Cisco Asa and Pix Firewall Handbook

I have made a special place on my shelf for Hucaby's ASA and Pix Handbook. It will be there for a while. And not just collecting dust. This book is a good first stop for questions about configuration and troubleshooting. One thing I loved about this book right away was that it provides a side-by-side comparison between PIX 6.X and 7.X commands. This is pefect for someone like me who configures and works with both versions of firewalls, but not on a daily basis. There are so many new features ( and changes to existing ones) in Pix 7.0, it's pretty hard to keep track of it all. Most concepts are covered in detail and include when a new feature is used and the corresponding configuration commands. For example, the topic of Security Contexts is given a great deal of coverage (30+ pages). Other featuers such as QoS are more sparse (5 pages). Still, even in those 5 pages, I felt like I came away with a basic understanding of how and when to use that feature. The section on firewall failover is worth the price of admission alone. It is comprehensive and again has side-by-side comparisions between 6.X and 7.X. It also points out a couple of the common gotchas such as how to properly upgrade a failover pair. I recommend dog-earing Chapter 10 - the troubleshooting chapter. This chapter goes into checking firewall vital signs, watching data pass through the firewall and verifying connectivity. The explanations are thorough. The tips are memorable. It even goes into viewing packet captures for packet level debugging. I did find it lacking in certain areas such as VPN configuration (I'm still looking for a good Cisco book on that). I rest of the book is so good I can certainly forgive him this omission. The book weighs in at 800 pages as is.

CiscoPress's "Cisco ASA and PIX Firewall Handbook" by David Hucaby is a great resource at configuring and supporting Cisco Firewalls (PIXs). I have read through many book on securing Cisco firewalls (see my reviews for earlier books), and I believe this book does the best job at demonstrating the abilities of Cisco's stateful firewall. I did not read the book page-for-page, as the book starts out with three detailed chapters to bring rookie admins up to speed, quickly (chapters 1-3). I have been administering Cisco PIXs since around 2001 and have plenty of experience with configuring and administering Cisco's earlier PIX OSs (5.x & 6.x). This book does a superb job at bringing me up to speed on the latest commands for the 7.x while still providing the full body of commands for earlier OSs. When in the field and administering a PIX and, probably in a situation where the Internet is not up to check Cisco's website, this is the only book I need to bring along. In particular: * Chapter 6 provides the most up-to-date description of the different types of NAT employed (Static, Policy, Identity, Exception, & PAT) and configuration examples of each. * Chapter 7 - Failover - this chapter was really the first chapter I referenced on a regular basis. When Cisco updated the OS to 7.0, the functionality of failover was greatly improved. This chapter does a great job at documenting the new options as well as including material on the older failover options. Couple with Chapter 8 on load balancing. * Chapter 10 - Monitoring the Firewall - the book demonstrates the power and flexibility of the updated packet capture features. I did find some minor typos/editorial mistakes but nothing too grave. One topic this book is sorely lacking is VPN coverage (the author readily acknowledges this). Overall, I believe this book is a superb resource for a firewall admin or a candidate for the CCSP or CCIE Security. I'm usually not too fond of CiscoPress's Firewall books, but this book is definitely a welcome addition. I give this book 5 pings out of 5: !!!!!

Cisco ASA and PIX Firewall Handbook (ISBN 1-58705-158-3) by David Hucaby is an intermediate to advanced level book on Cisco firewalls. It primarily concentrates on the Cisco PIX firewall (which now apparently is becoming known as Cisco security appliance) but also provides coverage of the Firewall Services Module (found in Cisco's high end switches) and the IOS software firewall. Simply put, the author does a superb job of presenting a complex and broad subject in relatively easy-to-understand terms. Nevertheless, if you do not have any experience with Cisco firewalls, this book is not for you. Rather it is meant for someone who has been working with PIX firewalls but wants to gain a better and more in-depth understanding of the subject matter with an eye towards how to get something done - hence the term "handbook" in the title of the book. If you're sitting at a bookstore browsing through a number of books on PIX firewall trying to decide which one to buy, skim through chapter 3 in this book. If you're really pressed for time, read through the coverage of VLAN hopping and firewall topology considerations in this chapter. If you're still not impressed by level of knowledge that the author brings to the table, either you already know so much that you don't need this book (and probably should think about writing one yourself if you're half-way-decent in conveying your ideas) or the material is too advanced for you and you'd be better off getting an introductory book on the topic. For an average network security engineer responsible for maintaining the Cisco firewall series of appliances, the material presented in this book is invaluable (and up-to-date). Of course the material is not always revelatory throughout the book. There are sections which present information that most Cisco admins would already know. But nevertheless the author uses certain stylistic practices which are most helpful in understanding the differences between various areas of coverage. For example, for every command presented in the book, the author makes it a point to lay out the syntax for PIX v. 6.3, PIX v. 7.0 and FWSM next to each other. Further, whenever necessary, the author highlights the additional functionality found in version 7.0 and how it differs from version 6.3 in the PIX firewall. For example, the coverage of FW contexts (virtual FWs), new in version 7.0, is covered in sufficient detail - enough so that the administrator can actually implement it in his/her environment if needed. (By the way, this section is a good illustration of the author's knowledge about the inner workings of the Cisco firewalls and provides for an enlightening look at how traffic actually passes through the FW.) In all fairness, I must point out that I was little disappointed in not finding any coverage of VPN tunnels in managing/administering the FWs. There is hardly any coverage given to the topic of remotely managing FWs (on the outside interface) while (IMHO) it happens to be a c

This book begins by taking the stance of 'yesterday you couldn't spell firewall engineer, now you are one.' It starts off with this is what a firewall is and this is why you need one up through each step along the way to a very secure system. The author is a lead network engineer for the University of Kentucky. It's clear that so far as a firewall is concerned, he's been there and done that. His description of what is done/examined/checked about incoming packets before passing them through the firewall is the best I've ever seen. Unlike so many computer books, his introductory chapters tell you the 'this is what we are trying to do here' before getting down to the type this in kind of commands. This book is based on Cisco hardware and the Cisco philosophy of how a firewall should be implemented. If it is your job to handle a Cisco firewall of any type I recommend this book. It concentrates on ASA and PIX (Version 7), if you have (or are getting) one of them this book should be considered mandatory.

This book is exactly what I was looking for. It gives a detailed breakdown of the original technologies as well as the ins and outs of the new features of 7.0. I like this book more than the others that I have read in the past. From the first page of the first chapter you are reading worthwhile material. Not the definition of a firewall, or the layers of the OSI model, or even the layout of Cisco's certification trail. This is good detailed information, in an easy to read format with excellent examples from start to finish. The comparisons of "how it's done on 6.3 and now on 7.0" are great as well. Awesome book!