Windows Firewall with Advanced Security Learning Roadmap

Applies To: Windows 7, Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Vista

Windows Firewall with Advanced Security helps secure your computer and its communications from threats on the network. It combines the features of a host-based, stateful firewall, and a complete, standards-compliant IPsec protocol stack that can be used to protect your network packets as they traverse the network.

If you are new to Windows Firewall with Advanced Security, this topic can help you identify what you need to learn to fully understand and use all of the features available in Windows Firewall with Advanced Security. It includes prerequisite topics that cover a variety of networking fundamentals. You must understand the prerequisite topics first, because the topics for Windows Firewall with Advanced Security build upon them and assume an understanding of them. Afterwards, you can begin learning about Windows Firewall with Advanced Security by reading the documents in the Level 100, 200, and 300 sections.

We recommend that you read the topics in the order listed.

  • Prerequisites

  • Level 100

  • Level 200

  • Level 300

Prerequisites

This section contains links to a variety of topics and books that contain background information that will help you fully understand how Windows Firewall with Advanced Security works.

Level 100

The following topics contain introductory information about Windows Firewall with Advanced Security.

Level 200

The following topics contain intermediate information about Windows Firewall with Advanced Security.

Level 300

The following topics contain advanced information about Windows Firewall with Advanced Security.

  • Step 1: Learn the details of the IPsec protocols and packets, and how they are processed by Windows.

    See chapter 18 “Internet Protocol Security (IPsec)” of the Windows Server 2008 TCP/IP Protocols and Services Microsoft Press book (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=153195)

    This topic provides details of the IPsec protocols and examines the structure of IPsec packets.

    Your goal is to understand the different types of IPsec headers and trailers, and packet processing for IPsec-protected packets.

  • Step 2: Learn about advanced features in Windows Firewall with Advanced Security.

    See the Windows Firewall Technical Reference (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=161824).

    These topics describe advanced details of the Windows implementation of Windows Firewall with Advanced Security, and contain reference material. Read them as appropriate for your Windows Firewall and IPsec environment

Additional Resources

To share your suggestions for resources to help others learn about Windows Firewall with Advanced Security, see Community Suggestions for Ramping up on Windows Firewall with Advanced Security (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=214939).

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