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))
Hacking
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! Htaccess Cache Cache-Control ETag Expires Header Headers Htaccess mod_expires mod_headers
Htaccess
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?
Htaccess 403 404 500 503 Htaccess mod_rewrite PHP RewriteCond RewriteRule
This is the advanced example. It uses the jw flv player to create a flash proxy. This basically lets me control the youtube video as if it were a local .f4v file. With this method I can specify any options, autostart, volume, playlists, etc.. But it's rather complex so lets start with 3 other methods to embed YouTube video.
Javascript Flash Video YouTube
Apache, Hosting 2.4 Apache Error
#### 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] Htaccess RewriteCond RewriteEngine RewriteRule
.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!
Apache, Hosting, Htaccess, Optimization, Security, SEO, Web Development, WordPress .htpasswd 301 Redirect Apache Apache HTTP Server Cache Hosting Htaccess Htaccess Software HTTP Headers httpd.conf HyperText Transfer Protocol mod_rewrite Redirect RewriteCond RewriteRule SSL
High Performance Web Site list of the best and newest methods to make web pages super fast using caching, compression, cache-control, etc. Optimization
This is a big update from the last time I looked into this, when I enumerated 57 Status Codes that Apache 2.x was capable of handling. This list contains 83 Status Codes recognized by Apache. I compiled the latest 2.4.4 Apache in order to view the actual codes sent by a live server.. very cool. You can read about the newest HTTP Status Codes in RFC 6585.
Net Apache cURL ErrorDocument Htaccess HTTP HTTP Headers Redirect Status Code
Enumerating Permissions can be Annoying
Don’t ask me how because I won’t tell you, but on one of the hosts I was testing on that did not allow direct access I was able to get the Apache server running as dhapache to erroneously write a file into my users blog directory. This is a big security no-no and I now have my .htaccess file written into the blog directory where it should go, but instead of my php script’s user having write access to the file so I can modify it, its owned by dhapache! Because the file is owned by dhapache I shouldn’t even be allowed to know it exists, but there it is. So the next step was to try and take ownership of the .htaccess file so that I could modify it. I tried and tried but was unsuccessful, I couldn’t modify it so that was another dead end. Actually it took me awhile to figure out how to remove the file from my directory. Being that it was owned by dhapache I couldn’t delete or modify it using my php process or even through ftp/ssh! Sysadmins regularly run find commands that search the servers for any files owned by dhapache that should not be there as this is a big red flag that someone has found a way to manipulate dhapache which could potentially lead to modifying dhapache-owned server config files, which sometimes is all it takes to hack your website and server.. Luckily I was able to delete it by basically running the hack again to overwrite the file.
WordPress
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 Apache HTTP Server CGI Common Gateway Interface Htaccess HTTP 403 interpreter PHP php interpreter php.ini security SuEXEC
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.
Htaccess Htaccess mod_rewrite PHP RewriteCond RewriteRule
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.
Linux, MySQL centos compression InnoDB lz4 MariaDB MySQL
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 wordpress wp-config.php
Learn about the 7 different HTTP response codes specifically reserved for redirection. 301, 302, 303, 304, 305, and 307.
SEO
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
Learn how to make YOUR DreamHost promo codes work much better for YOU! This is not about promo-codes, this is about a simple method you should implement.
Hosting
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!
Htaccess Htaccess mod_security 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.
Htaccess Htaccess mod_rewrite RewriteCond RewriteRule wordpress

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!
WordPress Advanced Anti-Exploit Anti-Spam Htaccess RewriteCond RewriteRule security SSL THE_REQUEST
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 Apache HTTP Server Caching Htaccess HTTP linux operating systems round-robin DNS technology Web Developer Web server
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
We've figured out what mod_rewrite variables look like, a cheatsheet of the actual value.
Htaccess Apache cheatsheet Htaccess htaccess file mod_rewrite PHP rewrite Rewriting
Hosting HTTP HTTP Headers Wireshark
This article is a quick and easy HowTo detailing the use of Wireshark or another network sniffing program to debug your Apache .htaccess or httpd.conf files.
Software
SetEnv, SetEnvIf, and SetEnvIfNoCase directives conditionally set environment variables accessible by scripts and apache based on HTTP Headers, Variables, and Request information.
Htaccess Environment variable FilesMatch Header Htaccess SetEnvIf SetEnvIfNoCase
This simple unix shell script automatically creates backups of a specific folder at regular hourly, nightly, weekly, and monthly intervals. Instead of the usual method for copying directory trees using tar with fifo, pipes, rsync, or NFS methods this script uses cpio which is much much faster and has cool options like saving m/a/c times, symlinks, relative paths, and weird file names.
Shell Scripting
While playing around with the Nmap Scripting Engine (NSE) we discovered an amazing number of open embedded devices on the Internet. Many of them are based on Linux and allow login to standard BusyBox with empty or default credentials. We used these devices to build a distributed port scanner to scan all IPv4 addresses. These scans include service probes for the most common ports, ICMP ping, reverse DNS and SYN scans. We analyzed some of the data to get an estimation of the IP address usage.
Hacking
Sometimes there is an urgent need for creating an exact duplicate or "mirror" of a web site on a separate server. This could be needed for creating Round Robin Setups, Load-Balancing, Failovers, or for just plain vanilla backups. In the past I have used a lot of different methods to copy data from one server to another, including creating an archive of the whole directory and then using scp to send the file over, creating an archive and then encrypting it and then sending that file over using ftp, curl, etc., and my persistence at learning new ways to do things has paid off because now I use rsync to keep an exact replica of the entire directory on an external server, without having to use all the CPU and resources of other mirroring methods.
Security rsync ssh
Google Analytics for your clients sites is a no-brainer, it ROCKS! I have 100+ client sites running Analytics and all of them have trouble-free (no password or username to remember) access to their site reports. Thanks to the method in this post, my clients couldn't be happier..
Google
A hit-list of some of my favorite mod_rewrite code snippets for .htaccess files
Htaccess
This is not your everyday vimrc. This is my personalized vimrc.. works especially great on remote servers, in tmux, screen, etc.
This doesn't require a git checkout, a vim update, a bash update, an OS update, a plugin. No. 1 vimrc, 1 colorscheme, just use curl to download and it's on. I use this on Arch Linux, NetBSD, FreeBSD, OpenBSD, Debian, Ubuntu, Cent OS, Red Hat, and that's mostly it so far.
If you aren't already using vim as your primary editor in a powerful way, you are gonna owe me for this.
Linux .vimrc 256 Color Vim
Hosting, Htaccess, Linux, PHP Htaccess php-fpm
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 Apache bash lynx mod_rewrite mod_status server-info server-status
mod_rewrite is very useful in many situations. Yet some behaviors were not so obvious when I started to mess with it. After many testings, I understand it much better, now. Having said that, I do not pretend to know it perfectly. I also make mistakes.
Htaccess
List of mainly obscure security software geared more for the master pentester. These are mostly for unix, bsd, and mac and many are difficult to install and setup (require custom servers, inside access points, obscure libraries). Only programs that output data are included, so no actual exploits or anything. Most of these output extremely useful albeit extremely technical information. Security
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 Allow AuthUserFile Deny Htaccess Redirect RewriteCond RewriteEngine RewriteRule