TONY MANCILL works for Vesta, a stored-value services company in Portland, Oregon. He has worked in several large IT shops as a UNIX systems administrator and systems programmer, including Bank of America and BellSouth, and he has been running Linux in production corporate environments since 1996. Mancill is also active in the Free Software community as a volunteer developer for the Debian project (http://www.debian.org/). He is a graduate of Georgia Tech with a degree in Electrical Engineering.
Save a fortune: Use Linux to deliver cost-effective, reliable routing services.
Linux routers are inexpensive, flexible, stable, adaptable, expandable, easy to manage, and based on proven technology. InLinux Routers, Second Edition, Tony Mancill shows you exactly how to configure, administer, and troubleshoot Linux routing for today's most common internetworking applications. Thoroughly updated for the latest technologies and version 2.4 of the Linux kernel, this edition includes practical coverage of dynamic routing, Quality of Service (QoS)even next-generation IPv6 routing. Mancill's step-by-step explanations walk you through:
- Choosing the right Linux software distribution and hardware platform
- Building Ethernet LAN routers, including coverage of the Linux Router Project (LRP)
- Implementing Internet, extranet, and Frame Relay routing
- Creating VPN tunneling routers with iproute2 and FreeS/WAN
- Providing remote access to satellite offices while conserving bandwidth
- Using Linux IP firewalling features to improve network security
- Providing routing services alongside Web and DNS services on a single platform
- Monitoring Linux routers and maximizing availability in production environments
Whether your goal is to reduce network costs, add applications, solve problems you can't solve with "traditional" routers, or simply learn about routing hands-on without investing expensive, proprietary network gear,Linux Routers, Second Editionis all you need to get the job done.
Introduction
Router configuration has long been an arcane art possessed by the few(and the luckyat least in the eyes of the interested yet unchosen). One reason for this is that routers were expensive, and requiredspecialized training. They were also found only in small numbers inlarger companies. Unix, while not quite as inaccessible in terms ofcost, has also frequently been considered a black art for the few. Linux, of course, has turned all of this on its ear and delivered aGNU operating system to themasses. There used to be only a few big-city bookstores that had adecent selection of Unix books. Now every mall bookstore has aUnix/Linux section.
Routers, although not quite ubiquitous, are also much more prevalentin recent times too. The explosive growth of the Internet hasevery business, large and small, scrambling to get connected.Even completely nontechnical organizations POP their email fromtheir ISP over a dial-up link several times a day. And peopleuse more networked computers in general nowadays. People evenhave routers in their homes, perhaps to provide Internet connectivityvia a cable modem to multiple computers in the home.
Interestingly (but not surprisingly), Linux delivers a router platformaccessible by the many, almost as easily as it has resurrected the word"Unix." Although what folks think of as "traditional" routers arespecial-purpose hardware running embedded real-time operating systems,there has always been a group using Unix-based operating systems runningon general-purpose hardware. Linux has helped expand this groupimmensely by providing a full-featured and robust TCP/IP stack andhundreds of device drivers-all of which run on commonly availablecomputing hardware. Another important factor is the GNU/Linux community'sbasic tenet of sharing ideas and knowledge instead of hoarding them. The truly a
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