Customer Reviews

OpenVPN: Building and Integrating Virtual Private Networks: Learn how to build secure VPNs using this powerful Open Source application

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This book should be titled OpenVPN for Dummies. It's a very simplified description of the OpenVPN tool, giving simple examples which could easily be found on the internet. The book content is almost half screen shots and listing with limited descriptions. It's missing any sort of detail on the complex issues of using OpenVPN. I hate to be so blunt, but I was severely disappointed. My advice is to pass on the book read the HOWTO on the OpenVPN web site.

OpenVPN is an easy-to deploy system to get VPNs running. it Uses SSL to secure the data you are about to send over the net. OpenVPN is an all userland thing and therefore is easy to maintin. The book describes in detail how to get started with openVPN using a number of different platforms. It has an ease followable roadmap to get your VPN up and running in most cases. But it lacks imho the details on specific more complex cases. Also the book touches briefly on version 2.1 but does not address some of the interesting details of it and how to handle them. The book has a number of screenshots that describe how to handle things on different platforms (windows, unix). THe appendix is a valuable tool to find more resources on the net, once you get started.

In short: good beginners book, but when it comes to complex setups do not expect that much from this book.

This book is 'okay' at best. It seems very simplified. They focus on testing and deploying OpenVPN with with windows clients.. then they have a whole chaper on using webmin to configure your firewall etc. I mean.. come on. If I am setting up my own VPN .. i probably am not using webmin... and if i was.. this isn't supposed to be a book about webmin.

I would suggest taking a look at some gentoo wiki pages on using openvpn. They are quick and strait foward. This book could have been cut down to about 3 or 4 chapters.. the rest is fluff.. and worthless fluff at that.

OpenVPN by Markus Feilner is a comprehensive reference of the excellent OpenVPN software. The book's subtitle, Building and Integrating Virtual Private Networks does it justice.

In 11 Chapters, the author introduces VPN and VPN security, shows you how to install OpenVPN on a number of different platforms (incl. Linux, MacOSX and Windows), and runs the reader through configuring OpenVPN as a server and/or as a client.

Securing OpenVPN with X.509 Certificates is well covered, including creating certificates with some special (GUI) tools. The OpenVPN configurations are well covered and the book closes with a chapter on Advanced configuration (tunnels, scripting, authentication, etc.) and Troubleshooting.

All in all, the book is for advanced users. The introduction is a bit quick for a novice.

The book lacks diagrams of what the author is showing us when he builds tunnels and discusses possibilities. Without a great deal of imagination (or experience), it is hard to follow without network diagrams.

Apart from that, I recommend the book to anybody who has to set up OpenVPN, and it is good that Feilner shows very clearly what you do if yo are on Windows XP.

If you are willing to search around the internet for the same info, you will most likely find it. I just don't have the time to do it.

That said, the book helped me a lot when dealing with certificates and the reason for TSL-Auth. I would have liked to have seen more diagrams and "cook book" examples. Overall it was worth the price to me, I really needed OpenVPN to work for my company and the book had just enough info to help me.

Again, I would like to see more advanced examples presented, like bridging multiple networks together.

OpenVPN is an excellent open source SSL-based VPN solution that still isn't very well-known, but this book should make it more accessible to network administrators, and help accelerate its adoption. The book is a practical reference, suitable to both beginning and advanced users. The author, Markus Feilner, has done his homework well, and the book reflects his extensive experience using OpenVPN, particularly with Linux and Windows networks. He has structured the book so that it starts at the basics, and then it builds in complexity. It makes good use of informal explanatory text, as well as tables, examples, exercises, and screenshots. The book also covers additional programs that are useful in working with OpenVPN. Finally, there is an appendix with links to further information on many related topics, followed by a good index. One minor area that the book does not discuss is the use of OpenVPN with the OpenWrt Linux distribution for wireless routers. Nevertheless, the book should save users many hours of searching for OpenVPN solutions.