Absolute OpenBSD: UNIX for the Practical Paranoid

OpenBSD for the Practical Paranoid sums up the title of this book and OpenBSD itself very nicely. This book gives the reader a very good overview of UNIX, covering some important features that are exclusive to OpenBSD such as pf and secure levels. Readers interested in pf itself should look at Building Firewalls with pf by Jacek Artymiak [new edition out 2006].

A great book that gives confidence (0/0 people found this helpful)

OpenBSD has a slightly scary reputation and as someone who has never considered himself a "guru" (or anything close) I was reluctant to attempt an install and setup.

This book however is very good - it gives you all the basic answers and points you in the right direction for further info. It gave me the confidence to try a new operating system that I'd been wanting to look at and it saw me through all the "tricky bits" which could otherwise have been such a pain.

Perhaps more so than before I'd tried it, I would say that OpenBSD is not for everyone, but if like me you would like to find out more about it, I doubt you could do much better.

A very readable manual for this great OS. (0/0 people found this helpful)

OpenBSD makes no attempt to be user-friendly and, for someone who is not a Unix guru (and I'm not!), learning from the man pages, FAQ's, HowTo's and source can present a very steep learning curve.
This book provides structure to learning how to work with one of the most secure Operating Systems; it's peppered with humour and thus very readable. One warning, though- do check out the Errata page- one of the original rulesets for PF had me tearing out the remains of my hair until I found that a "quick" keyword was an unwelcome bonus.

Interesting and Informative (1/1 people found this helpful)

This book details how to install, manage, and upgrade an OpenBSD system. It concentrates on things specific to OpenBSD, and assumes that the reader is familiar with general Unix tools. To quote the book

"This book is written for an experienced systems administrator who is interested in adding OpenBSD mastery to his repetoire"

I bought the book with a few questions in mind, and it answered all of them fully. I found the book interesting and informative - possibly my best buy this year.

An introduction to a secure UNIX type operating system (2/2 people found this helpful)

I have been using OpenBSD for over 12 months and wish I had this book by my side when I started.

The book provides a good introduction to OpenBSD and guides the reader through the installation and configuration process. It is best read with a spare computer system by your side so you can try out what you are reading.

Whilst I know the bulk of the contents of the book having previously read the relevant man pages, I did learn several new tricks as well as gaining a better insight into areas I am familiar with.

So I would recommend this book to a UNIX newbie and also an experienced UNIX user. The book will be staying on my bookshelf as a convenient reference.

Absolute OpenBSD: UNIX for the Practical Paranoid

Michael Lucas

Reader Reviews:

Brilliant (0/0 people found this helpful)

A great book that gives confidence (0/0 people found this helpful)

A very readable manual for this great OS. (0/0 people found this helpful)

Interesting and Informative (1/1 people found this helpful)

An introduction to a secure UNIX type operating system (2/2 people found this helpful)

Similar Products

Categories