In this article, I’ll try to explain as much as I can about hashes and collisions and my latest discovery of a triple hash collision while keeping things as simple as possible.

What Is A Hash:

It’s a cryptographic function, which takes some data as input, and generates a string, usually composed of hex characters. Now, hash differs from a checksum. Checksums are mostly made for files, to verify they’re integrity, while a hash can be both used for files and passwords(or plaintext data).

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I wrote a previous article about obtaining the BIOS version on a Dell Poweredge 650 server which had the end goal of updating the BIOS version on the server if a new BIOS version was available. So after obtaining the BIOS version of the Poweredge 650 server I needed the Dell Service Tag from the server so I could use Dell’s web site to see if a new BIOS version was available. Below is information on how to obtain the Dell Service Tag as well as the Dell Express Service code for the server if it is running a Linux operating system.

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I have a development server, which is a Dell Poweredge 650, running CentOS Linux that is used for testing PostgreSQL database replication via log shipping and recently the server has been crashing after only running for a couple hours from a kernel panic. One of the things I wanted to verify is if there is a new BIOS version available but first needed to verify the current BIOS version installed. Below is information on how to determine what BIOS version a Linux server is using while the server is running.

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Recently I was doing a security audit on a Linux server and noticed some Apache and PHP items that needed to be modified to make the server more secure. One of the items that should be disabled is allow_url_fopen because the risk that it can be abused. The issue is that allow_url_fopen is on by default even though many times it is never used on a server. Modify the below line in the Linux servers php.ini file which typically located in the /etc directory.

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The LCD TV in my office started having issues with the LCD screen a couple weeks ago so I had to take the TV in to get the screen replaced. Luckily the LCD panel happened to be under warranty or I would have been out $2200. Regardless though it left me without the TV in my office which I use not only for TV but also for a second computer screen from one of my desktop computers so I was limited to using my HP w2408h monitor to watch movies, etc. One of the things I wanted to accomplish was to get the HD DVD player from my Xbox 360 working on a Windows 7 computer so I could watch some older movies on the monitor while the TV was in the shop. Below is information regarding what issues I ran across and how to overcome them which really is limited to the software used to play the HD DVD movies.

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