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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!

Part 1 of 5

Tagged: encryption, GPG, PortaPutty, Putty, ssh, ssh tunnels, TrueCrupt, tunnel, USB Drives | Continue...

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Custom bash_profile for Advanced Shell Users

Looking for some advanced uses for the shell? Here is some of my best. The shell is where 70% of my work takes place, and I have at least one terminal open almost 100% of the time, for viewing tailing color-coded logs, and of course for the SSH Tunnels that I use to route various networking through, like my email. So I decided that to standardize and create a bash_profile containing the most time-saving and helpful functions that I could use on all the various hosting environments would really be some sweet sugar, so here is my constant Work-in-progress.

It works for all shells I encounter, including BackTrack, Debian, Knoppix, Arch Linux, etc. Also works for many hosting environments I use including DreamHost, HostGator, WiredTree, and pretty much any linux VPS.

I also rely on this heavily from within shell scripts I write to access all the functions and stuff in this .bash_profile, and to do that I just do like:

#!/bin/bash
 
source ~/.bash_profile &>/dev/nulll
 
pm "PM is a function to output nice messages with color"
yn "Are you enjoying the shell" && pm "Thats great!" || pm "Perhaps you're better suited for DOS"
yn "Show Calendar" && aa_calendar
yn "Show Fortune" && aa_fortune

Tagged: .bashrc, advanced, alias, bash, bash alias, bash_profile, function, linux, scripts, shell script | 3 Comments | Continue...

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Windows Optimization – Intense Part II

If you ever wanted to know the best way to defragment and speed up your Windows-Based PC, I mean you really wanted to know, here is the 2nd part to my article on Windows Speed Optimizing that details the process I have found works really well. Definately not a quick process, and certainly not the best ever, just my best ever and one that you only have to do once to get the benefits.
This article has a lot of incredibly useful (and FREE) tools I recommend, which you can grab and use without reading the article..

Tagged: Defrag, Defragmentation, Deframenting, Disk IO, MyDefrag, PageDefrag, Registry Optimization, SpinRite, UltraDefrag, Windows XP | 5 Comments | Continue...

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Crazy Advanced Mod_Rewrite Tutorial

Note: Extremely ILL Content
Find the key to unlocking mod_rewrite and you WILL be sick.. sick with a diamond disease on your wrist!

Tagged: advanced, askapache, cheatsheet, howto, htaccess, htaccess rewrite, mod_rewrite, tutorial | 19 Comments | Continue...

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Hire AskApache

Hi there, do you want help with a project (SEO, site/server optimization, setup, wordpress plugin development, other programming, server issues, security issues, etc.) or need some expert consulting? I’m very comfortable working freelance for clients from all across the globe. I enjoy helping good causes or sites/webmasters similar to mine, and I enjoy making new friends and networking.
Personally, I love to chat on the phone or instant message with fellow webmasters and web entrepreneurs, and I like networking with like-minded individuals. Once my services are retained we will communicate any way that works best for you.. Billing is pretty flexible for all services other than SEO, which is billed aggressively: one word: skills.
Work Policy
I will never waste my time and your money by doing just enough to get paid or meet simple requirements. I deal only in results. I like to understand the root of the problem and discern what the task ultimately is meant to accomplish, and cut straight towards that. I dislike temporary fixes that will need to be re-addressed, preferring a “once-and-for-all” type of solution.
Refunds
If I can’t meet or exceed your expectations initially agreed upon then I will instantly refund 100% of any payments made other then the retainer. I’ve never had anyone request a refund.
Retainer
If you’d like to hire me, please pay this $25 retainer by clicking the paypal image or here. This is non-refundable but if I can’t help you and didn’t spend time figuring that out I’ll refund it. That also allows us to trust each other’s identity as I don’t reveal much about myself online to anonymous netizens. Once I have the retainer I will email you all my contact info so we can figure out all the details. The $25…

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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.

Tagged: AskApache Google 404, AskApache Password Protection, Fsockopen, WordPress Plugins, wordpress security | 1 Comment | Continue...

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Advanced Htaccess Demo/Example using Cookies, Headers, Rewrites

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 do the rest.

Tagged: htaccess, htaccess rewrites, http headers, Javascript, pdf, PHP | 7 Comments | Continue...

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Htaccess SEO Trends by Google

htaccess vs. httpd.conf

Tagged: Google, SEO | 1 Comment | Continue...

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Ultimate Htaccess Tutorial for .htaccess files

This is not an introduction to .htaccess… This is the evolution of .htaccess… The BEST, the ORIGINAL, the NEWEST, and the most HIGHEST, FLYEST .htaccess tricks I can find.

Originally known as the “Ultimate .htaccess Guide”, its changed over the years by adding new .htaccess tricks and .htaccess examples to it.. I also add my favorite .htaccess links, the best .htaccess articles on AskApache, the coolest .htaccess experiments, the Web’s best .htaccess hacks, and update this article on the regular.

Tagged: .htaccess examples, Apache, Cache, caching, Files, FilesMatch, Google, Hacking, howto, htaccess, htaccess guide, htaccess help, htaccess howto, htaccess rewrite, htaccess tricks, htaccess tutorial, httpd, litespeed, mod_rewrite, Mod_Security, rewritecond, rewriterule, sample .htaccess, Security, SEO, seo secrets, SetEnvIf, ssl, ultimate htaccess | 56 Comments | Continue...

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SEO Secrets of AskApache Part 2

This is part II of the Advanced SEO used on AskApache.com Series and describes how to control which urls are indexed by Search Engines and how to move them higher up in Search Results.

Tagged: askapache, Pagerank, SEO, seo secrets | 3 Comments | Continue...

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About AskApache

Purpose and Goal of AskApache
To provide free access to knowledge and data with the goal of empowering people.. or more melodramatically: “Power to the People!”
Why the name AskApache? AskApache was chosen to show and pay respect to the contributors of the Apache Web Server. Literally it means to ask Apache when facing a problem, by searching the Open-Source, contacting a board/list, or browsing the documentation.
The Author
I work for a multimedia production / brand development & marketing company here in Indianapolis, the greatest city in the world! I started this blog in Dec., ‘06 to familiarize myself with WordPress as a blogging platform among other things for my job. I help expand/create a growing companies market-share online (and offline) by managing and building the brand and developing high-quality leads and loyal customers by building online funnels fed by SEO traffic and on/offline marketing campaigns. Other than the design and development costs for our minimum 12 month contract, we operate using a gain-share formula where we receive a percentage of the increased revenue that results from our services. This translates to fanatical attention to improving the bottom-line, and focus on long-term sustainable growth and overall success.
It’s important to me to note that unlike most systems set up like this, we are absolutely interested in creating customers/leads/whatever by providing real value for them. It’s much more difficult and takes a lot longer, but it is also self-sustaining as value attracts in an exponential manner. We are likely different than any model you’ve seen before in terms of lead-sales-marketing types.
My Background
I started on DOS, then Windows 2.11 (released 1989), and learned BASIC for my first language… then IBM PC assembly followed by Java, which I used as an excuse to stop learning assembly.. …

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Notes from Apache HTTPD Source Code

thought I’d take a break from coding and post about how open-source is such a great tool for finding the best answers to the toughest questions,

/** 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))

Tagged: httpd.conf, source code | Continue...

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Fsockopen Power Plays

PHP’s fsockopen function lets you open an Internet or Unix domain socket connection for connecting to a resource, and is one of the most powerful functions available in the php language.

Tagged: Cache, Fsockopen, Hacking, HTTO, linux, Networking, Performance, PHP, Pipelining, Socket | 3 Comments | Continue...

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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.

Tagged: askapache, SEO, seo secrets | 5 Comments | Continue...

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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!

Tagged: Hacking, htaccess, Mod_Security, Security | 8 Comments | Continue...

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Blocking Bad Bots and Scrapers with .htaccess

Want to block a bad robot or web scraper using .htaccess files? Here are 2 methods that illustrate blocking 436 various user-agents.

Tagged: Blocking, htaccess, mod_rewrite, Robot, Security, SetEnvIf | 16 Comments | Continue...

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Hacking VLAN switched networks

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.

Tagged: Hacking, VLAN | 1 Comment | Continue...

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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.

87 Comments | Continue...

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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.

Tagged: Forms, Fsockopen, optimization, PHP | 3 Comments | Continue...

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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

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Apache Directives and Modules on DreamHost

Apache .htaccess Directives and Loaded Modules allowed on DreamHost Apache Server 2 Setups.

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Awk Tutorial and Introduction

While researching a unix/linux tool awk I came upon one of the most thorough and helpful tutorials I’ve ever seen devoted to a particular topic. It’s old-school just the way I like it. I contacted the author, Bruce Barnett because I just HAD to have this article for my readers, who are predominantly running solaris/unix/bsd/linux and he kindly gave permission.

1 Comment | Continue...

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100 Alternative Search Engines

Check out ReadWriteWeb’s fantastic list of uniquely useful search engines, its a lot of fun!

11 Comments | Continue...

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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.

13 Comments | Continue...

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.htpasswd file Generator

.htpasswd is a flat-file used by Apache and other applications to store usernames and password for HTTP authentication. Apache .htpasswd files may contain multiple types of passwords; some may have MD5-encrypted passwords while others in the same file may have passwords encrypted with crypt(3) and/or SHA-1. Usernames are limited to 255 bytes and may not include the character :.
Htpasswd Formats
Apache Servers recognize 4 formats for representing a password hash in the text file usually named .htpasswd.

CRYPT
crypt(3) is the library function which is used to compute a password hash. Technically the name is a misnomer since it is actually a cryptographic hash function. The output of the function is not merely the hash: it is a text string which also encodes the salt and identifies the hash algorithm used. Apache uses the traditional Unix crypt function with a randomly-generated 32-bit salt (only 12 bits used) and the first 8 characters of the password. ALG_CRYPT
MD5
MD5 is one in a series of message digest algorithms designed by Professor Ronald Rivest of MIT. The 128-bit (16-byte) MD5 hashes (also termed message digests) are typically represented as a sequence of 32 hexadecimal digits. In .htpasswd files the hash is: $apr1$ + an Apache-specific algorithm using an iterated (1,000 times) MD5 digest of various combinations of a random 32-bit salt and the password. ALG_APMD5
SHA-1
The SHA hash functions are a set of cryptographic hash functions designed by the National Security Agency (NSA) and published by the NIST as a U.S. Federal Information Processing Standard. SHA-1 produces a 160-bit digest from a message with a maximum length of (264 − 1) bits. SHA-1 is the most widely employed of the SHA family. It forms part of several widely used security applications and protocols, including TLS and SSL, PGP, SSH,…

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Freshen your Anti-virus, Anti-Rootkits, and Anti-Spyware

I’ve tried 100’s of Anti-virus, Anti-Rootkit, and Anti-Spyware tools over the last 10 years, but it’s always good to re-examine your system’s security every couple of months.

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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.

Tagged: Cache, optimization, YSlow | 7 Comments | Continue...

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DreamHost Site of The Month is AskApache!

AskApache.com won the contest for May! Thanks to all of you who voted for my site! Even though AskApache won the contest according to the rules, somehow they said I cheated by giving DreamHost too much free publicity and advertising. I love DreamHost!

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The Final Countdown – Mario Bros Style

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htaccess rewrite, htaccess

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.

8 Comments | Continue...

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Best-practice Web Design Process

Web Design Process
I have spent a considerable amount of time investing in learning best-practices for modern web-design..
(as defined by the World Wide Web Consortium) This basically means that I can rapidly make changes to a site.
Let me break down the process
I use XHTML to structure the code on the webpage. I then use CSS (cascading style sheets), to style the XHTML, this creates the presentation. All that is left is for the client to supply the content that I plug into the XHTML.
XHTML == structure
CSS == presentation
CONTENT == content
SCRIPTS == dynamic structure/presentation/content
It is a very modularized way of designing web-pages. By using CSS, I can change 1 line of code and the effect is an instant change throughout the entire site.
Web Programming Languages
The programming languages that I use are php, unix shell scripts, perl, python, ocaml, and javascript.
I also rely and depend heavily on the open-source Apache web server. Coming from a background of computer security and linux/unix, I am very glad to go with a non-windows Apache environment. You can forget about worrying about virii and other attacks! I use Apaches .htaccess to do a number of things. One use is automatically changing all non-www urls to www urls. Another big thing it does is allow me to specify that pages that end in .htm will be processed as if they included php code. Which is how I am able to call scripts to execute from within the page, all transparent to the end-user, who cannot see the php source code, only the result.
Optimizing for speed and accessiblity
I am very much concerned with optimizing web-pages for speed and accessibility. If you view the webpage with images disabled (use…

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Sending POST form data with php CURL

CURL Guide for sending POST data form request with PHP and CURL

Tagged: curl, form, htaccess, PHP, post | 17 Comments | Continue...

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Custom PHP.ini tips and tricks

Tagged: htaccess, PHP, php.ini | 9 Comments | Continue...

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Fight Blog Spam with Apache

Fighting Blog Spam with Apache htaccess and other methods.

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Top 5 Vulnerability Port Scanners

Asked some hackers and Computer Security gurus to list their 5 favorite Vulnerability/Port Scanners. Here are the results.

Tagged: Port, Scanners, Security, Vulnerability | Continue...

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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).

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Speed Up Sites with htaccess Caching

2 awesome ways to implement caching on your website using Apache .htaccess or httpd.conf. Both methods are extremely simple to set up and will dramatically speed up your site!

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FastCGI on DreamHost

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Web Development Glossary

Web Development / Webmaster Glossary
A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | L | M | N | O | P | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Z | other glossaries
This glossary defines some of the common terminology related to Apache in particular, and web serving in general. More information on each concept is provided in the links.

Access Control
The restriction of access to network realms. In an Apache context usually the restriction of access to certain URLs.See: Authentication, Authorization, and Access Control

Account
The term “account” is often used synonymously with username here at DynDNS. Both terms describe the name you use to log in to our system. An account is not the same as a hostname, which may be named differently.

age
The age of a response is the time since it was sent by, or successfully validated with, the origin server.

Alias
See cname.

Algorithm
An unambiguous formula or set of rules for solving a problem in a finite number of steps. Algorithms for encryption are usually called Ciphers.
APache eXtension Tool (apxs)
A perl script that aids in compiling module sources into Dynamic Shared Objects ( dsos) and helps install them in the Apache Web server.See: Manual Page: <a href=”http://askapache.info/2.0/programs/apxs.html”>apxs</a>

A Record
An A Record, short for Address Record, allows a numeric ipaddress to map to a more human-readable domain. An A Record may also be referred to as a host or hostname.

Authoritative Nameserver
A nameserver which has been configured to provide answers for a specific domain, rather than simply getting and caching data about domains from other nameservers.

Authentication
The positive identification of a network entity such as a server, a client, or a user.See: Authentication, Authorization, and Access Control
Advisory Committee
An Advisory Committee is a formal…

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