Practical Firewalls (Practical)

Features

• Cover Type: Paperback with 504 pages
• ISBN 10 Number: 0789724162
• ASIN: B000H2MS0G

Product Review
Solid knowledge of firewalls isn't the exclusive domain of specialists anymore--everyone requirements to know something about protecting private networks from the public Internet, while keeping Internet connectivity easy. Practical Firewalls combines a solid grounding in TCP/IP firewall strategies with advice on how to use a variety of firewall software, most of which is freeware and shareware for Unix variants. Microsoft Proxy Server 2.0 is explained, too, so that you're covered if you prefer to work under Microsoft Windows NT. Author Terry Ogletree opens with a discussion of network theory (perhaps not necessary here) and the various schools of thought regarding firewall placement. In his explanations of packet filtering, bastion host implementation, application gateways, and proxy servers, Ogletree complements prose with good conceptual diagrams and the occasional listing of an events sequence. He uses sequences of events, for example, to contrast standard FTP with FTP under proxy service.

The conceptual material is backed with a survey of firewall products, what they do, and what their relative merits are. Consequently, several products are documented in greater detail, and you get advice on their proper use. The result is an great conceptual overview and a snapshot of the state of the art; readers walk away knowing what to expect from a firewall, and understanding their responsibilities in setting one up. You might want to supplement this book with Maximum Linux Security, an great Linux security text, if you use that operating system; or Building Linux and OpenBSD Firewalls, for its in-depth treatment of ipchains under those systems. --David Wall

Topics covered: Firewall concepts and practices, with emphasis on TCP Wrappers, TIS Firewall Toolkit, SOCKS, SQUID, ipfwadm, ipchains, and Microsoft Proxy Server 2.0. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Book Description
Practical Firewalls enables you to get a thorough understanding of all of the basic concepts involved in creating and maintaining a firewall. Aimed at beginning to intermediate network administrators, this book presents information in a manner so that you do not need a large background in the networking field. It provides "real world" methods, problems and solutions of value to you as a user. After reading this book, you will go away with a good understanding of firewall security policies, firewall design strategies, hardware specifications/requirements/variations, software/firewall tools, VPN and Tunneling, monitoring and auditing techniques, and IP chains. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Reader Reviews
This review is from: Practical Firewalls (Practical) (Paperback) This book explains the concepts behind firewalls/VPNs in a good level of detail while still being very readable. The theory is well written and implementation independent. This book has the best explanation of TCP I have read, which is a foundation for packet filtering, one of the most important parts of network security, especially as any server or router can perform this function. The book does have some platform specific information and has too much UNIX in it for my liking, this book is not for the hardened SysOp, it appears this emphasis is more for Linux users. I wouldn't suggest you buy this book and go set up a firewall, but this book is so "user-friendly" you can just keep reading it, unlike most firewall documentation, and have it finished in a week of light reading. It is a great complement to firewall documentation. For the price, and for the excellent readability, this book is a great buy for it's target audience of beginning to intermediate network administrators, as well as anyone who is not already a firewall guru. Comment | | (Report this)