SSH into Linux Web Server and find what version of Apache it is running...

So I was sitting at my desk and was approached with a favor. They needed to know what type of web service was running on a specific server. All that was given to me was the name of the server. Ok, so first we need the IP of the server:

Ping servernames

That should give an output similar to this

• PING servername (10.100.1.15) 56(84) bytes of data.

Now secure shell into the server by typing

ssh -l username ipaddress

Enter your password then once you have successfully connected, type uname -a to see the system details. This includes Kernel version, time stamp, computer name/hostname, and some other goodies.
Now to find the type of web service running, type:

httpd -v

This will give you the version of Apache that is running.

To find out what flavor of Linux the server is running, search /etc for a file that should have the distro-release. If that is all too tedious, then type rpm -qa. This will display all the packages installed, and you should see either some redhat, fedora, debian, or whatever version. That is usually a good indicator of which flavor is installed.

Access your Mac from XP...

This is just a simple way to remote into your Mac from XP. I am sure there are some alternate techniques, but this is fairly simple.
Ok so here are the steps I took:

1. Download OSXvnc (Vine), mount, and then drag into Applications.
2. Open System Preferences > Sharing > then click Remote Management (select the options you want).
3. Now launch OSXvnc Server and enter in the password to connect.
4. Log into your router and find the Port Forwarding tab. For Linksys routers it is under Applications and Gaming.
5. Now forward port 5900 (TCP and UDP) to your computers IP address.
6. Go back to your Mac and open up a browser and find out your external IP.
7. Go to the machine running XP and download and install RealVNC.
8. Open Up RealVNC player and enter in your external IP.
9. Enter in your password to connect.
10. Now that's it!

Now some explanation of what is going on. You have a service on your mac that is listening on port 5900. You are telling your router to forward all activity on port 5900 to your Mac IP. So, by entering your external IP, the packets are hitting your router, then forwarding to your Mac on which the VNC server is listening on port 5900.

Enabling Remote Desktop Connection (RDC) Remotely...

I have run into many situations where I need to remote into a computer, but can't because RDP is not enabled on that computer. So I want to enable it remotely because either I am too lazy to get up and access a network computer or cant access a network computer because it is behind a locked door. There are a few ways to do this.
The first is to add a network registry and then change a value. To do this:

1. Open regedit | Start > Run > regedit
2. File > Connect Network Registry
3. Then type either the name or the IP of the computer to connect to and press Check Names.
4. Press Ok then you should see the network registry under yours in the left pane.
5. We are going to change the value of fDenyTSConnections and it is under
• HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Terminal Server
6. Double click fDenyTSConnections and change the value to 0.
7. Now you should be able to remote it.

NOTE: If you receive and Access Denied error when trying to access HKLM, then check your security settings on the remote computer (this most likely means physically accessing it).

Another process would be to download PSTools (a light-weight telnet-replacement that lets you execute processes on other systems) from Microsoft. Download and extract PSTools into a folder. In command prompt (Start > Run > CMD) CD (change directory) into that folder and then execute the following command:

• psexec \\IP reg add "hklm\system\currentcontrolset\control\terminal server" /f /v fDenyTSConnections /t REG_DWORD /d 0

There are also some programs that can assist you with enabling RDP.
IntelliAdmin has a freeware program that will enable RDP remotely with a GUI, it also has some nice additional features. It can be downloaded here for free.