Linux Network Administrator's Guide, 2nd Edition

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By Olaf Kirch, Terry Dawson

Publisher: O'Reilly Media

Released: June 2000

Pages: 512

Linux, a Unix-compatible operating system that runs on personal computers and larger servers, is valued above all for its networking strengths. The Linux Network Administrator's Guide spells out all the information needed for joining a network, whether it's a simple UUCP connection or a full LAN with a Linux system serving as a firewall, an NFS or NIS file server, and a mail and news hub.

This book, which is one of the most successful to come from the Linux Documentation Project and remains freely distributable under its license, touches on all the essential networking software included with the operating system, plus some hardware considerations. Fully updated, the book now covers firewalls, including the use of ipchains and iptables (netfilter), masquerading, and accounting. Other new topics include Novell (NCP/IPX) support and INN (news administration). Original material on serial connections, UUCP, routing and DNS, mail and News, SLIP and PPP, NFS, and NIS has been thoroughly updated. Kernel options reflect the 2.2 kernel. However, some topics covered in other books (notably Samba and web server administration) are not in this book.

Topics include:

Introduction to TCP/IP
Configuring network and serial hardware
Domain Name Service
Serial line communications using SLIP and PPP
NIS and NFS
Taylor UUCP
Administering electronic mail, including sendmail and Exim
Administering Netnews, including INN and several news readers
Firewalling using ipfwadm, ipchains, and iptables (netfilter)
Masquerading and accounting
IPX configuration for a Novell Netware network

Chapter 1 Introduction to Networking
1. History
2. TCP/IP Networks
3. UUCP Networks
4. Linux Networking
5. Maintaining Your System
Chapter 2 Issues of TCP/IP Networking
1. Networking Interfaces
2. IP Addresses
3. Address Resolution
4. IP Routing
5. The Internet Control Message Protocol
6. Resolving Host Names
Chapter 3 Configuring the Networking Hardware
1. Kernel Configuration
2. A Tour of Linux Network Devices
3. Ethernet Installation
4. The PLIP Driver
5. The PPP and SLIP Drivers
6. Other Network Types
Chapter 4 Configuring the Serial Hardware
1. Communications Software for Modem Links
2. Introduction to Serial Devices
3. Accessing Serial Devices
4. Serial Hardware
5. Using the Configuration Utilities
6. Serial Devices and the login: Prompt
Chapter 5 Configuring TCP/IP Networking
1. Mounting the /proc Filesystem
2. Installing the Binaries
3. Setting the Hostname
4. Assigning IP Addresses
5. Creating Subnets
6. Writing hosts and networks Files
7. Interface Configuration for IP
8. All About ifconfig
9. The netstat Command
10. Checking the ARP Tables
Chapter 6 Name Service and Resolver Configuration
1. The Resolver Library
2. How DNS Works
3. Running named
Chapter 7 Serial Line IP
1. General Requirements
2. SLIP Operation
3. Dealing with Private IP Networks
4. Using dip
5. Running in Server Mode
Chapter 8 The Point-to-Point Protocol
1. PPP on Linux
2. Running pppd
3. Using Options Files
4. Using chat to Automate Dialing
5. IP Configuration Options
6. Link Control Options
7. General Security Considerations
8. Authentication with PPP
9. Debugging Your PPP Setup
10. More Advanced PPP Configurations
Chapter 9 TCP/IP Firewall
1. Methods of Attack
2. What Is a Firewall?
3. What Is IP Filtering?
4. Setting Up Linux for Firewalling
5. Three Ways We Can Do Filtering
6. Original IP Firewall (2.0 Kernels)
7. IP Firewall Chains (2.2 Kernels)
8. Netfilter and IP Tables (2.4 Kernels)
9. TOS Bit Manipulation
10. Testing a Firewall Configuration
11. A Sample Firewall Configuration
Chapter 10 IP Accounting
1. Configuring the Kernel for IP Accounting
2. Configuring IP Accounting
3. Using IP Accounting Results
4. Resetting the Counters
5. Flushing the Ruleset
6. Passive Collection of Accounting Data
Chapter 11 IP Masquerade and Network Address Translation
1. Side Effects and Fringe Benefits
2. Configuring the Kernel for IP Masquerade
3. Configuring IP Masquerade
4. Handling Name Server Lookups
5. More About Network Address Translation
Chapter 12 Important Network Features
1. The inetd Super Server
2. The tcpd Access Control Facility
3. The Services and Protocols Files
4. Remote Procedure Call
5. Configuring Remote Login and Execution
Chapter 13 The Network Information System
1. Getting Acquainted with NIS
2. NIS Versus NIS+
3. The Client Side of NIS
4. Running an NIS Server
5. NIS Server Security
6. Setting Up an NIS Client with GNU libc
7. Choosing the Right Maps
8. Using the passwd and group Maps
9. Using NIS with Shadow Support
Chapter 14 The Network File System
1. Preparing NFS
2. Mounting an NFS Volume
3. The NFS Daemons
4. The exports File
5. Kernel-Based NFSv2 Server Support
6. Kernel-Based NFSv3 Server Support
Chapter 15 IPX and the NCP Filesystem
1. Xerox, Novell, and History
2. IPX and Linux
3. Configuring the Kernel for IPX and NCPFS
4. Configuring IPX Interfaces
5. Configuring an IPX Router
6. Mounting a Remote NetWare Volume
7. Exploring Some of the Other IPX Tools
8. Printing to a NetWare Print Queue
9. NetWare Server Emulation
Chapter 16 Managing Taylor UUCP
1. UUCP Transfers and Remote Execution
2. UUCP Configuration Files
3. Controlling Access to UUCP Features
4. Setting Up Your System for Dialing In
5. UUCP Low-Level Protocols
6. Troubleshooting
7. Log Files and Debugging
Chapter 17 Electronic Mail
1. What Is a Mail Message?
2. How Is Mail Delivered?
3. Email Addresses
4. How Does Mail Routing Work?
5. Configuring elm
Chapter 18 Sendmail
1. Introduction to sendmail
2. Installing sendmail
3. Overview of Configuration Files
4. The sendmail.cf and sendmail.mc Files
5. Generating the sendmail.cf File
6. Interpreting and Writing Rewrite Rules
7. Configuring sendmail Options
8. Some Useful sendmail Configurations
9. Testing Your Configuration
10. Running sendmail
11. Tips and Tricks
Chapter 19 Getting Exim Up and Running
1. Running Exim
2. If Your Mail Doesn’t Get Through
3. Compiling Exim
4. Mail Delivery Modes
5. Miscellaneous config Options
6. Message Routing and Delivery
7. Protecting Against Mail Spam
8. UUCP Setup
Chapter 20 Netnews
1. Usenet History
2. What Is Usenet, Anyway?
3. How Does Usenet Handle News?
Chapter 21 C News
1. Delivering News
2. Installation
3. The sys File
4. The active File
5. Article Batching
6. Expiring News
7. Miscellaneous Files
8. Control Messages
9. C News in an NFS Environment
10. Maintenance Tools and Tasks
Chapter 22 NNTP and the nntpd Daemon
1. The NNTP Protocol
2. Installing the NNTP Server
3. Restricting NNTP Access
4. NNTP Authorization
5. nntpd Interaction with C News
Chapter 23 Internet News
1. Some INN Internals
2. Newsreaders and INN
3. Installing INN
4. Configuring INN: the Basic Setup
5. INN Configuration Files
6. Running INN
7. Managing INN: The ctlinnd Command
Chapter 24 Newsreader Configuration
1. tin Configuration
2. trn Configuration
3. nn Configuration

Appendix Example Network: The Virtual Brewery
1. Connecting the Virtual Subsidiary Network
Appendix Useful Cable Configurations
1. A PLIP Parallel Cable
2. A Serial NULL Modem Cable
Appendix Linux Network Administrator’s Guide, Second Edition Copyright Information
1. 0. Preamble
2. 1. Applicability and Definitions
3. 2. Verbatim Copying
4. 3. Copying in Quantity
5. 4. Modifications
6. 5. Combining Documents
7. 6. Collections of Documents
8. 7. Aggregation with Independent Works
9. 8. Translation
10. 9. Termination
11. 10. Future Revisions of this License
Appendix SAGE: The System Administrators Guild
Colophon

Title:

Linux Network Administrator's Guide, 2nd Edition

By:

Olaf Kirch, Terry Dawson

Publisher:

O'Reilly Media

Formats:

Print:

June 2000

Pages:

512

Print ISBN:

978-1-56592-400-0

| ISBN 10:

1-56592-400-2

Olaf Kirch

Olaf Kirch has a degree in Mathematics from Technische Universitaet Darmstadt. He presently works as a UNIX programmer for a company producing a CAD system. A Linux fan for a couple of years now, he is amazed at the pace its development continues to progress. For relaxation, Olaf likes painting, drawing, and reading (anything from nineteenth century poetry to detective novels and Japanese manga). He likes to spend time outdoors whenever possible. He doesn't have a driver's license (never had one), so he goes about most of his daily routine by bicycle. When he gets away from his keyboard for more than a few days, he likes to go mountain-walking.

View Olaf Kirch's full profile page.
Terry Dawson

Terry Dawson is an amateur radio operator and long time Linux enthusiast. He is the author of a number of network related HOWTO documents for the Linux Documentation Project, co-author the 2nd edition of O'Reilly's Linux Network Administrators Guide and is an active participant in a number of other Linux projects. Terry has 15 years professional experience in telecommunications and is currently engaged in network management research in the Telstra Research Laboratories.

View Terry Dawson's full profile page.

Colophon

Our look is the result of reader comments, our own experimentation, and feedback from distribution channels. Distinctive covers complement our distinctive approach to technical topics, breathing personality and life into potentially dry subjects. The cover image of a cowboy is adapted from a 19th-century engraving from Marvels of the New West: A Vivid Portrayal of the Stupendous Marvels in the Vast Wonderland West of the Missouri River, by William Thayer (The Henry Bill Publishing Co., Norwich, CT, 1888). Lar Kaufman suggested the western theme for O'Reilly's Linux series. Maureen Dempsey copyedited Linux Network Administrator's Guide, Second Edition; Ann Schirmer proofread the text. Claire Cloutier, Catherine Morris, and Mary Sheehan provided quality control. Robert Romano and Rhon Porter created the illustrations using Adobe Photoshop 5 and Macromedia FreeHand 8. Judy Hoer wrote the index. Compositors include Ann Schirmer, Mary Sheehan, Gabe Weiss, and Sarah Jane Shangraw.

Hanna Dyer designed the cover layout based on a series design by Edie Freedman. Emma Colby produced the cover with QuarkXPress 3.32 and Adobe Photoshop 5.5 software, using the ITC Garamond Condensed font. Alicia Cech and David Futato designed the interior layouts, based on a series design created by Edie Freedman and Jennifer Niederst and modified by Nancy Priest. Chapter opening graphics are from the Dover Pictorial Archive and Marvels of the New West.

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Interior fonts are Adobe ITC Garamond and ConstantWillison. Text was prepared in SGML using the DocBook 2.1 DTD. The print version of this book was created by translating the SGML source into a set of gtroff macros using a filter developed at O'Reilly by Norman Walsh. Steve Talbott designed and wrote the underlying macro set on the basis of the GNU gtroff gs macros; Lenny Muellner adapted the macros to SGML and implemented the book design. The GNU groff text formatter version 1.09 was used to generate PostScript output; this output was distilled to PDF for use at press.

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oreilly Linux Network Administrator's Guide, 2nd Edition

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10/11/2007

(6 of 6 customers found this review helpful)

5.0

A great book!

By hathablue

from Undisclosed

Comments about oreilly Linux Network Administrator's Guide, 2nd Edition:

LINUX Network Administrator's Guide is one of the most useful books I've read so far. This book is, as many other titles from O'Reilly, a must-have for every administrator that wants to learn about Gnu/Linux Networking.

The book begins explaining issues of TCP/IP like IP Addresses, classless Inter-Domain Routing and networks and subnetworks. This introduction shows the basics for the user that does not know much about Networking. Then the book explains Networking issues under Gnu/Linux, its tools and the basic configuration.

The following chapter begins under the title "Configuring TCP/IP Networking", this chapter reveals the /proc pseudo file system secrets and comments how to setup a DHCP server. The explanations are complete and understandable for the new user. However, as the book covers the basics ( like networking introduction and basic setup ) and also harder topics like wireless network and servers it's useful either for the novice or the experienced reader.

The book includes chapters about the most important services and applications available to setup Gnu/Linux Networks. Also it includes brief and useful tips and other brilliant chapters like the one of Wireless Networking.

This book is one of the greatest works of the editorial. This book is also available for download. This edition written by Bautts, Dawson and Purdy, is the printed version of a free book.

An excellent work.

8/6/2002

(2 of 3 customers found this review helpful)

4.0

Linux Network Administrator's Guide, 2nd Edition Review

By canhthinh

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Linux Network Aministrantor's Guide , 2nd Edition 01 june 2002

4/25/2002

(1 of 1 customers found this review helpful)

4.0

Linux Network Administrator's Guide, 2nd Edition Review

By Asim

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Comments about oreilly Linux Network Administrator's Guide, 2nd Edition:

a very good book, and ofcourse a brave stance by Tim to publish an online available book.surely a commendable service for linux community!

6/20/2001

(4 of 4 customers found this review helpful)

5.0

Linux Network Administrator's Guide, 2nd Edition Review

By Sreeram Redipali

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Comments about oreilly Linux Network Administrator's Guide, 2nd Edition:

Coming from Internetworking background, this book provides the best information for a Network professional regarding how network operating systems interact on a network.

7/27/2000

(2 of 2 customers found this review helpful)

5.0

Linux Network Administrator's Guide, 2nd Edition Review

By Paul

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Comments about oreilly Linux Network Administrator's Guide, 2nd Edition:

This book is very useful for my daily administration of my Linux Server, and it provides some tricks and tips is very useful and help me to save my time! Thank You! for O'Relly book!

7/17/2000

(1 of 1 customers found this review helpful)

4.0

Linux Network Administrator's Guide, 2nd Edition Review

By Matthew Francis

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Comments about oreilly Linux Network Administrator's Guide, 2nd Edition:

I am pleased that this book has finally appeared (the first edition was feeling older with every passing day), and that it covers important topics that were missed by the first edition for whatever reason. (Most notable from my perspective was the lack of firewall information, which has been amply updated. I realize the tools we now take for granted were in development at the time of the first edition.)

Displaying reviews 1-6

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Chapter 1 Introduction to Networking

History

TCP/IP Networks

UUCP Networks

Linux Networking

Maintaining Your System

Chapter 2 Issues of TCP/IP Networking

Networking Interfaces

IP Addresses

Address Resolution

IP Routing

The Internet Control Message Protocol

Resolving Host Names

Chapter 3 Configuring the Networking Hardware

Kernel Configuration

A Tour of Linux Network Devices

Ethernet Installation

The PLIP Driver

The PPP and SLIP Drivers

Other Network Types

Chapter 4 Configuring the Serial Hardware

Communications Software for Modem Links

Introduction to Serial Devices

Accessing Serial Devices

Serial Hardware

Using the Configuration Utilities

Serial Devices and the login: Prompt

Chapter 5 Configuring TCP/IP Networking

Mounting the /proc Filesystem

Installing the Binaries

Setting the Hostname

Assigning IP Addresses

Creating Subnets

Writing hosts and networks Files

Interface Configuration for IP

All About ifconfig

The netstat Command

Checking the ARP Tables

Chapter 6 Name Service and Resolver Configuration

The Resolver Library

How DNS Works

Running named

Chapter 7 Serial Line IP

General Requirements

SLIP Operation

Dealing with Private IP Networks

Using dip

Running in Server Mode

Chapter 8 The Point-to-Point Protocol

PPP on Linux

Running pppd

Using Options Files

Using chat to Automate Dialing

IP Configuration Options

Link Control Options

General Security Considerations

Authentication with PPP

Debugging Your PPP Setup

More Advanced PPP Configurations

Chapter 9 TCP/IP Firewall

Methods of Attack

What Is a Firewall?

What Is IP Filtering?

Setting Up Linux for Firewalling

Three Ways We Can Do Filtering

Original IP Firewall (2.0 Kernels)

IP Firewall Chains (2.2 Kernels)

Netfilter and IP Tables (2.4 Kernels)

TOS Bit Manipulation

Testing a Firewall Configuration

A Sample Firewall Configuration

Chapter 10 IP Accounting

Configuring the Kernel for IP Accounting

Configuring IP Accounting

Using IP Accounting Results

Resetting the Counters

Flushing the Ruleset

Passive Collection of Accounting Data

Chapter 11 IP Masquerade and Network Address Translation

Side Effects and Fringe Benefits