Misleading product description

The Product Description reads:

"...The Second Edition of the Best Damn Firewall Book Period is completely revised and updated to include all of the most recent releases from Microsoft, Cisco, Juniper Network, SonicWALL, and Check Point....".

I bought this book to get a flying start with my SonicWall TZ-170. Contrary to the product description, it does NOT cover SonicWall AT ALL. So, to understate, the product description is misleading. For me, the book is close to useless, a total waste of money. Get the product description updated, please.

Author: Øyvind Oskar Roth


Don't waste your money

If all you're interested in is a single source of instructions on how to install and configure various firewalls, buy the book. If you want to learn something about firewalls, don't buy the book.

Author: IT Guy


If you only own one firewall book then own this one

While the title says firewall this book does not stop there but also includes an examination of intrusion detection systems. The authors provide very detailed information on specific systems and software such as Check Point NG VPN-1/Firewall, ISA Server, Cisco PIX Firewall, Nokia IP Series Appliances, Linux Firewall, Solaris Secure Router, and Snort. The section on troubleshooting common problems, disaster recovery and system monitoring is excellent and anyone who has spent hours trying to run down some minor problem will tell you it is worth the price of the book just for that piece alone. The book starts with a very good introductory section on information security in general and the history of it as well as the different types of firewalls, attacks, security policies, etc. They then move to firewall concepts, DMZ concepts, layout and design

The Intrusion Detection System part of the book looks at the various network, host-based, and distributed systems and the strengths and weaknesses of each. Although the authors cover many different tools and techniques they really shine in their detailed treatment of ipchains and iptables, as well as the use of utilities like netcat and SendIP

The book is organized into six sections with the first section providing theoretical and general knowledge about firewalls, intrusion detection and security. The second part examines Solaris and Linus Firewalls in detail and the third part looks at PIX Firewalls and the command line interface. The fourth section details the Check Point NG and Nokia IP Series Appliances. The fifth is ISA Server and section six deals with intrusion detection with Snort and its use in combination with a firewall.

This book is designed for the network administrator who needs to implement and oversee a security system and needs to know how to determine the best methods for their network and how to implement them. If you want a single volume that covers firewalls and IDS systems in detail there is no other single reference that even comes close to this one. Best Damn Firewall Book Period is highly recommended and the best single volume firewall book I've seen.

Author: Harold McFarland


Good, but not the best.

This is a good book, but certainly not the best.

Check out Damean Welch-Abernathy's book on Firewall-1 for the really best book.

Author: Eric Kent


good vendor coverage

I had no idea a book on firewalls could be this big! The authors have striven to write a definitive Handbook (in the German sense of the word). It spans every major implementation, circa 2003 - Cisco, Nokia, Solairs, linux,... Which explains a substantial part of the heft. The firewall market has these major platforms, and there is enough detail on each for you to be able to install and run it.

But the book is more than a set of disparate sections on each vendor. More broadly, it goes into the theory of Intrusion Detection Systems and the common ideas behind most firewalls. You should note that the IDS topic alone is considered sufficiently important by others to have books devoted to it. The level of detail in this book about IDS is not the most comprehensive. But you'll get the gist.

So within the covers of this book, you are getting a broad scope of product information and theory. Even if the book's title is somewhat strident.

Author: W Boudville