I discovered these tips and tricks mostly while working as a network security penetration specialist hired to find security holes in web hosting environments. That is when I started examining htaccess files in great detail and learned about the incredible untapped power of htaccess. The only avenue on shared-hosting was and is the .htaccess file, and holy freaking fiber-optics.. it's almost as powerful as httpd.conf itself
Htaccess | Tags: 301 Redirects, Apache, cheatsheet, ErrorDocument, File Permissions, Hacking, Hosting, howto, Htaccess, HTTP, HTTP Headers, mod_rewrite, mod_security, mod_status, PHP, Redirect, RedirectMatch, rewrite, RewriteCond, RewriteEngine, RewriteRule, robots.txt, security, SSL, tips, tricks, 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.
WordPress
Quick and easy method to get a list of all Apache Modules currently loaded, a list of all the directives each module provides, a list of currently used directives, etc... These directives can be used in httpd.conf and/or .htaccess files so it is definately useful to know which ones are available and which ones are currently being used.
Htaccess | Tags: Apache, bash, lynx, mod_rewrite, mod_status, server-info, server-status
Unix file permissions are one of the more difficult subjects to grasp.. Well, ok maybe "grasp" isn't the word.. Master is the right word.. Unix file permissions is a hard topic to fully master, mainly I think because there aren't many instances when a computer user encounters them seriously, and bitwise is oldschool. This contains a listing of all possible permission masks and bits from a linux, php, and web hosting view.... cuz you guys AskApache Regs Rock!
Security | Tags: chmod, File Permissions, umask
Fast, HTTP Protocol, protection. If you are reading this article, you already know enough about the benefits of making sure your site can handle HTTP Protocol Errors. This is a nice single php file with no dependencies or requirements, will work on anything. Optimized for minimizing bandwidth and resource-hogging connections from bots and spambots.
<?php
ob_start();
@set_time_limit(5);
@ini_set('memory_limit', '64M');
@ini_set('display_errors', 'Off');
error_reporting(0); PHP | Tags: ErrorDocument, HTTP, PHP
If you have a php.cgi or php.ini file in your /cgi-bin/ directory or other pub directory, try requesting them from your web browser. If your php.ini shows up or worse you are able to execute your php cgi, you'll need to secure it ASAP. This shows several ways to secure these files, and other interpreters like perl, fastCGI, bash, csh, etc.
Htaccess
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..
WordPress
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.
Hosting
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
High Performance Web Site list of the best and newest methods to make web pages super fast using caching, compression, cache-control, etc.
Optimization
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
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.
Htaccess
Securing Subdirectories using unique apache htaccess solutions.
Htaccess
- When php run as Apache Module (mod_php)
- When php run as CGI
- When cgi?d php is run with wrapper (for FastCGI)
PHP
Using FastCGI on DreamHost and .htaccess
Shell Scripting
Links to htaccess tutorials and howtos in the htaccess forum
Htaccess