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Summary: Get this book if you run ISA Server
Review: I don't usually write reviews of technical books that I read, but in this case I felt compelled to do so, because of how good this book really is (and also to counter the wildly inaccurate critique submitted by the reader from London). This is easily one of the best technical/security books I've ever read. Reading the book, you get the sense that Dr. Shinder knows more about ISA Server than even the folks at Microsoft who developed it. There was not a single thing that I looked for and did not find. And in most cases, the coverage was more detailied and exhaustive than what I expected. I appreciate it when an author actaully takes the time to research, test, and document very complicated scenarios the way this book does.
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Summary: I can't say enough about this book!
Review: I had to deploy an ISA server and i had a week to get it up and running.
After looking around for the best text, i purchased this one.
Believe me it has everything you could ever want to learn about configuring an ISA server, and much much more!! I have never written an book review but i had to with this one.
The book takes some time to go through because it has so much information. It's quality information,not a bunch of bloated garbage. I am also using this book to finish off my MCSE. I compared it to a book my buddy is using, and this one blows it away. I am so glad i decided to go with this one because there have been so many times when i thought i was getting the right book and i ended up buying another 2 or 3 just to get all the info i needed.
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Summary: The ONLY book to by on ISA Server
Review: I have attended two of Dr. Shinder's seminars in the last 12 months, and he is the absolute authority on this topic. The book is written by and for folks who actually are responsible for deploying ISA; without it you are lost. The "Publishing Services to the Internet" chapter alone will save you at least two days of work if you are trying to work through all of the DNS entries required to do this the right way.Highly recommended.
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Summary: An Almost Complete Installation Reference, Nice CD Too
Review: I installed ISA on a Windows 2000 network in two days using this book and the Simmons MCSE as my primary references. I preferred this book to the Simmons MCSE book because it is was more readsble. (Simmons has a second ISA book that has received great Amazon reviews, and I am a big fan of many of his books.) The book is printed on better than average paper, and 909 pages result in a volume that is thinner than the 655 pages in the Simmons MCSE book. The installable CD has the full text in several different formats including a fully searchable HTML format. The CD also includes a nice set of audio tutorials and access to a web site for further assistance. I was forced to fall back on my Microsoft IP networking library to review of some basic IP networking concepts. One certainly wants to frequently use the [router print] command from the command prompt to check routing tables on any host or serer when trouble shooting the installation, and neither the Simmons of Shinder books covered basic IP routing in any detail. The Shinder book said right out that a companion IP networking book would be useful A big hint. After you install ISA perfectly including the trivial setup of clients as SecureNAT clients (more complex client types readily available), you can't initially get anything through ISA, not even a simple web browser request to the Internet. Go to Chapter 8 and set up rules to allow Internet access. (Simmons covers this more concisely and perhaps better on page 127.) This book is actually by two Shinders, Dr. Thomas Shinder and Debra Littlejohn Shinder, Toms' wife. When a real MD turns to software consulting as his full-time career you can be sure he really loves the stuff. The style of the book shows this. It is nicely written. The Shinders are authors of several other Windows 2000 books.
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Summary: Complete real world information
Review: I purchased this book because we required ISA Server setup in our organization. Our previous firewall was Checkpoint, but management wanted a new MS solution. Virtually everything I needed to know was within this text. The documentation provided with the product was difficult to understand, but the book explained not only the theory, but the differences between how ISA Server is supposed to work, and how it works in practice. That is precisely the information I required. The information is accurate and clearly explained. I am not sure what another reviewer meant by problems with quality of information. He said the book did not explain how to publish an ICMP server. The book clearly explains Server Publishing only works for the UDP and TCP protocols. This is a most excellent book and I highly recommend to ISA Server Admins and others needing to implement ISA Server.
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Summary: From the 'best' comes the 'best'
Review: I thank the authors for contributing such a great book to the IT field. Having known the work of most of the authors and having worked with one directly, this is top notch work from a top notch crew. I have been running ISA for quite some time and reading this book cover to cover offered me some of the insight I needed for some of the trickier configurations on this product. It was nice to get that real world feel from the authors for people that are in the same boat as me... I needed a book that was soup to nuts... and could help me deploy the product faster, and easier with much needed insight into the harder implimentations and solutions. Thanks - it is appreciated.
Rating:
Summary: Get this book if you run ISA Server
Review: I wasted a lot of time with ISA Server using the intrinsic help, and another ISA title. Neither of those resources answered questions I had, resolved issues that came up, or could adequately serve as a spot reference. This title does. The authors of this book have obviously spent a great deal of time with the product, and they pass the information on to you. Extras throughout the pages alert you to undocumented features and issues, security repercussions, and situation workarounds that would be very time consuming to have discovered on your own. The book is presented in such a way that it is useful no matter what stage you are in, initial installation, configuration or support. Thus far, every support and configuration question that I have had regarding ISA has been answered clearly and efficiently by this title. The book also comes with a CD-ROM which has the book in electronic form, which is great for quick reference, but has a horrible search feature. Other than that, I really wish that I had picked this title up at the start of my ISA project - it would have saved countless hours of work and frustration.
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Summary: Only Title You Will Need
Review: I wasted a lot of time with ISA Server using the intrinsic help, and another ISA title. Neither of those resources answered questions I had, resolved issues that came up, or could adequately serve as a spot reference. This title does. The authors of this book have obviously spent a great deal of time with the product, and they pass the information on to you. Extras throughout the pages alert you to undocumented features and issues, security repercussions, and situation workarounds that would be very time consuming to have discovered on your own. The book is presented in such a way that it is useful no matter what stage you are in, initial installation, configuration or support. Thus far, every support and configuration question that I have had regarding ISA has been answered clearly and efficiently by this title. The book also comes with a CD-ROM which has the book in electronic form, which is great for quick reference, but has a horrible search feature. Other than that, I really wish that I had picked this title up at the start of my ISA project - it would have saved countless hours of work and frustration.
Rating:
Summary: Really professional
Review: It is really a very nice book. It answers many of your configuration questions in easy explained manner. it is a must for people who want to implement many configurations using ISA server.Always have a look at http://www.ISAserver.org.
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Summary: A necessity for any ISA Server administrator
Review: Its so often that you get a new software package, install it quickly and never really get to learn the depths of what the product can really do. This book goes into great detail and shows it in a manner that doesn't confuse or put you to sleep. Running and configuring ISA just got easier.
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