Red Hat? Linux? Network Toolkit [With CD]

by Paul G. Sery

Red Hat? Linux? Network Toolkit, 2nd Edition Now updated and expanded with new information on firewalls, Samba, Arkeia, and more, this acclaimed guide gives you all the tools and techniques you need to implement a robust, reliable Linux network. From setting up Samba and e-mail servers to creating firewalls and automated backups, author Paul Sery demystifies the design, configuration, and administration of a Linux network -- and shows you step-by-step...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0764546562
• ISBN13: 9780764546563
• Release Date: April 2000
• Publisher: Wiley
• Length: 480 Pages
• Weight: 1.95 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 5.5" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

Excellent networking examples

This book goes from the simple to the complex. It helped me to get started and advance on to more complicated stuff. It's really helped me to create a Linux network.

Pretty Good Book, Some Script Errors.

I found this book helpful when setting up my Red Hat 6.2 distrubution for home network connectivity. I really wanted guidance for topics such as DNS, IPCHAINS and IP-Masquerading. The book touches on these topics but not in exhaustive detail. Instead it relies on a number of scripts supplied in companion CD's to provide the user with 'canned' solutions to the problem of easy setup of DNS, IPCHAINS and masquerading. The reader is urged to just install and run the supplied scripts. Be sure to carefully read the book's comments on the scripts as part of your personal learning and checking process. Don't just run the script blindly.I made use of a number of the scripts that came on the CD. Being a professional programmer, though, I automatically distrusted them, so I was careful to preserve any scripts already installed on my system by copying them to backup files. Then I reviewed the scripts supplied by Mr. Sery. There are some errors in his scripts for DNS. I believe (without proof) that some of the named scripts supplied are actually for BIND-4 not BIND-8. You cannot have comments in some of the named scripts. They did need changing for my particular system in order to run without error. I heavily modified and tested Mr. Sery's scripts (with the help of 2 other books!) before being satisfied with them. Part of my testing included checks of /var/log/messages to see if named was complaining about the scripts. His scripts, in much changes form, are what I have been running very satisfactorily for about 2 months now.Mr. Sery has a web site containing errata for this book. I suggest checking the errata before implementing his scripts or any of the examples in the book. I emailed my comments on this book to Mr. Sery some time ago, and he did not reply. This is unusual, most book authors will gladly respond to *polite*, *professional* queries from buyers of their books. Large portions of the book are devoted to dull stuff such as installing a Red Hat distribution and backup considerations, rather than networking itself. You can find installation advice from other sources. (I admit installing Red Hat Linux is a very tough job to do.) Also please note that the book focuses on Red Hat 6.1. At this time Red Hat 6.2 is the most recent release. If you have an Offical Red Hat product installed that you are currently entitled to support for from Red Hat, be careful what you install from Mr. Sery's Publisher's Edition of Red Hat Linux. You may not be able to get support for Publisher's Edition packages.Good points about the book -- it walks the user through networking setup. This is what made the book worth buying for me. This book is like a very small scale Rand McNally road map to networking. I had to get detail stuff from other sources (the detail stuff being equivalent a U. S. Geological Survey map). There are a lot of diagrams and some screen shots. The supplied scripts are valuable guides for proper coding of arcane

Security problem on accompanying CD

I noticed that on the 2nd CD that is included with this book there is a script called: "make_firewall.sh" If you execute this script, it will start to "rpm -e" (yes that's erase) all the RPMs listed in an accompanying file called "rpms_to_remove". Nowhere on the CD does it tell you that this script will do this. I suspect it was placed there in error. BE CAREFUL!Otherwise I find this book pretty good for a beginning understanding of Linux networking.

Excelente!

Soy un nuevo usuario de Linux con mucha experiencia en ambiente Windows y este libro me ayudo mucho durante mi primera instalación de Linux. De hecho segui paso a paso las instruciones y las acomode un poco a mis necesidades.El libro esta orientado a usuarios nuevos de Linux y realmente no hace falta conocer Linux para poder sacarle provecho al libro. El libro sirve incluso de guia para resolver algunos problemas que puedan surgir durante el proceso de configuracion del sistema. Trae consigo dos CDs. El primero es la distribución de Red Hat Linux 6.1 versión "Publisher". Este CD no trae consigo las fuentes del Sistema Operativo. A pesar de ello, se puede instalar Red Hat Linux 6.1 con el. El segundo CD trae muchas utilidades y algunas Demo de aplicaciones interesantes.Lo recomiendo a personas que desen probar Red Hat Linux y no quieren gastar mucho. De hecho no hace falta comprar la distribución de Linux.El objetivo del Libro basicamente es explicar y ayudar a configurar Linux en redes. Explica como compartir recursos con máquinas Win95/98/NT/2000 (Samba). Entre otros servicios que permite configurar se destacan: Conexión a Internet, Servicio de correo electrónico, Respaldos automaticos y Firewall.Me convencio que es posible puede utilizar Linux como una verdadera alternativa a Back Office. El cual ha sido mi objetivo durante mi estudio de Linux.OK. Dije competencia a Back Office, bueno si les hacen falta otras aplicaciones como por ejemplo la base de datos que reemplaza a MS SQL, entonces deben buscar otro libro como por ejemplo: "Entreprise Linux At Work" de Stephen Asbury. El cual trae ejemplos de programación de aplicaciones distribuidas muy útilies.Nivel del Lector Recomendado: Principante hasta Intermedio.

Excellent resource for creating a home/small office network

If you are planning to put together a small network (home or office) connected to the internet through a Linux box, then this book is perfect!The key points of setting up a network, DNS, file sharing, email, firewall, backups etc. are all explained and often have supporting scripts or files provided on the CDs. If you are using any flavor of Linux, this book is good. If you are using Redhat (a version is included on a CD with the book), then it is excellent (Redhat has a few file structure differences that are clearly addressed).The book is organized well too. The first 3 chapters step through installing Linux, connecting a Windows PC and troubleshooting in a way that you are virtually guaranteed to have a network running without fail. It is very cool to have accomplished setting up a network within such a short time. The remainder of the book goes into more detail of various aspects of network/Linux services in order to expand upon the basic network that was built. By the end of the book, I had a fully functional network with all the services I could use. This book was an excellent investment!