iptables book

ok, I have finally replaced everything in my PC, giving me enough parts to put together a spare PC. I did the honourable thing and ordered up a pair of $5 NIC's and began researching firewalls.

I am by no means new to networking, infact I have a BSc in the subject. However, the only thing that my university taught me regarding firewalls was "buy checkpoint firewall-1 rackmout...it's good".

OK, iptables are they way forward for my network. I have found a few howto's on iptables, but I hate working from howto's and I would rather learn the subject area and then build my own firewall from my knowledge.

Are there any good books on iptables out there? I have found a few linux security books on amazon that cover ipchains, but nothing on iptables.

IPTABLES is fairly simple to use. Just pick up what you need from various howtos and manpages, after a while you'll figure it out.

What parkan said, although I wouldn't be surprised if there might be a small O'Reilly book in it.

Just close up your firewall all the way with iptables, then open it back up little by little for whatever services you need. Its pretty simple.

The best document I have found on the internet is a 25 page pdf at IBM.com. or here to be more precise. You will have to register with IBM, but they have some pretty good linux tutorials. I am very impressed with both the quantity and quality of tutorials they have. They are wrote by the CEO and presedent of Gentoo.

Well done IBM!