The LINUX® Network

Rating:
Summary: Good book for networking ... NOT for RedHat 5.2 users.
Review: GOOD! This is the only book I need for building my home Linux Server for printing and file sharing, firewall and gateway server.

I would recommend this book to only one who want to build their first Linux Server!!

Rating:
Summary: excellent, very well documented tutorial
Review: I can't say enough about this book: I believe it's a must have for anyone thinking seriously about Linux. Things have changed a bit since then (my book deals with kernel 2.0.35), and for the better (easier card configuration/detection, more intuitive GUI tools.. ), but for the hardcore LINUX/UNIX command liners, this is still an invaluable resource. And it comes bundled with Slackware, one of the best older distributions for power users that want to tweak to the death their systems. (Sorry I can't say the same about the 2.2 kernel Slackware's :( )

Rating:
Summary: Good book for networking ... NOT for RedHat 5.2 users.
Review: I found this book very useful, coming from a Windows environment with some UNIX shell experience. BUT if you use Red Hat 5.2, it is almost completely useless (this is Red Hat's fault, not the book!) It took me 1 weekend to read the book and setup a slackware linux server on the Internet. The instructions were amazingly clear and very aware of "newbie/intermediate" readers who might not know all the ins and outs of Linux. It took me another whole week to figure what Red Hat called the same network files and in what directories they put them in, before I got Red Hat 5.2 up and running correctly. Two examples, just try to find rc.inet1 and rc.inet2 in RH 5.2. And then go and try to get the kernel source code off the CDROM and install it on the machine and you'll see what I mean. By the way I only gave it 4 stars since I wish it had included the Red Hat material. Despite that, it is my Linux networking bible, period.

Rating:
Summary: Good for beginners!
Review: In the preface there is a line that reads, "We have tested and re-tested the descriptions in this book to ensure their accuracy; however, despite our best efforts, this book may still contain errors."

In fact, this line really should have read, "We have not tested the descriptions in this book to ensure their accuracy; this book will contain many errors."

Notice: the book is full of mistakes and is dangerously misleading in more than a few areas. I would have given it 5 stars had I reviewed it early on, but as I delved deeper into the reading, relying on it heavily as a reference, it became evident that many of the explanations were misleading, ill-referenced, erroneous, and/or downright incorrect.

Even great authors are not exempt from the responsibility of proofreading their work. It seems this book missed that phase altogether. In some sections, you cannot read a single page without finding an error. (Ex: DNS). Many of the errors, unfortunately, are not trivial:

- The definition of Input in the IP masquerading section is wrong. "Input" in and of itself does not specify direction. Input can be from the Internet as well as from the Intranet. Ironically, the back-to-back definition for Output IS correct--small example of many such inconsistencies throughout the book.

- The explanation on setting up two ethernet cards, aside from being inconsistent, fails to mention something very important. Passing arguments to the kernel through lilo.conf only works if the NIC's driver is compiled directly into the kernel. If the NIC is being loaded as a module, then parameters need to be passed through conf.modules NOT lilo.conf. In chapter 3 the user is instructed to compile the Ethernet driver directly into the kernel, granted, but not a single thing is said about the option and ramifications of compiling Ethernet drivers as modules instead, a very common and efficient practice for many Linux users.

- Where descriptions are brief, the author points the reader to the end of the chapter for "additional reference." When the reader flips to the end of the chapter, what do you know? There are no references there.

- The part on Configuring Masquerading (p.343) claims that "if you compiled IP masquerading directly into the kernel, you do not have to do anything to configure it." (...referring to whether or not you have to load any IP Masquerading modules). This is clearly untrue as the ftp module, for example, still needs to be loaded as a module regardless of whether IP Masquerading was compiled directly into the kernel or not.

- The author says "you cannot use ping to test masquerading, because the ICMP...protocol doesn't have a source-port field." (p.346) Theoretically, true. Realistically, you can ping through IP masquerading till your heart's content. The fix has been around for some time now and is a standard feature of ipfwadm.

The problem with such mistakes is that they appear not a few times throughout the book, but many times. These are but a few examples.

Overall, the book proves to be a mere (albeit good) compliment to man pages, newsgroup postings, and howto's, not only because many of its explanations are incomplete and/or ambiguous, but because the reader suspects the need to confirm the validity of some of the information given. Moreover, and to the point of aggravation, the author repeatedly points the user to the man pages to get a complete understanding of how things work.

My recommendation: buy the book. It is extremely helpful and I recommend it. But beware. The recklessness with which things are laid out and the glaring mistakes resulting from this, warrant that the reader approach this book with a very cautious study.

--Daniel

Rating:
Summary: Excellent Hands-On Book
Review: My friend bought this book when he was in New York. When he showed me the book, it was just what we needed to help us with our current Linux server implementation.

Having a background in networking with many different operating systems, I found the layout of the book to be right on! It is a definitive tool for either the beginner-home-admin or the experienced admin. It's a keeper!

Many of the features are well discussed and the walk-thrus are excellent! The overview on networking and the inclusion of Slackware 3.5 on CD-ROM are another plus.

Rating:
Summary: A good primer on Linux as server and/or internet gateway.
Review: The book includes most of the info you need to set up linux as a file/print server and as an internet gateway. The style is easy to read and well set out

It also includes a CD of Linux itself (Slackware 3.5) so you don't really need much else.

What the book doesn't cover is setting up Linux in the first place, but there are plenty of good books on this already, also the installation instructions are on the CD.

Topic covered include:Basic Networking; Samba; IP Setup; IP Masquerade; Setting up Windows 95 as the client; Mail

read this book if you know how to set up Linux as a workstation and you now want to expand it's use as a Server and/or Internet gateway.

Rating:
Summary: Review from a Dutchman
Review: This book is a sincere attempt to deal with the incredible mess of LINUX networking. It's better than nothing. It has a lot of useful information. It also has a lot of typos and misstatements and turgid descents into pure confusion. It needs summary sections covering "all the things required to..." and a serious troubleshooting guide.

Rating:
Summary: Good book. not the best though, if theres any... (BIG topic)
Review: Well, this book is a very good book, BUT, for beginners in networking AND - it is unfortunately outdated (it regards the 2.0 kernel rather than the *significantly* different 2.2 kernel). Also, if we're here, why not make this book compilant with RedHat which has 50% of the market share of Linux dist's ? (rather than really asking here, I mean more: pay attention to the fact that RedHat current version (6) is quite different in networking configuration details from the book's Slackware version). IN DETAIL: It is written well from the basics of protocols throughout almost everything you'll need to know about networking, which is a HUGE subject, so dont be surprise that it's security section, for example, is only 20 pages long. All in all it does a very good job in explaining the background and walking you through the details of configuration, so beginners will benefit a lot (but I mean here only real newbies to networking). CONCLUSION: Trying to cover networking details of a UNIX ditro' in one book (!)is probably mission impossible, so we're doomd to start with something that must cut corners somewhere - KEEP THAT IN MIND... . If you're a newbie with a hacker's soul - this book is for you (you can benefit alot). Otherwise - it might not be the best book for you.