Ask HN: Recommended sources for essential networking under virtualization

Dear HN community:

Over the last years I've dealt with virtual servers from various providers. I have too often forgotten what I wanted to do with them, but in the process learned a lot. (Actually a bit for HN standards.) With all this momentum, and given the affordable dedicated servers that can be found today, I decided to try a new adventure: setting up my own virtual servers. The only issue is that now I'm beyond stuck. On the other hand, I really don't want to give up on this.

I prefer building my knowledge with textbooks, even if it takes longer, than with copy-and-paste tutorials. But now I can't even seem to find such textbooks or sources. In particular, I'm stuck with the notion of mapping external and internal IP addresses, again while gaining understanding in the process. For example:

  - When exactly do I need bridging?
  - When do I need to request a MAC address in connection to the external IP?
  - Must I map IP to MAC ("bridge_hw" directive, I believe) explicitly? Why? When?
  - Where would you use route over iptables?

Please note that I'm lost, so any attempts to answer these questions would probably lead to new ones! Rather, I'm looking for authoritative (and pedagogic!) sources. I read great things about Benvenuti's "Understanding Linux Network Internals", but this seems to take all the way down to kernel-level programming, which I imagine should be avoidable. Maybe "Linux Network Administrator's Guide", by Dawson et al, has a more hands-on approach that makes it more recommendable? I often go back to Frisch's "Essential System Administration". While I have by no means read it back to back, I believe the kind of discussion I'm seeking is not found at length there.

Any references will be greatly appreciated. It doesn't have to be a published book, by the way. A blog, an article series, etc. will be welcome.

Thanks in advance!