Whether online or printed, earlier editions of this great work have been around for well over ten years, and it does look like this worthy guide, which sets itself up as a one stop shop for all networking needs, will be with us for a good while. Originally developed by volunteers as part of the Linux Documentation Project (LDP), and readily available online in slightly different form and under a suitable license, this title has been extensively reworked to bring the new edition up to date with changes and contemporary technologies such as wireless networking and LDAP. New material also includes updates to chapters concerning iptables, and new chapters covering IPv6.

Linux Network Administrator's Guide excels in providing much needed background for key concepts and technologies such as TCP/IP, routing, and hostname resolution. Whereas other such guides tend to offer quick fix solutions in the form of handholding step by step instructions which can be applied without thought, this venerable work allows users to acquire foundation knowledge and a skillset referring to tools such as netstat which can well be used for troubleshooting and further configuration.

With a good attention to detail and gentle opening pace Linux Network Administrator's Guide provides for an excellent practical and theoretical introduction to networking and networked services. The TCP/IP protocol suite underlying nearly all modern networking is well discussed with reference to a fictional university network, and another example network, for a virtual brewery, also illuminates further networking issues. A good range of tools such as arp and route are covered in opening chapters which cover basic connectivity issues. However, the guide does expose its heritage in a chapter concerning serial hardware, and references to mgetty configuration are probably only now of interest from an historical perspective. References to other older tech such as UUCP also abound, which may confuse new users, and this work does feel decidedly old school which is no bad thing when it comes down to coverage of protocols and tools which are still in common use today.

With DNS theory under the belt and alternatives to BIND such as djbdns covered as to installation and configuration, connectivity under PPP and PPPoE is broached alongside very necessary chapters detailing firewalling and NAT with iptables and netfilter. Though good background material is in evidence here, these chapters could benefit from more practical tutorials and examples demonstrating how all these components fit together for most common firewalling and routing needs. This is the downside of a more grounded, theoretical approach, which divides the subject matter according to technical categories.

Further chapters address networked services such as electronic mail with unfortunate reference to sendmail, HTTP by way of Apache. Configuration examples are provided which refer to the fictional network and the material here is solid and reliable. Though OpenSSL is touched upon, there could be greater coverage of companion technologies in these short chapters. And, given the remit of the work, it could be argued that chapters covering Samba and OpenLDAP, though informative, are not so appropriate here and their appearance does seem rather arbitrary in the context of other such technologies. The tiny wireless chapter could have been expanded at their expense. Nevertheless, this guide remains classic to this day purely for the excellent background material which well explains networking basics.

Authors: Tony Bautts et al
Publisher: O'Reilly
ISBN: 0596005482

Review by Martin Howse