Essential Check Point™ FireWall-1® NG: An Installation, Configuration, and Troubleshooting Guide [Paperback]

Dameon D. Welch-Abernathy (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0321180615 | ISBN-13: 978-0321180612 | Publication Date: January 31, 2004 | Edition: 1

"When it comes to security products and technologies, experience is far and away the best teacher. PhoneBoy has been installing, running, and supporting Check Point FireWall-1 for years, and his experience shows in this book. Save yourself the pain of learning from your own mistakes--let PhoneBoy show you the right way to manage your FireWall-1 NG infrastructure."
--Tina Bird, Computer Security Officer, Stanford University

"Dameon has taken his original definitive guide and updated it thoroughly for NG. No other book is informed by his depth of experience with Check Point. Accept no substitutes!"
--Matthew Gast, author of 802.11 Wireless Networks: The Definitive Guide

"PhoneBoy is the de facto expert on this product, and people have been clamoring for an NG book from him since he published the first one. No one can compete with him."
--Valerie M. Leveille, Professional Educator

"Dameon is the foremost authority on FireWall-1. He has the knowledge to give details of FireWall-1 functionality that no other reference on this topic can."
--Paul Keser, Senior Network Security Engineer, Raytheon ITSS/NASA Ames Research Center

"This book is the Swiss army knife solution for Check Point FireWall-1 NG."
--Thomas Warfield, TNT-OK.com

Now there's a definitive insider's guide to planning, installing, configuring, and maintaining the newest version of the world's #1 firewall: Check Point™ FireWall-1^® Next Generation™. Leading Check Point support authority Dameon Welch-Abernathy (a.k.a. PhoneBoy) offers exclusive hands-on tips, techniques, checklists, and detailed sample configurations you can use right now to improve reliability, efficiency, and manageability in your Check Point environment.

The author's previous Check Point FireWall-1 guide became an instant bestseller, earning the praise of security professionals worldwide. This new book has been thoroughly revamped to reflect Check Point FireWall-1 NG's powerful new features, and it includes even more expert solutions from PhoneBoy's FireWall-1 FAQ, the Web's #1 independent Check Point support site. Whether you're a security/network architect, administrator, or manager, you'll find it indispensable.

Whether you're running FireWall-1 NG on UNIX or Windows platforms, this book brings together expert guidance for virtually every challenge you'll face: building your rulebase, logging and alerting, remote management, user authentication, inbound/outbound content restriction, managing NAT environments, building site-to-site VPNs with SecuRemote, even INSPECT programming. Welch-Abernathy also covers high availability in detail, identifying proven solutions for the challenges of implementing multiple firewalls in parallel.

0321180615B12192003

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

There are open-source firewalls, and there are commercial firewalls that are easier to configure. No software firewall, however, has the reputation for impermeability that Check Point FireWall-1 NG has. Essential Check Point FireWall-1 NG exists to serve the network administrator as a manual and ready reference for the defensive utility. It's a sensitive role, because a poorly administered firewall can be worse than no firewall at all. Dameon Welch-Abernathy provides his readers with the knowledge they need--in the form of both instructions and raw information--to install, set up, and administer FireWall-1 NG properly in a variety of configurations.

A word of warning: This book provides detailed installation instructions for Microsoft Windows 2000 only. Though other supported operating systems get some coverage, only for Windows does the author walk you through the complete set of installation screens. This may or may not be a problem for you. With installation out of the way, the book treats configuration in an approximately platform-neutral fashion (though all screen shots are from Windows 2000). Typically, Welch-Abernathy opens a section with some theoretical information (about authentication, say, or firewalling in VPNs), then provides a relevant stepped procedure for a typical scenario, then goes through a very useful series of questions and answers (which are indexed separately--a helpful feature). It's a good approach that helps guarantee the reader gets the required information. --David Wall

Topics covered: How to knowledgeably and effectively support Check Point FireWall-1 NG. In addition to basic firewall functionality and rule-setting, the author covers Virtual Private Network (VPN) setups, alternative forms of user authentication, Network Address Translation (NAT), and reliability issues. Special chapters cover the INSPECT and SecuRemote/SecureClient utilities.

From the Back Cover

"When it comes to security products and technologies, experience is far and away the best teacher. PhoneBoy has been installing, running, and supporting Check Point FireWall-1 for years, and his experience shows in this book. Save yourself the pain of learning from your own mistakes--let PhoneBoy show you the right way to manage your FireWall-1 NG infrastructure."
--Tina Bird, Computer Security Officer, Stanford University

"Dameon has taken his original definitive guide and updated it thoroughly for NG. No other book is informed by his depth of experience with Check Point. Accept no substitutes!"
--Matthew Gast, author of 802.11 Wireless Networks: The Definitive Guide

"PhoneBoy is the de facto expert on this product, and people have been clamoring for an NG book from him since he published the first one. No one can compete with him."
--Valerie M. Leveille, Professional Educator

"Dameon is the foremost authority on FireWall-1. He has the knowledge to give details of FireWall-1 functionality that no other reference on this topic can."
--Paul Keser, Senior Network Security Engineer, Raytheon ITSS/NASA Ames Research Center

"This book is the Swiss army knife solution for Check Point FireWall-1 NG."
--Thomas Warfield, TNT-OK.com

Now there's a definitive insider's guide to planning, installing, configuring, and maintaining the newest version of the world's #1 firewall: Check Point™ FireWall-1^® Next Generation™. Leading Check Point support authority Dameon Welch-Abernathy (a.k.a. PhoneBoy) offers exclusive hands-on tips, techniques, checklists, and detailed sample configurations you can use right now to improve reliability, efficiency, and manageability in your Check Point environment.

The author's previous Check Point FireWall-1 guide became an instant bestseller, earning the praise of security professionals worldwide. This new book has been thoroughly revamped to reflect Check Point FireWall-1 NG's powerful new features, and it includes even more expert solutions from PhoneBoy's FireWall-1 FAQ, the Web's #1 independent Check Point support site. Whether you're a security/network architect, administrator, or manager, you'll find it indispensable.

Whether you're running FireWall-1 NG on UNIX or Windows platforms, this book brings together expert guidance for virtually every challenge you'll face: building your rulebase, logging and alerting, remote management, user authentication, inbound/outbound content restriction, managing NAT environments, building site-to-site VPNs with SecuRemote, even INSPECT programming. Welch-Abernathy also covers high availability in detail, identifying proven solutions for the challenges of implementing multiple firewalls in parallel.

0321180615B12192003

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 656 pages
• Publisher: Addison-Wesley Professional; 1 edition (January 31, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0321180615
• ISBN-13: 978-0321180612
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 7.1 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #436,354 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Clearly the only Check Point AI book worth buying right now, February 10, 2004

By 

"techtoysforless" (San Ramon, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Essential Check Point™ FireWall-1® NG: An Installation, Configuration, and Troubleshooting Guide (Paperback)

Would have been nice if PhoneBoy was able to include details of R55 in this book. It does skim over some more complicated subjects such as ClusterXL but great for a novice admin.

Look forward to your next book Daemon!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Perfect Way to Prepare for FW 1., March 22, 2004

By 

Stephen Northcutt (Kauai, HI USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Essential Check Point™ FireWall-1® NG: An Installation, Configuration, and Troubleshooting Guide (Paperback)

This is a how-to book clearly intended primarily for those who have already decided to install firewall 1 software on their systems. There are several things I like about this book, not the least of which is the author's honest, straightforward approach to his subject matter.

I also really like the extensive use of FAQ's to resolve many of the challenges likely to be encountered in implementing your firewall protection. But what makes that especially helpful is the comprehensive table of contents listing just the FAQ's.

My favorite chapter is the one devoted to planning your firewall system. It's thorough, including all of the items that should be considered in the planning process. For my money, this chapter alone is probably worth the cost of the book.

My advice is to read this book before you start spending money on the software. Follow all of the advice about planning. Then use the book to help you make the most of what you buy.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Essential Check Point FireWall-1 NG, March 5, 2004

By 

Andrew Barnes - See all my reviews

This review is from: Essential Check Point™ FireWall-1® NG: An Installation, Configuration, and Troubleshooting Guide (Paperback)

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Title: Essential Check Point FireWall-1 NG - An Installation, Configuration, and Troubleshooting Guide
Author: Dameon D. Welch-Abernathy (a.k.a. "PhoneBoy")
ISBN: 0-321-18061-5
Publisher: Addison-Wesley Professional
Where: amazon.com, amazon.co.uk
Pages: 647
Reviewer: Andrew Barnes
Date: 05/03/2004
Rating: 5*
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Introduction:
-------------
Following on from the success of "Essential Check Point FireWall-1", Dameon Welch-Abernathy (a.k.a. "PhoneBoy") has provided us with a timely update to this already indispensable title in the form of his latest book "Essential Check Point FireWall-1 NG"; especially timely given the End of Service Life of v4.1, and the latest security advisories.

With around 80% new content, this work is a major revision, and once again clearly deserving of its title.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Review:
-------
If not one of the worlds leading independent authorities on the installation, configuration and management of Check Point FireWall-1 products, PhoneBoy would have to be one of the best known. His web site - http://www.phoneboy.com - is a treasure-chest of hints, tips, "FAQs", "how-to's" and "gotcha's". Couple this latest book, with his "well-thumbed" site, and you have at your finger-tips the definitive guide to Check Point FireWall-1 NG.

The first thing you'll notice when you open the book is the size of Table of Contents - including the FAQ list. While this statement might seem out of place in a review of an IT book, it straightaway signifies the volume of knowledge and information that this guide contains. In my opinion, PhoneBoy has recognised that outside of initial installation of Check Point, the next time that most of us go to a book or web site is when there's a problem, or you're about to do something major - like upgrade. This comprehensive, up-front list gives you exactly what you're looking for. And if it isn't in the book - your answers are only a mouse-click away.

Right up front PhoneBoy points out his personal "platform bias", if only from a "pathname convention" perspective - UNIX. The second thing you'll notice in this book is that given his stated bias, PhoneBoy has taken the time and effort to ensure that this book is valid for all deployable platforms. Where appropriate, PhoneBoy has taken a side-step in his rhythm to pay particular attention to a platform-specific (or other significant) point.

Each chapter in this book begins with a list of expectations a reader can expect from reading the chapter, and finishes with a summary. Especially in the more advanced chapters, PhoneBoy has also included sample configurations, FAQs, and/or troubleshooting guides. It would be my view that he has achieved the goal of each chapter with flying colors.

One of the main drawing-points of this book is that the target audience could be anyone from a beginner to an experienced Check Point FireWall-1 NG Administrator. It starts from the basic items such as basic installation and configuration of FW-1/NG through to the more advanced topics of HA/Clustering, VPNs, and INSPECT (a programming language for Check Point's Stateful Inspection engine in FireWall-1).

The level of detail undertaken by PhoneBoy, for almost every menu, dialog box, option available, is superb. It is what makes "Essential Check Point FireWall-1 NG"... *ahem*... essential, for every FW-1/NG Administrator. It's always going to be the little things that make or break a change, and with every option now explained for you in a clear easy-to-understand manner, you.re understanding of the impact your change is about to make is made that much clearer.

Ironically, the one thing that *some* might find frustrating is in fact this level of detail. This is more of a problem for someone looking for information on a specific value, option, issue, etc. As is the nature of such a detailed resource in its hardcopy form, without the benefit of a search-engine it may sometimes take that little longer to find the specific information you're looking for. But hey, isn't that what the contents and index are for!

While I shouldn't have been surprised, it was nice to see that the very last page in the book was a link to Informit's online service. With any luck, one day we may even see PhoneBoy's book online too.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Summary:

--------
They say that the best way to learn is from your mistakes, but with "Essential Check Point FireWall-1 NG" by your side, you can hopefully save yourself the time, effort and embarrassment by drawing on PhoneBoy.s 8 years of experience and knowledge.

If it's "the detail maketh the book", then "'Essential Check Point FireWall-1 NG' maketh the firewall". As reference books go, if you're planning to, or already are, administering FW-1/NG, then this book is your first (if not last) port of call. Its clear, comprehensive content, supplemented by PhoneBoy's web site, makes it a definitive "must-have" guide.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=