Encyclopedia of Networking (It-Independent) [Paperback]

From A to Z and everything in between this mountain of networking information is just what every network technician, help desk technician, LAN administrator and network engineer need at their side. Over 1400 pages give you the most complete listing of terms, definitions and explanations on the market today.

Microsoft Press has gone to great lengths to make sure you have the information right at your fingertips. Covering topics like NT Workstation, NT Server, protocols, DNS, WINS, gateway operations, configurations and installations. Everything and I mean everything has been included.

Microsoft Press left nothing out as they included an electronic version of the book on cd...For those serious about networking, from the beginner to the expert, you now have the definitive Microsoft Networking Reference manual - excellent job!

The part that earned my respect as a seasoned consultant was the inclusion of wireless networking terms and standards. Recently, I have been involved in several writing projects and need to know a little about everything in order to provide my readers with peripheral information about a particular subject. Not only was I able to find information on the 802.11 standard, but the Tullocks' also included information on the variants including the 802.11b, 802.11a and 802.15 standards. In fact, there are nearly twenty pages of wireless protocol and support information. In addition, subjects such as Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum (DSSS) is covered and explained as is frequency hopping and spread spectrum. I certainly did not plan on finding those examples, diagrams and explanations. I found the same level of detail when I needed to search for information on public key cryptography. A detailed description of the different types of keys is provided as is the components that make up the environment and cross-references to certificate authorities, encryption, SSL and digital certificates including X.509 information. There is enough information on PKI that any reader could not only understand but know enough to be able to identify components and talk intelligently on the subject.

Another important aspect of networking that I did not expect to see is the networking commands and tools. For example, all the TCP/IP commands such as tracert, ping, route, rcp, rexec and tftp are defined and explained. UNIX commands are also defined and explained as are Windows 2000, XP and .NET Server commands. Detailed NET commands for Windows networking are also described and explained from NET ACCOUNTS to NET VIEW. For the most part, the commands that received the most attention in this book are Microsoft networking related, but considerable energy was spent in defining and explaining commands from other networking operating systems including UNIX. In addition, information about Apache and Linux is included as are many pages on NetWare and NDS subjects.

Aside from the many topics that I did not expect to see in the book, the topics that should be included in a networking encyclopedia are all there and in great detail. Just about every hardware element from cables and how to build a cross-over cable to fiber-optic, fibre channel, hubs switches and even routing protocols are covered and explained so that the reader can quickly see the benefits and drawbacks of each technology. It would almost seem that an entire section was dedicated to subnetting as page after page is used to explain and detail how and why subnetting is used and implemented. Many tables are provided to explain the relation between the mask and the number of subnets and hosts. The novice should immediately understand the implications of subnetting while the die-hards will refer to the section as a reference.

Peace.