Carla Schroder releases new book through O'Reilly.

There you are, staring at your computer, wondering why your Internet connection is running slower than slow, and wishing you knew enough to penetrate the endless runaround you get from your service provider. Or, you're the Lone IT Staffer in a small business who got the job because you know the difference between a switch and hub, and now you're supposed to have all the answers. Or, you're already knowledgeable you just have a few gaps to fill in, but you're finding that the reams and reams of computer networking reference material takes an awful lot of reading just to find out which button to push. The answer to your woes is the Linux Networking Cookbook by Carla Schroder, published by O'Reilly.

The recipes in the Linux Networking Cookbook cover everything a Linux administrator needs to know to excel at the job. "I wanted a good reference book for myself, which is how most of my writing starts out," Schroder explains. "When I wrote the Linux Cookbook, I already had the Linux Networking Cookbook in mind as a companion volume the first one was for system administration, and the second one for network administration. They go together like peanut butter and chocolate."

Schroder understands that running a network doesn't necessarily mean that you have all the answers - but sometimes you need them quickly. The recipes in her book focus on connectivity: firewalls, wireless access points, secure remote administration, remote helpdesk, remote access for users, Virtual Private Networks (VPNs), authentication, syste and network monitoring, and the rapidly growing world of Voice over IP (VoIP) services. Recipes include:

• Building a gateway, firewall, and wireless access point on a Linux network
  
• Building a VoIP server with Asterisk
  
• Secure remote administration with SSH
  
• Building secure VPNs with OpenVPN, and a Linux PPTP VPN server
  
• Single sign-on with Samba for mixed Linux/Windows LANs
  
• Centralized network directory with OpenLDAP
  
• Network monitoring with Nagios or MRTG
  
• Getting acquainted with IPv6
  
• Setting up hands-free networks installations of new systems
  
• Linux system administration via serial console

Linux Networking Cookbook is written for Linux network administrators who need some pointers, wannabe-Linux network administrators who have some Linux experience but are new to networking, Windows admins who are commanded to "do Linux," migrating Unix admins, home, small, and medium-sized business users. Even big enterprises with vast resources will find it useful as a learning guide and for setting up test labs. Each recipe provides clear, step-by-step instructions with tested code with a discussion on how and why each solution works.

If you need a book that lays out the steps for specific tasks, that explains the necessary commands and configurations, and does not tax your patience with endless ramblings and meanderings into theory and obscure RFCs, this is the book for you.

Carla Schroder is a self-taught Linux and Windows sysadmin and the author of the Linux Cookbook.

Related links: (Open in a new window.)
www.oreilly.com/catalog/9780596102487

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