IT Security & Network Engineering Knowledge Base

Practical documentation and technical guides on network security, firewalls, Linux systems, monitoring, and automation.
We feature technical articles across the entire IT spectrum - Built from real-world experience and continuously updated.

How to display HTTP Headers via Tcpdump

Syntax To display the HTTP Headers using just tcpdump the following syntax can be used : root@webserver1 ~]#  tcpdump -vvvs 1024 -l -A host  www.fir3net.com Example [root@webserver1 ~]# tcpdump -vvvs 1024 -l -A host www.fir3net.com tcpdump: listening on eth0, link-type EN10MB (Ethernet), capture size 1024 bytes 19:51:57.742793 IP (tos 0x0, ttl 64, id 39410, offset … Read more

Upgrading to Cisco CSS 8.20.3.03 (or higher): Slow Network Performance

Symptoms Slow network performance when accessing back-end servers through a Cisco CSS running 8.20.3.03 (or higher). Background Cisco CSS 8.20.3.02 (and lower) did not support window scaling. This meant that the initial window scale option announced within the 3 way handshake was not propagated to the server. This issue was resolved within 8.20.3.03 (CSCsk92868), however … Read more

Stream ripper bash script

This bash script allows you to download an audio stream via ASX (Advanced Stream Redirector) for a defined time period. The downloaded file (wma) is then converted to mp3. This provides the ability to schedule and download your favourite radio shows for later listening. Requirements There are 2 main binaries that this script requires. They … Read more

BigIP F5 LTM – Administrative States

Via the use of administrative states, the administrator has the power to gracefully select a pool members state. States There are 3 administrative states: Enabled – This is the default state. All connection types are passed to the pool member and the monitor continues to determine the state of the member.Disabled – Only new connections … Read more

BigIP F5 LTM – SSL Processing

Introduction The BigIP F5 provide 2 ways in which SSL is processed. These are : Client SSL – F5 decrypts the encrypted traffic inbound from the client.Server SSL – Traffic is re-encrypted by the F5 then routed onto the backend servers. There are a number of advantages to SSL termination on the F5, which are … Read more

Big IP LTM – Health Monitors

A monitor is a test that the LTM can perform on either a node of member. A monitor typically tests for a specific response within a specified time period. BigIP uses the results of this to decide on whether traffic should be sent to the node or pool member. Types of Monitoring There 4 main … Read more

iRule Examples – 10.x

Below shows a number of iRule examples that you may find useful when creating or deploying iRules on the BIGIP F5 device. For the latest in iRule tips and tricks hop over to our iRule Cookbook  – click here WWW redirect This simple iRule redirects any HTTP traffic without the prepending www to a www … Read more

F5 LTM – iRule`s

What is an iRule ? iRules are built using a TCL-based scripting language allowing arbitrary manipulation of traffic flowing through the BIG-IP, including real-time modification of defined data. Components of an iRule A typical iRule contains four main components. These are : rule NAME {  when EVENT {    if { conditional_statement } {      action_when_condition_true  }    … Read more

How do I install mplayer on Centos / RHEL ?

To install mplayer onto your Centos / RHEL distro you will need to : 1. Download and install the rpmforge repository. rpm -ivh  2. Add the following text to a new file : /etc/yum.repos.d/fc6.repo. cat > /etc/yum.repos.d/fc6.repo[PASTE THE FOLLOWING] [fc6-base] name=Fedora Core 6 mirrorlist=http://mirrors.fedoraproject.org/mirrorlist?repo=core-6&arch=$basearch enabled=1 gpgcheck=0 [CTRL-C]  3. Install mplayer using yum. yum install mplayer