High Performance MySQL

Convert MySQL MyISAM tables to InnoDB

Convert MyISAM to InnoDB for better database performance. In the earlier days of MySQL, the default storage engine for your database tables was "MyISAM". InnoDB is the engine to use now, and MyISAM is no longer actively developed. Therefore all MySQL optimizations are for InnoDB, and it's recommended to switch from MyISAM to this InnoDB storage engine for your MySQL database tables. Follow this tutorial on how to convert from MyISAM to InnoDB.

Test SMTP Authentication and StartTLS

Investigate SMTP authentication issues like a boss! Particular over TLS encrypted SMTP connections, it's always handy if you are able to test the SMTP authentication and StartTLS connection. Preferably from your command line. This post shows you how to test SMTP servers, create base64 encoded logon information, verify SMTP authentication over an opportunistic TLS connection, all from the Linux and Windows command line using OpenSSL.
prettyPhoto DOM XSS on Saton.org

prettyPhoto DOM based XSS

prettyPhoto DOM based XSS on Saotn.org... This evening, after tweeting about preventing cross site scripting vulnerabilities, I received a reply from Olivier Beg. His reply to my tweet contained an image, as you can see above. He alerted me that Saotn.org was vulnerable to a DOM based XSS vulnerability, hidden in prettyPhoto used by my WordPress theme. Whoops! So, I had work to do! But, what is prettyPhoto and what exactly is a DOM based XSS?

Validate MIME types with PHP Fileinfo

How to check the file type in PHP and secure file uploads: it is important to validate MIME types in PHP. Especially of files uploaded through an upload form to your website. Using PHP, the best way to validate MIME types is with the PHP extension Fileinfo. Any other method might not be as good or secure as you might think.
Security?

Block WordPress comment spammers manually

Learn to block WordPress comment spammers manually. The less spammers hit your WordPress blog, the better your blog performs, is one of my opinions. A second is, the less unnecessary plugins you use on your WordPress blog, the better. So, a little while ago I decided to remove plugins like Stop Spammer Registration Plugin and do its work myself. Here is why & how.

ASP.NET performance: what to keep in mind

(ASP).NET programmers have to keep certain rules in mind when developing high performance ASP.NET applications, and/or optimizing your existing ASP.NET website. A lot of information is available on this subject. In this post I'll share some valuable posts, and I continue to update this post when I find something new. Posts about ASP.NET performance I frequently pass on to customers so they can improve their ASP.NET web applications.

Don’t turn off CURLOPT_SSL_VERIFYPEER and fix your PHP configuration

Don't turn off CURLOPT_SSL_VERIFYPEER but fix your PHP configuration to resolve SSL errors in PHP. These errors are often caused by not having an up-to-date bundle of CA root certificates on your system. So please, don't turn off CURLOPT_SSL_VERIFYPEER in your PHP config, but fix the cURL errors by updating cURL's bundle of CA root certificates and your php.ini configuration.
magnifying glass near gray laptop computer

Grep for forensic log parsing and analysis on Windows Server IIS

How to use GnuWin32 ported tools like grep.exe and find.exe for forensic log file analysis in Windows Server. In this article I'll give some real live examples of using these ported GnuWin tools like grep.exe for logfile analysis on Windows servers. The article provides three example, as an alternative to LogParser, because finding spam scripts fast is often very important.