Internet Core Protocols: The Definitive Guide: Help for Network Administrators (Paperback)

~ Eric Hall (Author)
Key Phrases: urgent pointer, total packet length, membership query, Tools Window Help, File Edit Configuration View Module, Ready Figure (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

For network administrators, support professionals, and system designers, intimate knowledge of the network protocols that are the foundation of the Internet is crucial. Internet Core Protocols: The Definitive Guide is a superb summary of the nitty-gritty details of the most important Net standards.

This book assumes you have a working knowledge of networks and a basic familiarity with TCP/IP. Unlike the cursory coverage of TCP/IP found in many Internet titles, this presentation includes low-level details that aid in troubleshooting. It also includes a copy of Shomiti Surveyor Lite--a utility for analyzing network traffic. Extensive screen shots of Surveyor Lite also illustrate data fields.

Each protocol is examined closely, using network diagrams and detailed breakdowns of the fields and flags. In addition to TCP, IP and UDP, there is far-reaching discussion of multicasting and error communication protocols, including practical application issues such as caching and timeouts to provide a real-world perspective.

In addition to an education into the particulars of the Net's underpinnings, this book is an excellent reference tool. --Stephen W. Plain

Topics covered: TCP/IP overview, Internet Protocol (IP), Address Resolution Protocol (ARP), Multicasting, Internet Group Management Protocol (IGMP), Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP), User Datagram Protocol (UDP), and Transmission Control Protocol (TCP).

From Library Journal

Although O'Reilly books are not the best place to learn how to use a technology, they are excellent for polishing its finer points. Ethernet and Internet protocols are difficult by nature, but cascading style sheets and MP3s are much more accessible to beginners. All of these books are recommended for university and large public libraries; Cascading Style Sheets and MP3 will also serve well smaller public libraries.
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 472 pages
• Publisher: O'Reilly Media, Inc. (February 2, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1565925726
• ISBN-13: 978-1565925724
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #394,307 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Food for a TCP/IP junkie; looking forward to your next book!, June 14, 2000

By	Richard Bejtlich "TaoSecurity.com" (Metro Washington, DC) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

I can't learn enough about how TCP/IP packets appear at the hex and bit level. Call me crazy. That's what my job in network intrusion detection requires, so I appreciate authors like Richard Stevens and Eric Hall. These folks bring the details of TCP/IP to life, so I can apply that understanding to suspicious traffic. Eric's approach focuses on network monitor traces, nicely complementing Richard's TCPDumps. I would recommend checking O'Reilly's web site for the latest errata, even though none of the errors are enough to detract from this excellent reference work. I am actually more interested in seeing the companion volume, "Internet Application Protocols," as this is where some of the attack action occurs these days. Anyway, this book is in my top ten essential security reading list. Thank you Eric!

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great on theory, May 29, 2001

By A Customer

I bought this book as a general introduction to networking. It provides great depth over a wide range of topics (TCP, IP, ICMP, UDP, etc). I enjoyed the book quite a lot, mostly for the background that it provides. It has a good overview of what's going on, and comprehensive nuts&bolts for network admins (going into great detail about packet sniffing and various rarely-utilized flags). Be warned, the book does not really discuss any development strategies or tools for using these protocols; it is not oriented towards developers (except insofar as it provides useful background information). Im not really sure how useful this book would be- either you are a network engineer (and you already know this stuff, hopefully), or you aren't (in which case, most of it is probably unnecessary). Fortunately, I didnt buy it because I needed to; I thought that it would be interesting stuff, and this turned out to be the case!

17 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great introduction to TCP/IP!, September 13, 2000

By	Todd Hawley (San Francisco CA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This book is true to its name as it covers the so-called Internet Core Protocols (TCP/IP, UDP, ARP, ICMP, and IGMP) very well. Chapter 1 is an overview of TCP/IP, Chapter 2 is an introduction to IP, and subsequent chapters describe the other protocols. The final chapter is a very detailed description of TCP. As an end-user who desired to learn more of the "basics" of these protocols, I learned quite a bit about how each protocol works.

Each chapter describes the "inner workings" of each protocol, complete with sections on headers, messages, and so forth. Numerous screen captures help you gain further understanding of how each of these protocols works with each other. Not only is each protocol described well, there are also sections in each chapter on troubleshooting problems.

The appendices describe how the Internet Standardization process, ie how RFC's (Request For Comments) get created and the processes they have to go through to be accepted. I had no idea what a long process it can be.

If you're a System Administrator or someone who needs to learn the "basics" of TCP/IP, this is a great place to start.