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Building Linux Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) (Circle)
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by Oleg Kolesnikov and Brian Hatch
Sales Rank: 536952
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List Price: $44.99
$38.62
At Amazon
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Paperback: 408 pages
Publisher: Sams February 14, 2002
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1578702666
ISBN-13: 978-1578702664
Product Dimensions:
9 x 7 x 1 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
Product Review
A virtual private network (VPN) enables computers to access remote resources--like the mail store on another office's mail server--from a geographically remote location. Rather than access the files over a private (and expensive) wide area network (WAN) link, however, a VPN makes its data transmissions across the open Internet. The magic is in making the communications secure, a critical job that requires a tunneling protocol that implements encryption. Building Linux Virtual Private Networks shows you how to set up VPNs without spending a lot of money, and without compromising ease of use or security. Oleg Kolesnikov and Brian Hatch emphasize network-to-network connectivity--fixed links between sites--rather than network-to-client connections. They show you how to use Linux to build a secure system of permanent--yet virtual--data links. There's coverage, for example, of the PoPToP daemon for handling Point-to-Point Tunneling Protocol (PPTP), but there's no coverage of non-Linux clients with which to connect it.
There's a nice balance of managerial information (useful for justifying a VPN, and a Linux one in particular, to your boss) and technical details in these pages. Each of the covered packages gets nice documentation, complete with listings of configuration files and explicit statements of console input and output. --David Wall
Topics covered: Packages designed to enable VPNs between Linux gateways. Software oriented toward standard protocols (PPP-over-SSH, PPP-over-SSL, IPsec, and PPTP) as well as nonstandard ones (VTun, cIPe, and tinc). Lots of coverage goes to FreeS/WAN and ppp-mppe.
Product Description
Building Linux Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) covers the most popular VPN technologies available for the Linux platform. In the early chapters the theory behind VPNs is discussed, including needs and uses. Common network and host configurations are also covered. Subsequent chapters drill down into the implementation and configuration of specific software packages. Specific, detailed instructions are included as well as troubleshooting information. This book will be an indispensable resource for anyone who wants to implement a Linux-based VPN. This book will meet the needs of anyone, from the Linux user to the experienced administrator to the security professional.
--Oleg Kolesnikov
Customer Reviews & Comments
"Building Linux VPNs" (BLVPN) succeeds on multiple levels. It's lively, wise, practical, and thorough. With a minor exception, BLVPN is an unqualified triumph. One of the book's amazing features is its willingness to not rehash "common knowledge." In other words, BLVPN assumes people who read books on Linux VPNs know something about two subjects: (1) Linux and (2) networking. Therefore, BLVPN doesn't waste time teaching the reader how to use the command line, and it doesn't include yet another boring description of the OSI model. Instead, BLVPN launches straight into practical, operational instructions for creating virtual private networks. I would like to see other authors adopt this approach! Some of the book's key strengths include troubleshooting hints, clear diagrams, directory listings for key files, complete sample configuration scripts, and discussions of advantages and disadvantages of various VPN solutions. Furthermore, the text is supported by a web site with copies of the scripts available for download. Because each chapter is a self-contained unit for each VPN technology, readers can pick a solution and begin immediate implementation. No other VPN book delivers implementation-grade advice like this. My only regret was a failure to mention interoperability with BSD-based IPSec implementations. I would have loved to see a chapter on matching FreeS/WAN for Linux with KAME/racoon for FreeBSD. The authors should also consider describing how to configure Windows 2000/XP in IPSec tunnel mode to interoperate with IPSec on Linux and/or FreeBSD. Additionally, I believe I found typos in the figures on pages 168-9. I expect the book's web site errata page to publish a correction, if necessary. If you need to build host-host, host-network, or network-network VPNs using Linux (or really any open source platform), "Building Linux VPNs" is your book. I recommend "Virtual Private Networks" by Yuan and Strayer as a complementary volume for those needing additional material on VPN theory and protocol encapsulation.
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Building Linux Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) (Circle)
List Price: $44.99
Available from Amazon
Price: $38.62
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