Book Reviews
Get Prepped
MCSE Designing Windows 2000 Web Solutions Study Guide proves a worthy tool.
MCSE Designing Windows 2000 Web Solutions Study Guide is a test-prep
book that covers many topics, albeit briefly. It addresses the basics
such as TCP/IP, directory services and COM, and they're covered from the
standpoint of the Web server realm. The best parts of the book cover cluster
technology and network load balancing (NLB)—and, of course, security
is mentioned.
This book starts with the best of what it takes to keep a public server
up and running, NLB and clustering technology. Availability is the name
of the game and, as any experienced administrator knows, it's one thing
to know what NLB is and a whole other thing to install and configure it.
The book does a good job at walking the reader through this arduous process.
The book even goes into detail regarding the two modes of Layer-2 configurations,
multicast and unicast, although I recommend that any administrator who
wishes to install NLB seek additional documentation from TechNet.
Concepts like topology, systems management, TCP/IP, capacity planning
and directory services are addressed. The chapter on security fits right
in with MCP Magazine contributing editor Roberta Bragg's three
As: Authentication, Authorization and Access! This chapter even covers
the hashing algorithm. An example of this would be to represent the key
in numerical form, fold and add, divide by a prime number and then use
the remaining as an address.
The book actually begins to cover the nitty-gritty you'd expect from
a fine Microsoft Press book in just one chapter—and it's the shortest
chapter, at that. This chapter focuses on Microsoft Exchange Server configuration.
In the classes I teach, I refer to this chapter as meat. It's a solid
chapter (Hint: It's Chapter 9).
For you programmers out there, Chapter 10 does a good job of discussing
Component Data Objects; although for network pros, this chapter is a passage
of time. To ensure that I covered this chapter well, I sought the opinion
of an expert-programming buddy of mine who declared it a good start. From
a neophyte programmer's standpoint, I enjoyed the exercises regarding
the installation and configuration of Component Services in Windows 2000.
Thank goodness for wizards!
This book is perfect if you're looking to learn the basics of Web solutions,
along with some good tidbits on security best practices.
About the Author
Michael Rodgers, MCSE+I, MCSA, MCT, A+, is a professor at Dyersburg State.
He has seven years' experience as a technical trainer and consultant for
Piranha Technologies, a network and security managed solution provider.