On the other hand, Exam Cram was extremely orderly and offered the most concise and understandable explanations of the TCP/IP suite. They helped the reader build a framework or context to hang all the information on rather than the seemingly endless flow of disconnected information presented in Sybex.
Also, I have read what the OSI model is in at least 6 books. This was the first time it was explained in way that gave it some "reality" rather than a mysterious abstraction.
When learning any subject from a book, the reader must "select" a distilled set of facts and relationships to put to memory. This book has effectively condensed the subject to the essential basics, so much less energy has to be spent on reduction. Everything is pertinent, no filtering needed.
The 5th printing has corrected most of the errors referred to by other reviewers.
I think this one leaves a little to be desired in that it needs to be bigger, with more sample problems. Never-the-less, this is the book I would and did choose to start studying with.
I recommend that anyone using this book supplement their studies with practice tests, flash card questions, and other books.
Index:
1. Microsoft Certification Tests
2. Concept and Planning: TCP/IP and Windows NT 4
3. Installation and Configuration
4. IP Addressing
5. Subnet Addressing
6. Implementing IP Routing
7. IP Address Resolution
8. Host Name Resolution
9. Domain Name System (DNS)
10. NetBIOS Name Resolution
11. Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP)
12. Windows Internet Name Service (WINS)
13. Connectivity
14. Implementing the SNMP Service
15. Performance, Tuning, and Optimization
16. Troubleshooting
17. Sample Test
18. Answer Key to Sample Test