The Book of PF: A No-Nonsense Guide to the OpenBSD Firewall

The Book of PF: A No-Nonsense Guide to the OpenBSD Firewall
| 2008-01-11 00:00:00 | | 0 | Operating System

OpenBSD's stateful packet filter, PF, offers an amazing feature set and support across the major BSD platforms. Like most firewall software though, unlocking PF's full potential takes a good teacher. Peter N.M. Hansteen's PF website and conference tutorials have helped thousands of users build the networks they need using PF. The Book of PF is the product of Hansteen's knowledge and experience, teaching good practices as well as bare facts and software options. Throughout the book, Hansteen emphasizes the importance of staying in control by having a written network specification, using macros to make rule sets more readable, and performing rigid testing when loading in new rules.

Today's system administrators face increasing challenges in the quest for network quality, and The Book of PF can help by demystifying the tools of modern *BSD network defense. But, perhaps more importantly, because we know you like to tinker, The Book of PF tackles a broad range of topics that will stimulate your mind and pad your resume, including how to: Create rule sets for all kinds of network traffic, whether it is crossing a simple home LAN, hiding behind NAT, traversing DMZs, or spanning bridges Use PF to create a wireless access point, and lock it down tight with authpf and special access restrictions Maximize availability by using redirection rules for load balancing and CARP for failover Use tables for proactive defense against would-be attackers and spammers Set up queues and traffic shaping with ALTQ, so your network stays responsive Master your logs with monitoring and visualization, because you can never be too paranoid

The Book of PF is written for BSD enthusiasts and network admins at any level of expertise. With more and more services placing high demands on bandwidth and increasing hostility coming from the Internet at-large, you can never be too skilled with PF.

User review
Weak. Really weak.
This book, unfirtunately, is not much more than a mix of manuals and well-known HowTo's spread over Internet. I could as well print them to have them at hand.


Printed on thinner paper, with less intervals, it could also save some space.


Overall: the book looks bigger and smarter than it reads.

User review
Could be a little better
I was used to using IPTables in Linux, so making a transition to PF was a little of a struggle for me. This book was very helpful for getting me started, but I wish it had more examples on how to complete various situations. A couple of times I had to Google my questions to complete my firewall config.

User review
Well written, but light in much of its coverage
Hansteen has put together a mostly well written, OS-independent guide to PF. He states he `made a conscious decision early on to introduce you to its methods via interesting and useful configurations, rather than make this book the complete reference`, and I feel this book mostly accomplishes that goal. He points to the man pages as the complete reference, though I disagree on that to some extent, as they lack detailed coverage and practical usage examples in some areas.


There is no introductory coverage of any of the BSDs, which is fine for the scope of the book and those topics are already well covered elsewhere, but don't expect to pick this up and get anywhere with it if you have no prior BSD experience. You'll first need to seek resources on your BSD of choice and have a decent understanding of the OS. Basic networking knowledge is also a prerequisite.


There are some areas that are covered very minimally, to the extent that without seeking additional material, you will likely have difficulty with your implementation unless it is very basic. I agree with most of the complaints noted in Betjlich's review. Given the stated scope of the book, I'm not quite as critical. I do think the stated scope is too limited though.


This book is adequate if you want to get up and running with a basic configuration. Anything more complex will leave you seeking additional resources.


I think this is a worthwhile read if you want to setup a PF firewall, and understand the limits of a book that comes in at 134 pages excluding the appendices. The second edition could be much better though.



User review
A very accessible book on OpenBSD's PF firewall
If you're looking for information about the OpenBSD packet filter program `pf`, you may have noticed a gaping hole on bookstore shelves. Two books that I have read on pf are `Building Firewalls with OpenBSD and PF, 2nd Edition` by Jacek Artymiak and the No Starch Press title, `The Book of PF`, by Peter N.M. Hansteen.


`The Book of PF` is by far the easier of the two books to digest and will help you get up to speed very quickly. It's a short book, weighing in at 145 pages. The example rule sets are simple to follow and very thoroughly documented.


Hansteen helps you navigate through pf's basic configuration and then takes you through more advanced topics like wireless networks and how to deal with 'bigger or trickier networks'. There is also a treatment of OpenBSD's spamd program, designed to help you combat spam on your network.


You'll find a chapter on Alternate Queuing (ALTQ) and Common Address Redundancy Protocol (CARP). ALTQ provides a way to shape the traffic on your network and was integrated into pf for the OpenBSD 3.3 release. CARP was added to OpenBSD in release 3.5 to address the issue of high availability and uninterrupted service.


A chapter covering Logging, Monitoring, and Statistics helps bring it all together for the network administrator. Hansteen closes out the text with a chapter titled `Getting Your Setup Just Right` that provides a last-minute review of some of the most important configuration options.


If you're interested in `The Book of PF`, most likely you're already familiar with OpenBSD - one of the most secure operating systems available today. If you're ready to enhance OpenBSD's default security, pick up a copy of this book and spend some time with the pf program.

User review
The Defacto Book on OpenBSD firewalls
This book is great for all types of OpenBSD users. If you just want a to build a home router with better performance and more control, then this book is all you'll need. If you're looking to build an enterprise load balancer, this book is an excellent resource that you'd be hard pressed to live with out.