Open Source & Developer Tooling
Open source software that powers real production systems, and the macOS tooling that keeps high-output engineering teams productive.
Scan Your Local Network With Nikto and Nmap on macOS
Nikto is becoming one of my favourite tools. I like it because of its wide ranging use cases and its simplicity. So whats an example use case for Nikto? When I am bored right now and so I am going to hunt around my local network and see what I can find… Now lets pop […]
Read more →What Is Minification and How to Test If It Works
1. What is Minification Minification is the process of removing everything from source code that a browser does not need to execute it. This includes whitespace, line breaks, comments, and long variable names. The resulting file is functionally identical to the original but significantly smaller. A CSS file written for human readability might look like […]
Read more →K8GB: Cloud Native GSLB for Kubernetes Explained
Today I am a happy bunny!!!! Yury Tsarev (a very clever dude) did a presentation to one of the Kubernetes co-founders Tim Hockin. The demo was one of absa banks opensource projects called K8GB (a cloud native GSLB for K8s): https://www.k8gb.io/ Why do I like K8GB? Because it uses a single CRD that integrates to […]
Read more →Check SPF, DKIM and DMARC Email Security DNS Records
There are three basic ways to secure email, these are: Sender Policy Framework (SPF), Domain Keys Identified Mail (DKIM), Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting & Conformance (DMARC) definitions. Lets quickly discuss these before we talk about how to check if they have been setup: SPF helps prevent spoofing by verifying the sender’s IP address SPF (Sender […]
Read more →AWS CLI Setup on Mac: Install and Configure in Minutes
You can absolutely get the following from the AWS help pages; but this is the lazy way to get everything you need for a simple single account setup. Run the two commands below to drop the package on your Mac. Then check the versions you have installed: Next you need to setup your environment. Note: […]
Read more →macOS: Find Processes Using a Specific Remote Port
I find this script useful for debugging which processes are talking to which remote port. Example Usuage:
Read more →MTR on macOS: Fix Traceroute Issues with Zscaler VPN
If your on a zero trust network adapter like zscaler or netskope, you will see that traceroute doesn’t work as expected. The article below shows how to install mtr (my trace route) using brew: Next we need to change the owner of the MTR package and it’s permissions (otherwise you will need to run it […]
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Corporate Humility: Why It’s a Leadership Survival Trait
Most organisations don’t fail because they lack intelligence, capital, or ambition. They fail because leadership becomes arrogant, distant, and insulated from reality. What Is Humility? Humility is the quality of having a modest view of one’s own importance. It is an accurate assessment of one’s strengths and limitations, combined with an openness to learning and […]
Read more →Linux CD Command Guide: Navigation Tips for Windows Users
Ok, so I am a windows dude and only after docker and K8 came along did I start to get all they hype around Linux. To be fair, Linux is special and I have been blown away with the engineering effort behind this OS (and also glad to leave my book of Daniel Appleman win32 […]
Read more →gping Over Zero Trust Networks on macOS: Interface Guide
Once you start using a zero trust network, the first causality is normally the Ping command. The gping (Graphical Ping) command line displays a color coded realtime graph of continuous pings to a specified host and it supports specifying alternate interfaces/gateways. First lets find which interface to use. The “arp -a” command is used to display […]
Read more →NMAP Vulnerability Scan Script With Formatted Report on macOS
If you want to quickly health check your website, then the following script is a simple NMAP script that scans your site for common issues and formats the results in a nice report style. Here’s a comprehensive guide on how to fix each type of directory permission issue that the above script might find (for […]
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Software Engineering : When Building Beats Buying (And When It Doesn’t)
1. A disclosed bias I spent twelve years writing algorithmic trading software before any of the cloud infrastructure work. That is where the bias actually comes from, not from EC2. Trading systems taught me that being quick and being good are not separate goals you trade off against each other, they are the same requirement […]
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