[Nottingham] complete beginner

[Ted]

You ask for books, but first, there's loads of online stuff.
e.g. I've seen recommendations for

<long-wrap-alert>
http://www.boingworld.com/workshops/linux/
iptables-tutorial/iptables-tutorial/index.html
</long-wrap-alert>
and
http://www.linuxguruz.org/iptables

However I also prefer to sit down with a book, so I've started reading

Robert L Ziegler, "Linux Firewalls - second edition", New Riders, 2002.

It was 38.99 in Blackwells a while back .. a lot of money for something
that can go out of date so quickly, but it seems to cover most aspects
of firewalls using iptables in many of its examples.

A more general book on security that I'd thoroughly recommend is

Brian Hatch, James Lee, George Kurtz, "Hacking Linux Exposed",
	Osborne/Mc Graw-Hill, 2001.

This deals with all sorts of security issues with plenty of examples,
not just firewalls (which it has a chapter on). Tedious but fascinating
stuff -- how to crack Linux and how to defend it ... quite an eye-opener
for me.

Ted.
-- 
Ted <ted@nowtsfree.freeserve.co.uk>
   http://www.nowtsfree.freeserve.co.uk