tcp-ip

Not bad overall. I passed the test 1 and 1/2 months after picking up the book (passed on the first try). I only used this book. All I knew about TCPIP before I got started was that I needed it to connect to the Internet.

However, you've got to be aggressive in your studying and critical of what you read. Read the whole book once. Then read the entire book again with a highlighter. Then go through the whole book a third time taking typewritten notes (my preferred form of notes - easier to save and read) on what you highlighted. Then take all practice tests (beginning of chapter, end of chapter, and CD). Re-read your notes every day. Review all missed practice test questions immediately after taking each exam.

But beware - there are several mistakes in the book, and I got really hung up on them thinking it was me. The subnetting chapter was very confusing, and I never really did get a good understanding of it. I didn't get some of the IP addressing stuff for a while, but when I did, I said to myself, "well why didn't he just SAY that." I'm convinced the author had nothing to do with the production of the accompanying CD; he clearly stated that certain topics would not be tested on the exam, but I got as many as 5-10 questions on the practice exams on these same topics. Then there were questions on things that weren't even mentioned in the book at all. That was frustrating because again, I spent time in the beginning thinking the problem was with me.

Anyway, like I said, I did pass the first time with no background understanding of TCPIP. So, it was worth the time and money. If you're aggressive about it, you can do it too.

As you can see below, people either really hate this book or really like it. My feelings are mixed. In general, the book does a good job of making arcane TCP/IP concepts easier to understand. However, the main fault of the book -- and a lot of certification books out there today -- is the poor editing. There are quite a few errors in the book, and some of the diagrams are poorly laid out. One error that is repeated throughout the book is that HOSTS is case-sensitive. The author goes to great pains to remind the reader of this several times, which is all well and good until you read from several other sources that it is not case-sensitive. If you're looking for questions that simulate the feel of a Microsoft cert exam, look elsewhere. The questions are either ridicuously easy or based on TCP/IP trivia. What's good about the book, then? It does a pretty good job with WINS and DNS. Unix printing and utilities are covered well. I do cringe a bit when I continually read "there's more to this command, but you don't need it for the exam, so I won't cover that". But again, many folks are just interested in passing the exam, so that's understandable. What's not covered well? I'm still scratching my head over some of the diagrams in the IP Addressing chapter. Again, I knew the basics going in and have some TCP/IP experience, but the author's explanations of the default gateways in multi-router networks just lost me. I read another explanation of it in another text that took three lines and made perfect sense, so it's not just me. Again, not a total loss. But with some careful proofreading, this book could have been a lot better. And fer cryin' out loud, change the name of the books!

I bought this book and read it in order to prep for the MCSE TCP/IP NT 4.0 and by using this book and Trancenders practice test I passed the exam with a very good score. Not only did the book help me to pass the exam it made me understand the concepts as well. The only reason I did not give the book a 5 star rating was because I used the softwars it came with for practice test and I never found it that helpful. If you want to pass the exam and understand the concepts read this book and use trancender practice test software.