Linux Networking Cookbook (Paperback)

by Carla Schroder (Author)
Key Phrases: dynamic routing, ubuntu linux, hardware flow control, Linux Cookbook, Carla Schroder, Network Monitoring (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
This soup-to-nuts collection of recipes covers everything you need to know to perform your job as a Linux network administrator, whether you're new to the job or have years of experience. With Linux Networking Cookbook, you'll dive straight into the gnarly hands-on work of building and maintaining a computer network. Running a network doesn't mean you have all the answers. Networking is a complex subject with reams of reference material that's difficult to keep straight, much less remember. If you want a book that lays out the steps for specific tasks, that clearly explains the commands and configurations, and does not tax your patience with endless ramblings and meanderings into theory and obscure RFCs, this is the book for you. You will find recipes for: Building a gateway, firewall, and wireless access point on a Linux network Building a VoIP server with Asterisk Secure remote administration with SSH Building secure VPNs with OpenVPN, and a Linux PPTP VPN server Single sign-on with Samba for mixed Linux/Windows LANs Centralized network directory with OpenLDAP Network monitoring with Nagios or MRTG Getting acquainted with IPv6 Setting up hands-free networks installations of new systems Linux system administration via serial console And a lot more. Each recipe includes a clear, hands-on solution with tested code, plus a discussion on why it works. When you need to solve a network problem without delay, and don't have the time or patience to comb through reference books or the Web for answers, Linux Networking Cookbook gives you exactly what you need.

About the Author
Carla Schroder is a self-taught Linux and Windows sysadmin, who discovered Red Hat 5.0 in 1997. She quickly found herself doing freelance consulting for small businesses and home users and integrating Linux and Windows on the LAN. She is the author of the "Linux Cookbook" (O'Reilly), and writes Linux how-tos for several computer publications including Enterprise Networking Planet and VoIP Planet.

Product Details

• Paperback: 638 pages
• Publisher: O'Reilly Media, Inc. (November 26, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0596102488
• ISBN-13: 978-0596102487
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #58,681 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

  Popular in these categories: (What's this?)

  #11 in	Books > Computers & Internet > Operating Systems > Linux > Networking & System Administration
  #16 in	Books > Computers & Internet > Networking > Wireless Networks
  #20 in	Books > Computers & Internet > Networking > Networks, Protocols & APIs > LAN

• This is item 5 in The O'Reilly Cookbooks Series.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A time-saver book, December 19, 2007

By	nixCraft "Vivek" (INDIA) - See all my reviews

Linux networking cookbook is a book for both a seasoned and new Linux network administrator. It includes valuable time saving recipes, tools and related resources. The book is written in clear and concise style with tons of examples and working code.

Sure you can dig out all info presented here with the help of man pages, web, forums and chat rooms, but not in one handy guide. (remember time is an important factor in Enterprise computing).

Overall it is a great book that touches all important Linux networking aspects. This book is highly recommended to all RHCEs/ Geeks / MCESs / UNIX admin and small business owner who manges their own Linux boxes.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Resource, December 25, 2007

By	E. Peck "JR Peck" (Orlando, FL) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This cookbook gets quickly down to business with an amazing breadth of useful networking information. I've found it to be an excellent guide for hands on learning of networking with Linux

The book only asks that you have a basic understanding of working from the command line. Where applicable the instructions for various solutions are given for Fedora and Debian.

The most valuable parts for me thus far are how to access machines remotely and this applies to working on your linux box remotely and working with windows machines remotely from a linux machine. As networks become increasingly mixed with unix/linux and windows - this book is going to be more and more relevant and useful in that area.

The amazon price makes this useful collection of knowledge a really great deal.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent guide to networking for Linux sysadmins, February 8, 2009

By	John S. Fry (Menlo Park, CA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This is a practical guide for Linux system administrators who need to get networks of machines to talk to each other securely and reliably. There is an introductory, lay-of-the-land chapter on Linux networking, followed by chapters on topics you'd expect like gateways, routers, firewalls, wireless, SSH, and Samba. There are also chapters on old-school topics like dial-up networking (remember Kermit?) and controlling your servers through a serial console, and some bleeding-edge stuff like IPv6 and building a VoIP server with Asterisk.

This is not a book about networking theory (for that, see Andrew S. Tanenbaum's Computer Networks (4th Edition)). Rather, as the word "Cookbook" suggests, this book offers step-by-step instructions ("recipes") for installing, configuring, and starting up the relevant software packages, and then testing and debugging to make sure everything is running correctly. Where appropriate, Schroder offers separate recipes for deb- and rpm-based Linux distributions.

To me, the most valuable aspect of this book is not the solutions (recipes) themselves, but the context around each recipe; that is, Schroder's diagnosis and description of the problem to be solved. Reading this book is spending a day with an experienced (and good-humored) sysadmin and having her walk you through all the networking stuff she does, clearly explaining her reasoning behind every little decision, like which headset mic to buy for VoIP and why she always tests basic connectivity with ping before firing up the packet sniffer.