Virtual Private Networks, 2nd Edition (O'Reilly Nutshell) [Paperback]

Mike Erwin (Author), Charlie Scott (Author), Paul Wolfe (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 1998 | ISBN-10: 1565925297 | ISBN-13: 978-1565925298 | Edition: Second Edition

Historically, only large companies could afford secure networks, which they created from expensive leased lines. Smaller folks had to make do with the relatively untrusted Internet. Nowadays, even large companies have to go outside their private nets, because so many people telecommute or log in while they're on the road. How do you provide a low-cost, secure electronic network for your organization?

The solution is a virtual private network: a collection of technologies that creates secure connections or "tunnels" over regular Internet lines--connections that can be easily used by anybody logging in from anywhere. A number of products now exist to help you develop that solution.

This book tells you how to plan and build a VPN. It starts with general concerns like costs, configuration, and how a VPN fits in with other networking technologies like firewalls. It continues with detailed descriptions of how to install and use VPN technologies that are available for Windows NT and Unix, such as PPTP and L2TP, Altavista Tunnel, Cisco PIX, and the secure shell (SSH).

New features in the second edition include SSH, which is a popular VPN solution for Unix systems, and an expanded description of the IPSec standard, for which several vendors have announced support.

Topics include:

• How the VPN compares to other available networking technologies
• Introduction to encryption, firewalls, the IPSec standard, and other technologies that let VPNs work
• Point to Point Tunneling Protocol (PPTP) and L2TP
• The Altavista Tunnel
• The Cisco PIX Firewall
• Secure Shell (SSH)
• Maintenance and troubleshooting

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Charlie has also coauthored a half-dozen Internet-related books (many with Mike and Paul), on topics ranging from electronic commerce to CGI programming. When he finds spare time, Charlie likes to write (as of yet unpublished) fiction, read, and go to the gym. He also enjoys spending time with his wife, Mary, and their four beautiful felines. Mike Erwin is the president and chief executive officer of OuterNet Connection Strategies, Inc. Mike has served these posts for the last four years, during which he also worked for Apple Computer, Inc., architecting and implementing connectivity, application, scripting, and development support for Apple's Worldwide Support Center. Mike is the coauthor of several other works, including the CGI Bible, Building Web Commerce Sites, and the 60 Minute Guide to VRML. Mike's technology related interests involve encryption algorithms, super computing, Distributed Operating Systems, universe game simulations, and building secondary securities markets on the Net. Before becoming completely immersed in work, Mike used to find that his hobbies included playing hearts, drinking cheap vodka, staying up until dawn, and doodling with oil paints with his left hand. Mike's current favorite things include dabbling with theoretical and particle physics, martial arts training, gambling, securities prospecting, and, of course, sleeping.

Charlie Scott is the senior vice president of OuterNet Connection Strategies, Inc., an Internet Service Provider and outsource company based in Austin, Texas, specializing in innovative and emergent technologies. At OuterNet, he helps create and implement new products for their network operations center and co-location facilities. While an undergraduate at the University of Texas at Austin, Charlie was a research assistant in a cognitive science lab, and planned on going to graduate school in that field. He was eventually able to get his B.A. in psychology. But he always enjoyed working with computers, and his exposure to the Internet at UT deviated him enough to abandon all plans for graduate school and start working with computer networks. The next few years saw him at Texas Instruments, IBM, and Wayne-Dresser before he helped found OuterNet. Charlie has also coauthored a half-dozen Internet-related books (many with Mike and Paul), on topics ranging from electronic commerce to CGI programming. When he finds spare time, Charlie likes to write (as of yet unpublished) fiction, read, and go to the gym. He also enjoys spending time with his wife, Mary, and their four beautiful felines.

Charlie has also coauthored a half-dozen Internet-related books (many with Mike and Paul), on topics ranging from electronic commerce to CGI programming. When he finds spare time, Charlie likes to write (as of yet unpublished) fiction, read, and go to the gym. He also enjoys spending time with his wife, Mary, and their four beautiful felines. Paul Wolfe has done everything from driving M1A1 tanks in Desert Storm to slinging computer chips for Motorola. He now divides his time between his family and OuterNet, as well as writing. He has written four books in the last two years covering such topics as Windows NT Web servers, Internet commerce, VRML, and Virtual Private Networks. He dreams of restoring his 1986 Toyota Tercel to its former glory and racing it on the stock car circuit.

Product Details

• Paperback: 228 pages
• Publisher: O'Reilly Media; Second Edition edition (December 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1565925297
• ISBN-13: 978-1565925298
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 1.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,581,605 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars waste of money, November 29, 1999

By 

consumer davidm (toronto, ontario Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Virtual Private Networks, 2nd Edition (O'Reilly Nutshell) (Paperback)

I bought this book on an impuse. I assumed that since it was an oreilly book it would have some decent technical content and perspective. But was I wrong, the book starts with a minimal overview of VPNs one could pick up on the web in 5 minutes, a bunch of screen captures of setting up windows NT's VPN, a short chapter on using ssh, and a chapter on altavista's tunelling product.. I would have expected at least balanced and comparable results between each approach but, for example, the ssh chapter goes into the end performance of that approach but this evaluation isn't present for windows nt. In short there is no technical detail in this book and the information that is there would be just as easily (and much less expensively) found on the web.

Boo hiss.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Well.. Almost Useless, August 4, 2001

By 

"weiyeh" (New York City) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Virtual Private Networks, 2nd Edition (O'Reilly Nutshell) (Paperback)

This book was a big disappointment. It does gloss over alot of the key VPN ideas, but there is not much substance. I've learned more from reading various tidbits off the internet.

Also, before you even consider using PPTP you should read the CounterPane cryptanalysis paper on PPTP.

http://www.counterpane.com/pptpv2-paper.html PPTP on windows NT is just not secure!

For a total newbie, this book might give them an idea of what to look for on the internet, but besides that I don't see too much value in this book.

I wouldn't buy it again, I wouldn't recommend it to anyone that I liked.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Innacurate and old, July 23, 2003

By 

Patrick Fischbacher (green bay, W.I. USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Virtual Private Networks, 2nd Edition (O'Reilly Nutshell) (Paperback)

I didn't check out the publication date of this book when I bought it (1998) so my dissapointment is partly my fault. It is, unsuprisingly, very outdated (anyone actually remember the altavista tunnel?). However, much of the info that remains, even general VPN fundamentals, are flawed and innacurate. This book will hinder you if you are trying to understand proper VPN network topologies.