distributed databases

I have read several of Curt Simmons' Windows 2000 books, so I was happy to pre-order this one. I'm not quite finished with it yet, but Simmons' typical style of concise and focused writing is the same here. The book is very clear, easy to read, and is full of step by steps and explanations. It makes sense of all the policy issues and policy elements and more difficult firewall configuration tactics. You won't have to skim through pages and pages of blubbering text - everything here is important. The book includes a trial version of ISA Server Enterprise edition on CD-ROM. Overall, I'm very pleased.

Before I ever even thought of installing ISA, I read the book from cover to cover. Once completed, I installed ISA and referred back to the book for additional guidance. I'm still looking for the additional guidance.

This title does a great job of introducing ISA to the reader. It spends chapters of time covering the ISA concept, architecture and Microsoft Minimum Requirements. From there, however, the book gets a little more glossy and sales brochure like. Deployment scenarios, installation and (very) basic configuration are covered, but the author has chosen to really only cover the installation of ISA in an enterprise / array configuration, leaving the stand-alone server installation out in the cold. Past the installation, the author tour guides you through the basic setup of the server (which actually was very handy and without this it would have taken me quite a while to figure it out) and then moves on to briefly cover some of the major selling points.

What is really missing from this book is any specifics, or even an in-depth, point by point reference covering of the interface and components. For example, the author covers setting alerts for Intrusion Detection, but instead of explaining the configuration choices for each of the five actions, the author tells you that "Depending on your selection, a different window will appear that enables you to configure the option you selected."

The title is helpful, and I am glad I read it. But I find myself looking for a more in-depth reference that I can really learn ISA from.

It's not so much that this is a bad or poorly written book (it isn't!), but it is seriously flawed:

- The vast majority of the book is about installing and configuring ISA, with relatively little coverage of ongoing using or troubleshooting.

- There is a lot of very basic stuff, as well as a lot of stuff that you'd normally find in a Microsoft reviewer's guide for ISA. For example, an entire chapter on how ISA fits into IP (and an intro to TCP/IP), an entire chapter on system requirements.

- Too much FLUFF! In addition to the 9 blank, lined pages of "NOTES", the 25 pages listing (doublespaced) TCP known-ports, and the extra large font that pumps the index up to 24 pages, there are too many step-by-step, illustrated, descriptions of how to do basic tasks. Subtract the fluffiness noted above along with a few other egregious instances, and you're looking at a 250 or 300 page book, not a 408 page book.

The only reason I read this book was because I was paid to do so. I don't use Microsoft software anymore, but I've used (and reviewed for publication) enough of it for a lifetime. Which is another reason not to buy this book--but an entirely different issue altogether.

If you must use ISA, or if you must consider using ISA, this book will actually be worth it--it comes with a 120-day trial version of the software (another odious practice, but that yet another issue as well).