Rating: 
Summary: hackneyed writing and frustrating content
Review: "In this chapter, we start getting into the specifics of planning and implementing an ISA Server solution for your network." Chapter one of this book uses the word "solution" thirty-one times, and much of the book's writing uses similarly embarassing IT marketing-speak. This makes perfect sense when you flip through the beginning and end of the book and find adverts for commercial web sites, general knowledge courses, and "corporate network training." Shameless promotions in the form of URLs appear in every chapter and at the bottom of each page! Through the book, you deal with hundreds of brilliant gems like, "An intranet in its simplest form is an internal, private Web" (116). Then, when you need to troubleshoot a problem, you find a scarcity of helpful information. For example, I had a troublesome authentication problem that I though might relate to the autodiscovery on client machines. The book has no useful information on the relationship between authentication and auto vs. manaul proxy settings, even though MS addressed the very issue well before SP1 for ISA. The troubleshooting section on authentication is only one page, and it merely explains the three authentication types and suggests that your most likely problem is not enabling the correct types! I run a small W2K network and have to manage all the major components of W2K, Exchange, and ISA. I've found books by Mark Minasi and Jim McBee to be helpful and even fun to read. This book isn't even close. I've had more success finding help on MS's Technet, and that's a sorry indictment.
Rating: 
Summary: ISA Admins must have a copy
Review: And if you are installing ISA server from scratch, then get this first. The book will help you understand a lot better. I would suggest that the quality of the books information is less than perfect. There are many incorrect statements throughout the book. And the book help none when I had to configure my internal network to access external FTP and ICMP servers. But get it. Unless something better comes along. Which there isn't. This is the best book on ISA server.
Rating: 
Summary: Almost there, not quite...
Review: As a beta tester for ISA Server I was quite surprised by the lack of specific content in this book, there is much filler information and much information is generalized and not presented in an organized manner. I was also surprised by the number of typos in the text of this book, in my opinion to many for a final publication. As a reference for the experienced ISA administrator, this book does have some value, mainly because ISA Server is such a new product and not much third party material is written about it. As a method to study for the Microsoft ISA Server test as an elective in the MCSE 2000 track, forget it, this book is not going to help you. Although Mr. Shinder has written other quality certification books, this is not one of them and I am assuming this book was not intended to serve this purpose. If you're new to ISA and need to study for the certification test, your better off with the actual help files and white papers that come with the product. Hopefully in a couple of months better quality books will be written on ISA Server.
Rating: 
Summary: Very good take on ISA 2000
Review: As far as I'm concerned, this is The best book on ISA 2000 (much better than the MS publication). Starting of with basics on the different types of firewalls, it soon goes into detail as far as the three implementation uses of ISA. Although will soon be outdated (especially with the release of ISA 2004), this is still a must-buy for all you ISA 2000 admins out there.
Rating:
Summary: worth the wait
Review: Been waiting for a long time for this one, but it turns out to be worth it. I really liked the background and design info in the first chapters, and how the book takes you all the way from basic security concepts to very specific scenarios on configuring and administering ISA. Just about everything is covered, and what's really neat is that things are explained so a beginner can understand, but you've also got all these advanced configuration tips and tons of stuff that you definitely won't find in the Help files. You can tell these guys are writing from hands on experience and it shows! I know it's not meant to be a study guide, but I found a lot of answers to my questions here while I was studying for the ISA test. The only complaint I've got was the long waiting period for the book to be published. I wish they wouldn't put a date it's supposed to be available and then not ever update that. I also found out about isaserver.org from the book where Tom Shinder gives all sorts of support for ISA questions and that's a great resource.
Rating:
Summary: Everything you need to know about ISA Server!!!
Review: Deb and Tom Shinder definitely know ISA Server! This book is a definite buy, especially if you are just getting started with ISA Server, or if you are studying for your Microsoft certification. All of us know the various mind-boggling issues with ISA Server, this book tackles many of them and will give you an insight into the workings of ISA. We can all recognize Deb and Tom's expert experience with ISA Server from all the help they give to people on the ISAserver message boards. Deb and Tom Shinder have written many Windows 2000 related books together, and their experience with Windows is very evident in their writing.
Rating:
Summary: the best you can find even you are a newbie to ISA
Review: Hi to all,
This book is really very cool and includes everything you want to know about ISA Server.It doesn't matter if you are new to ISA only knowlegde of TCP/IP , networking ..etc is enough to understand the content of the book.Don't miss it.
Rating:
Summary: the best you can find even you are a newbie to ISA
Review: Hi to all,
This book is really very cool and includes everything you want to know about ISA Server.It doesn't matter if you are new to ISA only knowlegde of TCP/IP , networking ..etc is enough to understand the content of the book.Don't miss it.
Rating:
Summary: One of the best computer books I've read
Review: I bought this book after having read the Shinders Windows 2000 TCP/IP book, and also several of their MCSE study guides, and I'm very glad I did. Anyone who has worked at all with ISA Server knows just how complex it really is. This book will make you truly understand all of these complexities. I'm not quite sure what the guy below who gave it only 3 stars is talking about.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Detailed Coverage
Review: I bought this book because I've seen the great work Dr. Shinder has done on the Microsoft Public Newsgroups and at isaserver.org. I was not disappointed! He put in all the fine details about how services work and the step by steps actually explain what each option means and how it works. What I liked most was the "Undocumented Secrets" sections where he explains thngs like how not to assign the Firewall Client via Group Policy or your client machine will be stuck without a log on box for LONG time. I even tested this out to make sure it was true. I'm glad I read this in thebook, or I would have been sunk! Another thing quite helpful in the book was the coverage of server publishing, especially FTP server publishing. I had no idea how tricky that could be! If you are fighting with ISA Server like I have been, then you will like this book a lot. Its saved me a lot of hours of frustration.
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