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San Francisco, CA, June 23, 2010—Network flow analysis is the art of studying high volume network traffic. Rather than capture every single packet, flow analysis allows network administrators to selectively record and filter network data, so they're only collecting the data they really need. Flow analysis makes difficult tasks like real-time network monitoring, user profiling, security analysis, and data mining dead simple.
Network Flow Analysis (No Starch Press, June 2010, 224 pp., $39.95, ISBN 9781593272036) is the first book to show system administrators how to assess, analyze, and debug a network using flow analysis. In his latest work, author Michael W. Lucas, praised by security expert Richard Bejtlich of TaoSecurity.com as "one of the best technical writers in the networking, computer, and security worlds," teaches network administrators how to build a flow-based network awareness system and how network analysis and auditing can help address problems and improve network reliability. Readers learn what a flow is, how flows are used in network management, and how to use a flow analysis system. Lucas also explains how to collect flow records; view, filter, and report flows; present flow records graphically; and use flow records to proactively improve a network with tools like Cflow.pm, CUFlow, FlowScan, FlowViewer, NetFlow, sFlow, and so on.
"This book describes how I solve real network problems every day," said author Michael W. Lucas. "Flow analysis lets me make fact-based decisions where most people only make guesses. I recognize problems long before my users have reported them and, best of all, I no longer have to ask them to reproduce a problem in order to fix it."
Among the many other topics covered in Network Flow Analysis, readers will learn how to:
- Identify network, server, router, and firewall problems before they become critical
- Find defective and misconfigured software
- Quickly find virus-spewing machines, even if they're on a different continent
- Determine whether problems stem from the network or a server
- Automatically graph the most useful data
Network Flow Analysis offers the tools and real-world examples that system administrators need in order to effectively analyze their network flow data. Now they can determine what the root of that pesky network problem is long before their customers report it.
For more information or to request a review copy of Network Flow Analysis, contact Travis Peterson at No Starch Press (nostarchpr@oreilly.com, +1.415.863.9900, x300), or visit www.nostarch.com.
About the Author
Michael W. Lucas is a network/security engineer who keeps getting stuck with network problems nobody else wants to touch. He is the author of the critically acclaimed Absolute FreeBSD, Absolute OpenBSD, Cisco Routers for the Desperate, and PGP & GPG, all from No Starch Press.
Additional Resources
Chapter 4: "Filtering Flows" (PDF)
Table of contents overview
Detailed table of contents (PDF)
Index (PDF)
Network Flow Analysis
by Michael W. Lucas
June 2010, 224 pp
ISBN 9781593272036, $39.95 USD
order@oreilly.com
1-800-998-9938
1-707-827-7000
Available in fine bookstores everywhere, from www.oreilly.com/nostarch, or directly from No Starch Press (http://www.nostarch.com, orders@nostarch.com, 1-800-420-7240).
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