HOWTO: Uninstall CPANEL over SSH
The following is just a quick but detailed reference of some of the commands I used to successfully uninstall cpanel permanently. This is for advanced users of the shell. If you run a single one of these commands without fully understanding it, you will probably kill your server, lose everything on it permanently, not have a website or email for weeks.. So backup everything. FIRST. You should also contact your hosting provider support - but be prepared for some MAJOR negativity.. cpanel makes things very easy for web-hosting companies, and you are less than a drop in their bucket.
Show or Hide WordPress Admin Bar Plugin
The Admin Bar in WordPress is always shown when in the backend administration area no matter what.
You are given the option to show/hide the admin bar when viewing the site, but there is no option to show/hide the admin bar when using the backend... So I created a plugin to provide that option on profile pages.
Why hide the admin bar in backend?
Normally I like the admin-bar and usually have it enabled, but it's nice to be able to switch it on/off from the "Edit Profile" page. The biggest reason for not loading/showing the admin_bar in the backend is SPEED. Here are 2 instances where I hide it-
· Sites with many authors/admins
· Moderating Comments on a Mobile Phone
HTTP Status Codes and Htaccess ErrorDocuments
There are a total of 57 HTTP Status Codes recognized by the Apache Web Server. Wouldn't you like to see what all those headers and their output, ErrorDocuments look like?
phpMyAdmin Shortcuts with .htaccess
Use mod_rewrite to enable phpMyAdmin links in the form: /dbname/table/
THE Ultimate Htaccess
.htaccess is a very ancient configuration file for web servers, and is one of the most powerful configuration files most webmasters will ever come across. This htaccess guide shows off the very best of the best htaccess tricks and code snippets from hackers and server administrators.
You've come to the right place if you are looking to acquire mad skills for using .htaccess files!
Actual Htaccess Files from My Server
#### No https except to wp-admin -
# If the request is empty ( implies fopen or normal file access by a php script )
RewriteCond %{THE_REQUEST} ^$ [OR]
# OR if the request if for wp-admin or wp-login.php
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} ^/(wp-admin|wp-login.php).*$ [NC,OR]
# OR if the Referer is https
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} ^https://www.askapache.com/.*$ [NC]
# THEN skip the following rule, basically all this does is force https or badhost to be redirected
# BUT because of the above 3 rewritecond's, this won't break poorly written admin scripts
RewriteRule .* - [S=1]
RewriteCond %{HTTPS} =on [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} !^www.askapache.com$ [NC]
RewriteRule .* https://www.askapache.com%{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]
Advanced Windows Batch File Scripting
If for some reason you need to use windows .bat batch file scripting to do some task, or you just want to learn the most universal batch programming language on Windows machines, you lucked out and found the AskApache example. My expertise is the shell, in this article the shell is Windows cmd.exe. It has some pretty advanced windows shell usage, including pipes and redirection, but it's the modular linux-like coding approach that earns this script it's "advanced" title.
:SETPROMPT set PROMPT=$_[%USERNAME%@%USERDOMAIN%]$S[$P]$_$M$G && EXIT /B
My favorite tool (and I've tried sooo many) for editing most Windows files and especially .bat files is the free and open-source Notepad++. Set that up and you will have a color-syntax-highlighted editor for Batch Scripting that works very very well.
MySQL Performance Tuning Scripts and Know-How
Unless you are a total linux-freak-guru like myself, and even if you are, it can be enormously challenging and somewhat overwhelming to locate and eliminate MySQL bottlenecks. While many DBAs focus on improving the performance of the queries themselves, this post will focus on the highest-impact items: MySQL Server Performance and OS Performance for MySQL. Specifically showing 4 awesome tools to auto-tune your MySQL and a few more tools just for monitoring!
Mac Address Lookup
Htaccess Mod_Rewrite – Crazy Advanced Master Class
htaccess rewrite Master Class! If you understand the basics of mod_rewrite, or if you literally write the mod_rewite.c code, this article will transform your thinking. The transformation is profound. Deeply effective. Culmination of the best of the best mod_rewrite tricks for understanding and learning exactly what rewrite is doing.
Advanced WordPress wp-config.php Tweaks
The bottom line for this article is that I want to make WordPress as fast, secure, and easy to install, run, and manage because I am using it more and more for client production sites, I will work for days in order to solve an issue so that I never have to spend time on that issue again. Time is money in this industry and that is ultimately (time) what there is to gain by tweaking WordPress.
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..
Caching Tutorial for Webmasters
If you examine the preferences dialog of any modern Web browser (like Internet Explorer, Safari or Mozilla), you'll probably notice a 'cache' setting. This lets you set aside a section of your computer's hard disk to store representations that you've seen, just for you. The browser cache works according to fairly simple rules. It will check to make sure that the representations are fresh, usually once a session (that is, the once in the current invocation of the browser).
.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!
Custom PHP.ini tips and tricks
- When php run as Apache Module (mod_php)
- When php run as CGI
- When cgi?d php is run with wrapper (for FastCGI)
Mod_Rewrite Security
These are a few of the mod_rewrite uses that BlogSecurity declared pushed the boundaries of Mod_Rewrite! Some of these snippets are quite exotic and unlike anything you may have seen before, also only for those who understand them as they can kill a website pretty quick.
DreamHost’s Private Servers Finally Rooted
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!
AskApache Password Protection, For WordPress
AskApache Password Protect adds some serious password protection to your WordPress Blog. Not only does it protect your wp-admin directory, but also your wp-includes, wp-content, plugins, etc. plugins as well. Imagine a HUGE brick wall protecting your frail .php scripts from the endless attacks of automated web robots and password-guessing exploit-serving scripts.
Fix Linux Users Home Permissions with a Cron Job
As a security nut myself, and also a Linux admin, one of my biggest pet peeves is when I've taken the time and care to segment all the users on a server into separate home directories, and then some developer comes along, logs in as root, and changes the ownership of files. Other things can cause this, like Apache, PHP, Mutt, etc.. So I've always used a cron job that executes daily (and on demand) which automatically fixes all the permissions back to what they should be.
30x Faster Cache and Site Speed with TMPFS
NOT a typo.. 30x is measurable, well-documented, and easily tested. This is what open-source is about. I haven’t had time to post much the past year, I'm always working! So I wanted to make up for that by publishing an article on a topic that would blow your mind and be something that you could actually start using and really get some benefit out of it. This is one of those articles that the majority of web hosting companies would love to see in paperback, so they could burn it.
Finding Global Memory Hogs in WordPress
Changing Any Password On XP
This quick tutorial will show you the steps to change and reset any user password on a windows computer, and also show you how to protect your computer from people doing this to you!
SEO with Robots.txt
Very nice tutorial dealing with the robots.txt file. Shows examples for google and other search engines. Wordpress robots.txt and phpBB robots.txt sample files.Separate favicons for the Frontend and Backend
Here's a nifty little idea I had that has some merit and is super easy. Separate favicons for separate areas of a site. Basically, I can't live without Firefox or Chrome and the way they use multiple tabs, having about 20-50 open at any one time.. But that makes it more difficult to find the right tab! 
Optimize a Website for Speed, Security, and Easy Management
Learn how to setup, configure, secure, optimize, and create a low-maintenance website the AskApache way. I'm piecing together all the hacks, tricks, methods, and ideas discussed throughout this blog and all across Netdom and glueing them all together to show you how to have the most optimized, crazy fastest, and best website setup I can think of.
Mod_Security .htaccess tricks
Mod_Security rivals Mod_Rewrite in the amount of features it provides. I decided to go ahead and post what I learned about it today, even though its tough to give away such awesome htaccess and apache tricks.. Learn how to control spam once and for all, conditionally log/deny/allow/redirect requests based on IP, username, etc.. Mod_Security is so fine!
SSI in Htaccess for ErrorDocuments, DirectoryIndexing, SEO
3-Part article covering practical implementation of 3 advanced .htaccess features. Discover an easy way to boost your SEO the AskApache way (focus on visitors), a tip you might keep and use for life. Get some cool security tricks to use against spammers, crackers, and other nefarious sorts. Take your site's error handling to the next level, enhanced ErrorDocuments that go beyond 404's.
IP Blocked by stateful Firewall, now what?
Undetectable Sniffing On Ethernet
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
WordPress .htaccess in-depth
WordPress uses a file named .htaccess to rewrite all requests to the main index.php file. This article explains what the htaccess file rules look like and what they actually do.
Web Development Glossary
FastCGI on DreamHost
Using FastCGI on DreamHost and .htaccess
Setting charset in htaccess
Learning about charset's and file types maybe pretty boring, but using .htaccess it can be fun! Here's a quicklist htaccess cheatsheet for adding the correct Charset to a web document.
An AskApache Plugin Upgrade to Rule them All
So my blog as been rather quiet for almost a year now, and very few updates if any have been released for my Password Protection PLugin, my Google 404 Plugin, and definately not for my AskApache CrazyCache plugin, which I will be releasing last... So for all of you who've helped me out by sending me suggestions and notifying me of errors and sticking with it... Just wanted to say sorry about that, and thanks for all the great ideas.. Well, I've been sticking with it as well believe it our not. I manage to get free days once in a while, and then its time to jam.
AskApache Debug Viewer Plugin for WordPress
The story behind this plugin is sorta wack, but in a good way :). While doing tons of security research on permissions, authorization, access, etc.. for the Password Protection plugin (still being worked on), I needed to have unheard of debugging capabilities while working on the plugin on the various websites, webhosts, and test servers that I use to test in different environments. So I hacked together a bunch of php code that helped me debug, actually I pretty much went overkill and tried to get as much debugging info as programmatically possible, and it ended up being so much code that I took it out of my Password Protection code and made it its own plugin.
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
Easy boot.ini Hacks for Windows SysOps
Caching WordPress with Batcache and Memcache
Using memcache for me personally and the client sites I work on, has improved performance by over 1000%, in some cases even higher than that. It is a truly revolutionary way to optimize the performance of MySQL queries, remote requests such as to twitter or other apis, and this article is step 1. Plan is to go all the way to step 10 in future articles, it it grossly underused and misused in the WP world.
Mod_Rewrite Variables Cheatsheet
We've figured out what mod_rewrite variables look like, a cheatsheet of the actual value.