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Who Should Read This Book

I've usually found these "Who Should Read This Book" sections to be somewhat useless simply because the goal is to get you to think that you should read the book. Therefore, to satisfy the publisher I'll tell you that everyone should read this book. In fact, everyone should read this book multiple times, buying a separate copy each time.

In all seriousness, I can't tell you whether you should be reading this book, but I can tell you about the book.

This book assumes that you have already chosen a Linux distribution and that you've already installed it. This book also assumes that you're not looking for an introductory "HOWTO" on Linux or *nix security such as the chmod command. There are many great resources about those topics already, many of them on the Internet, and I feel as though coverage of those issues gets away from the focus of this book. However, this book does deal rather extensively with introductory material on network security, packet filtering, and the layers in the OSI model (if you're unfamiliar with the OSI model, it's explained in the book).

This book tries to be helpful to those who know nothing about firewalls as well as to those who know a bit about Linux and Linux security but want to carry that to the next level. This book could be used successfully by home users and enterprise security administrators alike.

To get the most out of this book, you should be comfortable with, or at least not afraid of, the Linux command line, or shell. You should know how to move about in the file system and perform basic shell commands.

Linux Distribution

Linux and open -source books need to be more distribution neutral or cover more than one distribution. This book does both. A Linux firewall is built using the iptables firewall administration program on top of the Netfilter core software that resides in the Linux kernel. As such, the Linux distribution you choose is largely irrelevant. The book does, however, cover some commands and issues as seen through the eyes of SUSE, Red Hat/Fedora, and Debian. Yes, there are other distributions, many of them very good. Favoring those three distributions is certainly not meant to take away from any other distribution.

The second edition of this book covered only Red Hat. However, I undertook an effort early on in the revision process to remove the distribution-centric tone where it did show up. This was not done to intentionally favor any one distribution or to reject another. Rather, this was a pragmatic decision to provide material applicable to a larger audience and to prevent confusion as to file and command locations if you don't happen to be using the same distribution as the author.

Errors in This Book

Although every effort is made to check facts and figures, files and syntax, some errors will inevitably slip through the writing, technical editing, copyediting, and review process. Let me apologize in advance for any such errors as exist within these pages. I invite the reader to visit my web site at http://www.braingia.org/ for updates and other information about this book. I also invite you to send me feedback at steve.suehring@braingia.com. Although I can't guarantee that I'll have the answer, I will definitely try to respond and point you in the right direction.

Companion Website

Visit http://www.braingia.org/ for up-to-date information on this book and links to interesting security articles. Included on the website are the latest versions of some of the same scripts you'll see within the text.

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Suegring S., Ziegler R

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