Features
- Cover Type: Paperback with 184 pages
- Published by: No Starch Press January 11, 2008
- Written in: English
- ISBN 10 Number: 1593271654
- ISBN 13 Number: 978-1593271657
-
Book Dimensions:
9.1 x 7 x 0.7 inches
- Weighs: 12.6 ounces
Product Description
OpenBSD's stateful packet filter, PF, offers an amazing feature set and support across the major BSD platforms. Like most firewall
software though, unlocking PF's full potential takes a good teacher. Peter N.M. Hansteen's PF website and conference tutorials have helped thousands of users build the networks they need using PF.
The Book of PF is the product of Hansteen's knowledge and experience, teaching good practices as well as bare facts and
software options. Throughout the book, Hansteen emphasizes the importance of staying in control by having a written network specification, using macros to make rule sets more readable, and performing rigid testing when loading in new rules.
Today's system administrators face increasing challenges in the quest for network quality, and
The Book of PF can help by demystifying the tools of modern *BSD network defense. But, perhaps more importantly, because we know you like to tinker,
The Book of PF tackles a broad range of topics that will stimulate your mind and pad your resume, including how to:
- Create rule sets for all kinds of network traffic, whether it is crossing a simple home LAN, hiding behind NAT, traversing DMZs, or spanning bridges
- Use PF to create a wireless access point, and lock it down tight with authpf and special access restrictions
- Maximize availability by using redirection rules for load balancing and CARP for failover
- Use tables for proactive defense against would-be attackers and spammers
- Set up queues and traffic shaping with ALTQ, so your network stays responsive
- Master your logs with monitoring and visualization, because you can never be too paranoid
The Book of PF is written for BSD enthusiasts and network admins at any level of expertise. With more and more services placing high demands on bandwidth and increasing hostility coming from the Internet at-large, you can never be too skilled with PF.
About The Author
Peter N. M. Hansteen is a consultant, writer and sysadmin based in Bergen, Norway. A longtime Freenix advocate, Hansteen is a frequent lecturer on FreeBSD and OpenBSD topics. His expertise as a documentation consultant (and humorous work with the RFC 1149 implementation team) have helped him gain regard in Norwegian IT publications. The Book of PF, Hansteen's first book, is an expanded follow-up to his very popular online PF tutorial.
Reader Reviews
I was excited to see a new book on Pf on the market. Three years ago I read and reviewed Building Firewalls with OpenBSD and PF (BFWOAP) by Jacek Artymiak and gave it five stars. I hoped The Book of Pf (TBOP) would acknowledge the best ideas in BFWOAP and expand into Pf developments of the last three years. TBOP is strong when it addresses how to install or use Pf on operating systems other than OpenBSD. Elsewhere, the book is too weak to merit more than three stars. Let me start with the positive aspects of TBOP. First, it appears to be technically correct. I am not a Pf expert, but the recommendations made sense. The technical editor is an OpenBSD expert and Pf developer, so I am confident the text is accurate! Second, the author did an excellent job explaining how to install and use Pf on OpenBSD, FreeBSD, and NetBSD. I use FreeBSD extensively on servers, and I did not feel left out at all. The author was quick to point out quirks affecting Pf on non-OpenBSD platforms. Third, I liked the chapter on Pf monitoring (Ch 8) but thought it was way too brief. Turning to the negative side, the first problem involves introducing technical concepts. One of the major rules governing book-writing is to properly explain technical items before including them. For example, p 39 includes the term "static-port" in a configuration. This is not explained anywhere. On p 43 we see "OS = OpenBSD", again with no explanation. On p 65 "set skip" is used, but at least there is some mention of it again on p 123. If you tell me to read the man pages to figure out what these terms mean, why should anyone read this book? The author should examine how Michael Lucas or Mike Rash describe technical details. Both know how to describe the minute details of configuration syntax so the reader understands each element. Second, the book is way too short because it fails to properly explain many of the issues it mentions. After reading the book I do not expect the average reader to have a good understanding of anchors, tags, and tables. I think the major problem here is the devotion to brevity. I wanted to learn more about Pf's scrubbing features, but guess how much ink was spent talking about it? One paragraph, on p 128. There's more about scrubbing in the books I've written that there is in a book on Pf. That is disappointing. Another manifestation of the book's length is the failure to properly discuss some of the tools in Ch 8. I liked Ch 8, but the chapter needs to be expanded. How about more than a mention of pfflowd or using Pf with SNMP? Third, I think it would be very helpful for TBOP to include a comparative chapter. The author should explain how Pf stacks up against other firewalls, especially open source alternatives like Linux's IPTables and FreeBSD's IPFW. The author appears to be a Pf advocate, but explaining how Pf compares to programs used by other people would help sell this book. Earlier I wrote a five start review of a No Starch book called Linux Firewalls, so I know what a great firewall book looks like. I also thought Jacek Artymiak's BFWOAP was a five star book. I think the best course of action is to wait for a second edition of TBOP. Pf is a well-supported program, so you can expect to see plenty of additional features in the coming years. If the author addresses the shortcomings in this book I would recommend it.
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