[techtalk] Re: Computer Books

[Raven ex Machina]

Heya --

Quoth Tesla:
> "A decent book about networking" which would help me understand the
> difference between TCP and UDP and why I should care, and how all
> this stuff relates to my husband's firewall rules. ("Why can't I get
> the time though that network time thingy?" "Because the firewall
> won't let you" is no help :)) Recommendations on such decent books
are
> welcomed. 

     For the difference between TCP and UDP and how the protocols work,
I just finished O'Reilly's "Internet Core Protocols".  It did a decent
job of explaining how the TCP/IP suite works, but it won't let you know
how this relates to the firewall rules -- it pretty much stops at layer
4 (and some 5) of the OSI model.  They're supposed to be releasing a
companion volume on application-layer protocols in April.  That should
explain how http, ftp, ntp, etc. work, port mapping, things like that. 
I'm waiting impatiently for it.

     I haven't actually seen a good how-to in print for ipchains and
firewall rules, probably because ipchains is newish and it takes a
while for the books to catch up.  The Linux Documentation Project has
the online how-to's, though.  If you read "Internet Core Protocols",
the ipchains how-to should make sense afterwards.  

     Alternately, the Sybex CCNA book does a decent job of explaining
ARP, RARP, subnetting, etc.  It's the three-page summary, though, not
the extensive treatment O'Reilly gives it.

> I have some things I would definitely -not- recommend, but I don't
> know whether that's very useful: especially since we all differ in
> what approaches we like. Although the 1000-page book on Debian with
> three useless pages on apt might well piss more than just me off, 

     Oooh.  The "Debian Linux Unleashed!" book?  I had that same
problem with that one.  $40 and I've yet to find a useful answer in it
that I couldn't get from "Running Linux" faster.  Or man apt-get. 
Grrrr.

Cheers,
Raven, briefly de-lurking

=====
"How about if we have manticores instead of gender
 discrimination?"
 -- Neko, on female characters in fantasy novels

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