Linux iptables Pocket Reference

By Gregor N. Purdy

Book Overview

Firewalls, Network Address Translation (NAT), network logging and accounting are all provided by Linux's Netfilter system, also known by the name of the command used to administer it, iptables. The iptables interface is the most sophisticated ever offered on Linux and makes Linux an extremely flexible system for any kind of network filtering you might do. Large sets of filtering rules can be grouped in ways that makes it easy to test them and turn them on and off. Do you watch for all types of ICMP traffic--some of them quite dangerous? Can you take advantage of stateful filtering to simplify the management of TCP connections? Would you like to track how much traffic of various types you get? This pocket reference will help you at those critical moments when someone asks you to open or close a port in a hurry, either to enable some important traffic or to block an attack. The book will keep the subtle syntax straight and help you remember all the values you have to enter in order to be as secure as possible. The book has an introductory section that describes applications, followed by a reference/encyclopaedic section with all the matches and targets arranged alphabetically.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0596005695
• ISBN13: 9780596005696
• Release Date: September 2004
• Publisher: O'Reilly Media
• Length: 91 Pages
• Weight: 0.26 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.3" x 4.3" x 7.0"

Customer Reviews

Piece of mind that fits in your pocket and only costs $10

Last year, I was forced to become a fly-by-night system administrator. I worked for a small, local startup as its web developer, but was thrust into a sysadmin role when my boss decided to host a website on a server in our office. I was developing the site on our Ubuntu server, but was learning how to secure the server on the fly. This reference, out of all the other books I read and sites I visited, had the most bang for the buck. It's short and sweet. It describes what you should know, and gives you a reference for dealing with iptables syntax, and that's it. No flowery text, no colored pictures. Just simple "This is how to do X." If you're a sysadmin, especially if you're just getting your feet wet, get this book. It's cheap, it tells you what you need to know, and it fits in your pocket. What's not to like?

Pocket-sized but handy

Concise and very handy. Guides like these aren't meant to be a complete reference on iptables. Yet, the author managed to pack quite a bit into such a small book. 82pages from page 1 to beginning of index. 21 pages to theory and operation -- connection tracking, accounting, NAT, SNAT, DNAT, Transparent Proxying, load balancing, and stateless/stateful firewalls. The next 61 pages are a command reference to iptables. It is in the command reference that you shall find interesting little nuggets like: 1) How to rate limit incoming traffic. Specific examples provide for allowing only 10 pings per second. 2) How to setup IP pools to match source and/or destination addresses. Instead of writing a line for each IP or netblock, throw the addresses into a pool and write a line for each pool. 3) How to match multiple ports on the same line. and so on. Worth every penny. Lives up to O'Reilly name. Would recommend for every Linux sysadmin.

Great reference

Linux iptables Pocket Reference is a great book. there is a dearth of info on Linux iptables, and this pocket reference is a great book!!

Concise, handy reference for working SysAdmins

'Linux iptables Pocket Reference' is an important and sorely needed reference to iptables, the interface to the Linux packetfilter used by System Admins to create firewalls, NAT routers, transparent proxies, and other 'magical' network devices. While not a tutorial, it offers good advice for those with a grasp of basic networking concepts, and a good notion of what a firewall is and what it is used for, in a dense and concise format. Sufficiently detailed information about the protocols involved obviate the need to keep additional references at hand, and make the work relatively self-contained. This should not be the first book you read about firewalls or tcp/ip, but if you are a networking professional, a technically oriented user, or just interested in creating special purpose network devices, this book belongs in your library. Those familiar with iptables will especially appreciate the lucid description of packet flow through the tables and chains, and the supporting diagrams ... they alone are worth the price of purchase. If you have need for a book on the topic, you will not be disappointed with this one.

for sysadmins

This book is written for linux/unix sysadmins, not programmers. The topic of iptables is intimately related to guarding a network against intruders. A sysadmin task. Plus, the compact, pocketbook size lends itself to a common scenario. You're a harried sysadmin in the machine room of your company, surrounded by racks of computers and cabling. Equipment everywhere and little room for you to prop up a regular sized text on intrusion detection. Quite possibly, the master console is some cheezy old monitor that you got stuck with. Or even worse, it is just a terminal. If the latter, it's really awkward to do a man on iptables and also run it, especially if you're in real time mode against an active intruder. In other words, what this book is ideal for.