU xargs.
PHP /proc clearstatcache Hard link PHP Process stat version_compare
Say you want to Serve Alternate Content based on Time, but instead of serving based off the current time, you want to serve based off yesterdays time, and using .htaccess mod_rewrite rules?
Htaccess Htaccess mod_rewrite RewriteCond RewriteRule TIME TIME_DAY TIME_MIN TIME_MON TIME_SEC
I have been in some tight spots where I had to sniff a password or two off the wire, or sniff some packets off the wire and based on the packets content perform some action... Accidentally, I stumbled on a method to sniff data while remaining undetected and invisible.
Originally Posted: 2003/04/15
Hacking capturing ethernet Hacking network packet sniffing Wireshark
WordPress json_encode memory PHP wordpress
pdf.js is an HTML5 technology experiment that explores building a faithful and efficient Portable Document Format (PDF) renderer without native code assistance.
Javascript PDF pdf.js Portable Document Format
Want to block a bad robot or web scraper using .htaccess files? Here are 2 methods that illustrate blocking 436 various user-agents.
Htaccess
There isn't much vlan info on the net in terms of specifics and I had to learn all about it because I needed to log in to a switch that was on a different vlan. With the help of the Ettercap developers NaGA and ALoR I figured it out.
Originally Posted: 3/30/2004
Hacking Hacking security
A WordPress plugin that caches your entire blog for WP-Cache, I love this plugin and finally released it to the public!
WordPress
Clevo > Dell > Alienware. This is the best of the best. I've had mine for about a year now and have had 0 issues with it. It's fast, as in crazy unreal fast. It's not a huge server slice, but it acts like it. With 16GB of RAM, 8 cpus, SSD Raid, USB-3, and of course the graphics. Downside: about $3.5 - $6k
Products Alienware Dell Laptop M18XR2
A pure bash alternative to the python reflector, using curl, xargs, and sort for ranking Arch Linux mirrors.
Nice and simple. Short and sweet.
Shell Scripting ArchLinux awk bash cURL Python reflector sed shell-script
I've had a lot of people ask about the FeedBurner FeedCount image on AskApache. Specifically how to set it up with custom messages and different colors each page view... It is pretty sweet..
Hacking Feed Count FeedBurner Htaccess
What they say about kung-fu is true..
It can be attained by anyone through hard work over time. You can become as good as the amount of work you put in. Here's a short look at a basic technique that I use. Simply reverse engineering the source code and taking notes along the way...
static void php_session_send_cookie(TSRMLS_D)
if (SG(headers_sent)) {
if (output_start_filename) {
php_error_docref(NULL TSRMLS_CC, E_WARNING, "Cannot send session cookie - headers already sent by (output started at %s:%d)",
output_start_filename, output_start_lineno);
} else {
php_error_docref(NULL TSRMLS_CC, E_WARNING, "Cannot send session cookie - headers already sent");
}
return;
}
/* URL encode session_name and id because they might be user supplied */
e_session_name = php_url_encode(PS(session_name), strlen(PS(session_name)), NULL); PHP PHP Session Session ID
Ultimate Redirect Cheatsheet for multiple programming languages. Redirecting Users with Javascript redirect, meta refresh redirect, and php redirect, also htaccess methods, python, coldfusion, asp, perl, etc.
Htaccess 301 Htaccess Redirect URL redirection
Google AdSense uses the robots.txt file to optimize Ads displayed on your site for the Mediapartners-Google robot Google
What I used to do when I was still learning CSS was to check the web page in each of the various problematic browsers to make sure the display stayed the same. I have several actual machines and several vmware virtual machines running various browers but I decided to skip all that extra time and effort and just use an online tool to do it for me. The tool views my page in all the various browsers and generates a screenshot image from each browser so that I can see if there are issues with my CSS.
Software
Scrolls the latest log entries for multiple log files to the current screen or to any other monitor or TTY in color using syntax highlighting, making debugging easier and saving a lot of time for multi-monitor workstations.
Linux
Grab the latest php.ini developmental version and discover new or previously hidden php runtime configuration settings... ahead of everyone else!
PHP
Top 3 ways to speed up websites that use Google Analytics. Host Script Locally, Fix Google-Analytics Cookie Domain, and Failsafe Loading for optimum tracking statistics.
Google
This past week I updated my sites apache.css file for a site-redesign. I wanted to make changes to the .css file that only I could see, so that my regular traffic and site-visitors would still see the old version. Here's the elegant solution I came up with using .htaccess and mod_rewrite that works so well I'm sharing it with all you wonderful and incredible people reading my blog :)
Htaccess
NOTE: This is a very old post, I do NOT recommend DreamHost for anyone other than spammers. They are not a long-term solution.
Hosting
Fresh .htaccess code for you! Check out the Cookie Manipulation and environment variable usage with mod_rewrite! I also included a couple Mod_Security .htaccess examples. Enjoy!
Originally Posted: 3/29/2008
Htaccess
Check out this free online SEO site-scoring tool. The SEO generated report is simple, neat, and helpful. The main thing I like about it is how it is a stand-alone website, a residual money making machine.
Software
FYI, using the Mod_Rewrite Variables Cheatsheet makes this example, and all advanced .htaccess code easier to understand. This demo lets you set a cookie with 1 of 3 values, then you just request the pdf file with a normal link click and get 1 of 3 different responses. This is accomplished with a nice bit of .htaccess code.
Htaccess Htaccess HTTP cookie JavaScript PDF pdf.js Portable Document Format
Apache Documentation Google Custom Search Engine is a great place to go looking for mod_rewrite, .htaccess, and other Apache HTTPD related topics.
Google
Htaccess AddDescription Apache bash
Hacking
301 Redirects using Apache mod_rewrite or RedirectMatch in .htaccess or httpd.conf
Htaccess
If you have files on your site that you don't want indexed by malicious search engines, grabbed and leeched by malicious spammers, or stolen and made available elsewhere, you can use mod_rewrite to drastically reduce or totally reduce that activity.
Htaccess Htaccess malicious search engines mod_rewrite Spamming
Hosting DreamHost Out of memory RAM virtual memory
Htaccess php tips and tricks for the Apache HTTPD Web Server, mostly these tips show you how to run customized versions with customized php.ini files, I require custom php.ini files because they are so useful!
PHP
Web Design