Practical Firewalls (Practical)

Rating:
Summary: Well worth reading.
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: Well worth reading.
Review: 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.