# good books on basics of networking



## nekoexmachina (Oct 26, 2010)

Hello, forums!

The problem is that I feel like I don't know anything on networks. I understood that trying to follow the openbsd's handbook to set up router. 
Could anyone recommend some really good books that explain how do nowdays networks work?


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## SirDice (Oct 26, 2010)

The "Bible" of TCP/IP is without a doubt "TCP/IP Illustrated". Probably not suited for starters though as it is quite high on details. And I mean really detailed, pretty much every single bit of the protocol gets explained.


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## phoenix (Oct 27, 2010)

Pretty much any online tutorial on TCP/IP networking basics will be a good start.  The "For Dummies" and "Complete Idiot's Guide to" line of books are also decent, and humourous, and really geared to those who have no idea what TCP even means.  

So long as it covers ethernet networks, broadcast domains, switch vs hub, IPv4 subnetting, and the basics of routing, then it's worth picking up and reading.

After that, you can move up to "TCP/IP Illustrated" and "Complete TCP/IP" and similar high-level books.  If you really want to get into the nitty gritty of "receive buffers", "RSS", "window scaling", "ICMP", and so on.    (These kinds of books are really good for insomniacs; just don't hold it on your chest -- you might wake up with a broken nose.)


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## nekoexmachina (Oct 27, 2010)

Thanks for both of you: I've started with 'for dummies' now. 


Also, may be someone could write the list of 'white-listed' books for understanding the basics of UNIX & computer-related topics? Not a how-tos 'how do you make that', but good books 'how does that thing work'.


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## UNIXgod (Oct 27, 2010)

nekoexmachina said:
			
		

> Thanks for both of you: I've started with 'for dummies' now.
> 
> 
> Also, may be someone could write the list of 'white-listed' books for understanding the basics of UNIX & computer-related topics? Not a how-tos 'how do you make that', but good books 'how does that thing work'.



A personal favorite and should be the first book for any command line user is

Kernighan, Pike:
The UNIX Programming Environment


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## fronclynne (Oct 27, 2010)

I'll bring up one I've mentioned a couple of times, & that's _Operating Systems (second edition)_ by H.M. Deitel (egad! I had no idea I was sitting on a veritable gold mine).  I know there's a third edition, but I'm not going to recommend something I've not read.

It's a text book, & has the obvious editorial bent of a text book, but it's a great overview from the days of yore, when Windows was nothing but a graphical shell for DOS, UNIX was going to be on 80% of computers, and the few PCs would run OS/2.  It also covers MVS/VM & Mac OS, & dedicates a pretty fair section to networking basics.

Some choice quotes:  *11.1*  The 1980s saw the introduction of highly parallel architectures.  The 1990s will see the development of concurrent programming languages and operating systems to control and make effective use of parallel hardware structures.

*16.16* TCP/IP is important to operating system students because it is so widely used.  Its success has been mostly limited to the United States; it has not been accepted as a world-wide standard.  Many industry observers believe that TCP/IP-based networks will be popular through the 1990s, but they will gradually be displaced by OSI-based network solutions.

*16.17*  It is clear that OSI will become the primary networking protocols of the next decade or two.
(sorry, I find the OSI stuff hilarious)

*19.16*  Microsoft and IBM have developed a strong partnership devoted to evolving MS-DOS and OS/2 as the standards of the IBM-compatible personal computing industry.  The UNIX and Macintosh operating systems have their large and loyal followings.  Can all these standards prosper?  Will one of them displace the others and dominate the marketplace, or will they all merge to produce one system that will satisfy the requirements of today's diverse user communities?  We may have to wait until the mid 1990s to answer these questions.


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## SirDice (Oct 27, 2010)

nekoexmachina said:
			
		

> Also, may be someone could write the list of 'white-listed' books for understanding the basics of UNIX & computer-related topics? Not a how-tos 'how do you make that', but good books 'how does that thing work'.



There's a nice list in the handbook: Appendix B. Bibliography


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## anomie (Oct 27, 2010)

In addition to reviewing the book recommendations, take some time to memorize the OSI model, and familiarize yourself with what it really means in practice. (In your case, that probably means how it maps to ethernet and/or wireless 802.11, all the way up to layer 7.) It is pretty standard for any good networking text to emphasize this at the outset.


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## captobvious (Nov 11, 2010)

http://www.tcpipguide.com/

Free, +1700 pages :stud


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