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Microsoft® Proxy Server 2.0 MCSE Study System
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Author: Curt Simmons
List Price: $49.99
Our Price: Click to see the latest and low price
ISBN: 0764533363
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons (19 May, 1999)
Edition: Hardcover
Sales Rank: 91,218
Average Customer Rating: 4 out of 5
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Customer ReviewsRating: 5 out of 5
GREAT BOOK
Don't listen to nay sayers who don't like this book. If you want to learn about firewalls, proxy'ing, and the like this book is for you. This book changed my life insofaras it taugh me advanced TCP/IP. Firewall functionality is all about TCP/IP really and if you want to pass the MCSE exam it's a MUST HAVE. Great job Curt! I just purchased Curt's ISA 2000 book. I can't wait to read it.
Rating: 2 out of 5
Wastes space, wrong audience
I'm working as an assistant IT admin and recently got certified under Proxy (I was already MCSE/A+). I bought this book, as well as a few others, to educate myself on the product as well as prepare for the exam. I was disappointed with this book for two reasons. First, the book spends the first 100 pages or so (almost a third of the book) on things other than Proxy: TCP/IP, IIS, etc. While comprehension of these topics is an absolute necessity for installing, configuring and maintaining a proxy server, the author did not cover them in sufficient detail to make their inclusion worthwhile. When the author does get around to Proxy itself, he gives thin descriptions of the issues. Which leads to my second problem. The book isn't really appropriate for the NT novice, but then again, it's not meaty enough for someone who's not. Most of the needed topics are covered, but only just. Much more could have been said about client installation, performance monitoring and common errors associated with arrays and chains. The step-by-step instructions are well-written and there is a PDF version of the book on the CD that's included, but the end of chapter questions are even worse than most books. Also, don't let the lure of extra test questions on the CD fool you; you'd have to fork over an extra $100 to get enough of them to do you any good. Keep looking.
Rating: 5 out of 5
Great Learning Tool for Proxy Server 2.0
If I'm just studying to pass a test, I read a book through once, answer all the chapter questions, maybe pass up the labs for now, then either turn around and read it again and work the labs on my humble home network, or start reading through another similar guide first, and then going back and working with the product through the labs. Polish all that off with one of the readiness reviews for the last few days and the test is passed. This time I needed to learn Proxy Server so I can better understand the live system I actually work with, and worry about the test later maybe. I've read through this book once already, and it is clear and understandable, very well written. In one read I've gleaned a lot of information for my day-to-day use, and know that the second pass through, working the labs live, will tighten up my understanding of this technology even more. Some technical books are so poorly written I can't finish them so I just move on to the next one, but this one is pretty well done, and suits my needs just fine. There are a few little errors but they are obvious and not too distracting; a diagram reference # wrong or a silly misspelling like HEKY_LOCAL_MACHINE as the correct answer on one of the chapter assessment tests. I've seen much worse. This book is a great learning tool for Proxy Server 2.0, whether to pass the MCSE test or to learn it for work. If I were going for the test, I'd not stop here; but just to use it for knowledge, review and reference, it's great. It lists and covers all the certification requirements, and even gives a good cross reference of which chapters cover which test objective, as well as a convenient appendix containing all the collected Mini-Labs from each chapter. I haven't tried the BeachFront CD yet so I don't have an opinion, but the book itself is solid. I recommend it. Joe Buchberger
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