Oracle Java Books list

Best Practices exception handling


Building Database-driven Applications with JSF

Oracle resource list

most likely my next video card

http://www.chiefvalue.com/app/productdetails.asp?submit=&item=14-130-220&ATT=

free Ajax Ebooks

http://maththinking.com/boat/webAjaxBooksIndex.html

yahoo php developer site HowTo

http://developer.yahoo.net/php/

Ajax Tabs

Dynamic Tabs in Ajax
(link to article)

digging for Ajax

Shopping Cart HowTo

Degradable AJAX

MySQL connector in AJAX HowTo

ZenCart not friendly with MySQL 5

Difficulties with backend database connection in ZenCart

1054 Unknown column 'p.products_id' in 'on clause'

mysql forum

apparently zencart does not play well with the syntax standards of MySQL 5. So 4.1 downgrade required. Not too bad I suppose. Just have to make sure hosting options comply with what we need...

Sorting Algorithms

http://linux.wku.edu/~lamonml/algor/sort/sort.html

Covers:
Bubble sort
Heap sort
Insertion sort
Merge sort
Quick sort
Selection sort
Shell sort

Thinking like a computer scientist (general programming how to)

How to think like a computer scientist. link

Guide to Install Compiz and XGL on Ubuntu Linux

http://www.ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=131267

very much in testing beta. but oh so cool

http://linuxeyecandy.blogspot.com/
This site should get more and more interesting as open source starts to close in on Microsoft's proprietary markup...

State of the linux desktop. Link

W32 codecs for ubuntu

http://ubuntu.wordpress.com/2005/12/04/libdvdcss2-and-w32codecs-for-ubuntu/

offers the deb packages to watch any media file that you could on a win box...

javascript cross fade between pictures

http://slayeroffice.com/code/imageCrossFade/

Windows Defender ( Beta 2)

The ultimate for end user security. The digg crowd agrees its the best free alternative to Webroot SpySweeper, and interesting enough, the download site comes complete with a Firefox how to for windows validation. I wonder how long Bill is going to let that one slide...

http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/spyware/software/default.mspx

OSX 10.4.4 hacked with upgrade patches

http://maxxuss.hotbox.ru/

yahoo ajax developer network

http://www.yuiblog.com/

Gallery2 wordpress Plugin

http://wpg2.ozgreg.com/index.php/Main_Page

Java the last perfect compiled language?

With the spectrum of computer programming quickly shifting from individual application installs to a server client orientation, do compiled languages have a place in the future? If any of them do, I think Java does. Of course there are a vast number of programmers that do not code Java, but under the new standards we are facing for optimal efficiency in both configuration/setup and running environment application, will these languages provide a feature set/ functionality to compete with the universal scripting languages of the web, or the virtual machine environment (supported on most OS's) that Java runs on. Either way the next 5 to 10 years will tell, and I expect the results to be interesting.

Web Design from Scratch

http://www.webdesignfromscratch.com/why-most-sites-suck.cfm

Gnome desktop Getting a lot of recognition lately...

http://desplesdadotcom.nfshost.com/?p=75

Ajax Design patterns

http://snyke.net/blog/2006/02/05/ajax-design-patterns/

Picasa export to G2

I am attempting to make picasa talk to Gallery, the popular backend to many online web galleries.

I have a good idea on how I need to make this work but am doing some testing...

Picasa for Gnome Linux: F-Spot

http://f-spot.org/

Ubuntu Setup How To...

http://ubuntuguide.org/#configureremotedesktop

right click menu

Install a bunch of programs that hijack the right click menu?

http://www.jfitz.com/tips/rclick_custom.html

Expose for windows:

http://www.oxygen-inc.com/premium/InsaniSoft/iEx.htm

Yeah its not as pretty, but it provides much needed functionality...

Zen-Cart

Download

admin url: site/zencart/admin/index.php

Ubuntu configured quickly: AutoMatrix

I don't know about you guys, but I want a new ubuntu box configured and tweaked automatically...

Instructions:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=66563

hacking utils

metasploit

nessus

php5 framework...

WASP how to...

Sourceforge page

How to AJAX

ibm AJAX article

php and paypal

http://www.zend.com/zend/tut/tutorial-paypal.php

javascript + css = lightbox JS

this is a great thing for neat galleries...

http://www.huddletogether.com/projects/lightbox/

SimpleViewer

Flash based picture gallery...

Tutorials

http://www.tutorialized.com/tutorials/Photoshop/1

paypal donate box example

http://www.nationalreview.com/donate/donate.asp

could throw this on a side bar...

Who's impressed you lately?

Ok so everyone is all about drooling over the new tech at CES (Consumer Electronics Show). Here's my logic: I like all the new toys, I think that everything is great, and its going to be an interesting year. In the past its been said that Samsung has lead the TV market. I think this year, 2006, belongs to Samsung. I love the way they implement features into all of their products providing adequate means of competitions, all the while maintaining a sense of proprietary originality. Sony, on the other hand has started in on off-the-wall device design. I find that the odd color and non ergonomic designs have a market, and am realizing that its a market of its own. I highly doubt that these non-traditional designs are going to last even half as long as the cd player. (ok so its still out there, but damn ...come on)

Windows Install unattended

http://unattended.msfn.org/unattended.xp/

Programmer Tutorials...

http://www.programmertutorials.com/

Cracking the xbox (not the 360)

http://www.how2xbox.com/programs.htm

a decent link to some good resources...

gMail is GREAT

... ok so you have 2gigs of storage and you can access it from any browser etc... But now you also can preview a conversation by just right-clicking it.

First off if you don't have firefox then you should seriously consider praying and then go to mozilla.com and download it.

If you don't have a gmail account then go get one. Then go get greasemonkey. Now if you don't know, greasemonkey can do just about anything (provided you script the actions out). Its a great way to provide extra functionality to already one of the greatest browsers out there.

Ok so you have a new gmail account, and you have greasemonkey extension installed on firefox. Now you need the scripts installed. Head over to persistent.info and read through what he has to offer. I found the preview bubbles a great help in thumbing through email without having to get out of the inbox view. Another great one to get are the gmail macros. This will provide the functionality of not having to highlight/select all the messages you want to delete and go through the drop down menu to delete messages.

http://persistent.info/ - This guy is really all about greasemonkey scripts.

Adobe Reader too Slow

Ok so adobe reader and pdf's are a great thing right. Well make it even better and don't wait for all of those plugin's to load. Foxit is a really good pdf viewer that doesnt even have to install. Just start opening pdf's with it and you're all setup...

Apache for cygwin

To test out wordpress 2.0 on a project at work I am attempting to make apache for cygwin a native windows service. I found that cygrun -I

http://httpd.apache.org/docs/1.3/cygwin.html#serv

Installing Apache as a new Service

Use the following statement to install
httpd.exe as a new service:

  $ cygrunsrv -I service_name-p /usr/local/apache/bin/httpd.exe 
   [-a arguments] [-e VAR=VALUE] [-t auto|manual] 
   [-u user] [-w passwd]

Where -a is used to pass command line
arguments (such as -DFOO defines) to
httpd.exe, and -e is used to pass
environment variables. If necessary you may use the
-t options to set the autostart configuration
for the service. If you want the new service to run under a
different userid, you will have to supply the
-u and -w options.

Starting Apache as a Service

After the new service is installed it can be started
using the following command:

  $ cygrunsrv -S service_name

Check your process table and global
error_log file to ensure Apache has started
without any major problems.

Stopping an Apache Service

A running Apache service may be stopped using the
following command:

  $ cygrunsrv -E service_name

This will stop all running httpd.exe

processes and shutdown the HTTP service for the
machine.

Removing an Apache Service

An installed Apache service may be removed from Windows
NT or Windows 2000 using the following command:

  $ cygrunsrv -R service_name

This will remove your previously defined and installed
service from the machine.

K2 for WordPress 2.0

K2 - makes Wordpress easier (now for WP 2.0)

http://binarybonsai.com/k2/

Monitor Bandwidth with iptables

Who knew that linux's firewall implementation has such functionality.

http://www.linux.com/article.pl?sid=05/12/15/177232

css menu generator

http://www.webmaster-toolkit.com/css-menu-generator.shtml

Gnu Queue: Linux Clustering Made Easy

Farm those jobs out with Gnu Queue

Best Redesigns of 2005

http://erraticwisdom.com/2005/12/21/top-10-redesigns-of-2005

Graphics and Web Design

CSS Menus

PhotoShop Tutorials

decent web album gallery management

jalbum - example

torrentflux

Here's an idea. Throw some php on your web server and manage torrent downloads through it...

torrentflux

MySQL Clustering

MySQL clustering - (three machines required...)

Background image maker...

Background image maker

Reflection like Apple...

Reflection through javascript?
Check the source on the demo link...

What it does...

image reflect on background canvas...

Java Compiler

http://gcc.gnu.org/java/

Nero Scout - be gone...

http://www.help2go.com/article260.html - get rid of nero scout

this little program grabs all your music files and puts them all in a database....

article for more...

go to start and click run. Then type copy and paste the following and hit run:

regsvr32 /u "%COMMONPROGRAMFILES%\Ahead\Lib\MediaLibraryNSE.dll"

IronGeek

IronGeek - new stuff... nice to do a recap on hacking illustrated...

Another geek site

If you're into listening to geek talk whilst you browse the web, here's another one for you...

TWAT radio

Ruby on Rails

Ruby = another web development language
rails = framework to integrate with a database architecture
radrails = ruby ide
four days on rails - a ruby on rails production howto

I like how the emphasis is not on the setup. Its not long and drawn out. Its easy to dive into the language. Interesting way to develop...

Hamachi

http://www.hamachi.cc/ - alternative to vpn

Remote LAN networking implementation...

Control iTunes from a web Browswer

Have an entertainment center with a computer full of digital music??
Install a web server and Control iTunes via webpage...

Turn your laptop into the ultimate controller...
Guide

Davinci Code Trailer = Awesome...

Davinci Code Trailer

(Quicktime Needed)

iPod mini mod: Storage and Battery Upgrades

Upgrade Guide - 8gb compact flash hard drive upgrade, and while you're in there, upgrade to double the capacity of the original mini's battery...

Design: Rounded edges

http://www.tuaw.com/2005/05/03/apple-developer-connection-tiger-articles/

I like the layout...

SSH manual

SSH Manual - what you didn't know about ssh...

msconfig used to be...

SysInternals... yes sysinternals has released a better utility to keep track of all of those startup options to be configured in windows...

from digg
"This utility has the most comprehensive knowledge of auto-starting locations of any startup monitor. You'll probably be surprised at how many executables are launched automatically. It shows you what programs are configured to run during system bootup or login, and shows you the entries in the order Windows processes them, and it's by Sysinternals!"

http://www.sysinternals.com/utilities/autoruns.html

Windows Passwords revealed faster

Ophrack 2.1 - Comes with a windows GTK + port and will even run on a linux boot cd...

http://blog.tech-security.com/?p=15

WPA wireless cracking tools

WPA is supposed to be the best of the best. Now, if you have a short wpa passkey, its as easy to crack as WEP...

http://wifinetnews.com/archives/004428.html

tweaking windows

An intermediate article about speeding windows. I really like...

http://www.connectedinternet.co.uk/blog/_archives/2005/12/5/1434755.html

Skype officially has free video calls

Get Skype 2.o with video

Useful Linux Tutorials

http://www.codecoffee.com/tipsforlinux/index-linux.html

Shadow with CSS

http://www.theshapeofdays.com/2005/11/my_contribution.html

CSS Templates

http://www.maxdesign.com.au/presentation/page_layouts/index.cfm

another tool...

http://tools.i-use.it/

iCalendar

PHP iCalendar - and yet another implementation of AJAX

The picture guy within

I forgot how fun it was to play with and manage pictures. Really, I almost forgot what I had a camera. I was reading through some reviews of picture management applications. I must say that I really like what I've seen. There are many programs that offer a lot of features. But Google has done it again. For free, Google offers a program that not only makes it easy to maintain all of those pictures, but also to edit out unwanted red eye, correct darkness, trim, or whatever else your editing desires may entail. Picasa, the name of this great little program, also integrates itself into many other features. You can blog straight from the application or even order prints of your pictures over the internet. Picasa is what other photo-managing applications aim to be, while still maintaining that inexperienced computer users can do everything the IT guru can.

Picasa - from Google

open source magazine = free

o3 - a very promising magazine full of useful projects. I had never heard of wifi dog. If you dont know what it is, I suggest you get in on this free pdf distributed over bittorent. (and no, this isn't illegal)

usb/ip project

USB/IP - use any usb device over an ip network as though it were directly connected to your local machine...

Linux on iPod Nano

Linux on the iPod Nano

TV tad

TVtad.net
rss + torrent + your fav tv shows = TVtad
keep up with the episodes...

bandwidth aggregation

Combine multiple network connections to get better down speeds through the linux kernel...

anyone have a neighbor with wifi???

mysql on cygwin

So I am running a windows 2000 server box with cygwin now. I have the latest and greatest running... However, for some reason Cygwin doesnot natively install mysqld in the databases section in the installation. But fear not: there is source out there to compile for your cygwin mysql needs: http://dev.mysql.com/downloads/cygwin.html

and here are the instructions: http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.0/en/installing-source-tree.html

Color MatchMaker...

Color Matcher - this tool will let you know what colors work with other colors for style...

PHP FTP uploads

PHP FTP uploads (wiki page...)

ssh on windows

So there is no port of OpenSSH to windows. There is always Cygwin though. Hopefully it wont be that big a pain in the ass to setup... I used to like digging into all the aspects of something that I was interested in. Now I'm starting to get to the point where I want it to work and be secure. Still like all the details, but take a more objective approach to everyhting now.

A good tutorial

Get money for that Tech Support

Your own Geek Squad

A good idea on how you can use Ultra VNC and your own website to start making money for all that tech support that you do...

Sign up for free Spam

http://www.toastedspam.com/freespamlist

Ok so someone is just really irritating...

Kill their inbox with almost every spam database ever... (most of them don't even verify, they just start sending out...)

AJAX revolution...

Mixed opinions flood the web about all new technologies. The only difference is that this particular technology is to revolutionalize the web itself. AJAX is to change the way that we view content. Now this language is in serious need of standardization. A lot of pioneering coders have implemented serious logic errors while maintaining that "it looks cool." The main reason AJAX is looked down upon is simply because of the fact that all it offers, all the glamor is capable of rendering, can easily be taken advantage of, and exploited, turning it into the next Flash: All style and no substance.

I would say with maturation this language posseses what the web needs to keep on top of the game of web fashion, while still providing adequate measures of reliablity to still offer the substance sites provide to date. This provides a lot more bells and whistles, giving web developers the options needed to develop a true unique solution or sense of style.

"Browsers whose JavaScript Interpreters provide the XMLHttpRequest object can make nonblocking calls back to the server. The server can return peices of HTML to be displayed, JavaScript to be run by the browser, or indeed any data you like."
-Rick Wayne of Software Development magazine

Mr. Waynes latest craze is integrating AJAX into his future productions utilizing a dynamic scripting solution called Ruby on Rails. This open source platform integrates easily with database architecture (mostly automating the process for you) and is not hard to pick up. Making that latest idea come to life with the latest technology web programming and design has to offer is only getting better. At least check it out, so you're not left behind.

For more on Ruby on Rails with AJAX check out O'Reilly

from the AJAX wiki

Articles

• Compilation of AJAX articles, by Robson Junior


• Ajax: A New Approach to Web Applications, by Jesse James Garrett. The original article which coined the term


• Beginners Guide to Ajax A quick no-nonsense tour of the fundamental Ajax principles, with example code


• Ajax: Usable Interactivity with Remote Scripting Introduction on how to use Ajax



• Guide to Using XMLHttpRequest (with Baby Steps) Tutorial by Bill Bercik introducing XmlHttpRequest


• Implementing Ajax in ASP.NET using the Ajax.NET wrapper by Karl Seguin


• Rasmus' 30-Second AJAX Tutorial A simple but functional example and ad hoc tutorial posted by Rasmus Lerdorf of PHP fame.



• AJAX:Getting Started Article by Mozilla.org.


• State of Ajax: Progress, Challenges, and Implications for SOAs


• Ajax's Achilles Heel maps.google.com with Javascript disabled


• Why Ajax Matters Now by Jesse James Garrett


• Ajax gives software a fresh look Blurring the line between desktop and Web applications.



• Ajax for Java developers: Build dynamic Java applications IBM developerWorks Article by Philip McCarthy


• Javascript Refactoring for safer, faster, better AJAX by Pavel Simakov

Web 2.0 Explained

Web 2.0 is the future. What is Web 2.0? Well here we go...

Tech aspects:

O'Reilly
Web 2.0 Conference
Technology Review an online MIT publication

http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/a/network/2005/10/06/barry-diller-opens-web-20.html
http://paulmiller.typepad.com/thinking_about_the_future/2005/08/thinking_about_.html
http://internetalchemy.org/

examples of the future: bindows.net

What this means to you:

No expensive operating systems

No going back and forth with files to print out or something like that (as long as a computer has an internet connection, you have access to your entire office space...

This could mean major savings for the corporate computing structure (if a secure solution was implemented in-house) I think this is going places. You dont have to have people off with Laptops equipped with expensive software, all you need is a tunnel to the internet. Just a browser that runs on a locked down operating system. So much for document viruses... We just have to have reliable servers, that experience little to no downtime and this "coming of the future" will be the future...

os x86 anyone???

So I did the vmWare install, and I like. I stayed up a little to apply a hack to use networking correctly... I like the simplistic approach to things. I think I'm going to try it out. Went through the apple store today, and I must say that I really like the 12in. powerbook. Good times
Are you ready to join the cult and harness the simplicity of stable computing? I think I'll dive in permanently when the intel chips start making their debut...



http://www.osx86.theplaceforitall.com/howto/

a Linux Firewall Solution

This is a great application for network security.

Three nics in an old machine will get you connectivity for:
1) WAN
2) LAN
3) a True DMZ access zone

so create a true NAT router/Firewall solution

This comes complete with all the bells and whistles of an html interface. Easy to both install and configure.

a quick word on headphones

Ok, so I am a Nano fan. The headphones supplied with iPods are all kinds of horrible though. I did however take the plunge and spent the $30 on sony's in ear headphones. Which turned out to be a horrible mistake made twice. Excellent sound quality horrible engineering in terms of product tolerance. Just from being in my pocket, both pairs of the sony MDR-EX71SL/WK white wire covering striped off and then the left earphone stopped playing sound. So after having this happen twice I dove in deeper to regain the quality of sound that the Nano harnesses: I went mac yet again, with their in ear headphones, and I am loving it. The engineering behind the tolerance on these is still to be determined, but I do love the way the headphones fit the ear better.


stay away from these:


These rock so go for it...

Opera for free

Yes, opera has taken the ad banners out of their browser. So go and check it out. Apparently its more secure than Mozilla or IE, has the tabbed browsing capabilities, and shows pages that are meant to render in IE properly. (a problem that Firefox faces with grim approach)

Check it out:


Update: Pages that don't render properly in Firefox are mainly becuase the code for the site does not adhere to the standards of the www

Big companys (ie Microsoft, Yahoo, etc.) hate standardization. Mainly becuase it means that they have to compete on the same ground as the next guy. If you have a huge customer basis already, then why standardize and give people an easy alternative to convert to???

Ebay Buying Skype?

Ebay buys skype for an estimated $4.1 billion. The idea being that you can talk to whoever your buying from securely. I like the idea, but where does that leave us? Are we going to have to go back to cell phone rates? Apparently Ebay is only supposed to make $50m in revenues this year, so there's gonna be something good coming of all this.

iPod Nano

... 'nough said.

OS x-86

Here's your HowTo

Super Notebook kicks serious ass...

"Take these guys seriously; their ideas are the future of computing..."

SPECIFICATION:

Processor: 6.8GHZ CPU (AtomChip® Quantum® II processor or 4 x Intel® Pentium® M processors 1.7CHz) / System Compliance: Two Operating Systems with Voice Command (Microsoft® Windows® XP Professional and Linux®) / Memory: 1TB Quantum-Optical non-volatile RAM (NvIOpSRAM-SODIMM 200-pin) / Storage: 2TB non-volatile Quantum RAM (NvIOpRAM-ATA IDE) / Optical Drive: DVD Super Multi / LCD Display: 12.1” WXGA (1280 x 800, 16:10) TFT Glare Type LCD display with 1.3 Mega pixel CMOS camera / Video & Graphics: Two Integrated graphic controllers [Intel®855GME internal graphics, support Intel® DVMT (Dynamic Video Memory Technology) and AtomChip® DVM (Dynamic Video Memory)] / Communication: 10/100 Base-T LAN on board, MDC Fax/Modem V.90/V.92 on Board, 802.11a/802.11b/802.11g WLAN, Intel® PRO/Wireless 2100/2200BG/2915ABG network connection, WiFi, Bluetoth, GPRS -with Bluetoth antena, CMOS camera with USB interface, Mega pixel resolution CMOS image / Pointing Device: Synaptics touchpad with 4 way scrolling button / Application Launch Key: E-mail, Internet, Capture, WLAN / LED Status Indicator: Power, Suspend/Resume, Battery Charging Status, Quantum Storage Access, Num Lock mode, Caps Lock mode, Scroll Lock mode, WLAN Lock mode / Keyboard: 3.0mm travel, inverted-T, 88keys with 2 windows key (Internet & Microsoft For Connectivity) / Interface Ports Front Side: One 4-in-1 card reader slot (support SDIO/SD/MS Pro/MS), Audio line out, Stereo Microphone-in / Interface Ports Left Side: LAN port, Modem port, SVGA–out port, One Type II PCMCIA slot (support CardBus), 1394A port (mini jack) / Interface Ports Right Side: USB 2.0 ports x 3 / Interface Port Rear Side: DC-in, Kensington Lock / Audio: Built-in two stereo speakers and Built-in Microphone / AC Adapter (Input: 100-240V AC, 50-60Hz, 1.5A. Output: 20V DC, 2.5A, 50W) / Battery: 6 cell Li-lon battery pack. Battery Charge: 3 hrs charge time to 100% capacity while system off and 4 hrs charge time while system on. Battery Life: Approximately 8 hours for AtomChip® Quantum® II processor and 3 hours for 4 x Intel® Pentium® M processors 1.7CHz / BIOS: AMI, Support PnP, password, Bootable from USB and DVD / Power Management: ACPI 2.0 compliance / Smart Battery System Support / Security: Kensington Lock / Size: 320.0(W) x 242.0(D) x 22.0(H)mm/28.0mm (front/back) / Weight: 1.9kg(when fully equipped with AtomChip® Quantum® II processor) and 2,20kg(when fully equipped with 4 x Intel® Pentium® M processors) / Packing Accessories: Quick Guide, Support CD (Driver, Utility, Manual), AC Adapter, Power Cord, Battery Pack, BOSE Headphone Music System with noise Cancelling.

USB Car key!?

I think that its an awesome idea: Mazda's new hatchback is to open your door, start your car, add music to the car's internal hard drive, and provide a means for loading GPS Maps. I think that this will be my next vehicle definetly. Like the guy that wrote this article,"Good thing this is still a production car, and my [truck] is still running good.

http://www.japancorp.net/Article.Asp?Art_ID=10779

Knoppix Arcade Machine

So another knoppix distro for the kiddies

Knoppix Mame will turn any machine into a sweet arcade machine. Sounds great for my little brothers and sisters...

The original package can be found on sourceforge, but I would say its a hell of a lot easier just downloading off of exeem or demonoid. (torrents) If you go with the original package then you still have to add your own roms to the distro and rebuild, whereas if you go do a search for "mame" on a torrent network of some kind, its already there. But hey if you dont have anything better to do then have fun.

Chinese Hacking the DoD

Interesting Article ...kinda long

Identity Thieves in Action: Video

http://www.identitytheftsecrets.com/videos/paypalemail3.html\

Interesting to see how these guys go through this process...

Detect weak network passwords with Hydra

Security experts always advise you to use only strong alphanumeric
passwords for network applications, and change them often, but you know
that not everyone on your network is security-conscious. Starting to
worry that weak passwords may be slipping through your defenses? Then
it's time to unleash Hydra, a network login cracker for more than 30 network services.

Hydra comes from The Hacker's Choice

(THC), a group that has written more than 60 open source network
security tools and research papers. Hydra receives frequent updates and
is the group's second most downloaded project.

I ran Hydra against a MySQL server on my local machine. The simplest
way to run Hydra is to specify a user name and password combination for
it to try. This is useful only when you know what the username or
password of the service is likely to be. To get a feel for Hydra, use a
login and password that you know will succeed. I did so by running:



hydra localhost mysql -l root -p rootpass


This runs Hydra against MySQL on the local machine with a login of root
and a password of rootpass. By default, Hydra spawns 16 concurrent
processes. Adding more processes with the -t
option can speed things up a bit at the risk locking yourself out of a
network service if the administrator restricts the number of connection
attempts. Here, Hydra reports it succeeded in connecting with this
combination and outputs:



[3306][mysql] host: 127.0.0.1 login: root password: rootpass



To run Hydra against a machine on a network, just substitute localhost with an IP address or hostname.

Specifying a login and password combination for every attempt is not
very efficient. The login part of the equation is the easy one. Typical
logins for most network services are words like root or admin. The
password part is where the difficulty lies. That is what makes Hydra's
ability to use dictionary files for both logins and passwords so
useful. A dictionary file contains a list of words (one word per line)
that Hydra can cycle through for logins or passwords.

You can specify a dictionary file with the following syntax:



hydra localhost mysql -L login.txt -P pass.txt

Hydra does not come with any dictionary files -- you must
create your own or download one. One option is to use something like an
English language thesaurus
from Project Gutenberg. This list contains commas and does not have
only one word per line. You can clean up this list with the following
Sed command:



sed -e 's/,/ /g' -e 's/[ ]/\n/g' mthesaur.txt | sort | uniq > pass.txt



This removes the commas, places each word on its own line, and removes
duplicate entries. This gives you a dictionary file with 74,618 words.

One way to test Hydra with a file this size is to create a small
login dictionary file with usernames and use a large dictionary file
for passwords. Next, add a MySQL account with a username and password
combination from these files. For example, using a login dictionary
file with 10 entries and pass.txt gives Hydra 746,180 combinations to
cycle through.

If you know the service you're testing against has a minimum
password length -- say, passwords must be at least 10 characters long
-- then testing passwords with fewer than 10 characters would be a
waste of time and resources. Hydra comes with pw-inspector, a utility
that sorts passwords based on criteria you pass to it. You can sort
pass.txt to words with 10 or more characters, by running:



cat pass.txt | pw-inspector -m 10 > sortedpass.txt



This trims the list down to 28,571 words. The final command to run is:



hydra localhost mysql -L logins.txt -P sortedpass.txt



This brings down the number of combinations to a slimmer 285,710.

The amount of time this takes depends on the speed of your machine
and the placement of the login and password in the files. Hydra updates
you as the process goes on. My 1.2GHz AMD Duron processor can crunch
approximately 4,000 combinations per minute with an estimated time of
one hour 10 minutes to run the whole set. This particular scan took an
hour. I achieved nearly the same result over a switched 100Mbps network
in later testing. In that test, Hydra's bandwidth usage averaged
100Kbps. If you need to quit mid-scan, go ahead. Hydra saves its
results in a file named hydra.restore. To pick up where you left off,
use the command hydra -r from within the directory where you initiated the scan.

There is much more to Hydra then what these simple examples show.
Hydra can scan entire networks at a time and work through proxy
servers. A GTK-based graphical interface called xhydra is also
included.

With the help of Hydra, you can weed out the weak logins and
passwords that pose a security threat to your network. It's a good tool
in your network security arsenal.

Paul Virijevich is working to eliminate the "Linux consultants cost more" TCO myth. He recently started a consultancy, providing cost-effective open source solutions to small businesses.