Linux Firewalls (2nd Edition)

Rating:
Summary: A good book but with a pinch of salt
Review: The book is good in the fact that it is quite systematic covers all rules but there are a few mistakes for the reader who goes through the whole book. perhaps typos

Well written.

Rating:
Summary: Real Practical Solutions
Review: This author has been providing a great service to the Linux community with his Firewall Design Tool... I've used it to configure several firewalls with outstanding results (from portscans). I also purchased this book even though I never put the two names together until I saw an ad linking the two. Linux Firewalls isn't one of those books you read by the fireplace, but it's full of specific solutions to specific issues that all networks face. I appreciate the author's knowledge and recommend his website and book to Linux users.

Rating:
Summary: Riddled with errors
Review: This book does a great job of explaning the theory behind netfilter firewalling with iptables. Every concept is backed up with a concise script.

And this is precisely why you should avoid this book.

Page after page is riddled with glaring errors. Some scripts produce syntax errors. Others yield unexpected results. Entire passages are copied and pasted out of context. Only a handful of errors can be chalked up as mere typos.

I spent too much time correcting mistakes that could have been better spent studying the material. If you must read this book, don't blame yourself when you get lost-- the proofreaders were lost as well.

Rating:
Summary: Just What You Need
Review: This book gets right down to business with no nonsense -- just what you need to know to set up ipchains firewall rules, and this is taken care of all the the first 125 pages (in the 1st edition). After that it's more sage instruction on how to further harden your systems.

Rating:
Summary: Just What You Need
Review: This book gets right down to business with no nonsense -- just what you need to know to set up ipchains firewall rules, and this is taken care of all the the first 125 pages (in the 1st edition). After that it's more sage instruction on how to further harden your systems.

Rating:
Summary: Rushed
Review: This book is excellent for setting up a firewall under Linux; I'm sure a clueful newcomer like myself could get something working well with little difficulty.

However, I couldn't help but feel the book had a rushed-to-print feel to it. There are *many* typos and errors. Moreover the author repetitively lists every single command line for the different services and IP addresses being handled by the firewall, which along with over-tabulation of protocol information appears to be unnecessary padding to fill the book out. "And similary for the rest" would have been appropriate in many parts of the book.

3 stars.

Rating:
Summary: One of the best Linux manuals today!
Review: This book is great for novices or experts. The step-by-step instructions and pre-defined scripts make it easy for anyone to implement a robust firewall. I have been waiting for a book like this for a long while now. Hopefully Ziegler will write a book on corporate level firewalls and discuss in-depth proxy firewalls etc. You can't go wrong with this one!

Rating:
Summary: Riddled with errors
Review: This book is horribly written. There are glaring grammar errors which make the book impossible to read. Hopefully the proofers have been sent back to kinder-care. Moreover, there are sections in the book where they cut-and-copied the syntax explanation into the example section. But they forgot to change the text to an example! Look at the section on xinetd for an example. This one had to go back. This is too bad. We really need an good book on this topic. Sorry Mr. Ziegler, get better proof readers for the 3rd edition.

Rating:
Summary: Never returned a book until now
Review: This book is horribly written. There are glaring grammar errors which make the book impossible to read. Hopefully the proofers have been sent back to kinder-care. Moreover, there are sections in the book where they cut-and-copied the syntax explanation into the example section. But they forgot to change the text to an example! Look at the section on xinetd for an example. This one had to go back. This is too bad. We really need an good book on this topic. Sorry Mr. Ziegler, get better proof readers for the 3rd edition.

Rating:
Summary: Clear overview of iptables..
Review: This book set me straight on more than a few things I'd assumed I understood fully. The book is actually structured in a helpful way for readers of different ability. I referred to the companion website a couple of times and found it really helpful as well. I'm running a iptables based packet filtering firewall already but after reading this I found more than a few areas to tighten up. Very useful and worth the entrance price.